October 5
Kim and I were up at 5 am to catch our 8 am flight to Atlanta where we met our great friends Sue & Dan Reynolds to catch the direct flight to Honolulu. We boarded at 10:20 and were ready for an on-time departure at 11:15 am when it was announced that the entertainment system was not responding. It would NOT be a pleasant 9 1/2 hour flight without any entertainment provided! Took about 45 minutes and then all was well and we were off. LOVED our decision to take the exit row seats as we had a huge amount of legroom for the long trip.
It actually wasn't that bad on the long flight. We all kept busy and the other three were much like me - I read on three separate occasions for about a half hour each; I watched two full movies; watched two hour long episodes of the new series "1883" (highly recommend!). And we were served a hot lunch and with about 90 minutes to go a small cheese & mushroom pizza slice. Were off the plane within five minutes and our luggage came relatively quickly. Our instructions were to meet our tour representative in the baggage claim area. But try as we might we couldn't find them. Finally after about 20 minutes he came through the doors and apologized for being caught in traffic. Got our traditional welcome lei's and we were off the the shuttle.
When we got on board our greeter told us he would be "right back" as he had to get six more guests. Within minutes four arrived. Waited...waited, forty minutes later we were finally all on board. This led to the only disappointment of the day.....we had booked a sunset cruise which departed at 5:30. But with the flight delay and the bus delay we didn't arrive at the Prince Waikiki Hotel until a little after five, and it was about 5:20 before we had our room keys. We'd all agreed that with another sunset cruise already booked for tomorrow, and the chances of us getting there in time, it just wasn't worth it. Kim and I went to our room which has a spectacular view of the marina and on out into the ocean. And as we rode down the elevator to meet Sue & Dan for dinner more spectacular scenery of the skyline of Honolulu was visible out the glass of the elevator.
We had a wonderful dinner just steps away from the hotel and while we were sitting on the open-air second floor of the restaurant a jaw-dropping sunset occurred right outside our deck view.
Tomorrow there is nothing on the schedule until the early evening sunset cruise. Which is a good thing because (a) we'll enjoy just relaxing in Hawaii, and (b) after a 18-hour day, we're ready to just relax. So happy to be on the go and with our pals Sue & Dan.
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