Are we having fun…yet?

Well Devin and I are on our way home to Utah.  But before I get to all of that, I will make a few entries about our most recent adventure. 

A few months ago Devin was doing his daily check of his deal web sites when he found an entry that said there was a great deal on tickets to Hawaii from Houston.  After doing some math and realizing that the tickets were less than half the cost of what they were when we went on our honeymoon, we decided to go for it.  This may seem like a frivolous expense but you might just have to laugh after I tell you how it was all done. 

First, the tickets.  Well, I don’t want to make you feel bad that you passed up the deal but lets just say that my parents are going to Hawaii next week.  We got a rental car for only two days over the weekend for 50% off the weekday rates.  (And we are both now 25 so underage fee? No thanks!) The rest of the time we walked or took the city bus for $2.  Transportation: check.

The hotel.   After re-re-re-reviewing comments on Tripadvisor.com, we decided that all we needed was a simple place to sleep and nothing else.  So, we went for the cheapest thing listed, which for some reason was rated #6 hotel in Waikiki.  But hey, #6? It had to be somewhat decent, right?  More on that later. Hotel: check.

The luggage.  Since the airlines are now charging to check bags, we decided that we would take advantage of their generous "one carryon piece of luggage and one personal item."  Just so happens that my "purse" is in the form of a backpack.  (Ok, not really but shhh, don’t tell United.)  Almost everything we need: check and check.

So we were off.  We got on the plane, and everything seemed fine.  Until we looked out the window.  Hmmmm, why are there 15 planes lined up over there?  Ding: "Ladies and gentlemen, there seems to be a backup on the runway.  Due to storms in the area it looks like we will have a little delay."  Great!  Ok, no big deal.  And then…we were lucky enough to sit behind the most annoying traveler ever!  They closed the door and made the "turn off your cell phone" announcement but she continued to talk on her phone.  So the flight attendant had to come and tell her to turn it off.  Then she was telling the attendant that her friends were at the gate to get on our plane but they wouldn’t let them on.  (At this point we were already taxiing).  They said,"sorry, but once the door is closed there is nothing we can do."  But Stupid Lady persisted and asked two other attendants who told her the same thing. 

Anyway, so we sat on the taxiway waiting for the go-ahead from flight control when Stupid Lady in front of us suddenly had to go to the bathroom.  What the heck lady! The seatbelt sign is on!  The attendant told her to sit down but she acted like it was some emergency.  Then the pilot said, "folks, we are just waiting for flight control at any moment.  You need to remain in your seats. So we are just waiting for everyone to return to their seats then we can tell air control that we are ready when they are."  We probably could have left at that point but Stupid Lady just had to be stupid.  Normally, not a big deal EXCEPT for we had a connection flight to catch in Denver!  How much of a layover did we have?  Oh, an hour and a half.  I sat grinding my teeth the entire flight, hoping that we would make it. 

But, nope!  About 4 minutes too late!  (Thanks Stupid Lady). So we had to take a flight to San Francisco and from there we were off to Honolulu.