Kauai 2011 - Day 1

Wow! What a day! Kath and I were initially set to depart Edmonton at 1:21p for our flight to San Fransisco. When we checked in, we learned that our flight was delayed until 2:34p due to bad weather in Chicago (where our plane was coming from, apparently). We found some chairs to hang in and read books and ate a sandwich. We finally boarded around 2:40 (notice the lateness...there will be a theme) and were told that we would take off about 3:20. I began to get nervous at this point because leaving that late was going to seriously increase the chances of us missing our connection in San Fran (which was to leave at 5:34p). Luckily, in Edmonton there was only rain and no thunder and lightning like last year to delay us even further! Once we were under way, we learned that there was a low ceiling in San Fran (hard to believe because as soon as we broke through the cloud layer in Edmonton, the sun was shining and the sky was blue!) we were scheduled to land at 5:07 (which would still give us time to make our 5:34 connection). Someone wanted to test my patience and faith, let me tell you, because we circled San Fran for about 45 minutes (felt like way longer) due to that low ceiling (and yet, again, up above the clouds, blue sky and SUNSHINE). Our connection window grew smaller and smaller all the time. I just kept silently praying that somehow our connecting flight would be delayed and that we would, by some small miracle, make the connection and meet up with the rest of our family (who had their own delays leaving Calgary which we did not know about yet). When we LANDED at 5:34p, I looked at Kath and said we are not going to make it, but we should try anyway. Of course, we were near the back of the plane, so getting off the plane took a few minutes. Once we were in the terminal, we headed to what our flight attendant told us was the gate. On the arrivals and departures screens, it said that our next flight was CLOSED, but we kept running anyway. (We had to go from Gate 68 down to Gate 86). We asked people to get out of our way on the moving sidewalk as we had a connection, and they moved for us. Kathleen had the presence of mind to double check the gate screen (originally we had been told Gate 83) and saw that we were now at Gate 86. I was SO HAPPY to see a line up of people at that gate, and soon after we saw Traci and Nathan running toward us! There HAD been a delay (prayers work!!) as they had to bring in a bigger plane, so everyone had to get new seat assignments. There was much confusion at the desk, but we waited, and then they paged our names, so we muscled up to the front counter, handed in our old tickets and got seat reassignments! Imagine our surprise when we got on the plane and discovered we had been upgraded to BUSINESS CLASS! SO SWEET. Private seat, larger screen tv in the seat, with remote control and access to several movies and TV shows. We got glass glasses to drink from, dinner service, and a little cup of hot mixed nuts for a snack. It was a once in a lifetime event, I think, because there is no way that I would ever be able to afford an upgrade like that. I really do feel blessed! We arrived in Kauai at 8:30 (our original landing time - odd, I thought), only to find out that our luggage did not make the connection with us (so glad I had packed my swimming suit in my carry on). It will arrive around noon Tuesday on the next flight from San Fran. So happy to be here! Island life suits me :-D Stay tuned for more adventures!