Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip To Maui (2018)--Day 20
5/24/2018
7 a.m. found us awake and out of bed, getting ready to complete packing and checking out. Once again, beautiful weather dominates on the Valley Isle, but our minds were focused on getting home, picking up Kimo, getting our mail and resuming normal life in northern Minnesota. It's funny how this works--we arrive on Maui and we're focused on things we want to do here (even when that thing is nothing). The entire trip is ahead of us, and the excitement is incredible. As time passes, fleeting thoughts of returning home begin to appear. And then, the cycle is complete from having our entire trip to look forward to, and ending with our return to Duluth.
Lahaina Shores lobby
Lawn area at the Lahaina Shores
Pool at the Lahaina Shores
Entrance of the Lahaina Shores lobby
With everything packed away and every drawer looked through (why we do this, I have no idea since the detailed checklist has every item checked off. so what could be missing?) we brought our bags downstairs at 10 a.m. I got the car, pulled around to the loading/unloading area where we loaded our bags and turned in our room cards and parking permit. After taking one last longing look around, we drive off.
With some extra time to kill since our flight doesn't leave until 4:30, we backtracked to Keawe Street and re-traced the entire Lahaina Bypass all the way to its terminus near Olowalu Mountain. With speed limits ranging from 30-45 mph and one lane each way, this really is no better than taking the old highway--in fact, it's worse. The only advantage we've found is that, with the Bypass extension opened, driving the old highway has become much easier and quicker than it used to be.
Encountering the normal traffic flow, we stopped at Ma`alaea and topped off the gas tank, and then proceeded to the Alamo location near the airport. The return went smoothly as it always does--Alamo is a great place to rent cars from--we took the shuttle bus to the airport terminal, walked across the airport access road, put the checked bag through the required agricultural inspection location, and then found the United Airlines kiosks. When I printed out the boarding passes yesterday, I didn't indicate we had a checked bag, so there was one little additional detail to take care of here.
It's a good thing we did it this way. And, this is where the fun suddenly stops in irritating fashion. Watching the screen as I wemt through the process, a warning suddenly popped up that our Maui to Chicago flight had been delayed by five hours! In addition to this delay, it would likewise result in our missing the Chicago to Minneapolis flight. I received some assistance and the kind gentleman who showed up did some checking of other flights and managed to rebook us with the Chicago-Mpls flight intact. Great news! Plus, we're now rebooked in Economy Plus which affords us extra leg room--at no additional charge. The only downside (so far) is that we couldn't sit together on the Los Angeles to Chicago flight, and we'd each be in the middle seat on a 737 (with their quite undesirable 3-3 seating configuration). Ugh.
The first flight would start boarding in 40 minutes and we hadn't gone through TSA security yet! Plus, the line looked really long. But it actually moved fairly quickly and with our having TSA-Pre check, we managed to get through the line and at the departure gate fifteen minutes before boarding starts. So far, so good. We were the first in line in Group 3. I love how United does this, by having a separate line for each Group, unlike the Land Rush arrangement Delta has where people are virtually jostling each other for position before their Zone (similar to United's Groups) is called. Space in a 737 is tight, especially in the overheads, and there is no guarantee that your bag will have a place--if not, they have to check it for you. This is especially true when flights are full, as they often are nowadays.
I was on the window with Patty next to me in the middle seat, and a girl from India who is studying in England is on the aisle. After a while, she got up and walked up to First Class, and a gentleman who we think is her father came back to Coach and took her place. After an hour, he got up and walked up to First Class being replaced by what we think is his son. Some weird musical chairs shit was going on here, but we found it rather amusing.
We landed in Los Angeles a few minutes early and located our next gate. With an hour to kill, we chilled out and waited. I noticed that, here, there are only two lines; one for Groups 1 and 2, one for Groups 3, 4 & 5. There was also a sign in place asking people to stay seated until their group is called. This was the first time I've seen such a sign in a gate serving United. But it was no big deal.
Yet.
About a half hour later, they announced a gate change but it wasn't far away. Everyone went scurrying for position at the new gate. We got ourselves seated right next to the Line 2 sign (for Groups 4-5) and waited. We assumed we were to remain seated until our group is called (Hey, that's what the sign says to do!), and here is where it got interesting and I got severely pissed off. First, we were in Group 4. The United employee in Kahului who rebooked our flights forgot to mention one small detail; people in Group 4 are not allowed a carry-on! Just whatever bag you can fit under the seat in front of you, such as Patty's extra bag, and my camera bag. Well, this sucks because now, I had to remove my laptop (there is no way I'm checking this vital device) and have Patty carry it in her smaller bag.
