I've decided to make an active effort to blog at the end of each day so that I have fresh stories and memories to record about our Hawaii vacation. This is the biggest vacation we've ever had. Plus, flying was one of my biggest fears. So it's definitely a big deal. If it gets repetitive and lame (and it's likely to do just that) feel free to ignore the next weeks postings ;)
Being the procrastinators we are, Cory and I sat down Friday evening around 8 o'clock to start packing. Yes...start. Then it turned into some bickering and this isn't all going to fit and we have three connections I refuse to check a bag and a long night. But, we conquered it. And by 11:30pm we were packed, showered and ready to lay down. I probably fell asleep by midnight and then the alarm went off at 2:30am. Ugh! I was exhausted.
We left our house at 3 o'clock this morning for the ride to the airport. I had done such a good job of not thinking about the traveling part, but at that point I could no longer make my mind avoid the coming flights. I'm not sure what exactly has created my phobia of flying, but facing one of my greatest fears 3 times in one day was making the whole Hawaii thing really not seem worth it.
By the time we reached the airport I was certain that I would throw up at least once. My nerves were all over the place, it was super early, I hadn't slept hardly at all and I was seriously not wanting to make the trip. Nonetheless, we got all our stuff and headed into the airport for our very first flight.
It was like 5 o'clock in the morning and I was surprised by how chaotic things were even at that hour. After getting our boarding passes we waited in the security lines for like half an hour. Then, we finally made it to our terminal. Our first flight was from St. Louis to Memphis. Stupid, I know. We called and tried to get them to just let us catch the connection in Memphis since the distance was basically the same for us. However, for us to cost them less money...it was going to cost us about $400 more.
When I saw the plane that we would be flying from St. Louis to Memphis in, I got even more nervous. It was a dinky little thing. Especially when compared to the numerous other planes that were there. It made me feel like I couldn't swallow.
Our wait seemed so short when I heard the woman announce that our flight was now boarding and started calling for 'Zone 1' passengers to board the flight. Cory had to near drag me in. I, on my own, handed her my pass and walked half way through the short, narrow, crumpled hallway. When the hyperventilating started to come I looked at Cory and in a panicky voice said I could not do this. He placed his hand on the small of my back and gently nudge me on telling me that I could do this and would be fine. He continued to have to push me onto the plane. I found my seat quickly, strapped myself in and gripped my chair arms for dear life. I had a window seat...of course. It seemed like I had just got on the flight when before I knew it the flight attendant was giving us the safety lessons and our plane was slowly heading for the runway. I kept forgetting to breath...and swallow. So I nearly choked myself several times.
The little plane took off in a flash. It did feel like a roller coster ride to me. Then as it consistently gained altitude, my tensed body began to relax. I kept waiting for the sinus/ear pressure to happen and it never really did. Maybe my ears just don't have any problems adjusting or popping. But none of the flights bothered them at all. I mean, I guess my head did feel a little funny...and maybe the sound was a little muffled. But I didn't ever feel like my ears were hurting or under pressure or anything. So I was pleased with that.
When I realized the plane was in the air and we were actually flying, I forced myself to look out the window. The sight was amazing. The sun was just barely coming through some clouds and sending down rays of light to a lower layer of clouds which floated just below the plane. I could see the arch and all of St. Louis' downtown stuff. Even the river looked nice from the view. It wasn't bad. It wasn't anything like I expected. However, it is vital I have a window seat. Perhaps that more of an oxymoron, but somehow it helps me relax more.
However, our first pilot did miss the runway and nearly kill us all. Okay...probably not entirely true. The cloud coverage was really high and when he went in for the runway he was coming in perpendicular to it instead of in line with it. So he had to jerk the plane back up very rapidly to ensure the plane did not land. Then he had to make a large circle which extended our flight by about half an hour overall. So that was pretty terrifying.
Overall, taking off and landing are completely terrifying. But, once we get in the air I'm fine.
For our second flight, which was from Memphis to Los Angeles, it was about the same. I was actually in the middle seat which sucked big time. Mainly because the father of an Asian family had the window seat in our row and his wife and two children were in the row in front of us. Those kids were so ridiculous. I wanted to beat them. Then the parents were loud too and kept talking and passing things and it was just real annoying for me. I actually fell asleep for some of that flight and it wasn't too bad.
The flight from Los Angeles to Kona was awful. It was like 6 hours long. I had a window seat again though so that was awesome. However, the view was pretty much the same from start to finish. It was very disorienting sometimes, because all you could see was blue and then white clouds. It made you think you were looking at the sky even though it was the ocean. Our pilot also hit a lot of turbulence when landing in Kona which made for a very bumpy landing. So again...terrifying.
When we got here we had to go get our rental, then some food, then finally found our resort. We're here and all packed in for the week.
I'm extremely tired or I'd give more details even though I feel I've babbled a ridiculous amount all ready. I'm also sleep deprived (if you haven't picked up on that yet) so hopefully this is coherent. I just wanted to get it down while it was still the day of. But now, I have to go shower and crawl into bed before I literally pass out.
Tomorrow will be the day of fun, exploring and adventures. But only after I've slept as long as my body wants me to! NO ALARMS!!
No comments:
Post a Comment