Cruising Hawaii, A Rant on Air Travel and a Thank You!

At Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, Willis, Texas...

First of all, I notice that the pageview counter has gone over a half million on this blog.  That is something noteworthy and a reminder to thank you for taking time to look in and see what we're up to. I don't think it matters that the number there on the counter isn't accurate; the blog has been around a lot longer than that widget has, and it started at zero. Yes, Phannie and Mae is beginning its 14th year of publication, having been started at the very beginning of our first RV trip in 2005 as a means to document our adventures. Each passing year brings with it a little more fogginess in our memories, and this journal becomes ever so much more meaningful in helping us relive all those good times. That's why I always encourage newbies not to fail to make a good pictorial record of your travels. You'll be glad you did!

Since we've been RVing, we really hadn't traveled by air for quite a while before this trip from Houston to Honolulu and back. We knew that the airlines had figured out how to boost revenue by gouging passengers for, well, everything imaginable, but I hadn't really had the experience of being turned upside down until even the change fell out of my trousers. Having been involved with the industry for a long time, I can remember well when a passenger was treated with great respect, coddled in a spacious and comfortable reclining seat, enjoying a nice free meal and plenty of attention from a courteous flight attendant. Those days are obviously gone, based on our recent experience.

We paid more than a thousand bucks each to United for non-stop round trip tickets, only to be shoehorned into a seat so narrow that we needed Crisco on our hips to get in and out of it. And the rows of seats were so close together that pushing the recline button would only get you about two inches of rearward travel of the chair back. This meant that we went from sitting straight up to, well, sitting 'almost' straight up. For eight hours, mind you. Perhaps a better way to explain it was that we went from 'please kill me now' to 'you'll need to call the paramedics when we arrive.' And the 'meal' consisted of a prepackaged bun, inside of which was what appeared to be a ground beef patty that could easily be used as a paperweight. This was accompanied by a little cardboard coffin containing wilted lettuce, a slice of tomato and a dill pickle slice, components that were obviously meant to be assembled by us in order to enjoy fully the privilege of making our own dinner. And for this, they charged us ten bucks apiece! 

If we wanted access to their wi-fi to use our iPad, that would be another ten bucks; or, if we wanted to rent their notebook, that would also be ten bucks. We were almost shocked that we could still have a free beverage, but our euphoria was dashed when we were told that we could not have a whole can of soda. I wondered what they were going to charge us to go to the bathroom! For the world, I thought United should rename its economy section 'Steerage.' 

The flight attendants serving us and the 350 or so other sardines were mostly older and out of shape--like us--and, when they walked down the incredibly narrow aisles, the passengers' shoulders usually got a smack or two from the flight attendants' ample and wayward derriere cheeks. What happened to the young flight attendants in short shorts; remember those? 

Our luggage fees for the round trip amounted to over $200 and, not wishing to fold myself up again for the trip home, I upgraded us to premium seats--which were still there in steerage--but with a little more legroom; they called it "Economy Premium." I called it thievery! The cost for these few more inches between seats? $300. 

Yes, I know that you get what you pay for and, for another thousand bucks each, we could have gotten first-class seats and, by the time we paid all the extra fees, we may as well have done that, I guess. But most people don't want to or can't spend that kind of money, so they are at the mercy of the airlines and their airborne cattle drive. I must tell you that I was disgusted and embarrassed that airline travel has come to this; it was not this way back in my flying days. I was also appalled that pilots in uniform had become so sloppy. I didn't see a single uniform cap being worn among perhaps a dozen pilots we saw, something at which I would have bristled as a former airline chief pilot myself. These guys would have been doing a carpet dance in my office, for sure. 

What the experience did, however, was to make me ever so grateful for Phannie and our comfortable means of RV travel. I'm not sure when we'll be enduring this fiendish hassle again; it won't be soon.

Okay, enough of my ranting; let's get to something more pleasant. We met our friends in Honolulu and boarded our ship for the seven-day cruise around the islands. This was the Norwegian's Pride of America, and here are some photos:

Here is our group (except for yours truly taking the photo); Bubba, LouAnn, Sandy, Mary Lou and Harvey.

Sailing out of Honolulu harbor, with Diamond Head in the distance:

Since we're all fans of southern gospel music, we enjoyed concerts each evening from some of our favorite groups cruising with us, like the Collingsworth family below:

Here are some more photos from the ship: 

The great seal of the U. S.-- Nice touch!

Ah, the food!  Non-stop temptation! This is the buffet area; there were several more restaurants, some of which were surprisingly elegant.

Ours was the first cruise ship allowed back into the big island's ports since the new Kilauea eruptions, and we were very happy about that. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to go near there or even to Volcanoes National Park, a big personal disappointment. We did see a volcano plume from a long distance, however.

Here we all are on deck overlooking Hilo after dinner:

There were beautiful beaches, great waves and lots of surfers on Maui but, somehow, I failed to get a photo. 

The waterfalls and flora on the islands were beautiful and unusual, of course, and I'm going to try to avoid inundating you with photos, but here are some nice samples of what we saw. Most of these were taken in Allerton Botanical Garden on Kauai:

  

This was the most unusual of all the flowering plants we saw. Note the little violet flower growing out of the pink cone:

In one area of the park were these strange-looking trees. We learned that some scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed here. Easy to see why!

Much of the volcanic rock shoreline was stark evidence of the means by which these islands were formed:

A curiosity was the omnipresence of chickens on Kauai. These are protected here, and they are literally everywhere on the island. There is almost never a time when you don't hear a rooster crowing somewhere in the distance:

Allerton Gardens is a beautiful park; you shouldn't miss it if you happen to visit Kauai.  

Here we are, back (almost) where we started our honeymoon 42 years ago and still sweethearts: 

Our favorite stop for finding crystal clear ocean was Kona (below). We would have loved to go snorkeling here. Mary Lou got some Kona coffee, on which she is now hooked, I think:

Leaving Kauai, we sailed just offshore along the Napali coast and its ruggedly beautiful cliffs on the north side of the island:

Our last stop--Honolulu, early, early on Saturday morning (below). I wasn't quite awake enough to include all of Diamond Head in the photo; it's on the right edge of the photo below. What a great cruise!

Our last photo on the ship; we're about to go ashore in Honolulu:

Of course, no Honolulu port of call would be complete without a visit to Pearl Harbor, so we went to the new very large and informative visitor center, seen here in a panoramic view. The center is much, much larger than the photo indicates:

The presentations included a film shown in the theater as well as other video presentations and memorabilia in the various buildings. Since WWII is a favorite historical period of mine, I found it very interesting. We didn't take a boat out to the Arizona memorial, as it was closed due to repairs. But we had been there before, and I found the Arizona wreck model in the museum to be very interesting:

It was both fascinating and sobering to imagine what this harbor must have been like back on December 7, 1941 during the two-hour attack by the Japanese. Soon, all those who were there will be gone, and only they will have known firsthand of that hellish experience:

Only the Missouri remains visible now, docked adjacent to the Arizona memorial on Ford Island. The battleship is open for tours, but we didn't have time to go before our flight left.  Oh well, we must come back now, mustn't we?!

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful life; 

please forgive me if I don't appreciate it as I should each day.

We don't stop playing because we get old; we get old when when we stop playing.