An article from Traveling Pat!
Patricia is a regular contributor. She has an adventurous spirit with a love for travel. Follow along with Pat as her journey takes her around the world.
It was an interesting trip home from Hawaii…
Enjoy!
ps – my posting times might be a little random over the next few weeks in an effort to spend a little more time offline enjoying the holidays. Thank you for being here! 🙂
?Wendy Irene
Homeward Bound from Hawaii
Everything started off fine. I said my goodbyes and got through security no problem, the plane left on time and I was in a row all by myself. We landed in Honolulu and it was all going along seamlessly. Again, on time boarding. I did have a seat mate this time but as I was in the aisle seat and she didn’t bother to acknowledge me when I sat down I felt confident that I would have a good trip home.
As we pulled away from the jet way I opened my mystery novel and settled back for the fairly long 5 1/2 hour flight to Phoenix. The first hint that everything wasn’t going to be truly perfect was the silence. Hmmm I thought. After a few minutes there were the familiar grindings, groaning s and revving of the engine. I relaxed. Then silence. Finally the dreaded "Ladies and Gentlemen this is the captain speaking” Oh cripes! It turned out the starter on one of the engines was bad so they had to tow us back to the gate and call the mechanics and they would assess the problem and let us know what was what. Fine. Meanwhile we would receive a complimentary "dry snack" and a glass of water. Yippee!! The long the short of it is that an hour later it was fixed and we were on our way.
The flight was scheduled to get in at 11:59 pm. I left a couple of messages for Aaron to check the flight status because of our situation but I guess he didn’t get the message. Possibly because he rarely checks. We get in to Phoenix around 1:20 and I rush out and down to the baggage claim and scan the crowd for my husband. Not there. Oh well I think he is probably just arriving. I phone home just in case we had our wires crossed, no answer and call his cell phone, no answer. I try again and finally he picks up. The conversation goes something like this… "Did my guy get you he asks curtly"? "Guy" I mumble back". "Ya Mark." "Ummmm Mark"? “Do you have a pen"? "No". "Well find one” So I fumble around in my pack and as I do I ask "is there something wrong Aaron"? (I was always pretty quick of the mark). “Yes he says, I am half way from Tucson to Phoenix and I had a blow out and those …….s at the tire shop never gave us a key for the wheels when they put on the new tires". I have phoned every tow truck company in Casa Grande and no one can change the tire without this thing and I have been sitting on the hwy for 4 hours. I have a taxi driver coming up to get you…Mark… so you need to call him. He gives me the # and I call the guy and he and a woman pick me up in their van. How will I recognize you he asks? I say I have a very purple shirt on and a dazed look on my face. He spots me right away.
So I get into the back of the van (with strangers) and we head off toward Hwy 10. It is now around 2:00 am. The first thing he says to the woman is that the traffic is very heavy on 10 and we will have to go another way. Lots of traffic at 2 a.m. I croak from the back seat? They say yes lots of accidents. So they go on this other route and it is unfamiliar and AZ is very dark at night and I jokingly say “Are you going to kidnap me?" They were Mexican and didn’t appreciate my humor… It is around 50 degrees and I am freezing with my little sandals and capris on. So I just say forget it and change my clothes right there in the back seat. Put on my long pants and socks and runners and a pashmina around my neck. I have been in Hawaii for goodness sake!
Finally we spot the flashers on the freeway and we pull up to meet Aaron. Our taxi guy was very helpful in getting one of his friends to come with a flat bed truck to take the car and us back to Tucson. The whole way the guy was ranting away about racial profiling of Mexican’s by the US law enforcement. After that he slipped into the next rant that the US is becoming a socialist country that communism is next. There was a mini rant about the fact the people think that GM is doing better but he shouts out that it is because all the government agencies are required to use GM vehicles! Despite all that we kind of enjoyed the guy. He dropped us off at 4:30 am.
Now wide awake we turned on the hot tub poured a glass of scotch and wine and watched cage wrestling until the hot tub got warm enough. We tore ourselves away from that, had a tub and finally hit the sack. What a day.
Pictures provided by Julie at Maui Vacation Guide Thank you!
