HAWAII ON2 - Day 6 | Aloha Hawaii

With the alarm buzzing at 4am, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready to go. Having showered the night before, all I had to do was dress and pack up the last of my things. With a sigh and one last look around the room, I exited and took the 22 floors down for one last time.

Since our room was in the nearby tower and not the hotel itself, I had to wheel my luggage onto the sidewalk and up the stairs to the "front desk" to check out. Being so early and still dark out, it was a little intimidating to be walking the street. I was struggling with getting my bag up the stairs when a man approached me and asked me if I needed help with my bag. As a testament to how nice people really are in Hawaii, this big burly guy proceeded to take my heavy bag up the stairs for me. Being from LA, and trained to be wary of strangers, I was surprised and impressed by the unexpected chivalry. I was half expecting the guy to go running off with my bag. But instead, the guy was a complete sweetheart --- and he bid me a good trip as he placed my bag in front of the reception area at the top of the stairs. This gesture reminded me of something someone once said to me, "You have to trust people sometimes."

The shuttles for Diamondhead Vacations were punctual, if nothing else. There was only one other passenger in the bus --- a talent agent from Los Angeles. Our driver was very friendly too --- saying he wished he could have been the driver on the pickup from the airport because he was great at pointing out some great local (non-touristy) places we could have visited during our stay.

The airport was practically deserted. I was able to get through the Agriculture check, check in, and security check rather quickly. The walk to my gate was freaking LONG. And because it was so early, none of the shops were open yet. I could have used a Venti Unleaded Drip from Starbucks. But the whole place was still asleep. Next time, I may need to plan my return trip for later in the day. Getting to the airport so early was not a good idea.

I passed the time at the gate talking with Marvin -- the other passenger from my shuttle bus. We were on the same flight and we chatted about our visit to Hawaii. The plane boarded on time (7:15am) and right after I clicked my seatbelt on, exhaustion took over and I fell asleep as we were taxi-ing to the runway.

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC trip. Started out kind of crazy, but turned out wonderful. It broke my heart to leave...but I am mollifying myself by promising that I will return next year to attend the Salsa Festival again.

Tomorrow?? Back to the real world....