Saturday, October 20
We got up bright and early for our 8:55 flight to Kauai. I forced Mr. Poe to drink coffee prior to leaving so I wouldn't have a repeat of how big of a jerk he was on the way to Florida in August. We made it to the Millbrae BART terminal in plenty of time and had to wait just a little bit for a train. This curious sculpture is in the BART terminal. I'm not exactly sure whether it's a tribute to the workin' girl or if it's making fun of her. Constrast it with a photo of Mr. Poewutg a similarly pouty puss:
Mr. Poe was a little concerned that we were going to miss our plane. Mostly because he's incredibly neurotic. He's so neurotic that his neuroses have neuroses. For example, his fear of heights has a fear of being alone.
He can see the airport now and he's getting very excited:
Mr. Poe and our friend Sharon had used miles to upgrade to First but I was stuck in steerage which meant a MUCH longer line at security. It was the usual chaos but I managed to make it through without a body cavity search which is usually my gold standard for an adequate check in experience. We were in Terminal 3 which is almost all United all the time. United is not my favorite airline and I generally will only fly them when they are my only non stop choice. I'm on the fence about their new livery as well. I think I like the Ted better than the mainline:
And a great looking Mexican A-320 in from Guadalajara:
And the ubiquitous United 747 in its craptastic livery:
Here is the aircraft we'd be flying on-- a Boeing 757:
10-20-07 United Flight 41 SFO-LIH Dep 8:55 AM PST Arr 12:05 PM 757-200 N545UA
This was a long flight on a 757. I know that a bunch of airlines are flying to Europe from the East Coast on 757's and I don't want to spend that much time on a narrow body if I can help it. I think if I lived in New York I'd probably go for a non stop on a 757 over a connection on a widebody but luckily I live on the West Coast and I don't need to make that choice.
The 757 we flew on was definitely in need of a lift. It was clean, but it had a tired, old looking interior that looks like it hasn't been updated since there was a Reagen in the whilte house. It had the old analog style televisions on the ceiling that I had to keep ducking when I walked past. Here's a shot of our aircraft in flight. Note the ridiculous curtain between first and coach. What's the point of that??
We landed in Lihue and I was delighted to get off the plane. Lihue airport is very small airport and a little confusing. Flights from Hawaii to the mainland have to go through an agricultural inspection that they don't do for the inter island flights. So there's an additional level of security that you have to go through for the mainland gates. But in such a small airport it has the effect of creating confined spaces because you can't walk around the airport and once you're in a secured area you can't really leave. I managed to get a few shots of Hawaii's homegrown airlines on my way out. I'm not sure what kind of aircraft this is and Aloha's website isn't helpful in identification:
This is a Hawaiin 717-200. I've flown on one once and it was awesome. I think Boeing made a big mistake discontinuing this line because they're great aircraft and it's a shame they don't make them anymore:
Baggage claim in Lihue. It's outside!
Me made it over to our hotel. The Point at Poipu is a mid 90's timeshare development that was built with Japanese tourists and is understated and light on the party atmosphere which I can appreciate, at my age. He're a photo of the grounds:
And one of our friend Sharon who's delighted to finally be here:
We hung out by the pool for a while and then we went to the grocery store. By the time we'd unpacked and had dinner it was late and we went to bed.
Recent Comments