http://smail.info - free e-mail service, smtp, pop3, imap4, ssl ! _____________________________________________________ My brother and I went to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii earlier this week to visit the volcano. If you have a pressing desire to go stick your fingers in molten hot lava, head out there since it is now a relatively easy and short walk to get to. Of course you don't really want to put your fingers in it, but you can get that close. HNL = Honolulu, Oahu ITO = Hilo, Big Island Our outbound flight was changed a couple of times. Buying the tickets the day before we flew, we had initially booked on flight 382 departing at 9:40am. However as soon as we got home from the travel agent, there was a message on the answering machine and I had to take care of some business the next afternoon at 2:30pm, so my brother called Hawaiian and changed us to flight 282 departing at 5:44pm. I actually got my business taken care of a bit early and we headed to the airport and wound up on... 28 August HA222 HNL-ITO 3:25pm-4:16pm 717-22A N484HA seats 6DF Arrived at the airport and went to drive-thru check in. Gave them our checked bag and got our boarding passes. This was the day before the two questions were officially suspended, but he didn't ask them. Went and parked the car, and went up to the terminal and to security. Short line on the Hawaiian side, no line on the Aloha side, guess which we went through. :P Interesting note: Aloha side has a sign that they don't need to see your ID at the security checkpoint, just your ticket/boarding pass. But the Hawaiian side says they need both. Went to gate 56, and after a few minutes they started boarding. Usually people have already lined up when boarding is announced, but not this time. The flight was at most 1/4 full, probably even less. My brother and I took the 3-seat side so we could have an empty seat between us. Prerecorded pre-departure announcements were made first in Hawaiian, then a longer one in English. Seemed like we were ready to go rather early but they probably had other things to do (final pre-departure checks, load last bags, etc). Pushed back from the gate 2 minutes early at 3:23pm. Taxied to runway 8L, where we were #2 for departure following an Aloha 737-200. In flight service was the usual, though the pre-recorded announcement now mentions water as a beverage option. Flew the usual approach along the Hamakua Coast and touched down on runway 8 at 4:08pm, 8 minutes early. The pilots just managed to make the exit and avoid having to taxi the full length of the runway. We pulled into gate 8 and got off. Visited the restroom and when we came out our bag was circling on the baggage claim, so we grabbed it and headed over to Thrifty Rent a Car to pick up our Neon. I'm 0 for 3 with these by the way, also had Neons on my Kauai and Maui trips earlier this summer, and all three have had problems. I tried to rent an Economy car (cheaper than a Neon, something like a Daewoo Lanos) but the only Lanos they had was already broken so they had to give me a Neon. Either that or pay more and get a VW Jetta. Visited the volcano that night. It's really neat, and for those who are interested I'd recommend getting out there before the lava flow moves again and gets harder to get to. Because of this, Hilo has been unusually busy, sometimes even selling out of rental cars and having most flights booked, especially on weekends. Next day we visited some of my brother's high school friends and teachers, and about an hour before our scheduled flight departure we figured we'd better head back to the airport. Ahh, Hilo... :D 29 August HA251 ITO-HNL 3:56pm-4:43pm 717-22A N486HA seats 22EF For once, I was actually going to fly on the flight I had originally booked! There were a few people ahead of us in line to check in, along with a rather strange sign that indicated that plants being brought to another island had to be checked by Department of Agriculture agents prior to check in. Our parents had asked us to bring back some flowers since they're much cheaper in Hilo than on Oahu, so my brother went to the agents and asked, they said they didn't need to be checked. We checked in for the flight and went to security. Also a line to get through there; my brother was told to dump the small amount of water that was in the bottom of the flowers so that delayed him. Got through security and went to the line of people who were waiting for the flight to board. Hilo has only a single large lounge, when the flight is called you go up the escalator to where the gates actually are. When our flight was called we went up, and saw people were still getting off the plane. We waited in line there for a few minutes, then boarded. The flight was full, I couldn't see any empty seats. My brother and I sat together on the three side (on the two side it was full up to maybe the last row), as it was we were in row 22, which is just behind the wing. We pulled out of the gate at 4:07pm, 9 minutes behind schedule. Taxied to runway 8 which we entered at intersection B, and took off for HNL. I noticed something interesting while sitting in Hilo. First I saw a business jet depart on the 26 direction, then an Aloha 737-200 taxied out and used the 8 direction. Then we taxied out and headed for 8, and just as we turned onto the runway I saw a Cessna twin of Hawaii Air Ambulance taxi off the runway after landing 26. Well, anyway after taking off we flew for a while, there were a few bumps on the way up to cruise altitude. It was overcast of the first part of the trip; things started to clear up over the island of Lanai. In flight beverage service was the same as the outbound flight. As I had a view of Lanai City Airport (LNY) out my window, we started our descent. Took the channel approach and touched down on runway 8L at 4:48pm, 5 minutes behind schedule. Taxied to gate 61, claimed our bag, and headed home. -- David Mueller / HNL davidm@smail.info http://www.quanterium.com