Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Sunday night - Monday - return home!
It's been a great trip, but it will be good to get home. Little did we realize just how LONG it would take to get there.
Mike dropped me off at the airport with our luggage. We had to send it through USDA inspection, and in case the line was long, we figured while he returned, I could take care of that. Acgtually, it went very fast (once I found the right line) and we were approved to go to the mainland as we were not carrying any hostage roosters or fruit.
Since Hawaiian AIrlines is VERY picky about getting your boarding pass with larger carry-on luggage (as we discovered on the way to this island) I waited elsewhere while Mike got our boarding passes. Since we booked the airline tickets between this islands of Oahu & Kauai separately than our flight from/to MN, we didn't know whether we'd be able to check our luggage the entire way back, and didn't want to deal with getting to Honolulu, run OUT of security to get it, and then back through security, and to our next gate, all within a 90 minute layover. Well, no worries on that we soon discovered.
We got our boarding passes, and were heading to our gate when Mike got a message on his phone from Delta. It turns out our flight out of Oahu and to San Francisco had been delayed by 3 hours which would mean we'd miss our connecting flight in San Francisco. So Mike got on his phone while still in the Lihue airport and started working with Delta to re-route our trip back home. he stayed on the phone with a booking agent for over 20 minutes and we boarded the plane as one of hte last passengers - in case our re-booked flight would require us to fly from Lihue (on Kauai) instead of from Honolulu. That didn't seem to be the case, and the booking agent could only find one spot on a SFO to MSP flight that was two flights after the flight we'd miss. Mike was working with her on getting that seat when his phone died (of course).
We flew to Honolulu, and immediately found our gate. First Mike tried plugging his charged into the wall somewhere, but then we noticed a big bank of pay phones. Perfect - Delta's # is a 1-800 number, and this way we KNEW the phone wouldn't die. I had my phone with me as well, but have limited minutes on it, so we only wanted to use that as backup. To make matters more difficult, there were only a handful of planes leaving Honolulu that night still, so we were limited on how we'd leave the airport, and probably woudl stick with our delayed flight to San Francisco. Mike stayed on the phone for over 40 minutes with another booking agent. It's spring break and apparently all Delta flights coming out of San Fran were booked - ALL flights - not just those to MSP. At one point, the agent was looking to book us through JFK in NEW YORK of all places. Mike had to be to work on Tuesday, so we really wanted to get back home on Monday at some point in time.
Finally, sucess. We'd both stay in Honolulu and fly out 3 hours later than planned to San Francisco. I would have a 5-hour layover there, then fly back to MSP directly by myself. Mike would have a 90-minute lay-over in San Francisco, then fly down to Los Angeles on United (or U S Air, I forget) stay there for and hour or so, and then fly back to MSP on Delta. They couldn't give me my boarding pass for San Francisco because it was more than 6 hours from flight time. They coudln't give Mike his SFO to LAX boarding pass because there were no United desks in the airport terminal. So we stayed in Honolulu for 3 hours doing nothing. All the food places were closed down other than a Starbucks (who was selling a cold meat/cheese sandwich for NINE DOLLARS - forget that) so we got to a little book store that was just about to close and each got a can of pop and a little bag of snacks.
We sat at a different gate & read for a while - our gate was PACKED with people and they seem to think it was a good idea to keep the place at around 60 degrees. I headed back at one point, and grabbed a copule glasses of pop and little Delta snacks they were offering. Then we eventually made it on the plane with the expected take -off at 1:48.
There was also a flight to Salt Lake City that got cancelled around the same time, I think due to an engine failure, and so the last we'd heard, they woudln't be able to get that entire flight out of Honolulu until Wednesday (it was still Monday at this point). Needless to say, there were a lot of crabby people wandering around the fully closed airpoirt that night.
Unfortunately, we sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour trying to get into take-off mode. The pilot even sounded amazed we were having a problem, and announced there was all this international traffic coming in, and they were having a problem fitting out late plane into the take-off schedule. REALLY? It's a teeny airport - there couldn't be THAT many planes coming in. We ended up taking off an HOUR late.
