2023-12-11 9:39PM PST. Night before flight prep mostly complete (just finishing downloading “Mare of Easttown” to watch before my Max account expires). I had one more delightful Double-Double at In-n-Out Burger before doing without for the next 19-days. My bags are packed and waiting by the door.
As I previously mentioned, it’s been a while since I’ve taken any extended vacations or trips and the last really long one, back in 2017, I never got around to editing or sharing the thousands of images or dozens of videos. That’s been one of the shortcomings of many of my previous trips, I takes lots of pictures and videos but they never see the light of day and thus the story or stories remain untold.
So, this time I’m beginning with sharing and editing in mind. I’ll be traveling with only my iPad, so I won’t have the same gear that I normally use for editing and posting. And I have no idea how good the Internet connection(s) will be (which is why I’ve downloaded any media that I’m anticipating that I’ll be consuming). But I’m hoping that I’ll be able to quickly edit and upload on a regular if not daily basis, so that images and videos from this trip don’t have to wait six years before their stories get told.
I’ll be posting on my main website, but mostly posting on my much neglected media website, under the Travels & Events category: JBB’s Media Projects… Here we go!
Flight to Hawaii
2023-12-12 4:00AM PST. Getting up at 4AM for a 7AM flight would not have been my first choice… but I was able to get the quick drive to the airport courtesy my friend (& UBER driver), Steve, which made that part painless. Then it was long walks through Harry Reid airport to board the very full Hawaiian airlines flight to Lahaina. No Egg McMuffin before boarding and an okay breakfast sandwich as part of the flight. I spent most of the first part of the flight listening to podcasts and then when I decided that I wasn’t going to get any sleep, I began to watch the Snyder Cut of Justice League. Damn, as long as it is to fly from Las Vegas to Hawaii (5-plus hours), I didn’t finish the Snyder Cut. I enjoyed all the added material, but I can see why this version didn’t make it to the theaters. I forgot to mention, that it’s been so long since my last plane flight that I didn’t realize that my small carry-on bag was still too big to use as a carry-on, so I had to check it at the gate and wait for it at baggage claim when I got to Hawaii. Someone said, no worries, you’ll probably be the first bag delivered, but that turned out to not be true and my bag was the very last one to drop onto the carousel. But, we all made it safe and sound.
Afternoon in Lahaina/Kapili
2023-12-12 12:00PM HST. First thing upon landing was to check the weather then to take off my sweatshirt and jacket (it was 47° when I left Las Vegas). My brother in law, Dano picked me up from the airport and then we went into town to take care of some business. Business was closed for lunch, so we went to a bar next door and got their enchilada special and a couple beers for lunch. Not a bad way to start my Hawaiian Xmas vacation. After lunch we took take care of business and then began the long drive to Napili. Besides the striking beautiful vistas I noticed that folks drive a lot slower here, like sticking to 30-miles-an-hour-slower. That’s different. I greeted my sister Joyce, nephew Nathan and his girlfriend Marie. We chatted and relaxed for a bit before we took their dog for a nice walk along the shore. The weather was drizzly but warm and even waited until we were on our way back to the car before turning into full-on rain. Today’s steps (probably counting the airport walks) was 8,117 steps. Fun wet first day in Napili.
The day ended with dinner at home and a nice long conversation on the couch until midnight (way past Joyce’s normal bedtime). It was a great first day.
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JBB’s Media Projects (website) by Joseph Bruce Bustillos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
