Sunday:
I live in 5T and was flying from EWR so we had to wake up pretty early. After a brief stop at my in-laws to pick up our food, we headed to Elizabeth for davening. Davened at Adath Israel 6:30 minyan.
I found a groupon for Park Plus EWR parking and headed to the lot. It’s a valet type parking which means you have to leave your keys. They have an option for full valet which means they would drive you to the airport but you need to go to their lot first to pick up the valet driver. For $35 bucks I decided that it was completely unnecessary. We pulled into the lot and in under 8 minutes we were at the terminal already. The driver told me to take a picture of the front and back of the parking stub which was a great idea because we did in fact lose it at some point. You need your ticket number because when you call when you land back in EWR, you need to give them the ticket number and they have your car waiting for you, trunk open. The driver of the shuttle even put our bags in the car for us. Great service overall.
We got to the airport around 7:45. We were dropped off near the baggage claim area. We were flying J but accidently checked in at the Y computers on the 2nd floor and had luggage tags printed out. We tried bringing our luggage up to the 3rd floor to try and see if they would check our bags all the way through to LIH but they said they can't even take our bags because they don’t have scanners for the luggage tags printed. I tried checking in again in J but the computer didn’t let. We had to bring our bags back down to the 2nd floor where everything is self-checkin so there was nobody to talk to about checking our bags through. Oh Well, lesson learned. When flying J form EWR, go up to the 3rd floor to check-in.
Security was a breeze thanks to pre-check.
United did not let us into the lounge because even though we were flying 12 hours, it’s considered a domestic flight. (PR does count as international for access.) I didn’t bring any united club passes, so while she was sympathetic, she didn’t budge. Didn’t matter really because we got to the gate as they were starting to board. If you are traveling to HNL and want lounge access, bring a club pass.
We settle into our seats for what would be a looong flight.
Flight attendants were very attentive and overall it was a great experience. They started with breakfast which was not terrible. The fruit was still slightly frozen though. The main was an omelet that actually resembled eggs and potatoes that were seasoned well. We also brought along danishes to supplement breakfast.
Frozen Fruit
An egg!
I relaxed for a while but couldn’t seem to fall asleep. It didn’t help that someone opened their window shade enough to light up the entire cabin. I ended up learning a little, reading a little, watching some movies etc. I tried getting onto united wifi without paying but they did not accept gogo or VCC so I remained disconnected.
Lunch was chicken rice and potatoes. It looked decent enough that we didn’t bother asking them to reheat the mac and cheese we brought along.
Lunch
Actually pretty good
We eventually landed in HNL about 3:10ish. I was instantly hit by the humidity and was scared the rest of our trip would be the same. (It wasn’t) By the time we got our luggage and walked to the Hawaiian Air terminal it was about 4:15. There is a shuttle you can take but we enjoyed the walk as a chance to stretch our legs.
First view of HNL
We checked 3 bags in at EWR but were paying $15 a bag at HNL so decided to take one of them as carry-on. As we went through security, they asked if we have any bottles in our bags and our hearts sank when we realized they meant the 6oz grape juice we brought along for havdala. We forgot to switch it to our checked bag. The TSA agent was nice and let me take the bottle outside and drink half of it. I felt safer already.
We weren’t able to reserve seats together but the gate agent found us seats all the way in the back.
Our View
HA seems to have upped their KSLM game. (It was delicious and really tropical tasting)
Our view improved slightly when leaning forward
Our first View of LIH
We landed in LIH about 5:30 and promptly got our luggage. I wasn’t to happy to see that the TSA messed with our food box. It was all taped up so I figured I’d just check it in the hotel.
Not a reassuring site
Got a shuttle to hertz a few minutes later. Since I am a gold passport member, my car was waiting for me with keys inside.
Our ride
Like @yehuda, my wife encountered her first wild chicken at the car rental. I purposely did not tell her about things like that so it would be more exciting.
There were a few things we wanted to get from Wal-Mart but we were exhausted so decided to go straight to the hotel. It was getting dark as we drove but we got to the tree tunnel while it was still somewhat light out, another nice surprise for DW.
When you pull up to the hotel you are just blown away by how nice it is and how much they pamper it. And that ocean window is just breathtaking. We got our leis which was exciting because it made out Hawaii vacation official. They gave us both real flower leis made up of those edible flowers you see on fruit platters.
When we checked in I had my fingers crossed and was ecstatic when she told me we were getting an ocean view suite!!!
Entrance
Guest bathroom when you walk in
Living room
Dining area
Bedroom
Master bathroom
Our view at sunset
I checked on our food and BH it was all intact. They just moved stuff around. We called room service to pick up the box and prepare tonight’s dinner. Apparently everything was still extremely frozen because it took almost 2 hours to get it. We were collapsing from exhaustion by the time it came. This was the only time we had to wait for our food. Every other morning we would call up and tell them what we want that night and at what time. And right on cue they'd come on out and put our food down in its place (any abie rotenberg fans?)
