Hawaii

So there is a travel agent down the hall from our office. Every once in a while they drop off brochures at the front desk. No one ever picks them up, but I happened to be coming into the office at the same time that the gal was dropping off the brochures and the top one was for Hawaii. I'll look at that.



I went to Hawaii twice a long, long (really long) time ago. Both trips were great, but I hated the very long plane ride. The first trip was really cheap, but then they sold us a bunch of excursions, so it ended up being pretty pricey. The second trip was free to me (except for the couple of excursions), because it was for work. I went over for a week and we literally drove to the apartment at night, got up at 6 a.m. to drive to work IN A WAREHOUSE WITH NO WINDOWS and left well after dark to go back to the apartment for five straight days. I could have been at the North Pole. So the sixth day I insisted that we take the day off and go sight seeing and it was great.

Take a trip to Hawaii has been on my list for a very, very long time, but I thought I had grown--I live in California. This is a rather hot vacation destination and I live here all the time. So why get on a plane and fly to far away when I can just drive to San Diego or up the coast. It makes no sense. Except that I almost never do. So last year I forced myself to take a trip to San Diego. It was nice, but the beach wasn't all that. It was overcast most of the time and that long drive was not appealing. And then there is Hawaii 5 0. It is kind of a cheesy crime show, but the view is awesome. I want to go there.



So connect the dots, and I'm looking at this brochure and it has information about a cruise around all the islands. I've heard of this before and hated the idea, but then I looked a little closer--American cuisine--floating hotel that goes to all of the islands. I took two trips to Maui the last two times I was in Hawaii. It is not unreasonable that the cheapest way to go would be to stay in Oahu and I've never been to the big island, so I have to go. A cruise with American cuisine would be perfect. I looked up the prices on line--ouch.



But it's on my list. I haven't been on a vacation for me in a very long time. I went to Washington DC a couple years back for work--five days--worked 7-8 hours each non-travel day--awesome vacation. (Not sarcastic--I really had a good time.) Last year we went to Kansas City for work--again, very nice time, but for work. Oh, and don't forget my weekend at San Diego. But turn off the phone, my only job is to relax for 10 days...haven't had one of those in a very long time.



So I psych myself up to spend the money--damn the torpedoes--I'm getting the talking Elmo (inside joke--a friend of mine was broke to the point of taking out payday loans, on the brink of wage garnishments and she bought a talking Elmo--she doesn't even have kids). Then I realize, I also have to get there and look up airfares--double ouch.



So I'm leaving for lunch the next day and my feet find their way to the office of the travel agent. They have a De La Crois hanging on the wall. I love those prints. It must be a sign. I lay out everything to the travel agent and she says, "what's your budget." I tell her the ginormous number that I have estimated that it could cost me and she says she'll get back to me by the end of the day. Then nothing. She doesn't call back.

So I'm thinking about it and I go back on line to look at the cruise. I hate cruises. I notice some small print. The steakhouse (that caught my eye and pushed me over the edge on a cruise) is available for an extra charge. At each stop they have excursions you can buy and they are not cheap. I'm wondering if there is anything but a sleazy dock where we pull into port--been to enough of those to last me a lifetime. So now, I'm thinking--"what were you thinking"--I hate cruises. All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air--OK, an ocean view would be awesome and comfortable is a must, but I don't care about all the silly vacation stuff that other people are looking for. A nice view, maybe one day of renting a car to go see a volcano.

So I put that in an e-mail to Ms. Travel Agent and she calls me right back. She's so happy that I have lowered my expectations, because there is no way she can swing a cruise on my budget (double occupancy means I pay twice what I put in my budget and my budget was already anemic compared to the actual cost). She has lots of great ideas in my budget.

My ginormous budget that I can't afford to leave a great vacation destination to fly five hours to a tourist trap where I will pay so, so, so much extra for my diet coke. This does not sound good.



So she was going to call me back by end of business yesterday with a proposal for my new plan. She hasn't called. I can either throw more money at this or grow up and take it off the list. Decisions, decisions.

P.S. Just got the e-mail that for my ginormous budget I can get 7 days at cheesy partial ocean view hotel. Tried to find restaurants in the area and the pickings are slim and pricey. No steakhouses--they lik'a the fish there. Do they even have McDonalds in Hawaii? They must, but what if they don't?