Welcome to Day 1 of Janet and Randy's Kauai Adventure 2014

Thursday, November 6th, 2014

The day started off good, we dropped off the critter first and then headed out to the airport to catch our flight.

We had initially planned to get over to Lihue in 1 day, 3 flights, but still one day.  However, due to a schedule change we were now forced to overnight on Oahu.  I know, it's not the end of the world.  There are certainly worse places one has to overnight in.  Regardless it was a stop that we didn't initially plan on making.  So if life throws you lemons, Make Limoncello !  We used one of the credits from Randy's rental car frequent renter program to get a car, and then booked ourselves into the Marriott Ko'Olina. 

Our flight over to Honolulu is bittersweet.  We get to fly in the pods again, however it will be one of the last times that we get this luxury flying to Hawaii as Air Canada will be dropping it's mainline service in favour of it's Rouge service... So long pods, hello... well let's just not say anything, it's just too sad for words.

Our flight from Edmonton to Vancouver was uneventful.  Because we both have Nexus passes, we decided to exit the secure area and enter U.S. Pre-clearance from the main entrance.  This way we were able to use the Global Entry kiosks - which is much faster.  We had to show our kiosk receipts to a Customs officer.  He asked where we are going, and Randy said Honolulu.  Then Randy added that we were moving to Kauai after that (meaning that we were continuing onto Kauai for the rest of our trip).  The Customs officer actually had a sense of humour as he said "Don't tell a Customs officer that you are 'moving' to the U.S."  We clarified that we didn't mean that - but he knew what we meant.

After getting through security and customs, we had a few minutes to stop in the Maple Leaf Lounge to hit the bathroom and load up on some ice water for the Honolulu flight.  Then it was off to the gate to wait for our flight to board.

When we had changed our flight to leave a day earlier, the only two seats left were not next to each other.  We didn't think that was a big deal.  However, when we boarded, we noticed that there was another couple that was split up as well.  So, I changed seats with the wife, and both that couple and us were able to sit next to each other for the flight.  Considering that the pods aren't really conducive to chatting easily, I'm not sure what the big deal was... but no matter.

Once in the air, they came around with drink and dinner service.  I ordered a double vodka, and by the time I was finished my meal, I was getting very sleepy.  So, I laid out the seat and crashed for a couple of hours - waking up about 45 minutes before landing.

Once we arrived at the Honolulu airport, we went to the baggage carousel to wait for our checked bag.  The bags came out quite quickly, and our bag was the 2nd one out.  Sweet.  Then we headed to the car rental, got our convertible and headed to the Marriott Ko'olina Beach Club (which was about a half hour drive away).  We didn't arrive at the resort until around 11:00pm.  We found out that the check-out time the next morning was 10:00am (what?) Seriously ?- but the gal graciously allowed us a 'late' checkout of 11:00am. (don't go overboard on that one) We were given our room key and headed to our hotel room.  When we got there, we saw that it was a handicap-accessible room (again, what?).  We were too tired to go back to the front desk, and we were only going to be here one night, so we just went with it.  (However, Randy wasn't overly excited about the 4-foot high shower head in the bathtub). Not overly impressed, especially considering I have top status with Marriott.

We had paid for an ocean view room - but our room was tucked into a corner, and we only really saw the the ocean through someone else's balcony.  And the balcony itself was one of the smallest ones I've ever seen.  You could barely walk behind the table and chairs that were on the balcony.  So, not super impressed.  But, we were tired, so we just went to bed and collapsed.

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