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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

and a warm aloha to us

so while i was packing for the big trip (mere hours before take-off, of course), i managed to kick one of the suitcases and ripped a chunk of toenail from my big toe. as i hopped around the house, howling and bleeding, i prayed fervently that this was not an omen.

holy mother of pearl, that hurt like a bitch. and i was
pissed - my pretty pink toes, so freshly pedicured and ready for vacation, were now less than perfect. ugh. so i slapped on a hello kitty band-aid and tried to ignore the throbbing pain coming from under it.

by the time we were done, there were two large suitcases, the car seat bag (which we'd also stuffed the breast pump into, along with the high chair cover), and three carry-ons. oh, plus the boppy pillow
and the camera bag. heh. and we still had yet to pick up BFF!

house all locked and secure, dog dropped off at the vet's, mail put on vacation hold, and BFF happily in the back seat with the teen and the bean, we were finally off to the airport. but after the fiasco of
missing our plane to nyc this spring, we were VERY early. we got into the LAX area a solid three hours before our flight.

and when there's time to kill, what's the best way to do it? well, one of two: eating or shopping. duh.




so yeah, there's a pinkberry in el segundo, in the new shopping plaza there. two birds, one stone, yes? and because it was a random hour, we walked right in there, placed our order, and had mouthfuls of the tart creaminess within about five minutes. we strolled through a few of the shops there until it was time to head to the airport. there's actually an apple store just a few minutes away, in manhattan village, but i knew it'd be pushing it to "casually" suggest browsing the shops there. oh, well.

we parked the car at nearby
johnnypark, took the shuttle to the terminal, and breezed right through check-in and security. whee! we had time for a starbucks stop and magazine shopping and then all of a sudden, the call was out for early boarding - we were giddy when it sank in that we totally qualified for it, since we had the bean. we were one of the "families with children under 5," woot!



okay, i
never say "woot." i don't know what's wrong with me.

hawaiian airlines is fabulous, yo. they did beverage service, offered snacks (for purchase), mini digital players preloaded with movies, music, games, tv shows, headsets for the movie, and a complimentary MEAL! i couldn't remember the last time i'd been served an actual meal on a flight. i think it was five years ago, on ATA, on our way to...hawaii. heh. and it was actually pretty good - we had a choice between pasta and a turkey sandwich. and then they kept the "beverage bar" open in the back until just a few minutes before landing.




the bean played peek-a-boo with the baby behind us (who later yowled and screamed as we tried to nap).


it was a long but uneventful flight (always good), and then we finally landed. bags, check. shuttle to pick up our rental car, check. we were given a
black chevy trailblazer, which was the perfect size for all of us plus bags (thank you, priceline!), flipped on the garmin, and about ten minutes later, we finally pulled up to hilton hawaiian village.





the girls took off to check things out while we went to handle things at check-in with the
unsmiling heffa at the desk. so much for aloha. but we made our way to our room, where we happily flopped onto the beds and basked in the knowledge that we'd finally made it.

the bean was tired and hungry, as were we. we'd missed room service by about half an hour, so the hub took the girls to find some take-out grub while i stayed behind to nurse, and she fell asleep pretty quickly. i cracked open my copy of twilight and managed to sneak in a few chapters by the time they came back, bearing sandwiches and pizza from the
round table on the property.

after devouring dinner, we set the sleep timer on the tv and crashed. unpacking could wait till the morning.

12 comments:

  1. I am shuddering at the visual of your toe ripping off. Glad you had a safe trip back and yes, I'm amazed any airline nowadays gives out free meals.

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  2. Big shout out to Johnnypark! I love them! And that pinkberry was necessary - I heard they haven't gotten it in Hawaii yet, right? See now you can never move there.

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  3. I haven't had Round Table for years. I miss it.

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  4. i've ripped off a toenail a couple of times. it sucks. each and every time :/

    yay for uneventful flights and roundtable!!

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  5. OW. to your toe.

    didn't know they had round table in hawaii. yum.

    glad you got there uneventfully and are back safely!

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  6. They served you complimentary food?! Wow.

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  7. I'm floored that you got food on your flight. That's awesome.

    We got a meal on the way to Italy, but I figure they had to feed us, since the flight was like a trillion hours long.

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  8. Your poor toe. :( I've done that probably half a dozen times (yes, I'm always barefoot & lame) and it hurts sooo badly.

    We were served meals when we flew to St Lucia on Air Jamaica for free but they were really, really gross. :(

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  9. That makes me tired just reading it. Packing for a vacation, getting all the people together and loaded in the car, dealing with the airport, renting a car...it just wipes me out! I can't wait to hear more!

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  10. Your poor toe!! Glad the flight was uneventful! Love the pic of you & the teen pretending to snooze!

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