HAWAII DAY 1

Well my start to my trip to Hawaii definitely began with the bang. First I got up early and got to the airport in plenty of time. I had a wonderful cab driver who was very sweet and he brought me and my luggage inside the airport lobby and got me a wheelchair. I was so early that I beat the people that pushed the wheelchairs to your gate. So I had to sit for about a half an hour and wait for someone to come and push me to my gate.

Getting through TSA was a lesson in patience. Because I was in a wheelchair I was wheeled right up to the front of the line but then I had to wait for a female TSA worker to check my boot. My boot had to be taken off and run through the X-ray machine and then my sock had to be inspected. I offered to take my sock off and they can run it to the X-ray machine but they declined and instead felt all around on my foot. Seemed rather silly. That whole process took about another 45 minutes.

My flight was very nice. I sat next to two very nice women who both wore masks the whole time and we're super helpful when we landed. In Hawaii the plane lands right on the tarmac and you have to walk down a flight of stairs. The two women carried my backpack and my medicine bag so I could hold on to the handrail.

Once I got my luggage I waited in a long line to get the shuttle to the rental car place. Then when I got to the rental car place I went up to the Fast Track thinking I would get my rental car but alas they claimed I didn't have my fast track on this reservation. So I had to go get him another long line to get my rental car. Luckily there were some very nice people in line who kept my place while I sat down for a little bit. It was very hot and I have been standing for a long time.

Finally I get to the front of line and get my rent a car. I happily drove off and went to the supermarket to get food. I went only 20 miles down the road and it was clear, there was something wrong with the car. Every time I drove over 40 miles an hour there was a flapping noise as if someone was in the trunk banging. After stopping a few times to see if I could see what the problem was, I called road assistance. That was an incredibly useless phone call because the man kept asking me where I was but I just knew I was on some highway in the middle of nowhere in Hawaii. So I ended up turning around and going back to the airport.

Once back at the rental car company at the airport I saw the same service person that I'd already talked to twice. I called him over and told him what happened and he rushed my new car along. 

When the car came around I had some very nice people help me with my bags and groceries. This time the car was wonderful. I got to the hotel and the nice lady at the front desk helped me with my bags and groceries. 

Just to give you an idea, I landed at 11:30am and got to the hotel at 6 pm. It took 6.5 hours to get off the plane, get my luggage, get to the rental place, get car #1, then food shop and drive 20 miles and then drive back and get car #2 then drive 2 hours to the hotel. It was a lot of standing around. Let's see what my feet feel like tomorrow.  Oh yeah, I was too late to get dinner so I ate snacks. 

Until tomorrow...