Aloha I will go...I mean Hawaiian Air, of course!

I'm sitting in the Hawaiian Airlines lounge in Honolulu at this moment. I have a few moments to relax before taking the WikiWiki shuttle over to the mainland terminal. From there I will be boarding United Airlines on a flight from Honolulu to Denver, then onto Dulles, where Angie Baby will be picking me up!
I determined to have enough omiyage (gifts from Hawaii) to make up 200 gifts to hand out when I get there. I already have plans to visit the entire Hawaii and North Carolina contigent of senators and congressmen and congresswomen. Each have a staff of nine people, so that's a huge chunk of gifts. I'm also going to visit the Washington Post, where a former colleague of my works as a graphic design artist. I had so much that I decided not to lug it through the airport, so I hesitantly packed two full check-on suitcases. My husband, Brian, made a wise decision to call a porter over to help when we arrived at Hilo International Airport. The porter was awesome. He lifted and carried my full bags from beginning to end. I quickly scrambled in my carry on and pulled out a gift for him and one for the attendant behind the Hawaiian Air counter. Each had my business card attached and I excitedly talked about going to the inauguration. The Hawaiian airline employee responded and only charged me a total of $25.00 for both bags. That would have been the cost for the first one on United. The second would have cost me $50.00, so he saved me a bundle. My plan is to ditch the second bag before coming home, as I won't need it. It is broken and has pukas developing in it, so it's time to discard anyway. That way I'll only bring one bag home.
Once I checked in, I flew through security and headed for the bathroom. Somewhere along the way I lost my boarding pass. I'm usually so careful, but I guess it happens every once in a while, even to the best of us. I was worried that I'd miss my flight, but the gal at the gate was gracious and allowed me to board.
There is already so much aloha and good will along the way. I sat by a really nice guy named Joe. He helped me with my oversized carry on, putting it into the overhead bin and then taking it out and carrying it until we got off the plane. I could tell he was nervous about flying, so I struck up a conversation. We talked about our ohana and keiki. Before we knew it the flight was over and we were landing in Honolulu.
So, here I am. I'm sipping on a root beer and I just finished watching the tail end of American Idol. I'm thankful for the air conditioning, although I'll probably miss the warm weather once I land in Denver! Thank heavens I packed my long underwear in my carry on!
Well, it's time to catch the WikiWiki now, so I will close. Please feel free to leave your comments on the blog. I would like to hear from all of you! Write as often as you like!
Again, thank you for all of your support. This trip means the world to me.
Aloha for now and always!
Karen