H-Day had finally arrived! It was time for my Mom & I to fly to Hawaii! I had hoped to take her here a year ago but just couldn't swing it. But after much planning and some good deals I found on the Internet, we were now on our way. My friend, Deenu, picked us each up and drove us to the airport.
We checked in with plenty of time to spare and waited for our first flight, a short trip to Seattle.
Though we were technically on United Airlines all the way, this first flight was on a propeller plane operated by Air Canada. We began panicking when the flight didn't depart on time. 5 minutes ... 10 minutes ... 15 minutes ... it ended up leaving 35 minutes late!
There wasn't a whole lot to see other than the magnificent Gulf / San Juan Islands.
Arriving in Seattle, I thought we had to go across the entire airport to reach our next flight, but fortunately it was only 30 yards away. Most everyone else had already boarded! But the time we got into our seats, it was only about 3 minutes later when the doors were closed. Here's a quick video I took before the plane left the gate:
It was crystal clear on the way down to San Francisco, giving us gorgeous views of many mountains along the way.
Arriving in San Francisco, we were right on schedule so I knew we didn't have to rush for our next plane.
The SFO airport had some great large scale model airplanes hanging from the ceiling; a great tribute to the history of aviation.
Only in San Francisco!
A weary traveler has to eat! This was a superb burrito, one of the best I've ever had.
Our flight to Honolulu was absolutely packed. My mom and I were seated in different rows. I was fortunate to be seated in between a great father and his son from San Jose. I later learned that his wife and their 2 daughters were seated in the row in front of us.
United has a "Halfway to Hawaii" game. Based on the stats they provide, you submit an entry about when precisely the plane passes the halfway point. Using math, I calculated when the halfway point "should be" but failed to add a fudge factor to account for acceleration and such. If you ever play, add about 15 minutes to the mathematical midway point of the trip.
Here are the 3 great ladies of the aforementioned family. The girl in the center was turning 7 on the day after we arrived. She became my instant buddy and pretty much wanted to adopt me! I do hope to meet them again one day.
January 22, 1970 was the first commercial flight of a Boeing 747 aircraft. It was flown by Pan Am between New York and London.
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