….to Hawaii. Not exactly the total trip we had planned – Vietnam and Southeast Asia for several weeks, then Thailand for a month, then Bali, then onto Hawaii – but hey, what can you do? Once Thailand got jettisoned due to their wacky on again off again Test and Go program, we figured we’d just keep the Hawaii portion and add on a couple of days in Waikiki before heading to Maui. Since we already have the condo booked and return airfare – well, works for us! So after a nice night in the Airport Clarion Inn with a fantastic dinner from Blue Agave (they have some of the best Mexican food – and huge portions for great prices) we were up before the break of dawn to head to the airport for our 7am flight. Yawn.

All goes according to plan – or at least the plan we knew might occur. The flight to Chicago pushes back on time (as usual) and sits on tarmac for over 30 minutes (as usual) making us 30 minutes late, thus forcing us to run through 3 terminals in Chicago O’Hare to make our Honolulu flight. Fortunately the guy behind us on the Asheville flight is heading to the same connection – and he’s running the whole way. He said he’d let them know we are coming. Thank you sweet running guy!

We walk/run through the throngs to our gate only to find we still need to be screened. What? We did all the paperwork, created all the online accounts, got our CLEAR pass, have our green Hawaii QR code for quarantine exemption and we now need to do what? The unhelpful United rep says no, we still need to be screened and to take a picture of this QR code on the poster in order to start the process to get screened and get our blue wrist bands to avoid the screening in Hawaii – which he says will take 3 hours to complete. What? Meanwhile, they are calling the flight, saying they are closing the doors in 3 minutes. Ok – here we go.

We scan the QR code and it comes up with all this stuff we have to input, which we do, then we get to a screen that says to wait for the United Rep. We show him the screen and ask him what to do next. He just looks at it, shakes his head and says too late – you have to get on the plane now, they are shutting the doors. Can’t help you. Meanwhile, he’s helping all these other people who are behind us!!! Are you kidding me?

So, cursing, we run for the gate, where we get on the plane, virtually the only people without blue wrist bands. I’m seething. Then, because of course we were last on, there is precious little overhead space, but we do manage to stuff our backpacks between huge carryon cases. Oh, and to add insult to injury? Yeah, they don’t even close the plane doors for another 10 minutes. Yep, you know we’re happy. Not the most auspicious start!

We eventually settle down, and actually the flight is great. Bulkhead seats in Premium Plus, tons of room, surprisingly good food, great movies (I finally get to watch Roadrunner: The Anthony Bourdain story. OMG! Tortured soul. I just shook my head the entire movie.) Ed watched Inherit the Wind. We both read. 9 and 1/2 hours went by like nothing – and poof – we are in Hawaii.

And poof again – we are through the screening process. It takes all of 5 minutes. Thank you Mr. Mean United Rep for getting us all anxious over nothing. Phew! We get through so fast we still have to wait for the bags. Which makes us very happy, to say the least! Bags arrive, driver picks us up within 5 minutes of calling and we are deposited at the Ilikai in no time at all. Check in is a breeze (although our name is listed under “Jr” instead of Stevens so there is a little bit of kerfluffle finding our reservation, but no worries, all is well). We end up with a great room on the shady city side of the building, with a 19th floor balcony overlooking Honolulu and parts of Waikiki. Great view. Good breeze. Full kitchen. ABC store with beer, wine and some food literally on the next corner. We’re set!

We dump our luggage, change into shorts and make our way to ABC for beer, wine and snacks. Then organize a bit and decide to just stay here at the Ilikai for dinner. There is a cute little cafe called Cinnamon’s on the ground floor, in the garden, that has a decent menu and, well, we’re starting to feel our jet lag, so sticking close to home sounds like a good deal to us.

We check out the setting, give the hostess our name and phone number, and go back to the room to wait for her text to tell us our table is available. She texts in way less than the 30 minutes wait time originally promised, and we’re back downstairs in a flash, sitting in the courtyard, in the breeze, ordering drinks and apps from Shreyas, our adorable Indian waiter, who ends up giving us a recommendation for his brother’s food truck on Maui. What can we say? Small world?

At any rate, we get the mahi mahi sandwich with macadamia crust (which I totally forgot to photograph), delicious, and the pulled pork nachos, equally delicious but way too much! We end up getting containers for the nachos to take back with us, figuring they will be a great lunch (there is that much left!).

Completely full, we retire to our great little condo/hotel room to sit on the balcony in the really cool breeze and decompress (read: fall asleep) from our really, really long day of travel!