And it's already Thursday, and the first week is almost over ..
Let me start from the beginning.
Last Friday, we started very early. We left the house shortly after 6:00 a.m. and went to the train station. The ICE train ride to Frankfurt was quite relaxing and went well. Arriving at Frankfurt Airport, we had to get our bearings and did quite a bit of walking around until we finally sat at the gate and waited for boarding. Around 11:00 a.m., we boarded the plane, and I think I made the right decision by booking a section with only two seats.
We had really good seats, and instead of the scheduled 11:50 flight time, we arrived in San Francisco an hour earlier. That was okay, but what I personally didn't like was the airline's service on this route. I have to be honest, because I'm used to better from American airlines. I don't want to go into details, but I'll probably never book Condor for long-haul flights again.
Upon arriving in San Francisco, we first had to go through passport control. Because we truthfully stated that we had some snack vegetables with us, our passports were confiscated, and we had to go through another checkpoint after retrieving our suitcases from the baggage claim. A very nice lady explained to us that the vegetables we'd chopped at home were completely unacceptable, confiscated them, and had all our luggage scanned again. Well, I was aware of how strict they are in the USA, but my sweetheart wanted to take a chance. The delicious vegetables, intended as a snack, were gone. After this check, we were able to check our luggage again and now had a few hours of downtime. We started looking for the Hawaiian Airlines counter, and despite the signs, we couldn't find it. Somewhat perplexed, my sweetheart asked an Alaska Airlines employee (since Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are now owned by a single company), and he explained to us that the Hawaiian Airlines counter wouldn't open for a few hours, in the same place where the Aer Lingus counters had been at the time.
Without a new boarding pass, we couldn't enter the secure area, so we made ourselves comfortable in a nearby lounge area. Other passengers were already seated there, including two young women from northern Germany, with whom we struck up a conversation. They, too, were on their way to Honolulu. You can imagine we had plenty to talk about. About two hours later, we were able to get our boarding passes and, full of anticipation, made our way to the next security checkpoint. Check-in wasn't a problem, but since I had to take off my worn-out sneakers, I could only in my thoughts wish the friendly security lady good luck.
By now, we had reached the point where we finally wanted to arrive and were happy to finally be on the plane to Hawaii. After another five hours, we finally landed at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. We quickly retrieved our luggage and took a shuttle bus to the car rental offices. You have to imagine the situation like this: You leave the airport building and there are three shuttle buses to take arrivals to the car rental companies (because the airport grounds are very extensive). The ride takes less than five minutes, the bus stops, and you're standing in front of a large parking garage with several floors. You arrive, panting, with your luggage, in the lobby of the building. There's a Hawaiian man standing there who politely asks you which car rental company you want to go to and then tells you which floor you need to take the elevator to – even though everything is signposted. So you get in the elevator and go to that floor. The doors open and the next Hawaiian man is standing there and asks you again which car rental company you want to go to and shows you the way there. Then you walk to a small counter where there are two Hawaiians standing. One of them approaches you, looks at your documents, and then shows you where the rental cars are located, from which you can choose one. You choose a car, load your luggage, and drive to the exit. The exits are closed with barriers, and there's another counter booth at each exit. Here, you'll be asked for your documents and your (international) driver's license. You'll need to provide information about your whereabouts and an email address, and everything's done in no time. This is your first contact with the locals once you arrive, and everyone is super friendly and accommodating. I love this manner. ❤ The barrier opens, they say Aloha and you can leave.
Shortly after midnight, we arrived at our host Thom's place in Kane'ohe and parked our car in the carport. At this point, we had been on the road for a good 30 hours and, of course, were completely exhausted! We carried our luggage to the apartment where we had already spent four weeks last year, grabbed our shower gel from our suitcases, and one by one jumped into the shower before falling into bed. On the kitchen table lay a large note from Thom, welcoming us, pointing out the "goodies" in the fridge, and ending with "Welcome home." Need I say more? 🥰
Of course, despite all the tiredness, the first night was quite restless, but that's normal. On Saturday, we weren't up for much and felt almost like zombies. We had a small snack for breakfast, as Thom had packed snacks in the fridge for us, unpacked our bags, said hello to our hosts, and headed to the nearest Foodland to do some food shopping. We spent the rest of the day resting from the travel hardships.
Aloha! 🤙🏼
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