We left for
self coming down with a cough, AND I found my gums getting infected. (Ever since I had my wisdom teeth out after they were horribly infected, my gums get infected every now and then if they get scratched or something. It’s not like gingivitis--I PROMISE I brush and floss!) In the past when this happened, it kept growing worse until the dentist prescribed antibiotics. So on Tuesday morning, I’m feeling fairly crappy from the cough thing and getting worried about my teeth—not that they were very bad, but I was afraid they’d get worse and worse and end up with a problem in the middle of our backpacking trip or something.
Kevin and I both flew out of Peoria, IL, which is about 1.5 hours away from our house. However, since our tickets were both frequent flier, we had to go with 2 different airlines, so we left on 2 different planes. I went through Chicago, and Kevin went through Dallas. I had a 3 hour layover in Chicago, and to my relief and happiness, I discovered there is a doctor's clinic *inside* O'Hare airport, and they saw my mouth and prescribed penicillin (and then gave it to me)! So that was quite a relief. I still felt rather yucky on the looooong ride from Chicago to Honolulu, but I was less worried.
I arrived a couple of hours before Kevin, and our plan was that I would go check into our hotel and Kevin would come on a later shuttle and meet me there. I had originally intended to walk down to Waikiki beach immediately after checking in, but the shuttle took longer than expected to get to the hotel, plus it was drizzly outside and I still felt sickish, and I was soooo tired from the traveling...so I just stayed in the room and read my book. At least we had a (TINY) balcony--couldn't see the beach from it, though. Only the crazy expensive hotels on Waikiki have ocean views. Our hotel room was about $100 for the night, which for Honolulu is very inexpensive. It was fine, but very small with uncomfortable beds. Luckily, we were just there one night, though.
When I first walked up to the hotel, I was astounded to find that the lobby was totally open-air and had no walls or doors at all. There was a roof, but one whole wall was open to the air. I marveled over this, but I had yet to learn that half the buildings in Hawaii are like that--including parts of the airports, actually!
Kevin arrived a couple of hours later, and we went to find something to eat. We didn't feel like walking very far, so we just found a close place, which happened to be TGI Friday's. Same menu as in Illinois, but about twice as expensive! (All the food is crazy expensive in Hawaii, including at the grocery store--we're talking $8 a gallon milk!) But, it filled us up and that was what mattered. We were very exhausted from our flights (and the whole non-sleeping thing the night before the flight), and went straight to bed, after ordering our taxi for 4am (!!) the following morning. Sheesh! Who planned this itinerary anyways? ;)
So all in all, the first day was not so fabulous. I did see a rainbow right after my plane landed, but that was about it for enjoying paradise so far. But it was all uphill from there, I assure you.
P.S. This picture isn't actually from this day, but I don't have any from that day, and all this boring text requires *some* visual break, so there you go.
2 comments:
OOoooooohhhh! I'm eating this up already! More! More! MORE!!!
Wow, I didn't know that there was a clinic at O'Hare (I have been there all of two times, since we usually flew out of Midway, which I preferred). Lucky! So sorry you felt crummy for your first day in paradise, and that you couldn't fly with your husband, either (I think that would royally stink!)
Lovin' the details like the open-air lobby and the expensive food. And yay, another post is up already! Off to read that one.
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