Chasing Iselle

After a few months of planning the summer dream vacation for RJ’s birthday, proof of the old Yiddish proverb “We plan, God laughs” materialized.  Days away from departure, and news of not one, but two hurricanes had developed with a trajectory aimed right at the Hawaiian Islands:  Iselle and Julio.  Hawaii has a legendary status of avoiding hurricanes---the last notable one more than 20 years ago---yet we somehow ended up scheduled to land within 12 hours of the first in decades. 

 Taryn and I, as the more seasoned travelers, “weathered” the news in stride.  Amy, dead set on ensuring a successful birthday present for RJ, and ever the planner, was a little bit more concerned.  She started developing and communicating contingency plans for hunkering down in our rented house.  She contacted the owner who assured her we’d be fine and that he’d supply us with water, flashlights, and batteries, just in case.  Amy communicated this to all 6 of us on the trip via email, recommending we bring some snacks too.  What’s that…?  6 of us on the trip you say?  I thought it was only 4….well…..yes.  You see, Amy had arranged for Ryan’s close friend Jason and his wife Michelle to surprise him by joining us after we got to Hilo.  I quickly pointed out Amy’s slip up to her, and she quickly called upon all available methods to retract the message.  Outlook recall function:  attempted….. and failure.  She then pleaded with Taryn to use every ounce of her Vegan superpowers to run down the hall at the office to RJs computer and delete the email before he saw it… unfortunately, this was usurped by the fact that he had already read and responded to the email, and that Taryn’s powers were not quite strong enough to traverse the distance from Cleveland, where she was travelling that day, back to the Dallas office.  Foiled again.

So instead of Ryan being surprised in person in Hilo, the surprise was seeing their names in the “To:” line of the email.

The day before departure, forecasts were for a pretty direct hit around 2:00am in the city of Hilo, where we were staying.  This would be 14 hours or so before our arrival.  The storm however, was expected to drop from a Cat 1 Hurricane, to a tropical storm.  Julio, the second of the two storms, was expected to traverse northward and only graze the islands two days later. Mid day however, more exciting news of a 4.3 magnitude earthquake hitting the Big Island provided even more excitement, as well as did isolated reports/rumors of preemptive flight cancellations.

Meanwhile, final preparations were being made by us.  Taryn busied herself downloading movies for her and I to watch on the long flights to and from Hawaii.  I employed a trick shared by Taryn of using my carry-on allotment of 3 ounce liquids in a one quart ziplock bag to bring mixers for the free drinks.  I filled up 5 three ounce vials with Vodka to help pass the long day of flights.  I ran into a bit of a conundrum when I realized I also needed a 3 ounce bottle for some facial soap… I begrudgingly emptied the 5^th bottle of vodka so I could use it for the soap, and thought better of the situation, and refilled it with vodka.   Amy, on the other-hand was looking into alternative hotels in case we got stranded due to flight cancellations and I think may have been checking into NORAD-style underground bunkers for refuge from stormageddon….

 Friday morning, all things still appeared to be a go.  Flights were still listed as on time, and as a bonus, Taryn and I got upgrades to First Class for the flight from DFW to Honolulu, though it took quite a bit of manipulation of a few different gate agents to make sure the seats were together.  The morning started with my 7:10am flight from Nashville to Dallas, to meet with the rest of the group.  Continued good fortune of the day provided me with a row on the plane to myself.  Since my bottles of Vodka would not be needed on the 8 hour flight, since we were now First Class, I decided I would take some advantage of them on my flight to Dallas by “strengthening” my OJ.  Hey, it may only be 8:00am, but I’ve been up since 3:30, I’m on vacation, and in the words Alan Jackson… “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.”  Don’t judge.

 As I was touching down at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Taryn, Ryan, and Amy were also en route, from their homes in the MetroPlex. Amy, ever concerned we may only make it partway to Hilo, had reserved a hotel room in Honolulu for the evening as a precaution.  Taryn continued to aggressively debate the probabilities of any adverse impact to the trip from the weather. RJ, tiring of the back and forth throughout the car, offered up the compassionate olive branch of peace to the enthusiastic conversation: “Now, now girls, we all know you are both pretty.”  Regardless of the outcome of the day however, we all knew, in the words of John Steinbeck “A journey is like marriage.  The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”  No matter what, this was destined to be an exciting trip.

Upon arriving at the DFW, the first part of our group was complete, and the gate agent confirmed for us that our flights were still on, and that all indications were Hurricane Iselle would not be a factor in the days’ travels.  While Taryn and I would be enjoying first class in row 2, Ryan and Amy where packed in with the cattle in row 35.  Ryan and Amy were getting re-acquainted with their knees pressed up somewhere near their sternums, and would probably tell you that they could smell the flatulence of the people in front of them even before it was expelled. 

Within minutes of sitting in our multi directional, fully adjustable, lie flat seats, Taryn and I were offered Champagne, a menu to choose our meals, individual tablets with dozens of movies preloaded on them, and noise cancelling headphones.  We both took full advantage of the free drinks to the point one would think the attendant was our own personal server.  A few hours in and I couldn’t help but think I was beginning to live out my own version of “Drunk on a Plane.”

The Cattle

Ryan and Amy Enjoying 8 Hours of Coach

At some point Taryn and I decided it would be a good idea to get a few hours of sleep, reclined the seats all the way back, and slept for a few hours.  After our nap, we woke up and watched a movie. Of course we figured this would go better with cocktails, and beckoned one of the flight attendants over. The particular flight attendant we called was one that was notably disheveled looking from the moment we got on the plane.  I asked her if we could have two vodkas and cranberry.  She looked at me blankly, and mumbled “waaka am crambry?”  I looked back at her confused, and she kind of shook her head and looked at me for a minute and said, “I’m sorry, I just woke up….”   Well ok then…  I headed to the lavatory at which time the attendant swiftly returned with two Dr. Peppers.  Taryn explained we had asked for Vodka and cranberry, and also asked how much more time we had to the flight. The woman reiterated that she had just woken up, and didn’t know what was going on, but would try and get some information for her.

After a long 8 hours, we finally began to descend into Honolulu on the Island of Oahu.  Other than some gray skies to the south, there was no sign of Hurricane Iselle.  The four of us quickly found a place to enjoy our first tropical drinks of the week, while waiting for our flight to Hilo.

Honolulu

One of Taryn's Typical Flying Postures

Hilo

 After finally arriving in Hilo, we headed out to dinner.  We debated between Indian, Thai, or Ken’s House of Pancakes.  Oddly the latter is highly recommended as a “must visit” restaurant in the Hilo area.  We decided on Sombat’s Thai.   Upon learning that there was no indoor seating available, Ryan and Amy who had tired of the last couple hours in the humid Hawaii air, decided to go to the House of Pancake’s which was across the parking lot, while Taryn and I enjoyed some Pineapple Curry and Pad Kee Mow. At this point jet lag and exhaustion was overwhelming me, and affecting everyone else as well, so we he headed to the hotel, and called it a day.

Lili'uokalani Botanical Gardens