08/12/2019

Wriggling out of my sleeping bag, I woke up to the peace and tranquility of the birds at the campsite. As I freshened up, I realized we had only one more overnight stay in this state before we flew back home. So sad!

My daughter’s words at the Fairmount Orchid Resort last night kept coming back to me: “Why can’t we stay somewhere like this?” And suddenly I thought: yeah, why not?

So after a quick bit on booking.com and a fast stop for a stamp for the passport book at the Volcanoes National Park visitor center, we were on our way on the Daniel K. Inouye Highway driving west across the island. We finally get clear weather on this drive near Mauna Kea, and the reward: a fabulous view of the peak.

Surprise! I tell my daughter. I booked a room at the luxurious Waikoloa Beach Resort about 28 minutes north of Kailua-Kona and the airport. And let me tell you: this is how you should end your stay anywhere after bouncing around for almost 2 weeks. She’s ecstatic!!

Fountains with soothing trickling waterfalls! Towers with comfy rooms! Swimming pools! With towel stations to grab a warm one before swimming! A real lagoon that connected to the beach with striped fish circling your ankles and sea turtles gliding by! Dolphins that you can swim with (for a fee of course). Statues of Buddha, serene and beautiful. You can take tours to places on the island, buses to the beach, or sign up for classes such as lei making and hula dancing. But honestly? We just wanted to relax.

You want a massage by the beach? You got it. Soak in a hot tub? You bet. Play water volleyball and watch the sunset for the last time? Absolutely you can and we did.

Oh, and more Mai Tais and ice cream? Yes please.

A nice dinner at the resort’s fancy restaurant overlooking the ocean, KPC (Kamuela Provision Company), cat-watching, a swing in a hammock by the lagoon, and a visit to the largest Buddha statue I’d ever seen and our night was complete.

08/13/2019

We took the tram monorail and went to the breakfast buffet place that faces the lagoon. Had the continental breakfast buffet and then decided to visit the pool so my daughter can swim and soak in the hot tub one more time before packing up and leaving to the airport.

This is where the only bad experience I had on this trip begins. I go by the hot tub and sit on an artificial rock to put my feet in. A few minutes later, the back of my thighs suddenly sting and itch, like I sat on a cactus. But that can’t be what happened, because: artificial rock. Now my legs are stinging and red bumps are appearing at an alarmingly fast rate!

My mind flashes to a few minutes before we went to the hot tub area where some pool workers were with hoses and cleaning the surrounding area. I come to the conclusion that some cleaning chemical of some sort must have been used on the rock, and now I have a chemical burn. I trot awkwardly back to the room for some soothing Benadryl gel which brings such relief, I can’t even tell you how much better that gel felt!

We’ve packed our bags and I want to grab some Hawaiian coffee to try before we leave. By the other tower of rooms is a shop that sells Kona coffee, and I buy a cup with a nice little design thoughtfully draw in the middle:

One last trip to see the large Buddha in the daylight and admire the waters and hear the waves. I gaze out to the ocean and close my eyes, concentrating on the hot sun on my face and the breeze blowing around me. With a sigh, it’s time to say goodbye to paradise.

Off to Kona airport, but first I had to turn in the truck. I only had 1/4 tank of gas, and I didn’t fill it up but I only got penalized $65, where it would have been over $80 to fill it up with the gas prices. Another trick I’m pocketing for future trips!

At the airport, you gotta put any and all bags through an x-ray machine for the US Department of Agriculture. No plants, fruits, vegetables, things like that can be taken to the mainland unless it’s commercially packaged. You also have to do this again right before getting on the plane.

Through the TSA line I learned another travel trick: put your food and snacks in a separate bag in your carry on to make it easier for TSA to look at. Mine was in the small stuff sack and it went much smoother in the line.

Since we have time to kill, we do our very last shopping. There’s a cafe that has the only air conditioner in the open air airport, and I buy 2 cans of pog juice and a pizza for my daughter to snack on. At the gift shop, I purchase a little jar or Lilikoi jelly and envision spreading it on a warm slice of toast at home in the early mornings.

We wait to board and feed the hungry birds pizza crust while we wait.

And we’re on the way back to the mainland. First stop is Oakland, California again, but it’s midnight when we arrive and our next flight is at 0700 AM.

08/14/2019

First task: finding the Southwest airline terminal, so I don’t have go searching for it half asleep in the morning. It’s so large, it’s in a separate terminal next door.

They don’t close the terminal for the night, and the best place I can find is a carpeted ramp right across from the restrooms; every other place is cold and isolated. Some other travelers have the same idea I have, because another family and 2 other couples are using the same area, so I feel a little safer. I loop our bags through my legs and arms and use my backpack as a pillow. My daughter stays up to play her games, and I doze off for a quick minute.

0430 AM…or is it 0130 AM…?

The luggage carts stacked in rows of what sounds like a million rolls by me, waking me up. (I’m not counting the 10 times I woke up overnight). Off to Phoenix where TSA throws out my jelly and pog juice (noooooo) and our flight is delayed taking off so we land about 15 minutes later than planned. I’m on the plane landing in Phoenix when my phone buzzes and says our connecting flight is boarding right now. The Home Alone run is done again, and if you’ve never ran at Sky Harbor from one terminal to another, all I can say is I’m glad for those walking escalators because without them, we wouldn’t have made our San Antonio flight!

Finally home! Except they lost my checked luggage bag because it got put on another Phoenix flight because of the delay. So Southwest says it’ll be back in SA tonight, and they can deliver it to me or….I can pick it up myself and get a voucher for $150 for a future flight, good for one year! Oh yeah!

And so the trip ends. Check out my blog section soon for my last thoughts on this trip and the planning section for some more traveling tips I encountered.

Mahalo for coming along with me to Hawaii…until we meet again!