Hawaii Trip, Saturday and Sunday

Saturday

Though it is a little more challenging to write on this iPad, I'm going to try to write a journal of this trip. It is my first trip without my laptop in about 14 years. I feel a bit insecure, but there is really very little that my laptop can do that my iPad can't. The iPad is much more lightweight and easier to carry. Also, my iPad can connect to the 3G network and so work without wifi. So, we'll see how this goes.

It is a bit disconcerting for several reasons to "type" on an iPad. I miss the feedback from these virtual keys. Also, way back in the typewriter era, when I learned to type, we were taught to rest our fingers on the home keys. I certainly can't do that now without typing a bunch of gibberish. Predictive spelling is getting much better and often corrects my typos without my help and sometimes without my notice. That makes this less frustrating.

I have been through a range of emotions on this trip so far. I started out with excitement, but also with a little worry that I had forgotten something important. I always start out a trip with that worry and usually I am right. Fortunately, it is rarely anything vital. This time, I had forgotten to print out my cruise documents. I wouldn't have remembered it at all without my BFF to remind me. I was able to print them out at her house when we picked her up. It's not the first time she has saved my hide.

Wil chauffeured me to Montgomery and then Debra and I on to Atlanta, but he is not accompanying us to Hawaii. He's been before and has, in fact, been all over the world. Besides, this is the annual "girl's trip," no guys allowed. It was really nice having Wil along on the ground portion of this trip. It's nice not having to drive or worry about the travel. He makes me feel very safe, protected, and loved.

We made it to Atlanta and into our hotel for the night. That's when the next emotion kicked in. My excitement over the trip was tempered by anticipating how much I would miss Wil. It was nice to have one more night of loving before leaving. It will be very sweet to have him there to greet us when we return. We'll be flying all night on the way home, arriving back at ATL very early in the morning. We'll be in no shape to drive. Plus, Wil and I will be reunited sooner.

We briefly debated whether he should park at the airport and help us get bags checked in. There were reasonable arguments for doing that, as well as reasonable arguments for dropping us at the curb. We drove through the drop-off lane and decided that curbside check-in was the best choice. It probably would have been worse to prolong the good-byes. I didn't have time to get emotional this way. So, with one last hug and kiss, I watched him drive away.

So much for our best laid plans for curbside bag check-in. We had already checked in for the flight with our Delta app on our respective iPhones and prepaid the baggage. Curbside bag check should have been a breeze. However, the guy's computer at curbside was prompting him to check our passports. What the heck? Hawaii is a state and we were not visiting any other countries. Curbside man realized that and sent us inside to get it straightened out. So, no curbside bag check-in.

Fortunately, once inside, the computer glitch had magically disappeared. From there it was a breeze to leave the bags and breeze through security with our high-tech electronic boarding passes on our phones. We had a long train ride out to E concourse and found a gate change that actually shortened our walk. We took turns watching bags and visiting the ladies room and raiding the airport convenience shop for drinks and snacks.

We flashed our iPhone boarding passes again to get on the plane. I have to say that is so easy and so convenient! With your Skymiles number and PIN number, the Delta app is a breeze. It allowed us to check-in up to 24 hours ahead of the flight. Once checked in, it allowed us to prepay baggage, then brought up our electronic boarding passes. Then it gave us the option of putting our boarding pass into Passbook. That is Apple's app to store all kinds of membership cards, with ready access to rewards and coupons. With another app called Lemon Wallet, I can even store electronic copies of my driver's license, military ID, and credit cards, though I am not quite that trusting yet. I don't want to have to passcode my phone.

So, here I sit on a big Delta plane with 285 other passengers on a nonstop flight all the way from ATL to Honolulu. It's a nine hour flight. I thought it would be pretty miserable, but so far, 3 hours in, I have been pretty content. I have snacks, there is food available on the plane, and entertainment abounds. I am sure my butt will be plenty tired of sitting by the end of the nine hours, but, meanwhile, back to my iBook!  

Over 8 hours into this 9 hour flight and I am so ready to be off of this plane. I guess it has been a relatively peaceful flight. There is a very unhappy toddler. One row ahead and to my left. He slept through the middle of the trip, but fussed and cried through the first part and he's crying again. I'm not all that disturbed about it, though. The poor little guy doesn't understand hours of confinement.

I've read quite a bit of my book, 255 pages out of 953. It's a great book, so far. I'll probably finish it on this trip. I'll have some relaxing time on the ship to read, plus another 9 hour flight back to ATL. I've also played countless games of sudoku and Moonlight Lite. I have also written these couple of pages, eaten a bad meal and some snacks, and made 2 bathroom trips

Of course, people watching can be fun, too. The toddler has a brother about 5 years old. Evidently the party includes at least one grandparent. I've watched them passing the kids back and forth. Many people are glued to their screens watching movies or TV. Many have been sleeping. Some have been reading. A few people just stare with a glazed, resigned look.

