It was 5:00am. The alarms on our phones started to go off. The sound of the alarms bounced off the walls of the hotel room. It was a dark and cold morning in Portland. I got out of the warm, white, fluffy bed, and got myself ready for the day. I decided to wear shorts to the airport even though it was 27 degrees. I made this decision, because the sweatpants I packed had zippered pockets. I was not in the mood to be stopped at TSA, and patted down like the last trip. We checked out of the hotel and drove to the airport. The Snapchats between the four cousins were going back and forth. We were all so excited for our Hawaiian vacation.
We arrived at the airport, and went to the Hawaiian airlines counter where we got our boarding passes and checked our luggage. After we checked in, we headed over to TSA. Since it was so early in the morning there wasn’t a long line. Since we travel often, I would consider myself as a TSA expert. I knew what to take out of my bag what to put in bins, and what I didn’t need to worry about. I went through the body scanner, and made it through with no issues. I waited at the end of the x-ray machine for my shoes and backpack, but they didn’t come. The x-ray machine was at a stand still and nothing was coming out. One of the TSA agents asked for a supervisor, and both of them were looking at the x-ray machine. The lady took my black North Face backpack, and held it up.
She said, “Whose bag is this?”
I said,“it’s mine.”
She asked me to come over to a metal table. Then, she started unzipping the zippers on my backpack.
She asked if I had any weapons or sharp objects, and I said no. The TSA agent started pulling all of the things out of my backpack. Before I knew it, there was a mountain of things sitting on this table. At the bottom of my bag there were snacks, and apparently they were the issue. The woman swabbed all of the packaging, then tested them. I was told that I could go, so I put all the things back into the bag.
She said “Have a nice trip!”
And I said “You too!”
After my stressful encounter with TSA, we made our way to the gate, and boarded the plane. After five hours in the air, we finally landed in Hawaii. We got off the plane, and the open air airport was incredibly hot. We went straight to baggage claim, and from there we went to get the rental car. The rental car place was crowded and hot. They told us to go to the second level of the parking garage. We had to wait nearly an hour to get an SUV, because they didn’t have any ready. My dad explained to me that everyone in Hawaii is on “island time”. I am not a fan of “island time”.
After we got an SUV, we made the 45 minute drive across the island. The entire drive was unreal, and it looked like it was straight out of Jurassic Park. We finally arrived at the house. We were greeted by our grandparents, and we walked in the front door. We were met with a wall of windows overlooking the ocean. They showed us our rooms, and I was less than thrilled with mine. I called it the “maids quarters”. It was across the house from everyone else, and I felt so isolated. Despite my irritation, I decided to put on some swim trunks and go in the ocean. It was very windy, and the palm trees looked like they were going to snap. The ocean looked angry. The waves were crashing against the shore. Despite the wind, the ocean felt great, especially after a long day of traveling. Later that night we ate dinner, and got delicious shaved ice.
We spent the first day of the trip at the beach. The beach was pretty great, but Target sounded better. We decided to go to Target to buy some essentials. Hawaiian Target is a little bit different than Eugene Target. The first noticeable difference is the roosters and chickens that wander through the parking lot. This lovely Target also didn’t have any bags, so the only option was five dollar reusable bags. We ended up just carrying everything out. We had many trips to Target throughout our ten day trip.
After the trip to the Hawaiian Target, the grandparents wanted to enlighten their grandchildren with a beautiful “nature hike”. We were promised a “paved path” and reassured that our shoes wouldn’t get ruined. We hopped in the Subaru and made the quick drive to the beginning of the “hike”. After the “hike”, my shoes looked bad, but I looked worse. The humidity and heat had set in, and I was feeling the effects. I felt like I was dying. I thought to myself, is this the end? A shitty hike?
After the first day, everything was going well. Until, we decided to drive around the island of Oahu to see all the sights. We ended the tour of the island at the Dole pineapple plantation. The best way to describe it is pineapple hell. It was very crowded and the lines were long. We waited in line for what I like to call “pineapple zoo food”. It was incredibly overpriced, and it didn’t taste good. Let’s be real it was processed food, so it had probably been in a bag for a year. After eating the “zoo food” and buying pineapple paraphernalia. We left the pineapple plantation dissatisfied.
Even though there were parts of our trip that were less than fantastic. We still had an amazing trip. We got to do so many amazing things. We all agreed that it was probably one of the best trips. We had so much fun together, going to the beach, snorkeling, eating at amazing restaurants, and just enjoying the sun. The trip home was sad and uneventful. No one wanted to leave, but at least no one got stopped at TSA.