About three years ago my mom told me that she wanted to send me and my wife to Hawaii for our 25th wedding anniversary. At the time it seemed so far away and so much would happen in the ensuing three years that it did not really register.
A year ago, my mom had not forgotten and called to say she had to book the trip a year in advance to get the best accommodations and would I please pick a date and a couple islands!
OK that made it real, and for the following year it has been on my calendar. Two weeks in Hawaii, flying first class both ways…does “Thank you Mom!” really begin to express it?
Perhaps not, but thank you Mom!
So if you want to see what a week in Oahu and a week in Maui can bring, keep an eye on the blog for the next couple weeks.
Day 1 began at 5am because we needed to be at the airport at 5:30. I would see the sun rise in Washington, DC and watch it set 18 1/2 hours later in Oahu. Long day. We flew to Atlanta and then had a 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Honolulu. I felt almost guilty it was so luxurious in 1st class! I occasionally get upgraded on domestic flights but I have never seen the 1st class cabin of a wide-body plane! It is so luxurious! Even your luggage gets tagged 1st class so it comes out 1st! The seats recline all the way and then massage your back and support your legs. The flight attendants walk around constantly with a basket of snacks, fresh fruit, and alcohol, all included!Although it is a very long flight, part of me didn’t want it to end.
When we picked up our rental car, the person at the desk asked what the occasion was and when we said it was our 25th wedding anniversary, she said, “well you have to drive in style! I’m upgrading you to a Mustang convertible at no extra charge!”
We drove to our resort, the Marriott Ko Olina. This is a bit removed from the overcrowding of Waikiki, on the beautiful and apparently constantly sunny Leeward Coast. We got checked into our villa and a short time later were enjoying a pitcher of Longboard lager and a cheeseburger in Paradise!
The beach at the resort is in a lagoon. When I hear the word “lagoon” I think of two things, Brooke Shields in Blue Lagoon, and Gilligan, as in , “Skipper, something happened in the lagoon!”
Now I have a lagoon of my own for a week!
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