Lo's trip to hawaii: take 1

My first ever guest blogger. Hope you enjoy this snipet of Laura's journey to Hawaii.

Alright so my trip to Hawaii is officially underway. Michelle took me to the Van Galder Bus stop in Janesville so that I could catch the 8am bus to O'Hare. As I walked up to the bus and found my seat, which just so happened to be the one with extra leg room, I couldn't help but recall my bus trips with the Lafayette women's basketball team. Hearing overly played music from my earbuds and stopping at McDonalds made it real easy to imagine that my old teammates were with me on the bus. Until I look up and see an old man with a dirty grayish, black pony tail (I sat far away from him) and a hippyish man who probably lives down the street from Jeannie and I on Willy St (those familiar with the neighborhood can easily picture this specific character).

We arrived to the Chicago airport early so I was in no rush to get to my gate. I walked around, got a snack, and finally plopped down at the gate. The flight to LA was on time which today is always a shocker. I had the aisle seat next to 2 women. The movie that was played was the Blind Side. I had already seen the movie but wanted to watch it again so I could pay more attention to Sandra Bullock to see if she indeed deserved the Oscar... I fell asleep to it.

We landed in LA about 15 minutes early. I walked around the terminal to scope out where I wanted to eat. I really wanted to sit down and be waited on but I decided to order a pizza at Wolf Gang Pucks because I knew I wouldn’t be ordering pizza over the next few week weeks considering the fact that Grandpa has never had it before. After devouring my lunch I walked around more keeping my head up and eyes peeled for celebs. When I was beginning to give up on my fantasy of seeing someone famous Bradley Cooper walked right by me. He fit in real well so I think I was the only one who noticed him. He was shorter than you would expect and wearing khaki pants with a t-shirt. He traveled by himself.

Once I accomplished my goal of seeing someone famous I took a seat at my gate. Also I needed to relieve my shoulders of my extremely heavy back pack. Sitting across from me were 2 West Coast "Coasties." These girls looked as if they were still in HS. I was able to confirm this observation by eavesdropping on their conversation with the flight attendant on the plane. They were talking about Justin Bieber and also about how they record everything they eat. The one girl said how she can't wait to have French Toast... "It will be my one big breakfast of the trip." (side note: they were eating fairly large BBQ chicken salads with a plentiful amount of croutons. Salads aren't always healthy girls!) These girls made me thankful to be a born and raised Midwestern girl!

I paced the terminal a few more times hoping for another run in with Bradley. I was getting greedy. While walking I couldn't help to think that even I would look like a celeb if I hid my face behind large sunglasses, scarves, and a hat. Too many times I saw a nobody dressed like that and I tried to figure out who it might be. After all this searching I regretted purposefully choosing a 2 hour lay over in LA. But I can't complain too much because the time went fast.

My flight boarded and when I found my window seat I could tell this was going to be an empty flight. My luck continued when no strangers came to sit next to me. For a 6 hour flight over the Pacific Ocean I had a whole row of 3 seats to myself. However to every positive there is always a negative (vise versa as well). This flight had the same entertainment. Sorry, Sandra but after watching your movie for a 3rd time you still didn’t convince me that you deserved the Oscar over Meryl Streep. Instead of watching the movie the airline provided I read my book and watched the 2nd season of Friday Night Lights on my computer.

The majority of our flight was pretty smooth until we approached Maui. A lot of winds caused the plane to be rather shaky. I was starting to become nauseous and nervous. Grandpa later told me he was surprised that we didn’t have to land some where else. Eventually the pilot landed the plan; needless to say, it was not a smooth landing.

Betty and Grandpa were waiting for me at the baggage claim. As soon as my suitcase came around we headed off to the car to drive to Kanapla Beach. My trip began at 8am central and finished at 12:30 am central.

Aloha,

Laura