Meantime, I couldn't locate the baggage claim receipt we were given in Maui. You don't need it to claim your checked bag at your destination, but it apparently is essential in case your bag is lost or misplaced. Nice.
Second, people started entering Line 2 well before boarding began. We don't yet understand that it won't mean shit when we board since we're not "qualified" to be allowed a carry-on bag. So, we got in line. When the lady announced the boarding of Group 3, we hesitated, she says that if we're in Group 4, we have to exit and line and then re-enter. At the back of the queue!
Then, when she said that we couldn't bring our roll-on bags onto the plane and had to check them, I mutter something along the lines of "Dammit, we should have kept flying Delta". And I meant it. I meant it at that time. I meant it 17 hours later as I typed this. I still mean it, three months later. And four years later. 
One advantage of checking all our bags is that it's certainly easier to board! No rush, no worrying about finding sufficient overhead space, you just stroll down the aisle and find your seat. I was between two guys, one small, one large. Patty was directly behind me. I was in a fairly foul mood over the events of the past seven hours, and at this point, I just wanted to sleep. But I couldn't. I rarely can on a plane. Certainly not when I can't rest my head against the window and am squeezed for space!
This flight, which lasted less than four hours, felt like the longest flight I've ever had. Sleep deprivation had set in by the time we landed at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. We also had a long walk ahead of us to find our (final) departure gate for the flight which would take us to Minneapolis. Since our bags were all checked through to Mpls, there was no rush to get in line here, so we took our time getting on the plane. It's an Embraer 175, like the flight we had from Minneapolis to San Francisco on the way out 19 days ago. This plan wasn't anywhere close to being full, but still, I couldn't sleep. My need for sleep is now clashing with it being daylight and my brain telling me I should be awake. No such problem for Patty, as she has had some "decent" sleep on all three flights. Lucky lady.
The next concern--would all three of our bags be waiting at the baggage carousel? There weren't many bags coming out due to the small size of the plane, and we got all three bags quickly. What a relief! I must say that I miss the old copper colored checked bag we had prior to this trip. There were few bags this exact color, but the handle was wrecked by United baggage handlers during our flights home two years ago. It's missed, even though this new cranberry colored bag, a spinner suitcase, is very nice. Patty had tied an orange ribbon around the handle which helps finding it among the dozens of bags whirling past on the carousel at the end of a flight.
Now we just needed to find the Skyline Shuttle desk, and got misdirected twice before we finally get the correct directions. We arrived early enough to take the earlier 8:40 shuttle instead of our reserved 9:55 shuttle. While waiting for the driver to appear, we find out there is plenty of room for us on the earlier shuttle. Finally, something on our trip home worked out better than expected!
We asked the driver if he could drop us off at the Minit Mart (formerly the Little Store) in Proctor, and he replied "Sure, no problem!". Patty and I were in the seat behind him, and there were four other ladies seated behind us. As the foursome chatted, we talked with the driver about a variety of things. He had been to Maui so we were able to compare experiences, the current volcano situation on the Big Island and other topics. There was a slow down on I-35 near Rock City and it's Friday morning of the Memorial Day weekend, so traffic was getting a little heavy. It's going to be a mess later today with the lane closures!
Finally, we arrived in Proctor. When we told the driver we lived only a block from the Minit-Mart, he drove us right to our front door. Sweet!
We tipped him handsomely and unlocked our front door. Everything was intact, of course. What that car was doing parked in our driveway that night was a mystery. The mystery would be solved three days later when we talked to another neighbor and he said he was parked there that evening because of guests at his house. He laughed. Then I said I had told Josh to tow the car. And I laughed.
After calling Susan at Birch Hill Kennels and arranging a 12:30 pick up time for Kimo, we stopped at Proctor Public Utilities to pay our slightly overdue bill. All the other bills which arrived in the mail since we've been gone were waiting next door, but Josh and Kelly were in Texas with family until tomorrow night.
When we arrived at Birch Hill, Kimo was outside. He recognized our car and started jumping up and down in the outside kennel and howling. When he heard my voice, he really went nuts, crying and yipping while jumping on the fence. He missed us, too! Susan said he minded very well and got along great with the other dogs, especially a dog named Nikki and one other dog who Susan says resembled Kimo. She said he was a little aggressive at first, but eventually found his place and did very well. Proud of him!
With Kimo reunited with his humans, it was time to go home and begin the somewhat arduous task of unpacking those three bags. By evening, that task had been completed and we were full of Papa Murphy's pizza. I had also snuck in a quick one hour nap, with much more sleep to come tonight, I'm sure!
We're home. And safe. Another fantastic Maui trip is in the books.
Previous: 5/23/2018--Our Trip To Maui (2018)--Day 19
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