We are finally in Hawaii!!! This has been the longest day of my life - especially because of the 5 extra hours added due to the time change. We've been up since 4:30 a.m. EST and although the clock now says 7:30 p.m. our bodies know it is 12:30 a.m. (In case you don't want to do the math, we have now been up for 20 hours straight.) Even though exhausted, I am still chanting my mantra: No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good. But that is all about to change.
We get off the plane and follow all the other people to baggage claim. Unbeknownst to us, baggage claim is a long walk outside and we didn't get a wheelchair for Dad. He was a trooper though and we slowly made our way to claim our bags. Is it just me or is it REALLY humid out here? None of the guide books said anything about humidity this time of year. Maybe I am just feeling it since we are not in tropical clothing yet. Although I feel sweat trickling down my back, I am still whispering my mantra: No biggie. I am going to Hawaii so all is good.
We finally make it to the baggage claim area where we find Dad a bench. I send Mom off to to find out where the Thrifty rental counter is and I stand by waiting for our luggage. Guess which bag is one of the first on the carousel? Yep, the carry on bag we had to check in Charlotte. Mom was shocked but pleased. I even overheard another woman say as my suitcase came around that it was really cute luggage. And she was right. I do have cute luggage.
See for yourself how cute it is
But it is cursed luggage!! Read on to see why.
Before I knew it the carousel of luggage had stopped and there was no more luggage!!! Where the *@#$ is the rest of my luggage?!?!? You have got to be kidding me!!! There is another guy waiting also. We both look at each other with a knowing look as we move reluctantly toward the luggage claims office. Screw the mantra!! I am tired and hungry and sweaty. At this point I was just trying to remember that I was from the South and brought up to be a lady and to not swear in front of my parents.
Mom joins me in line while we wait our turn to ask where the @#$% our luggage is. We start to look for our luggage claim tickets. And we look and we look and we look. We basically unpack both of our purses and totes looking for the stupid little pieces of paper but the only thing we come up with is our receipt for the payment of our checked bags. All the while we are searching, Mom tells me that she has found no Thrifty rental car counter or any directions to Thrifty in the airport. ~~This is when I take a deep cleansing breath.~~ I pull out our car rental information in my handy dandy travel binder and ask Mom to call the phone number and find out where we are supposed to go. She gets to the third prompt and gives up in frustration.
Finally, it is our turn at the baggage claim counter. The baggage guy asks for our luggage claim tickets. We tell him we don't have those and the only thing the woman gave us this morning was the receipt for the bag check fee so we show him our flight information. He punches a few keys on the computer and says he can't really do anything since we don't have the luggage claim tickets. We again tell him we never got them. ~~Take another deep cleansing breath.~~ He is very confused that we booked on United but took US Air and ended up on a Continental flight that was actually a United flight number. We tell him our flight information again and he is still confused. ~~Another deep cleansing breath.~~ I even show him all of our flight reservation information and he is still confused. ~~Big deep cleansing breath.~~ At last the other baggage guy steps in and within a minute finds our luggage in the the system and that it is still in San Fransisco. He tells us it will be on the next flight tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. ~~Take a smaller deep cleansing breath.~~ 1:20 p.m.? Really? There isn't another flight into Honolulu from San Francisco before that? Apparently not. But at least we know where our luggage is and when it will arrive.
Now it is time to find Thrifty so we can get out rental car. I start the process of trying to get a real live person on the phone to tell us where to go. After a few minutes of being on hold, I get to speak to someone who tells me to find an airport house phone and dial #11 and they will tell me what to do. So we find a phone and dial #11. Presto! We have to walk outside to the median and catch a shuttle. Would it kill them to just put up a freaking sign??? Or at the very least tell you this little bit of information on your reservation???
We find the rental car shuttle location after a bit of obstinacy on Dad's part. I am almost thankful we don't have luggage at this point because we are all about to explode from exhaustion and frustration. And thank the good Lord for air conditioning on the shuttle bus. Who knew Honolulu would be so humid at 9:00 at night. (Yes, it is 1 1/2 hours later and we are just leaving the airport.)
In just a few minutes we are at Thrify and all checked in since I signed up for the Blue Chip program - thanks cruisecritic.com for the tip. Our Jeep Liberty was ready and waiting for us and Hero (yes, his name was Hero) was very helpful in giving us directions and telling us they would be happy to take us to the Port on Saturday after we dropped off the car. While I was checking in, Mom even met a nice family who was going to Disney's Aulani Resort - which is where we are staying post-cruise. They saw my Mickey luggage tag on our carry on bag. Although exhausted and hungry and without any clothing or toiletries, things are beginning to look up. In fact, it isn't even as humid anymore.
Next stop - Hale Koa!!
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