gettin' our aloha on

because i somehow have a track record of screwing up travel plans, the hub has been in charge of planning our trips for awhile now.  and while he was booking stuff for our trip to hawaii for the wedding, he managed to find us flights to and from honolulu that didn't require us to drive out to LAX (aka hell on earth).  instead, we got to fly through ontario airport - which is fabulous, because not only is it super close to home, but generally quiet and uncrowded.  it makes for a really lovely, stress-free travel experience.

and so we found ourselves on thursday morning, not too bright and early, hopping into the truck after loading it with our suitcases and hugging our dogs goodbye, on that easy 20-minute drive to the airport.  it dawned on me that the next time we came home, the kids would be married.  MARRIED!  i totally felt the tears coming on and made myself think about other stuff to keep from making a fool of myself.

at the airport, it was a fairly short wait to get our bags checked in.  and yes, i sure did use one of the luggage tags that i'd made for the shower:

it turned out that there were quite a few of us on this flight - the old lady's bestie/officiant and her boyfriend were there, as well as the fiance's mom, sister and nieces.  and with this being a very special occasion, the hub had booked the five of us in first class, along with the handful of his friends who were coming as well.  we practically took up the entire first class section, which was bound to make for an entertaining flight.

we found out the hard way that we should have split up to get in the line for covid-clearance wristbands first, because that line ended up being at least twice as long as the one to check in.  oy.

the line moved pretty slowly with only one person working the desk, but we got through it and made our way upstairs, where we breezed through security thanks to TSA precheck.  and while we got in line to order some breakfast, the hub headed straight to the gate to find his friends and ended up boarding the plane with them.  i think he may even have had a couple of mai tais before we even set foot on the plane.

no worries.  we did our best to catch up to him once we got settled in our seats, much to the bean's consternation.

first class is pretty nice.

this little footrest came in mighty handy especially since my short legs usually don't touch the floor while seated.

as per her usual, the bean was passed out almost before we even got off the ground.

after the safety demonstration was done, the flight attendant came around to offer us tablets for watching movies.

my first movie of the day?  ryan reynolds' "free guy."  and i got to snack on some warm macadamia nuts as i watched it (insert DEEZ NUTZ jokes here).

not long after i'd emptied my little dish, lunch was served.

and yes, of course i'm the airplane bathroom selfie type.  you'd expect no less, amirite?

and then a little while later, it was cookie time.

just as i was starting another movie - the emily blunt and dwayne johnson version of "jungle cruise" - we landed.  woohoo!

i was amused at where the old lady's dresses rested as we waited for our luggage to make its way to us on the carousel.

these bracelets always come with me whenever we travel to hawaii.

the hub had split off from us as we waited for the luggage to head over to hertz and pick up our rental car for the trip.  and by some stroke of luck, he was in the right place at the right time and managed to bypass the long line so that he was pulling up almost as soon as we got outside with the bags.

because the rehearsal dinner was at a place where we were allowed to bring our own alcohol, our first stop before heading up to the north shore was costco.  the bean was excited to find a whole wall of boba mochi snacks, enough that she allowed me to take this.

the cart was full of adult beverages.  quite the haul, i'd say.

we did have one other requirement before hitting the road, though:

it was just so wonderful to be in hawaii again.  the scenery is just beautiful.  and it took us just over an hour to get to turtle bay, where the kids checked into the suite that was included in their wedding package.

the hub had also been the one to book the condos for his friends, and so it took some time before we were finally able to get into ours.  it was worth the wait, though.  my pictures are all dark and blurry because it was late and also i'm a terrible photographer.  we were on the second floor, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a full kitchen.  

we decided to meet up with the kids and the fiance's dad for dinner at the beach house, a roy yamaguchi restaurant situated right between our condo complex and the resort.  one of the hub's friends was seated at a table there, and a couple of the wedding guests were hanging out at the bar.  but when we tried to get a table, the hostess looked us up and down and said "oh sorry, we're all booked up for the night."

huh.

so the kids went to say hello to their friends at the bar, who invited them to join them since there were open seats right next to them.  as they sat down, the hostess went over to tell them that they couldn't sit there as there was a waiting list for the seats.  and then as they were saying goodbye to their friends, she came back and told them that they could stay after all since the waitlist had already been fulfilled. so hospitable.

meanwhile, we were watching other parties who were walking up behind us get seated without hesitation.  and then the hub went over to see his friend, where it turned out that there were seats available at their table and so that's how we ended up having dinner there despite the hostess' best attempts to keep us out.  at least the food was good and the server was friendly and helpful.  

and that's how our first day in hawaii went.