9/7/17, “The Weird Day”
Antonio B. Won Pat International
Airport, Guam (GUM)
I am about to go back in
time. It is the morning of Thursday,
September 7 here in Guam, and I am about to fly to Honolulu. When I land there it will be the evening of
Wednesday, September 6. The flight is 8
hours, but, by crossing the International Date Line eastbound, I will go back
20 hours in time, a net gain of 12 hours.
I have only done that twice before, both times flying to LAX, in fact,
HND-LAX in 2014 and SYD-LAX on the first of this year. However, both times previously, I merely had
a longer day. This is the first time
I’ve actually ever relived a day like this.
Yesterday’s entry was written entirely on 9/6, today’s entry is starting
on 9/7, but it will be written later on 9/6.
Tomorrow’s entry will be entirely written on 9/7. Yesterday was Day 5, but can I call this Day
6? That would make tomorrow Day 7, which
would really be weird, if September 2 was Day 1, but September 7 will be Day 7
(and September 8 be Day 8, etc.) Or, do
I do something similar to what I did when I came back from Seoul and call this
Day 5B or even call today Day 6A and tomorrow Day 6B? These are the questions that vex me on this
Weird Day.
I don’t have much to report,
but I am back in the smoking room at GUM, and I have some time to kill before I
have to go to my gate, so I will round this out and bring the entry up to
speed. After I closed last night, I
published my entry and took my time posting my photos. I relaxed a bit and then packed and got
ready. At 2 AM, I drove to the airport,
stopping for gas along the way. I
dropped off the keys at Alamo and then realized I had forgotten my charger in
the car. The agent was already on her
way to the car, so I raced after her to retrieve it. She checked the car, and I was good to
go.
There was a flight about to depart to
Japan, so the airport was crowded, which meant a long line for security, but it
went quickly enough. I realized that I
had almost no coffee today, so I stopped for a double espresso and, unable to
find a water fountain, a half-liter bottle of water. I was shocked at the price. Combined they cost more than lunch did today.
I then went to the smoking patio, where I lit
up an Oliva. The flight soon started
boarding, and, it was cramped but short.
When we landed at Guam, I went to the smoking area, where I sat down in
my spot from the other day, lit up a Graycliff, and proceeded to write this
entry, which I will now close so that I can finish my cigar before I go to the
gate.
9/6/17
Hilo, Hawai’i, Hawaii
After somewhere between two and
four Days in the Marianas, depending on how you account for the International
Date Line, I am back in Hawaii for a brief respite before I turn around and go
to American Samoa. If the Marianas were
the appetizer, this two-Day respite would be the sorbet that cleanses my pallet
before the entree is brought out, or, if you would prefer, the first of the two
entrees on a tasting menu.
As my astute
reader will note, and as I have pointed out, this entry has two different dates. When I wrote this morning, it was 9/7, but
now, tonight, it it is 9/6. I am at Hilo Bay Oceanfront Bed and Breakfast, a
charming B&B on the Big Island, a short walk from the Mokupapapa
Discovery Center, which serves as the VC for Papahanaumokukea National Marine
Monument. I will note that I not typing
any of these from reference. I have,
indeed, memorized the spelling of each of these words. Papahanaumokukea, try saying that five times
fast. I’ll wait.
That is the reason for this respite, to see Papahanumokuea National
Marine Monument, which is actually closed to the public. In order to claim it, I will be visiting
three islands in two Days and then going to Pearl Harbor before I fly to American
Samoa. The VC is on this island, the closest I can get to the WHS boundary is on Kaua’i,
which is where I will take my ceremonial picture, the Plaque is on Oahu.
As I have been saying, this has been a very
weird day, with dinner tonight the closest I came to anything that could be
classified as an activity. After I
closed at GUM, I headed to the gate.
They had an immigration control at the gate, and customs would be at
HNL. I got on the flight, and I was on
complete edge. The GUM-HNL flight was
scheduled to land at 5:50 PM, and I thought my HNL-ITO flight was at 7:07 PM. That was a very tight connection. Fortunately, I was able to avoid checking
bags, so I figured I would okay, but tight.
