Day one of my (pseudo-forced) vacation started off rough — woke from a dead sleep at 3am remembering that something had not been done in preparation for Offbeat Bride that morning. Had to drag my ass out of bed and edit and schedule a post with my eye balls barely able to focus. But whatever, got it done! But then was unable to go back to sleep until 5am.
Woke up at 6:30 and started my usual pre-flight anxiety attack from leaving the house through arriving at my gate. Thankfully the security gods were with me yesterday and it was a breeze — no long and winding line, no bag re-check and no backscatter machine. Phew.
I also got a middle seat for my 5 and a half hour flight. Harrumph. But no worries — in true “flight to Maui style” I ended up making friends with the local guy I sat next to AND comforting the neighbor to my left, assuring him that the next 5+ hour flight, after his long trek from Norway to Los Angeles, would completely be worth the wait. He seemed to look relieved. In fact, by the middle of the flight, I was using the head phone jack in Norway’s seat, while Local Guy and I shared my headphones to watch the movie. 🙂
Obviously, things started to get better. My flight was a little late, so my parents were waiting for me at the bottom of the escalator with a fresh lei in hand. As I exited the airport and felt my first blast of fragrant island breeze I broke down in tears. I was happy, I was relieved, I was overwhelmed, I was in shock, I was home.
Sunshine in Pa’ia, me rockin’ a lei.
My parents know how to welcome me back to Maui, they wasted no time in getting me to Flatbread Pizza Co. We chowed down on organic, all local-grown salads and pizza. And I downed two local beers, finally feeling “on vacation.”
We then took a drive down the coast. The wind was up and the waves were intense — kite boarders, and surfers were out in force, most of them just struggling to keep up with the force and the speed of the waves. But on land, we were flirting with danger just as much as the surfers.
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