The flight back was LONG. Mike got about 3 hours of sleep - and I dozed once or twice, but really cannot sleep sitting up. Eventually we got to SFO. They then announced that peole staying at San Fran should let those with connecting flights off first but it seemed EVERYONE got off the plane right away. At this point we had heard that somewhere bewteen 130 and 160 of the people on this flight were flying back to MSP and ALL would miss their connecting flight in SFO. Wow - that's a lot of people to displace. We were REALLY glad we'd booked something already.
They told us to go to Gate 46 if you needed to work with someone to re-book your connecting flight and to get food vouchers. IF you had a connecting flight already that was still viable, you could got to the kiosks @ Gate 45 to scan your boarding pass, get your new boarding pass, and the vouchers. Mike had to fly United (or whatever it was) and had about 35 minutes to get to his plane. We were in a Delta-only terminal, and no one could tell us what gate he needed. Finally, he found out he needed to go to the international terminal. That would require him to go OUT of security, find the basic United desk on the outside, get his boarding pass, and go back through security to his new terminal. So I stayed in the Delta Terminal and he RAN the whole way (this included a run through a parking garage , of all places). He's lucky he made it - they were already boarding the flight when he was outside of security, getting his boarding pass.
I walked back and saw a massive line at Gate 46 - easily over 100 people. I was super-glad at that point that I had gotten that last seat on the SFO to MSP flight later in the day. I eventaully found the kiosks, scanned my boarding pass, and up popped my vouchers & a new boarding pass for MSP - that was really slick how easily that worked.
I headed to the only place that appeared to searve food - Perry's. I got a bacon cheese burger w/fries and a pop for $21 - holy cow! But since I had $18 of vouchers - who cares? Later I discovered there was only coffee/smoothie shop that had cold sandwiches as well, but I was in the mood for a burger, so that worked out OK. It was just annoything that I had to stay in this little terminal with 10 gates if I didn't want to go in/out of security. I wanted to wander, and had the time, but with all the chaos, decided it was better not to have to deal with scanners & such any longer than necessary.
Mike made it to LAX, and I told him about finding a Delta Kiosk. It worked, and he got a little pizza & a margarita. Apparentely, the vouchers don't cover alcohol, so he still had $12 of vouchers by the time he got on his plane.
I was supposed to arrive 20 minutesw after him, so he kept the car keys and planned on getting the car while I was still getting there, and picking me up outside. It turns out his plane was delayed and mine was on time, maybe even a bit early. Our plane was so full, and I had to put my carry-on about 10 rows behind me (what a massive pain that is!) but I still got to Mike's gate about 30 minutes before he got there.
Fortunatley, both our gates were close to the skyway that takes you to the escalators to the light rail. We made a quick stop at McD's to use up Mike's vouchers (hey - if Delta is going to pay for food, at this point, we want to make them pay) and ate/drank while waiting for the light rail.
A quick ride over the to the Humphrey Terminal and a wander through the parking ramp to find our car (we didn't remember exactly wehre it was) and we were on our way to pick up our puppy.
We got to Mike's brother's (the drive is about an hour) and were very happy to see our very happy dog Brock. But then we found out some really sad news. Their 2 1/2 year old lab Stormy had died unexpectedly yesterday. What an awful thing to happen. We'll miss you a lot , little Storm! We visited with Kim & Koen a bit, and then headed home.
Ah, home - what a wonderful place to be. Most of the snow is now gone, and that was a nice thing to see. From the time Mike dropped me off at the Lihue airport to arrving at home, it had taken us just over 23 hours to get home. wow!
Thank you to those who endured reading my blog. I get a bit wordy at times (I've been told this since grade-school report cards, and now hear it in job reviews) but I wanted, for ourselves, to remember all the things we did on this trip.
Aloha & Mahalo!
- comments