The plane has finally started descending! Hopefully, the next time I write will be from the cruise ship!

Sunday

Whew, what a whirlwind 24 hours! Landing in Hawaii was interesting. From the air, it looks much like home in Navarre--palm trees, water, beaches. The main differences are that our white beaches are much prettier than their brown ones, but Hawaii has gorgeous mountains!

It took forever to get to the ship. There was the usual chore of finding and hauling luggage. We found our cruise escort guy right away, but the shuttles were late picking us up. It was 2 hours from the time our plane landed and the time we boarded the ship. Once we got to the port, there was luggage to haul again. Then we waited a long time to get through security and check in.

I was starving and, therefore, grumpy. Lunch was over and it was 2 hours until dinner. Fortunately, Debra put up with my low blood sugar grousing and we did manage to get unpacked. We headed down for "freestyle" dining, which is what this ship offers. That means you get to eat at the time you choose, instead of an early seating and a late seating. The downside is that you never get seated in the same place and get different wait staff every time.

It is also rather inefficient, because you are given the option of sitting with strangers or having a table just for your party of guests. Though there are some families and tour groups, there are many more just twosomes. So many tables which could have held 4 people had just 2 at them. We had to wait a bit, but those after us had a longer wait.

The wait to get food was rather long. We got our appetizers right away, but Debra's entree arrived way before mine. When it became apparent that my food was not quickly forthcoming, I urged her to go ahead and eat before her food got cold. She was almost finished eating before my surf & turf arrived. I do have to say, though, that the food was utterly scrumptious!

This my 4th ocean cruise, but my first with an all American staff. All of my other cruises have been with a very international staff. Our wait staff in the dining room was very courteous and friendly, but there was not the same atmosphere of being cared for. Also, they don't serve as unobtrusively. Somehow the international staff was always there when you needed them, but never hovering. Also, I never had late food before. Always before, the courses arrived just on time and always together. Perhaps it was just an off night for the wait staff last night, but it seemed a bit frantic and unorganized.

We got ready for bed shortly after dinner. Though it was only 8 or 9 pm, our bodies were still on central time where it was 1 or 2 am. Being my first night in a new place, I slept rather fitfully, but I felt so much better this morning. We had both gotten rather dehydrated on our long flight, so we drank lots of water with dinner. So we were both up a couple of times in the bathroom.

Today, we had a delicious buffet breakfast and were off to our first excursion. A tour bus took us to the other side of Maui to shop in a town called Lahaina. They have a touristy shopping district. The drive to and from was interesting. The tour bus driver was very knowledgable about the island. We got a geography lesson on the way and a story lesson on the return trip.

Maui is essentially two volcanic mountains or mountain ranges, one at each end of the basically oval island, with a flat plain in between. The plain was formed by volcanic lava flow from the western mountain. On this plain they grow sugar cane, lots and lots of sugar cane. There is also a sugar processing plant. It operates year round, since there is no distinct growing season, planting around the plain is staggered every month so there is always a crop to be harvested each month and a new one is planted. It's pretty efficient.

We started our shopping at one end of tourist row, known as Front Street. Our first stop was a Hawaiian icon known as Hilo Hattie's. I bought a shirt for Wil and a dress (of sorts) for me and some costume jewelry. Debra went whole hog on some NICE jewelry after choosing oysters with pearls. She got a beautiful dark pearl she had made into a necklace for herself. Then she got lucky with an oyster with 2 gorgeous pink pearls which she had made into earrings. Then she got a freebie, since she had purchased so much. She got a dark purple pearl, sort of an eggplant color, that she made into a necklace for me! Wow, happy very early birthday to me!

Sunday night

One great thing about being on a cruise in the USA is that I have cell service in every port! I am posting on Facebook, as many have seen. I get to talk to Wil unless the time difference interferes. I get to check my email on my iPhone. I see no reason to buy expensive wireless minutes on the cruise ship. However, Debra did buy some minutes to check work email.

Debra also exchanged her bottle of wine. She got a special package with this room that included a bottle of wine and chocolate covered strawberries. Unfortunately, they gave us a bottle of merlot and neither of us are red wine drinkers. Fortunately, she was able to exchange it. They didn't have a sweeter white wine, so she got sparkling wine. We polished it off before dinner. Debra can't drink too much, so I drank 2/3 of the bottle. I feel really good! It's a good thing I don't have to drive!

We just returned from dinner. I have to say, it was MUCH smoother tonight. Courses arrived one right after another. Tonight my appetizer and entree were only fair. The dessert, however, was wonderful. I had warm bread & butter pudding with warm caramel sauce. Yum!

We are back in our stateroom now. The  Polynesian floor show did not interest us all that much and I am very tired again. We have to be ready a bit earlier tomorrow for our Maui plantation and I'ao Valley excursion. I'm not sure what all we are going to see, but I think it will be great.

Right now, shower and bed are calling me.