Hello night owls, it's only 12:50am here in Honolulu. Only 3:50am Mountain Time ( I am still on that clock).
Thought I'd wait till after I got back to write this up, but I couldn't wait. Need to let it out (and dump it on you guys. :-))
First day and a few lessons learned already. The first has to do with making reservations. I had a connection at Kona the big island. What I didn't realize though, is the flight from SLC is a Boeing 767. It's got a good population of passengers, and my seat was in the very back. Being a procrastinator, I didn't bother to check the connection flight time, assuming if Orgitz can book it, I can make it, no matter what. The flight was boring (6hours 32 minutes; I'd rather drive if I can). But I enjoyed taking pictures off the air during landing. My first impression of the big island is, well, really its airport, is rudimentary. Hard to believe it's even called "international airport". Not just the airport consists of just a few pavilian type of buildings, but rather it's poorly managed and is far from being efficient. There are not a lot visual signs for directions, there's nobody at the information desk, and most of all, people there speak a different kind of English. (okay, not just their fault, I speak broken English too. :-)) Anyway, the first kiosk couldn't find my flight information, and by the time I was able to get the second kiosk to work, it says "your flight has departed". Great. This is just want I needed. So I checked with the counter, and was told the next flight was 6:30pm, but is already full. So I got a 8:35pm boarding pass, the last flight for the night, and meanwhile I was on standing by. Later while searching for a restaurant I ran into a few familiar faces, all were on the same flight from SLC. Obviously I was not the only one missing that connection. Made me feel a little better. So I was at the boarding gate 6:30 sharp, and waited like 40 minutes before they actually board the passengers. Punctuality doen't seem to mean much here. Anyway, they have four spots available, and I was one of the lucky ones. I can see the people behind me turning green as I rushed toward the plane. Well at least this is not a totally disaster. Lesson: leave enough time between connection flights. If you are going to Hawaii, plan 2.5 hours at least IMO.
I thought I was now on a lucky streak till when I was ready to drive to the hotel. Alamo had only one upgrade option, and that's for a wrangler. I decided to pass. If it's a Grand Cherokee I'd take it. I kind of see this trip mainly of pavement driving and wrangler's road manner lacks refinement. Anyway I got to the hotel just to find out they require guests to reserve the parking permits because there's only a limited number available. I am on the waiting list, number, .... 13, to be exact. Holy grief, the clerk threw a map at me and draw three options: 1) park along the road (if I can find one; and lucky me, tomorrow is not tow day). 2) a paying lot good for 12 hours; 3) parking lot of food pantry, but need to move it before 7am. Well I am not a picky person. Whatever works. Yeah, if it's that simple. I drove the area for like an hour. Couldn't find that paying lot, there's no spot on alongside the road, and just when I thought I will make an effort to get up early to move the car, the direction leads me to a no entry street. Well, what you know. At least I now know where the name brand stores are. There's also a whole bunch of ABC stores (chain) in the area so I grabbed some mineral water and cookies. Luckily on my last round I found a spot. That's good for today. Let tomorrow worry about it as it comes. Lesson: ask hotel if parking permit needs to be reserved in advance. I've been living in small towns for so long I got spoiled. This and a few other things reminds me why I don't like big cities in the first place.
Okay that's it for now. Hope this may be of any hlep for you guys planning such a trip soon.
Thought I'd wait till after I got back to write this up, but I couldn't wait. Need to let it out (and dump it on you guys. :-))
First day and a few lessons learned already. The first has to do with making reservations. I had a connection at Kona the big island. What I didn't realize though, is the flight from SLC is a Boeing 767. It's got a good population of passengers, and my seat was in the very back. Being a procrastinator, I didn't bother to check the connection flight time, assuming if Orgitz can book it, I can make it, no matter what. The flight was boring (6hours 32 minutes; I'd rather drive if I can). But I enjoyed taking pictures off the air during landing. My first impression of the big island is, well, really its airport, is rudimentary. Hard to believe it's even called "international airport". Not just the airport consists of just a few pavilian type of buildings, but rather it's poorly managed and is far from being efficient. There are not a lot visual signs for directions, there's nobody at the information desk, and most of all, people there speak a different kind of English. (okay, not just their fault, I speak broken English too. :-)) Anyway, the first kiosk couldn't find my flight information, and by the time I was able to get the second kiosk to work, it says "your flight has departed". Great. This is just want I needed. So I checked with the counter, and was told the next flight was 6:30pm, but is already full. So I got a 8:35pm boarding pass, the last flight for the night, and meanwhile I was on standing by. Later while searching for a restaurant I ran into a few familiar faces, all were on the same flight from SLC. Obviously I was not the only one missing that connection. Made me feel a little better. So I was at the boarding gate 6:30 sharp, and waited like 40 minutes before they actually board the passengers. Punctuality doen't seem to mean much here. Anyway, they have four spots available, and I was one of the lucky ones. I can see the people behind me turning green as I rushed toward the plane. Well at least this is not a totally disaster. Lesson: leave enough time between connection flights. If you are going to Hawaii, plan 2.5 hours at least IMO.
I thought I was now on a lucky streak till when I was ready to drive to the hotel. Alamo had only one upgrade option, and that's for a wrangler. I decided to pass. If it's a Grand Cherokee I'd take it. I kind of see this trip mainly of pavement driving and wrangler's road manner lacks refinement. Anyway I got to the hotel just to find out they require guests to reserve the parking permits because there's only a limited number available. I am on the waiting list, number, .... 13, to be exact. Holy grief, the clerk threw a map at me and draw three options: 1) park along the road (if I can find one; and lucky me, tomorrow is not tow day). 2) a paying lot good for 12 hours; 3) parking lot of food pantry, but need to move it before 7am. Well I am not a picky person. Whatever works. Yeah, if it's that simple. I drove the area for like an hour. Couldn't find that paying lot, there's no spot on alongside the road, and just when I thought I will make an effort to get up early to move the car, the direction leads me to a no entry street. Well, what you know. At least I now know where the name brand stores are. There's also a whole bunch of ABC stores (chain) in the area so I grabbed some mineral water and cookies. Luckily on my last round I found a spot. That's good for today. Let tomorrow worry about it as it comes. Lesson: ask hotel if parking permit needs to be reserved in advance. I've been living in small towns for so long I got spoiled. This and a few other things reminds me why I don't like big cities in the first place.
Okay that's it for now. Hope this may be of any hlep for you guys planning such a trip soon.
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