Supposed to be a bit of a nothing day this, as we were to travel to the Big Island. With the demise of Aloha Airlines, we had to quickly rebook flights as we had already paid for car hire and accomodation. The website for Hawaiian Air doesn't accept credit cards from non-US, Canadian or Australian addresses so we had to use Go! Airlines to arrange a flight.
After booking on their website, I picked up the local paper and found a story about two Go! pilots being suspended for falling asleep and overflying Hilo. The article cited many accusations including punishing schedules for the flight crews which made the company sound like the Ryanair of Hawaii.
You can tell where this is going, can't you?
We arrived at Honolulu airport at just past 12 and took advantage of the wonders of curbside checkin. We're down to three heavy bags plus a carryon each making moving stuff a logistical nightmare. The stupid security restrictions don't help and I realised we had left such dangerous items as sunblock and water in carry on luggage -
Past the security and into the commuter terminal, which sells those restricted bottles of water BTW and there aren't enough seats especially as many airlines are showing delayed/cancelled. We settled in for an anticipated hour wait, which turned into a little longer, then longer, then the inevitable - our flight was announced as delayed by an hour. To be honest, this wasn't a surprise, as firstly each other Go! flight was delayed and secondly they told us the flight would be delayed 15 minutes after we were due to take off.
We eventually boarded about an hour late. I was getting increasingly tense as I figured we would land at about 4.30, which given our car hire place were closing at 5pm was going to make things a bit tight. My calm wasn't enhanced when staff walked on the plane and removed some passengers who had tickets for a later flight, but then were told they could use this one, but now can't.
Then as we taxiied onto the runway, not from the gate, the runway, the woman next to me started a call on her mobile. It must have been the look on my face that made her stop and not the air of barely supressed menace in my voice.
40 minute flight to Hilo, we're OK for time, just as long as all three bags make it safely to the flight. Off to the carousel and in almost the words of Meatloaf "Two out of Three Are Here". Yep, somehow Go! had managed to lose one of the bags. Caroline had to fill in the forms, while I sorted out the car.
It has been a bit of a yin and yang holiday, for everything that has gone wrong has been balanced out. The lady at the desk at the car hire firm was a wonderful character. A four foot something bundle of laughs called Willa reminded Caroline of Betty out of Ugly Betty. She not only sorted the paperwork, but provided plenty of maps, driving tips and so on.
The Ford Explorer is probably the biggest car I have ever driven and combined with an automatic transmission and driving on the wrong side of the road, I was really grateful that the roads are comparatively quiet on the Big Island.
We are staying in Volcano, about 30 miles from Hilo and by the time we got there the road was completely empty. Thanks to some great instructions, we found the cottage in which we are spending the next few days, unlocked the door and walked into the most completely charming little place. The Volcano Bungalow is a two bedroom place set right in the rainforest, isolated from just about anywhere. The place was already warmed up, with supplies of essentials. Afer the day we had, it took us about two minutes to feel completely at home.
In that 30 mile drive to Volcano, the road climbs and climbs from sea level to an elevation of 4,000 feet. For comparison purposes, Ben Nevis is 4,400 feet high and the next highest mountain in the UK is somewhere about 3,900.
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