Our first day of vacation was a full travel day. We left for the airport at 9:30am Edmonton time so we could be 3 hours early for our international flight. We all got checked in and everyone else dropped off their baggage. I only brought carry-on's so they had to come everywhere with me.
I've typically always been an over-packer and I decided that this time I would resist the urge to bring everything I own. On top of that I also avoided the checked baggage cost and waiting at the carousel, not to mention the fact that I had no chance of lost bags.
As any traveler will know, the first step on an journey involving flight is getting through security. One of the girls has never flown before and she was the one that got separated into another line up. I think the man working saw that she had no idea what was happening and he let her come back to us.
On the other side of security we found a lounge to kill some time in and made a shop stop to get some food. I'm a snack-y traveller so I made sure to buy lots of snacks before getting on the plane. Hunger is irrelevant, as soon as I'm buckled in for a road trip or set in my seat in the plane all I want to do is snack.
The first flight was short and easy. About an hour and a half to Vancouver. Unfortunately once we got there we had to go through security again and through customs. Not that either are difficult, mostly I find them tedious and time consuming. Customs does have potential to be pretty intimidating though.
Any which way things go, I love the airport. It such a magical place for me. If you are one of the majority of people that find it to be a crazy hectic place with no joy, think of it this way. This building can take you anywhere in the world, it's ALMOST as good as the wardrobe to Narnia. Go up to any counter, any airline.. everywhere will lead you somewhere new, to a different adventure. And as you arrive at other airports new destinations become available to you. I love it!!!
Both flights were uneventful, I get a bit bored when I can't move around though so I had to make use of all the gadgets I had in my carry-on. In these scenarios nothing holds my attention for very long so I would take out my iPad for a bit, put it away, get something else, put it away... I'm sure my seat mate would have liked for me to sit still for a while.
It was night by the time we arrived in Oahu and we were all losing our minds a bit. We had to find friend #5 who was joining us from a New Zealand trip and then it was off to start the actual adventure.
It took us a good while to collect everyone's luggage and find the bus that would take us to the rental car place, but we got there eventually.
The car we got was a Nissan Altima and the vehicle I drive at home is a van. For more than just the obvious reasons, this made for an interesting drive. I was at the point where I really should have been sleeping already and I was a tiny bit loopy. I also had no idea where I was going, had to adjust to a new car, it was raining, we couldn't stop laughing and the roads are crazy.
At one point while driving down the freeway I realized I was driving in miles/hour instead of kilometres/hour like I'm used to. I may have freaked out a tiny bit. And then I realized that everything still works the same, the signs just have smaller numbers on them....
Anyway, after a quick food stop we eventually made it to our rental house with the help of our 'landlord' leading the way. The house is on the side of a mountain and all the roads are steep and winding, I actually shouted, and I quote: "We're barely not moving forwarder!" ... as I sped up the hill. My lack of proper speaking skills is always a sure sign that it's past my bedtime.
Our driveway was extremely steep and I didn't have the necessary brain function to back into it without killing everyone so we decided to let the landlord do it. He promptly bottomed out the car, and that was the last time the car ever went into the driveway.
Part of the rental agreement was that we have quiet hours after 9pm. Let me just say, putting 5 over-tired, over-excited girls in a house together at 3am doesn't make for a quiet time. Especially me. When I get really tired I have a tendency to be a bit crazy and I laugh at EVERYTHING, loudly.
Fear not, we didn't get kicked out. Everyone passed out eventually.
xoxo
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