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Oahu - The Gathering Place

 

Anyone that know us can tell you that we ALWAYS have problems with planes, flights, and/or airports on vacations. This trip was not to be any different. So far all of our flights had gone smoothly. That was all about to end with our flight home from Honolulu Intl Airport.

 

We learned on arrival from Maui that our plane had mechanical problems and the backup plane, a larger one, didn't have a trained crew available. The flight was cancelled.  Northwest put us up in the Sheraton Waikiki and told us to check back for another flight tomorrow.

 

 

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Day 10: Waikiki

 

The next morning we went to a free hula show called the Pleasant Hawaiian Hula Show at the Waikiki Shell. It was so much fun and very campy. They even had an audience hula lesson. At the end of the show we all received leis.

 

Afterward we went swimming in the ocean near our hotel. The water was so shallow (barely to your knees) for at least 1/4 mile out from the shore due to all the barriers the resorts have placed in the water. Unfortunately, after a glorious morning in the water, reality set in and we had to check out and get ready to head to the airport. We had lunch (on Northwest, of course) at the poolside restaurant and relaxed with drinks with umbrellas in them until time to head to the airport.

 

The airport fun didn’t end with our cancelled flight the night before.  Back at the airport, we thought that we just might be staying another night but they did manage to get us on the flight. The flight was to leave 45 minutes late and we had been told that our connecting flights would be held in Los Angeles. Right when we were taxiing for take off, these strong fumes started pouring into the cabin so we stopped and sat on the runway for about 20 minutes. They found the problem, a broken air filter, and got permission to take off without it. Finally we were on our way. We arrived in LA at 2:20 AM (1.5 hours late).  Fortunately, they actually did hold all connecting flights at LAX. Our Memphis-bound plane took off by 2:35, 1 hour late. We thought for sure we were going to miss our connection in Memphis but the pilot made great time.  We were supposed to land at 8:15 AM which would have given us 1/2 an hour to make our flight. Well, Memphis is a Northwest hub. And at hubs, planes all come in, then all go out. We had missed the "all come in" time and now all the runways were being used for take offs. We had to CIRCLE for 15 minutes. We landed in Memphis and literally had 5 minutes to make it to our gate. Apparently this time they were not holding any of the planes so that we could make our connections. Fortunately MIA is a small airport. We made it, however, and moments later they closed the doors and we pulled away from the gate. We had had 15 minutes from the time our plane from LA landed (not deplaned) in Memphis to the time our connection pulled away. Talk about close. But it worked out fine and we landed safely at DCA. A chaotic end to an enchanting vacation.

 

 

 

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