Chapter XIII: Somewhere, Over the Ocean

Hilo

Article I: getting there

i. Hawaiian Airlines. just trust me on this one. there may be trash barrages. there may be 7:30 am flights to Honolulu through Alaskan Air. they may even be working on some sort of teleportation system. At the end of the day, its probably at least a 5 hour flight through at least one time zone.

my advice would be go with the airline thats named after your destination. just a thought.

ii. The closer you can be to your destination (i.e. West Coast/Alaska) the shorter your flight will be. however, notate the time zone change (i.e. they already have for your arrival time), or be disappointed to find out your half way there when you thought you were about to land.

iii. Honolulu International is a half open air airport. this mean you will experience the warm humidity of the islands and probably see your first beautiful Hawaiian biology in the un-beautiful scenario of an airport.

iv. furthermore, you do not get the glorious birds eye view of the Islands you would hope for and expect. keep in mind the window is the size of your face, your thousands of feet up above thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, and the sun will most likely be directly overhead, reflecting off the wing directly outside your window, and probably directly into your eyes.

v. on your flight over, you will learn several native words, like "aloha" (hello, goodbye, love) and "mahalo" (thank you), in their most patronizing of forms.

vi. there is a complementary meal (don't get exited) and many, many complementary drinks from the fully equipped beverage cart. although there are hundreds of people on your flight and maybe four complementary bathrooms.

vii. there is an in-flight movie. they do rent you mini televisions with cable access and home movies. you can bring your own laptop. all things considered, don't be surprised when your sitting next to some one watching Sex in the City for five hours straight.

viii. once you reach the inner-Island flight, don't worry if your ticket doesn't have a seat assignment and just says "See Clerk". Just worry because you never noticed it before.

ix. ticket stand-by is not available for people who don't have the privilege of telling other people they work for the government.

x. there may certainly be a law out there about busking in the airport, however; apparently, there is no law on the Hawaiian Islands about sitting on the carpet by the gate and playing your guitar through important announcements.