8:27 am LAX - 4/26/09 | 12:27 pm Palau - 4/27/09
Day of flying and airports

Woke up around 5:30 am and checked my e-mails before getting dressed. Put last minute items in my luggage and then we took the dogs for a very short walk. I was feeling nervous about the time, and whether I'd get to the Van Nuys Flyaway/to the airport 2 hours before my flight.

Bus was waiting to go and I made it on the 7:15 ride. Christine, the bus driver, was a hoot (at least I found her entertaining). She had a great sense of humor about traffic, driving a big bus, etc. I had a chance to talk to her one-on-one between terminals 4 and 6. I thanked her for the ride and we wished each other a good day.

I got inside the Continental entrance and there were lots of people using the Kiosks. Finally it was my turn and Charlie, a Continental representative, helped me get my boarding passes. We had a great time joking around. Wow - 2 for 2 with friendly, happy, helpful people.

I didn't catch the next ladies name who checks your passport and boarding pass(es) before you can head upstairs for the security check and the gates. I asked her if there were bathrooms at the top of the escalators and she said there was one right before I got to the line area. There was no one behind me so I quickly made use of the bathroom only to come out and find a decent sized line. Luckily the line was moving quickly with the 2 checkers and when it was my turn again, I got the other person and the original woman told him I'd already been checked.

As I was making my way up the escalator, the guy in front of me was stuffing his boarding passes into his back pocket, one of them fell out and landed not too far from me. I picked it up and gave it back to him. I haven't flown since before the 9/11 incident so I was pretty clueless as to what to expect. The guy who's boarding pass I picked up helped me and so did the gal behind me...all 3 of us wore sandals for the same reason (to get them off and on quickly). Rogers checked my passport and boarding passes after I went through the detector.
So now I sit...waiting for 9:15 when we start boarding. Going to start walking around for a while since I'll be in the air for around 5 hours.

To be continued...

10:33 am LA | 2:34 pm Palau

We left the gate around 10:05 am and finally got to the take-off area close to 10:15 (I forgot to look at my watch). Feeling the airplane accelerate down the runway brought a huge smile to my face and tears of pure joy. I felt like a little kid who had sprouted wings. The tears of joy soon turned to tears of appreciation looking down on the blue/green marble we call Earth (or home). I finally got to see the Channel Islands and they are absolutely beautiful. When I see them on our beach walk, they are mostly hidden from view by fog. I was surprised at how big one of the islands is...there was a trail (or maybe a fire road) along the ridge.

We are now high above the clouds and the turbulence is on the light side. Pilot just said for about the next 60 miles it will be like this and we have to keep our seat belts on. The view out the window is is awesome! Lots of white clouds with patches of blue ocean peaking through.

10:45 and a little bumpier now. I'm so glad that I rode in the RV before flying in turbulence...they feel a lot alike, except there's no road directly underneath us. :) LOL

Lunch time - the stewardess will be back shortly with my vegetarian food. A vegan (garden veggie patty) sandwich and a cardboard box filled with...Quinoa Southwestern Salad, a cracked wheat dinner roll with a small container of 'I can't believe it's not butter' (or one of those pseudo butters) and a vegan chocolate chip cookie for desert. I got a Dr. Pepper to counteract all that healthy food. :) I have a bottle of water in my bag, but I figured it wasn't going to cut it taste wise.

The sandwich is good and hot, but doesn't taste like much...the Quinoa salad is still semi-frozen in the middle with little ice crystals on the outer edges and bland. For those not familiar with "Southwestern salads", they usually contain black beans, corn kernels, peppers and sometimes tomatoes and a spicy dressing...they missed out on the spiciness big time. Even the small package of Mrs. Dash - light pepper, no garlic - was on the bland side, but at least it added a little more flavor to the salad. I just noticed the "thaw 4/25" sticker on top of the box...they should start thawing 2 days before the flight!! As for the vegan cookie...upon opening the package there was a strong cinnamon smell, much
stronger than the taste. If the cookie was frozen with the rest of the box, then that would explain the mushy consistency. I'm glad I'm not flying for the meal!! It's all about the journey baby!

Ground Speed: 485 mph
Altitude: 34,004
Estimated time of arrival: 4:03
Distance traveled: 610 miles
Outside temp: -3 degrees Farenheit
So cool to be able to see this info on a screen, along with a map showing where we're at...love, love, love technology! This plane is equipped with plugs between the seats to plug your laptop into and the back of the seats have screens for you to watch TV shows or movies, play games or listen to music. I'm choosing to write and look out the window - right now there's not much to see due to the high clouds that look more like fog or a mist/veil.

1:20 pm Honolulu | 4:20 pm LA

Arrived in Honolulu pretty much on time with a bit of a rough landing. The color of the water was so beautiful that it brought more tears to my eyes. Too bad they make you put all portable devices away before you get close to where you're going...so I didn't get to take any pictures.

In looking for my gate, I was taken in by all the "eye candy" - Hawaiian shirts, some beautiful leis, etc. I'm glad that I wore the Suunto n3 (atomic) watch, it automatically changed the time for me...when I got to the next gate I'll be departing from, I reset the dual time to LA to make it easier for the journaling. Next flight takes off around 2:10 pm Honolulu time - 5:10 pm LA time.

5:07 pm Honolulu | 8:07 pm LA

We finally took off at 2:46 pm, I was pretty hungry but food was not to come as early in the flight as the first leg. They did pass out a small bag of pretzels and drinks. There was a bit of a SNAFU with my vegetarian meal...they had no record of it. I ended up eating 3 small salads, a roll and a small bag of cookies with Cranberry juice to wash it down.

Since I'm sitting with a view of the wing (not much to see outside) I decided to make use of the seat entertainment system. I just finished watching "Bolt" and plan on watching "Bedtime Stories" if/when it somes on again...something about the system recycles every 2 hours or so.

11:35 pm Honolulu | 1:35 am LA

I did get to watch "Bedtime Stories" and one of the stewards brought me a plate of fruit - 3 slices of cantaloupe, honeydew and pineapple...4 slices of kiwi, 1 strawberry and a small bunch of grapes - the pineapple was delicious; I only ate 1 slice as the acid generally messes up my teeth for a few days.

The last 34 miles to Guam was very bumpy and cloudy. When we landed it was raining.

The atomic watch doesn't detect a signal so I'm not sure what the local time is, but I think we are leaving early. Depart time on boarding pass says 6:50 watch says 10:45 (pm) Honolulu time...6:45 and we're backing away from the gate, looks like a light drizzle.

5:19 pm Palau | 1:19 am LA ?

Well, another flight with no vegetarian food. Small amount of fruit (3 cubes cantaloupe and pineapple) and some kind of cookies. Gonna have to find the package of crackers I brought from home.