Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Fantasy Islands--Day #1

Friday--June 18

On June 18 the Mathews clan took off for Hawaii. The purpose was to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary, but the hidden agenda was to just be together for an extended period of time. We accomplished both. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I was able to get a non-stop flight from Houston-Honolulu last August(before the Continental merger with United). My choice was Continental because of my satisfaction with them over the years. The cabin crew was the worst I've seen in all of my years. They seemed to not be engaged with the passengers, seemingly unhappy, and "flying" down the aisles as if no one was on the plane. The rest of our family picked up on the same thing. It was not a bad start, but the whole plane was happy and looking forward to their vacation in Hawaii. The crew could not have failed, you would have thought.

It was a long flight. It felt like a trip to Amsterdam, but we arrived in late afternoon Hawaii time. We transferred to our hotel. We took a shuttle from the airport. After about 20 stops at other hotels and two hours later, we finally arrived at our hotel. That trip was worse than the flight over. NOTE: The shuttle cost was $9 each, or $54 in total. The next day we rented a limo to go to the pier for $25. Skip the shuttles!!!

We checked into the hotel and then went out to dinner. There are many restaurants to choose from, all within walking distance of the main hotels. It was nice, the food was really good, and we had a great time together. We went back to the hotel for some hot tub time before turning in for the evening. It has been a long day, but a good one.

We read in the gospels that Jesus often wanted to get alone with his disciples. They needed to get away from the crowds and just relax. They needed to be together. The Mathews family needed some of this "away" time as well. We needed some extended time together without so many interruptions and every day life getting in the way. It was happening.

Tomorrow, I will go on to day #2. The best was yet to come.

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