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Kaua’i |
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Saturday, August 23, 2008 Heading To Kaua’i |
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You know you’re in for a long trip when your departure date is actually departure DAYS! Since we were saddled with the unfortunate scenario of flying out of lovely JFK in New York, we decided to head up from Wilmington the night before and spend the night at an airport hotel that permits you to leave your car there for the duration of your trip.
Except for the fact that our Radisson Plaza hotel was a pit of despair (we had kind of expected to see tropical insects when we arrived in Hawai’i, NOT when crawling across the wall of our hotel room as we were going to sleep!), things worked out as we were in bed and asleep within minutes of arriving in our hotel room and then at the airport within three minutes of boarding their shuttle. We flew United from JFK to San Francisco and then on to Lihue. I’ve flown United a couple of times and while I was a bit disappointed with our ancient airplane (no exaggeration - the toilet was duct taped in place!), one thing I did REALLY enjoy was their Economy Plus seating. For an addition $54, we were able to get an additional three inches or so of legroom – something brutally important with my 6’5” frame! We’ll definitely be looking to United as an option for flights as long as they keep up this program! Our flights went quite smoothly with on-time departures and early arrivals on BOTH legs (don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before, especially with US Airways!)! We got a little teaser on our approach into Lihue airport as we saw some of Kaua’i’s cliffs with the Pacific Ocean waves crashing in on them. These weren’t the big, famous, beautiful ones, but they were still a neat tease of what was to come. |
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Killing time at JFK and then at San Francisco Int’l while waiting for our United flights |
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By the time we got our convertible (woo-hoo!) and all our luggage packed in, it was about 2:30 AM, body-time. Poor Victoria, who had been an absolute trooper up until this point, succumbed to exhaustion and slipped into slumber about five minutes out of the airport! Even when we got to the hotel room, she barely registered it before going back to sleep!
Just walking through the Hyatt Kaua’i was definitely enough to really get Kathie and me excited! From the welcoming tiki torches at the entrance to the staff, we were getting more and more excited as we walked through the halls and corridors to our room (this resort is massive). We had to let our imagination play with just how beautiful it was as it is pitch dark. The lack of light didn’t matter, though, as we were able to hear and sense the Pacific crashing outside our balcony. The other beautiful site we were treated to was the Hawai’ian sky. With few clouds and no ambient light, the blanket of stars was something we just don’t get to enjoy in the Northeast. But out here in the middle of the Pacific, it was a simple, yet beautiful way to start our vacation!
Now if we can just deal with the jet lag!
TOMORROW: Our first day in paradise! |
