Well, the tickets are booked and the hotel reserved. Funding has been transferred but it still doesn't feel real. This time next week I will be at the airport!!
Friday November 24 I will fly to Denver leaving at 9 to Denver. I have almost a 2 hour layover and leave for Kahului Maui at noonish, landing at 4:10
The hotel they have set up for us is a condo in Kihei. It is one bedroom so I won't be sharing and has a full kitchen and washer and dryer. I have never had a set up like this for longer deployments so it will be nice. The washer and dryer alone has me over the moon excited as laundry is a pita when you work 12 hour days 7 days a week.
My return flight starts on Saturday December 23rd at 3ish, 5 hour flight to LAX, 2 hour layover, 4 hour flight to Chicago landing at 6 am, 2 hour layover and back in Tulsa at 10:30 am on Christmas Eve. I think it's safe to say Christmas Eve is shot for me. I am going to take the next three weeks off, with the exception of a few hours to do my travel voucher. I am not keen on having a $13,000 hotel bill just setting out there.
All of that being said, I am a nervous wreck. I have never been this far away from my family and never during the holiday. Losing my dad so close to Christmas just kind of took what little fun left in the holiday. I know Dennis will have a hard time this year too since his dad passed on Jan 3. I am a little bit glad to be away. My cousin will be in Tulsa on December 13th so my mom won't be alone for long.
I really hope we have some downtime because there are lots of things I want to see while I am there. Mostly Pearl Harbor and some of the reefs. I bought 2 bathing suits on amazon yesterday in the hopes that I will get a chance to use them.
So much to do. I have my hair appointment cancelled and I will go have my extensions moved up Wednesday of next week. I have to cancel my allergy doctor and Dennis's cardiologist. I hope we can get him in before the end of the year. I don't think he was too upset about having to move his appointment out though. He did get a message last night from a friend whose wife works in a cardio surgery and she said that his doctor is really good and I think that might have help ease his fears a little.
I was able to transfer my Beetlejuice tickets to Thursday so I will get to see it before I leave!!
Aloha for now....
I've been to Hawaii several times but never been to Pearl Harbor and never wanted to go. Not sure why but the thought gives me the willies. It's not far from the Honolulu airport so if you get a flight from Kahului to Honolulu you could do it as a day trip. Or a weekender. The hotels near Honolulu airport give government rates. Last I remember that wasn't too expensive.
ReplyDeleteAs far as being fat goes, I always thought I was fat I think because my mom was a little cannonball* and her attitude towards that rubbed off on me. That and I always had a bit of a belly. In reality I wasn't fat until I gained weight in the 80s. Before then I was in the 152 (during basic training) to 172 (during college) range. She always fought with her weight buying one of those machines with a belt that supposedly shook the weight off, or eating those Ayds candies or caffeinated diet pills (this was the 70s). It never worked.
ReplyDelete* She used to describe herself as 5 feet high and 5 feet wide. The 5 feet wide was an exaggeration but I know she was in the 205 to 215 range much of her adult life.
When I was in Maui, I was surprised at how $$ and time consuming it was to travel between the islands. It seems like you should just be able to jump on a ferry, but I didn't find anything like that. Still, if you have enough downtime, like a whole day off, you could probably manage Pearl Harbor.
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