I also anticipated an arduous process going through customs at HNL and
transferring from the international terminal to the inter-island terminal.
I then got a few pieces of good news. My flight was actually at 7:24 PM, not 7:07
PM, and the customs/transfer process was nowhere near as arduous as I
anticipated. It was just a short walk to
the customs hall, then another short walk to the inter-island terminal. That was much easier than my outbound transfer. I was feeling pretty good.
That’s when they said that our flight was
being held because they were awaiting 100 passengers connecting from Hong Kong. What the actual fuck?!? I checked to see when the HKG-GUM flight had
landed, and it had landed at 5:30 PM, so I breathed a sigh of relief, figuring
that the delay couldn’t be that bad. It
wasn’t. We were only delayed by 15
minutes, and I had some champagne to make the time go by quicker. While my phone said it was 6:15 AM, I had
been awake for ten hours. As I have
said, it’s been a weird day. Once we
were airborne, breakfast consisted of fruit, yogurt, stir-fried pork and noodles,
and a cinnamon roll, along with club soda.
Yes, stir-fried pork and noodles with fruit and yogurt. What else would I have for breakfast on this
weird day?
I fell asleep after breakfast
and woke up for lunch, which consisted of a pulled pork and melted cheese
sandwich, along with Pringles and more club soda. I didn’t want the bread, so I just scraped
the pork and cheese off of the sandwich.
We soon made our descent into Honolulu, and I could see Pearl Harbor out
the window as we descended. Customs was
a breeze, and I was at the check-in counter at the inter-island terminal within
15 minutes of us touching down. I had an
hour before my flight to Hilo. I was good. I went to check in at the kiosk, and it
printed my boarding pass, along with my boarding passes for the next four
legs. Of the following 48 hours, I would
be flying HNL-ITO-HNL-LIH-HNL-PPG, and it printed out all five boarding
passes. Now, reader, how’s this for irony. After my panic about making my connection,
after all the time I spent worrying, my HNL-ITO flight was delayed by 15
minutes.
I was at my gate 30 minutes
before boarding even began. I had a Fig
Bar, not wanting to indulge in Burger King, as much as I was craving some Chicken
Fries, and boarding soon began. I had
the whole three-seater to myself, and I was surprised how roomy the overhead
bins were, easily fitting my overstuffed carry-on. It was a short flight, and I actually had a
cell signal for a lot of it, as we passed over Maui and again as soon as we
were over the Big Island.
I had called
the proprietor of the B&B where I was staying to let him know about my late
arrival and to ask him what to do for dinner.
He recommended a place called Pineapples, which had last order at 9:30
PM. The menu looked perfect. When I got to ITO, it was a bit of a maze to
find the taxi stand, and there weren’t any taxis. One soon pulled up, and the driver told me I
was only his second fare of the day.
That was odd.
He took me to the
B&B, and I saw Mokupapapa Discovery Center as we drove. It was a bit of a challenge to find the
B&B, but the proprietor walked out and greeted me when we pulled up. There were all sorts of drinks and snacks lying
about, and he told me to help myself to anything. I resituated myself and then walked to Pineapples,
constantly repeating the word Papahanaumokukea until I actually could say it
five times fast. I then walked by the Mokupapapa
Discovery Center and looked in the window.
I could clearly see a stamp pad and brochures. That’s why I was here.
I continued to the restaurant. It was just a giant patio, and I sat by the
edge. I ordered an island beer and their
specialty, coconut-crusted freshly-caught fish, ono tonight, along with summer
squash, rice, and, of course, pineapple.
It was perfect. Then it started
pouring. Badly. I wondered about getting home.
While I was finishing up, I got a call on my
cell phone. It was the proprietor. He asked if I needed a ride back, as he had
saw the rain. I gladly accepted. He came just as I finished paying my bill. Talk about good service. Once we were back, I changed into my pajamas and examined the sunburn on my neck. It was bad. It looked like the flag of Monaco. I will not explain that reference. I then went out to the patio, where I lit my Ardor and proceeded to write
this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish and post my photos.
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