Flying high

...Boston to Kona

Wow - it's finally here. It seems like the last several weeks have just flown by, and ready or not, I'm on my way to Hawaii. I had a nice calm evening last night, mostly due to my slightly insane ahead of time packing job. Last Sunday I thought it was a bit wacky to pack that far in advance, but I really liked having that last evening at home without any worries. I just charged up my electronic gadgets and packed them in my carryon bag, all ready to go!

I thought I'd be up later than I was last night because I'd hoped to watch the lunar eclipse. It was a cloudy night though, so the moon (full or hidden) wasn't easily viewable. Now that would have been a good time to be on the top of Mauna Kea!

I'll be covering a lot of miles today, thousands in fact. Too bad I can't count them as biking miles. I had the thought yesterday that it would be nice if I could set my bike up on a trainer on the plane to get rid of that trapped in a seat for hours and hours feeling. Two flights today - Boston to Los Angeles, scheduled for 6 hours of flying time, and Los Angeles to Kona, for 5 hours of flying time. But it's worth it to get to one of my favorite states!

I'm off to the airport soon. Check back later for updates!

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A word of warning - today is a travel day, not a biking day - so if you're only interested in biking days you can skip the rest of today's ramblings...

First plane of the day. The flight is pretty full, but I lucked out and have an empty seat next to me. That helps. I got to the airport super-early, checked in quickly with no lines at all. So I went wandering through the airport for a while, I thought that getting a little walking in would be helpful, There was an article about the new International terminal at Logan Airport in the paper this morning, so I thought I'd go check it out. No luck though, they're going to start using it tomorrow, and right now you still enter into the old part of the terminal. Do you think that's a little desperate - killing a bit of time by going sight-seeing in the airport? It was something to do - I just wasn't quite ready to sit still!

Well, I was organized enough to pack ahead of time, but I didn't try to get cash for the trip until Wednesday. That's not really last minute, but it felt like it for a bit. I popped my ATM card in the machine, and it popped right back out again. The message on the screen said "this card is no longer valid, contact your financial institution". Hmm... what could be wrong? It wasn't time to panic since I knew I could walk into a branch and get cash, but I really like to have my ATM card with me when I travel. The days of carrying traveler's checks are pretty much over for me. When I got to the office I called the bank to confirm there wasn't anything wrong with my account, and of course there wasn't. It was either a bad mag stripe on the card or a bad machine. I did learn something interesting though. I figured if it was a bad mag stripe that I would have to travel without an ATM card, but it turns out that the bank will issue a temporary card in circumstances like these. That's good to know, and I didn't need to go that route since the machine I tried on the way home from work operated successfully. One more problem avoided...

One small packing list update. I left one pair of socks out to wear today. 3 packed, one to wear... oops! My hiking shoes (which are also my traveling shoes on this trip) need either 2 pairs of thin socks or one of thick. I knew that! And I'd made the decision to go with the light socks since that's what I need for my biking shoes. Rather than go searching through my duffle bag this morning for the 2nd pair that I needed, I grabbed another pair of socks to keep my feet comfy.So now I have 5 pairs of socks with me,. At least they're small. Honestly, if I'd needed something big I would have found the missing item in my duffle bag instead of grabbing an extra!

I called the Kona Tiki - my hotel for the first two nights - earlier this week to arrange a late check-in. The front desk closes at 7pm, and my flight lands at 7:30pm. I was given the super-secret location of my room key, so I'm all set! The person who answered the phone told me that they live onsite, and gave me his room number in case I have any problems. Nice. And no, I'm not going to splash the super-secret key location on the web - you'll have to stay there yourself to find out how to check in after the front desk closes!

As I wandered through Logan Airport, I kept my eye open for Internet access. Ever since I started carrying my electronic toys with me on trips, I've started paying more attention to that. There were a couple of Internet kiosks, web access with a credit card. No way to hook up any external devices like my Zio card reader to upload pictures. But of all the pay phones I saw, only one had a data port and that was already in use by someone with a laptop! Not to worry, I didn't have anything to upload yet! ^T

The pilot just announced we're about 45 miles east of Syracuse, NY - so we must be just over (or just past) where my parents live. What a contrast from last year's trip when it took me about a week to get from Boston to Utica - this time it took less than an hour. I suppose comparing travel by bicycle with travel by plane is a little odd! It's my mom's birthday today, so I'm sending my birthday wishes to her through the air. And yes, I did talk with her before I left! So - everyone should send their good birthday thoughts to Sherry!

It appears that there are quite a few people on this plane who are continuing onto Hawai. While I waited to board I was chatting with two other women who were traveling to Hawaii. We're all on separate planse from LA - one to Oahu, one to Maui, and me to Hawaii. It makes sense though - this is probably the flight of choice if you're flying from Boston (or nearby places since one of the other women was from Bangor, Maine) and headed to Hawaii!

I had a run of bad luck with plane trips and checked baggage a couple of years ago - my bags never managed to arrive on the same plane with me. Hopefully I'm past that problem and my Air Glide and I will arrive in Kona together. I did have a little worry about baggage screening and the bike though. This is the first time I've traveled with a bike since the new checked baggage screening procedures were put into place. Logan Airport in Boston does 100% xray screens. I wonder what the screeners will think when they see a folded bike frame, a couple of wheels, and all sorts of other metal parts. I put an extra luggage tag on my bike case with a note to the TSA screeners telling them that everything really does fit back in the case without forcing it - in case they decide to open it - and giving them my cell phone number - in case they need advice on fitting everything back into the case. (OK, if you didn't already know it, you now realize that I sojmetimes have a tendency to worry. My friend Steve always reminds me of the concept of "just in time worry". I just have to remember that!) I guess I just have to believe that the bike and I will arrive together (or close to together) and that all the bike parts are where they belong! I just tell myself that everything will be fine, and remember that on all those trips where my luggage (including the bike several times) and I didn't arrive together, that the airline always knew where my stuff was - it wasn't lost, just late!

3:30 Pacific time Los Angeles - halfway there from a flying time standpoint, not a clue about the mileage. I think I'll see if I can upload this journal entry from a pay phone with a data port. If you're reading this then I was successful!

9:40 Hawaii time Kona - here at last! The flight from LA was uneventful, and I managed to get a couple of hours of cat naps. I was talking to one of the flight attendents on the flight, and she said it's a turnaround flight for them. They leave LA at 5pm Pacific time, fly to Kona, have a 2-hour turnaround time, fly to LA and land at around 5am Pacific time. That's a really long day. I didn't ask if the pilots fly the same turnaround - I'm not sure I want to know since that's the same flight I'll be taking home at the end of my trip!

As we were coming in to land we could see the top of Haleakala (on Maui) popping up through the clouds in a beautiful wash of color, a nice tropical sunset. What a beautiful sight!

I had a little bit of a sinking feeling as I was waiting for my luggage. The bike came out fairly quickly, but the bag containing my clothes and including my helmet, cycling shoes, and trailer wheels seemed to take forever. It finally arrived though, and I was off to the Kona TIki for two nights. The reviews I read were right - it's a very laid back and low key place, the managers are very nice, and there's the soothing sound of waves beneath my window since the place is perched on a sea wall. That's a good start - excellent hotel choice for my 2003 entry to a Hawaiian paradise!