First Full Day of our Anniversary Trip to Hawaii

 Well, it was a very, very long day. 

We got up at 3:30AM to catch our flight to Hawaii which departed at 7:45 AM. There were a few things we had to get done before the flight which is why we started so early. First of all, we had to park the truck in a new area of (our regular)  parking lot - a covered space area - and I wasn't sure if we would have any problems with that. That went great. Next, we had to check our bag through which I already paid for online the night before. That also went great. Our next step was to test our TSA Precheck status that I enrolled us in for a quick check-in. That went pretty well except I had a lot of stuff (medal) that the sensor didn't like and I lost time there. Everything else went according to plan and we left (almost) on time for our 7:45 AM flight.

It was pretty much a disappointment from that point on. The flight was OK, but was exceptionally long - 6+ hrs, with only the usual "token" snacks the entire trip. We landed almost on schedule and caught the shuttle to the car rental area. That really started our disappointment. I tried taking photos of our landing but it was unusually hazy and cloudy which affected the quality of my photos. This one was probably the best of the lot:

Once we claimed our baggage, we took the shuttle to the car rental lot. That started our real run of disappointments. We stood in line for almost an hour, had to accept a different vehicle from the one reserved and the cost was almost double our reserved price after adding necessary items that were not mentioned as requirements under the rental agreement. After a short argument, I wanted to just get the car and leave and signed for the vehicle.

Our trip to the condo we have rented for the week was a fairly nice drive through some nice mountains and was only a disappointment from the standpoint that the homes were mostly old and in neighborhoods that hardly fit the "Hawaiian" image of upscale neighborhoods. We arrived at the condo and was met by our host/owner Eva who took us on a walkthrough of the property. It was not exactly as we had expected in that it is older and missing some of the amenities that we expected: no range (only a table-top Black and Decker Convection Oven), only a motel class coffee maker with only one coffee pack, a portable refrigerator with a tiny freezer, no washer and dryer, etc. The condo is in a great location though:

and we toasted to our trip with a (very) small glass of sparkling wine that was on the table:

By this time, we were dragging and decided to go into town (map of which is below that was in a picture frame on the wall):

 

and get some food for the room and satisfy our hunger from not eating all day. 

We will make it a fabulous trip once we get some rest, some food and a good plan to do the things we talked about while planning the whole week. There are some great views of the ocean that I will capture and the yard is also a nice place to relax. It is now about 6:30 PM (Hawaii time) and Josie is already in bed recovering from the long day and I am about to do the same. We hope to have some cheerful entries following this rough start to the trip...