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The Hague, Day -2: Traveling to San Jose
Sep. 20th, 2022 11:49 pmI'm away from home for 12 days for my trip to RWOT11 in The Hague.
Funny story. I seriously had to question whether I had 12 pairs of good socks any more. I just wear socks so infrequently in Hawaii. (Spoiler: I did.)
Why am I starting my journaling with Day -2? Because it's hard traveling from Hawaii to Europe because you're going against the sun almost halfway around the world (and definitely 12 time zones this time of year). There was absolutely no way to arrange an itinerary that didn't involve two redeyes, and that would have totally trashed my sleep schedule right before our workshop. So, instead, I'm flying to San Jose, spending two nights at my mom and Bob's place in San Martin, and then continuing on to The Hague via San Francisco.
(Hawaiian has said they're getting some bigger jets that will allow direct flights to Europe, so hopefully that'll be easier in a few years' time, though I'm concerned those big jets may also make problems with the existing overtourism of the islands worse. And having an excuse to stop in San Martin is nice.)
Unfortunately the direct flight from Kauai to San Jose (which is on Alaskan) flies really late during daylight saving's time, and I didn't want to not get in until 9 or 10pm today. So instead I got an early flight out of Lihue on Hawaiian with a changeover in Maui.
I've been concerned that these flights from Hawaii to the mainland were my biggest chance to get COVID before the workshop, which would be a terrible, terrible waste, even though all my flights are refundable. But, my fingers are crossed because things have looked good.
My hop from Lihue to Maui was my only fully coach seat, and so when I checked in I looked at the seats and found there was actually a window seat that had an adjacent middle seat. I swapped over to that window from what I'd previously scheduled and 'lo and behold when I got into that seat today, I had an empty seat next to me.
At the Maui airport I stopped in a small open courtyard to eat the other half of the Subway sandwich that I acquired in Lihue on Monday night. Part of the avoid-getting-COVID-on-16-hours-of-plane-flight plan involved not eating on the planes on the way out to San Jose. So, the stop in Maui was nice, because it gave me the opportunity.
It was the second or third time I've been through Kahului (OGG). As with Oahu, the airport has interisland gates (where you don't have to ag-check anything) and other gates (where you do). My memory last time was that the interisland area was quiet and the mainland/international area was crazy, but either my memory was wrong or it was the opposite this time. (But my other memory is from flying in to Kauai via Maui, so that would have been later in the day.)
Anyway, today's second flight. Terrific seat. It was in the pseudo-bulkhead row because first class, but Hawaiian has redone that pseudo-bulkhead so that its angled, giving more leg room at the bottom, and so you now get the space under the seats, past the bulkhead, for your stuff. BONUS! Other than width, this seat is better than the First Class seats just in front of me because there's SOOOO much room.
Also, as a bonus, and even more important, the people sitting next to me hwore their masks the whole time, except when eating and drinking. Yay!
(On the downside, in First Class, just on the other side of the bulkhead, was a young woman who just wouldn't shut up. She maintained a monologue with her seatmate for the first two hours of the flight. It's wasn't quite crying-baby bad, nor yes-I-think-it's-OK-to-blast-my-music-on-an-airplane bad, but she really liked to talk.)
I had heavily prepared my computer for the trip with lots of stuff to do and the time just flew by (other than increasing aches and pains over time). I read through the two comics I'd saved from my August Hoopla, updated a poster for RWOT, did some research for the Traveller book, and did some proofing on a creative project for Chris, and poof! The trip was over. So much more I want to do.
Bob picked me up, and then we picked up Popeye's and all spent a bit of time together in the evening.
(But tomorrow is my main day to hang out with mom and Bob, before I continue on to SFO, and from there Schiphol in the Netherlands.)
Funny story. I seriously had to question whether I had 12 pairs of good socks any more. I just wear socks so infrequently in Hawaii. (Spoiler: I did.)
Why am I starting my journaling with Day -2? Because it's hard traveling from Hawaii to Europe because you're going against the sun almost halfway around the world (and definitely 12 time zones this time of year). There was absolutely no way to arrange an itinerary that didn't involve two redeyes, and that would have totally trashed my sleep schedule right before our workshop. So, instead, I'm flying to San Jose, spending two nights at my mom and Bob's place in San Martin, and then continuing on to The Hague via San Francisco.
(Hawaiian has said they're getting some bigger jets that will allow direct flights to Europe, so hopefully that'll be easier in a few years' time, though I'm concerned those big jets may also make problems with the existing overtourism of the islands worse. And having an excuse to stop in San Martin is nice.)
Unfortunately the direct flight from Kauai to San Jose (which is on Alaskan) flies really late during daylight saving's time, and I didn't want to not get in until 9 or 10pm today. So instead I got an early flight out of Lihue on Hawaiian with a changeover in Maui.
I've been concerned that these flights from Hawaii to the mainland were my biggest chance to get COVID before the workshop, which would be a terrible, terrible waste, even though all my flights are refundable. But, my fingers are crossed because things have looked good.
My hop from Lihue to Maui was my only fully coach seat, and so when I checked in I looked at the seats and found there was actually a window seat that had an adjacent middle seat. I swapped over to that window from what I'd previously scheduled and 'lo and behold when I got into that seat today, I had an empty seat next to me.
At the Maui airport I stopped in a small open courtyard to eat the other half of the Subway sandwich that I acquired in Lihue on Monday night. Part of the avoid-getting-COVID-on-16-hours-of-plane-flight plan involved not eating on the planes on the way out to San Jose. So, the stop in Maui was nice, because it gave me the opportunity.
It was the second or third time I've been through Kahului (OGG). As with Oahu, the airport has interisland gates (where you don't have to ag-check anything) and other gates (where you do). My memory last time was that the interisland area was quiet and the mainland/international area was crazy, but either my memory was wrong or it was the opposite this time. (But my other memory is from flying in to Kauai via Maui, so that would have been later in the day.)
Anyway, today's second flight. Terrific seat. It was in the pseudo-bulkhead row because first class, but Hawaiian has redone that pseudo-bulkhead so that its angled, giving more leg room at the bottom, and so you now get the space under the seats, past the bulkhead, for your stuff. BONUS! Other than width, this seat is better than the First Class seats just in front of me because there's SOOOO much room.
Also, as a bonus, and even more important, the people sitting next to me hwore their masks the whole time, except when eating and drinking. Yay!
(On the downside, in First Class, just on the other side of the bulkhead, was a young woman who just wouldn't shut up. She maintained a monologue with her seatmate for the first two hours of the flight. It's wasn't quite crying-baby bad, nor yes-I-think-it's-OK-to-blast-my-music-on-an-airplane bad, but she really liked to talk.)
I had heavily prepared my computer for the trip with lots of stuff to do and the time just flew by (other than increasing aches and pains over time). I read through the two comics I'd saved from my August Hoopla, updated a poster for RWOT, did some research for the Traveller book, and did some proofing on a creative project for Chris, and poof! The trip was over. So much more I want to do.
Bob picked me up, and then we picked up Popeye's and all spent a bit of time together in the evening.
(But tomorrow is my main day to hang out with mom and Bob, before I continue on to SFO, and from there Schiphol in the Netherlands.)