Hawaii Day 1

This morning was a bright and early start. Well, maybe bit a bright start but certainly and early one. After getting into bed at about midnight it seemed like I had just closed my eyes when they opened again at 4:10a.m. Up I got to grab a shower and throw some last minute items into the suitcase. Our airport limo arrived right on time to load up the car and have us out of the house by 5:30a.m.
Then it was up to Bloor and Church to pick up PC and Yoko. Yoko is head to Japan for 3 weeks. I'm not sure how PC will manage without his wife or good friend (Raju) to keep him company.
We arrived at the airport shortly after 6:00a.m. It wasn't crazy busy and checking in was relatively smooth. One thing we did not expect was to have to pay for our checked luggage. $15/piece. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me, but we didn't have a choice. The next thing you know, they'll be charging you to go to the bathroom.
The flight to Chicago was a short one of 1 hr. 45 min. We hit a little bit of turbulence on the way but had been given advance warning so it wasn't a surprise. Other than that it was uneventful.
The second leg of the trip (Chicago to Honolulu) was a bit longer at flying time just under 9 hours. Again you had to buy food if you were hungry. And the two main options they had both had pork in it. Fortunately they also had snack boxes which kept me over until we reached our final destination. However food was not my main concern, it was how I was going to occupy myself for 9 hours. I slept, watched 30 Rock, a movie (Then She Found Me with Helen Hunt and Bette Midler), played Mario Kart, read a magazine and chatted with Raju.
We arrived in Honolulu at 2:15p.m. Our next flight to The Big Island was not scheduled to leave until 7:00p.m. Paying a small charge we managed to get on the 3:15p.m flight instead. It was well worth it not to have to sit in the airport for 4 hours.
The drive from the airport to our resort was about 30 minutes. And the "scenery" along the way is just all black rocks (lava). Our resort though is absolutely stunning. We are staying at he Hilton Waikoloa Village. It is 62 acres (the size of Disney Land) with a lagoon running through it. To get around the resort, you can walk, take the boat or take the monorail.
For some reason I feel like we are getting special treatment. We got an upgrade to an ocean view room and a bottle of champagne was delivered to our room.
I'm trying hard to stay up as late as possible since Hawaii is 6 hours behind Toronto time. I think it's a losing battle though.