Ten Days in Hawaii - Day 10: A Long Trip Home

We were all up early doing our last minute packing and getting the house ready for our departure.  Our flight didn’t leave until 12:30, but we were all on our way by 9:00 and headed to the airport.  Cathy, Heather, Doug and Ev took one car and Val and I took the other.  We rented from two different rental agencies so we wouldn’t meet again until we were at the terminal.

The Kona terminal is interesting as it is pretty much open air, there are a few shops and a restaurant, but for the most part everything is outside (under cover, but open on the sides).  After getting checked in we had about an hour’s wait until we boarded, but the time passed quickly as we talked and reminisced about our time on the island.  Finally it was time to board and begin our flight home.

This was the first time Val and I had flown first class and we enjoyed the experience.  The thing I liked the most was the larger seats and extra leg room.  There was lots of food and while not gourmet, certainly better than what we had gotten on the flight over and there was lots of it.  I think the highlight was the freshly baked macadamia nut cookies we were served after our meal.

The flight was uneventful, but we experienced a bit of turbulence as we approached Los Angeles for our landing.  On our trip over we had flown out of San Francisco, but the trip back was through Los Angeles.  The flight was around five hours long, but because of the three hours difference we actually landed just over eight hours after we had left so it was after 9:00 when we landed.

After landing we found that our departure gate was nearby and so we didn’t have far to walk, but we did have a while to wait as our plane to San Luis Obispo didn’t leave until around 10:30.  The hour and a half wait turned into a three hour wait as the strong winds along the California coast had caused many delays, so our plane was very late getting in.

We finally were on our way for the short flight to SLO and arrived about 12:45 AM.  After claiming our luggage and loading the car, we headed north to our home and a welcome bed.  By the time we dropped Doug and Ev off and got home it was 2:00 AM and the end of a very long day.  It was a great trip, but it felt good to be home and sleeping in our own bed.