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Thursday, March 08, 2007

Hawaii Trip Day 0

Procrastination has gotten the better of me. Yet again. Throwing stuff in the suitcase minutes before we have to leave for work (was planning on going straight to the airport after work) and getting all frazzled... deja vu (i.e. happens before every trip).

While driving to work, realized that I forgot to pack any shorts. Or skirts. Or other bottoms! Just the jeans I had on, and a bikini bottom with a wrap... what was I thinking? Was I gonna wear the bikini bottom (with something on top of course) all around Oahu? Should I turn back? Well, not at that point since Bruce will be late for work and I'll be late for my class (I'm in training the past couple of days). Maybe we'll go shopping first thing in Hawaii or something.

Luckily, training ended early for me. I had an extra hour, possibly enough time for me to rush home to grab something. But it was the start of the peak hour traffic... I decided not to take the risk. Besides, I found a pair of shorts at work... supposed to be used for workouts at the gym but guess what, I haven't been in a loooong time. Oops. But hey that's one less pair of shorts I need to buy.

Since it was about half an hour before Bruce can leave work, I stopped by Stein Mart. Don't usually shop there but heard they usually have good deals. Picked up a skirt for less than $10. Not bad for 10 minutes of shopping. On the way out, saw a cute hat on sale. That was something else I forgot to pack. However, it's pink, and I'm not a pink lady (not a reference to Grease!). Guess I just got the first souvenir for Evana ;)

So we had quite a bit of time and was in no rush. But when we got to the off-airport parking place, the shuttle driver herded us into the shuttle and kept asking which gate we're going to (shouting rather, since we were seated at the very back of the vehicle). I told her I was working on it (busy connecting to the AA website with my E62 but for some reason the site was unresponsive when I needed it)... then I tried calling AA flight info but the stupid voice-activated system doesn't work too well with people yakking all around me (there were others in the shuttle plus the driver was still screaming at me). Finally we managed to get the gate info but I couldn't remember if I locked my car during the whole commotion. So we had to ask her to turn around after dropping the others off and you could really hear the irritation in her voice. Anyway we gave her a big tip in the end, even though I felt that everything would've been fine if she wasn't so impatient and kept rushing me from the get go.

The ride to (and from, and to) the airport was very bumpy. Not quite the butt massage we got off-roading in Cozumel (another story) but was enough to give me a headache in the stuffy shuttle. I was so glad to get out of it that going through airport security felt like a breeze. We had dinner at TGIF's... seems that their food has improved. The last time I was in a TGIF was in London almost two years ago. Before that? Probably at least 5 years ago.

Snapped a couple of pics in the terminal before the flight. Will be photo blogging on my Vox site so do hop over and take a look! Flight to LAX was uneventful. However we had to wait a long time for the hotel shuttle (what's it with shuttles today?). Seeing (and hearing and smelling) the traffic zooming in front of us while we waited reminded me of how I probably shortened my life by a few years when I drove in Los Angeles last August. Crrrraazy drivers! Dallas drivers are angels compared to them, and to think this is the City of Angels?

So anyway we're only in Los Angeles for the night. Catching an early flight to Honolulu next morning. This will give us an extra half day of vacation without taking an extra day off work. I'm all about maximizing every minute of our vacation time!

cybette wrote this at 02:28 AM
Comments

Hey have fun in Hawai'i! It must be amazing out there!

Posted by Alicia -- March 9, 2007 03:32 AM

sounds so fun! i love the way u write about your adventure!wish i were there.....u mean u tipped her even though you could hear the irritation in her voice!

Posted by megan -- March 12, 2007 02:09 AM

Megan I'm glad you like it because there's more to come! I'm trying to document my travels as much for myself as for anyone reading this. (I find that I'm starting to forget stuff more and more easily now...)

And yeah, I tipped her because she was just doing her job. And I can only imagine how hard it is when majority of your pay depends on tips.. if I was occasionally grouchy on my job, I still get the same amount on my next pay check. so I respect those who work to provide service for people.

Thanks Alicia! It was amazing! I didn't want to come back....

Posted by Carol -- March 13, 2007 07:14 PM