A very long travel day

I was out the door by 0845 to catch the bus to the Wellington Airport as I started my long journey back to Hawaii. I flew Air New Zealand from Wellington to Auckland, where I had an 11 hour layover. This was the cheapest flight so I was prepared to just suck it up and make the best of it. I thought I might be able to take the bus into town but the luggage storage facility at the airport was at capacity so I abandoned that idea. When I first landed in Auckland I had purchased a return airport bus pass and now had no use for the one trip remaining on the pass. I lingered around the Skybus ticket booth and eventually picked a woman who I thought would appreciate a free ticket. She was speechless as it saved her $17.

My next flight was to Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines departing at midnight. The flight was smooth and it was a nice change to have two free meals served with wine. I watched a strange Academy Awards nominated movie, Jo Jo Rabbit, and then slept on and off for the remainder of the 8 hour flight. I am usually unable to sleep during these red-eye flights but I felt somewhat refreshed when we landed in Honolulu.

It has been extremely difficult to find accommodation in Hawaii. Apparently the covid-19 virus isn’t affecting Hawaii travel as the flights are full as well. Just yesterday I was able to book a 5 night stay at a timeshare in Kona on the Big Island. US Customs requires you to declare where you will be staying so I was glad that this timeshare came available at the 11th hour! During my long layover in Auckland I was able to book a flight from Honolulu to Kona for $59. There were only 2 seats left and they had dropped the price. This last-minute travel planning isn’t my usual style so it is somewhat stressful!

Honolulu Airport was congested and disorganized so I was glad that I allowed 2 hours to get through Customs. I was one of the last to get off the flight, stopped for a bathroom break, and then found myself in a sea of Japanese passengers all wearing face masks. A large flight from Japan had arrived at the same time as our flight so I was stuck amongst them. I was glad that I was not staying in Waikiki.

I arrived in Kona at 1 pm, picked up a rental car, stopped at Costco, and checked in to my 2 bedroom condo by 4 pm! I was assigned a unit on the 3rd floor with no elevators. All those times I lugged my luggage uphill prepared me physically for the challenge of 3 flights of stairs! The good thing about my very long travel day is that, thanks to the International Date Line, it was a bonus day.....I left Wellington the morning of March 8th and arrived in Honolulu on the morning of March 8th!Read more