Each year my Grandmother takes a trip to HAWAII!! She usually takes family members with her, this year was our turn. My sister and Grandmother left on Tuesday, February 9th. My mom and I came on
Saturday, February 13th, however it was not that easy and great until we got to Hawaii that night.
Let me tell you about our day, on Friday it had snowed and all roads were icy, which meant flights would be cancelled. Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to check on our scheduled flight from Birmingham to Atlanta at 7:00. Charlie(Step-Dad) drove us to the airport and we found out our plane had been delayed until 12:00p.m, the problem was that our flight in Atlanta to Hawaii was leaving at 11:00 and was not delayed, and the next flight wasn't until the following Tuesday. So Charlie graciously offered to drive us to Atlanta. We got to Atlanta and had 45 minutes to get bags checked and to our gate before our plane took off. We went to check our bags in the outside checkin desk and moms bags checked fine, but they could not check mine because the night before when mom was filling everything else the system messed up and checked that I needed assistance. The man told us we would have to go inside and stand in the line to check them, the line was over 6 hours long. Again if I waited in this line I would miss my flight. So we went back out and asked the guy if there was any other options for us, he said I could check them under my moms name. So I said "YES" lets do that, then he said "BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY $125 DOLLARS". At this point I didn't care, we now had 30 minutes to get to our gate. We run run run, we go through security where we get stopped again, because mom forgets to tell me to throw away my Sprite and her Coke. Then we rush to our gate thinking that we are late and have missed the flight, and we find out that our flight has been delayed an hour. WOW!!!
So we take a seat and can finally breath thinking everything is fine and nothing else can go wrong, boy was I wrong. Mom had a buddy pass which meant she was basically on stand by. They call moms name and she gets a TICKET.... They ask her where she would like to sit and mom says the seat next to mine and gives them my name. The guy says we do not have anyone with that name in that seat or even on the plane. So I start panicking. We found out that because I didn't show up to get on the flight in Birmingham they had re-scheduled my flight for the following Tuesday. The man was so sweet and took extra time and finally got me on the plane and Mom and I got to sit by each other and finally leave for HAWAII!!
We arrived in Hawaii at 6:00 Hawaii time and 10:00 Birmingham time.
Needless to say we were exhausted. We got a taxi and headed to the hotel and went straight to dinner with SB and Nannie who were very excited to see us, after thinking we weren't going to make it. After dinner we all went straight to bed.
Feb. 14 Sunday (Valentines Day)
We woke up and went and had breakfast at a place called "Happy's" which was a little quick walk in walk out type place right outside of our Hotel. Then SB, Mom, and I headed to the pool to lay out for the day going from the pool to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful.
Around 5:00 we went up and got showers then came back down to the "Barefoot Bar" to listen to live music and watch the Chinese New Years Show. Hear are a few photos from that night.
February 15, 2010 Monday
We woke up to a beautiful day in Hawaii. We laid out at the pool and beach again and took in the sun. We did not care if we burned, because we were thinking of how cold our family and friends were at home. Around 3:00 we all went up to get ready for the night. That night we were going to a live Luau at the Hotel. My grandmother had ordered tickets way in advance so that we would have the best seats in the place. We had table number "6" which was front row. The dinner was very unique but delicious.
February 16, 2010 Tuesday
This day was the day of sight seeing for Mom, Sb, and I. We rented a convertible and SB drove us around the island, I was two young to drive the rented car. We first drove to the famous "BLOW HOLE" which at the time it did not do much but it was still a beautiful place.
Next as we were driving around the island we came to a beautiful sight where we stopped and took some pictures of SB and I being silly. Love these times together. After this little side stop we decided to drive up to North Shore to the famous beach where all the surfers go and where movies are made. We sat and enjoyed the view around us. Then we headed back to the hotel to hang out with Nannie. Here are some shots from those stops.
