Part 16 "Our Honeymoon"

Feb. 3rd,2008 we boarded a plane to the beautiful island of Hawaii......

Before I get into our wonderful story of heaven on earth I have to share my family's experience travelling back home.

To start off with remember I got married in February.....one of the coldest months of the year! Snow, ice, freezing rain....you name it, it was happening!

I guess I will start with my brother and sister.....they went to the airport together and said there goodbyes. My brother if I'm not mistaken missed one flight and had to find another one.

My sister also missed her flight and found another one and had to wait a little while later. She made the next flight and it was all going pretty smooth until they reached their destination.....on the other side of the country(California) the wind was abnormally strong. Every time the pilot tried to land it shoved the plane back in the air. Everyone on the plane was starting to panic. Almost everyone got 'sick' some more than once. Some were actually puking in the back of the seat! Passengers were hyperventilating, one man in particular was sweating and almost passed out! My sister was also one of those passengers who was freaking out and loosing everything she put in her tummy that morning! Can you imagine the smell????!!!!

The pilot decided that it was going to be impossible to land so they turned around and went to Arizona. They landed in Phoenix I think and had to take a bus to LAX. Talk about a trip!!!!!! My sister has said since that trip that she will never fly again if she doesn't have to!!!!lol

On to the rest of my family.....My parents and grandparents had all the same flights back so they all figured it would be a nice trip home......Well were they wrong!

They boarded their plane that morning and everything seemed fine. The weather was tolerable and they made it to Chicago where they had a layover.

It was time to board the plane again, everyone was seated and ready to take off when over the speaker the pilot told everyone that they couldn't take off because the runway was to icy. They didn't know how long it would be til they could take off so everyone needed to be patient.

So naturally they all thought maybe another thirty minutes.....I don't exactly know how long they waited but it was a long time!! No one was allowed to get off the plane. Can you imagine being held hostage on a plane for hours! It was stuffy and people were very rude! They ended up making it home safely but it definitely was trip they will NEVER forget!!!!!

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So now back to our honeymoon!

We had a long flight ahead of us but we didn't care. We were sooo excited and just married! On the plane there was a TV that had our entire flight on it so we could see where we were at and how much time was left. It was really neat.

After a 13hr. flight we made it! As we were landing it seemed like a dream that we were actually in Hawaii! We got off the plane and walked into the airport. It was an outdoor airport! It didn't even look like an airport!

We got our luggage and headed to the rental car place. Rented our car and then headed to the hotel. The lobby was outside!!!!! I had never been in such a place that everything was outdoors!

We made our way to our room....It was so nice. Everything was so 'Hawaiian'!!! We had a great view looking out to the ocean and the city of Waikiki.

After we settled into our room we decided to take a stroll in the city to take it all in. We ate at a Red Lobster since we didn't really know the area.

Day one we found a tourist agent to help plan out the things we wanted to do while we were there.

The first thing on our list was to go to a luau. It was sooo fun!!!! So much dancing and the food....OMG.....the food was out of this world good. We actually got to see them pull the pig out of the ground after it had been cooking all day in a hole. The pig was so tender and juicy. The music was great too. I can say from experience though that the famous drink in Hawaii was absolutely disgusting!!!! All the other drinks we amazing though:)

Day two I woke up and I was in excruciating pain! I ended up in the urgent care on my honeymoon! I had the worst UTI I had ever had in my life!!! The explanation of why I got that will come later:)

I got some strong antibiotics and within a few hours I was feeling better! I felt sooo bad for this happening....ON OUR HONEYMOON:( For most of the day we took it easy so I could feel better. We ate at an awesome burger place for lunch. That evening we took a ride on a submarine. We went do to the depths of ocean, about a 100ft down. We learned so much on that little tour. One thing that was really cool was that once you get down to about 60ft. the natural color red can't be seen anymore, so the red polish on my nails looked black. We saw turtles, sharks, lots of fish, reefs, all man made, but still really neat. It is an experience that I will never forget for sure!

By day three I was much better. Our agenda that day was to go to Pearl Harbor. If you ever go to Hawaii you have to go. It is the most humbling experience. We were able to meet a man that was on Pearl Harbor the day of the attack. I think he was 17 years old at the time.

It was amazing to see parts of the USS Arizona still above water and the amount of oil that still comes out of the ship. Walking onto the memorial definitely makes you thankful for what you have and for the men and women who gave their lives on that unforgettable day! All the names on the wall just broke my heart.

We also were able to tour the USS Missouri and it was an experience too. We were able to see the dent that a kamikaze left in the side of the ship. That is also the ship that the Japanese surrendered on, to end World War 2. I've never been a history person but I really did enjoy learning it. I think that if I had learned everything that way in school I would have retained it much better!lol I have always been a more visual person!;)

We toured a museum, saw the air fields that were attacked. All the hangers still have all the bullet holes and everything. We also saw the tower and stuff that has been left exactly how it was that day. It was also used in the movie "Pearl Harbor".

Day four was a day planned to learn about the Polynesian cultures. Our first stop was the Dole Plantation. On the way there the tour guide kept talking about a dole whip. So when we got there he asked a trivia question and Tom got the answer right so he won a dole whip!!! Let me tell you, IT IS AMAZING!!!!!! It has no milk in it but it has that creamy pineapple ice cream flavor but yet so light. We wish we could get our hands on one again in the worst way!


Our next stop was the Polynesian culture center. We were able to see how all the different cultures live and how they are uniquely different. We watched a guy climb a palm tree half naked and bare foot using just his hands and feet! Saw lots of dances and many different clothing styles. All in all a really neat experience.


We then went to see waterfalls and Hawaii's beauty. We saw the only palace in the USA and a smaller version of a temple that is in Japan.


Day five we had to get up extra early. We hopped on another tour bus and made our way to the airport. We got on a little plane and flew to the Big Island where all the volcanoes are. Unfortunately the sulfur was so bad that day it was hard to see stuff and there were certain areas we couldn't go because of it. It was still amazing! We went to the museum they have and learned so much about the volcanoes. We took a tour through the rain forest area and went through a tunnel called a lava tube. We went to the black sand beaches. I have to say that was probably the most awesome thing I saw.


When we got back that evening we were so exhausted but wanted to shop a little so we walked through some shops.....Oh! And had to buy both of us some new sunglasses because we think we left them on the little plane! Yeah, I had just bought him a new pair of expensive glasses for Christmas and we lost them! Luckily we were able to find the same pair in a store so we replaced them!lol After shopping we went to a restaurant and got food to go and just took it back to the room. Of course that night was the night that they had a big celebration because the Pro Bowl was that weekend so we had such a hard time going to sleep.



Day six we kept free for ourselves to just relax. We slept in and spent most of the afternoon at the beach. That evening we went to this really nice seafood restaurant and I had the best mahi mahi I had ever had and of course Tom had steak!!!hehehe



Day seven was time for us to head home:( Our flight didn't leave til that evening so we did a little last minute sight seeing. We were definitely sad to leave but look forward to going again!! Actually we can't wait!!!! We talk about it daily:)



We have so many wonderful memories that we will never forget!



Stay tuned for what came only a month later................................