I remember reading in some travel magazine that flight attendants like it when health professionals introduce themselves. That way, they know where to find people if they need help. But it felt a little ostentatious to walk on the plane and say, "Hello, I'm a doctor and I'll be in 12F." So I debated whether or not to say that, and ultimately decided that I might as well say something before the novelty of flying as a doctor wore off. So I got on the plane and spotted a flight attendant. I told him that, yes, I'm a doctor and I'm in 12F. He paused for a second and gave me a look that said something like, "Sir, this is a flight from Phoenix to Oahu. Every third passenger is a doctor. Sit down, hot shot."
With that awkward encounter behind me, I sat down to an otherwise amazing flight. Ukulele music played over the plane's loudspeaker, and as they're quick to point out, Hawaiian Airlines is the last domestic airline that still serves complimentary meals on all flights. And as I'll be quick to point out, they're the only airline that I've been on that pours a free Mai-tai for everyone in coach. Well played.
After the entirely tolerable 6 hour flight, we got lei'd by our friends, Michael and Steven. They live in Tucson, but visit Hawaii several times a year. Steven works on Oahu every couple of months, so they bought a condo that has become their second home. We've been trying to work out a time to join them on the island since we first met a few years ago, and as luck would have it, they could join us for this leg of the trip.
They picked us up at the airport with the aforementioned leis (real flowers, smelled amazing), and brought us back to their condo so that we could change. Hawaii is three hours earlier than Arizona, so the best plan to fight off jet lag is to stay active and awake as long as possible. To help with that, our hosts booked us on an afternoon sail around Waikiki. So considerate.
Now, this was no ordinary boat ride. This was the semi-famous weekly cruise organized by Hula's, Waikiki's favorite gay bar. So needless to say, I was the most out of shape guy on that boat by a mile. That said, I still walked away with a few phone numbers. Aimee took it all in stride, but gently suggested that I wear my wedding ring on our next boat trip.
The cruise was absolutely perfect. The sky was bright blue with just a few wisps of light ocean clouds, and the water was clear enough to see the bottom 40 feet below us. When we got out from the flow of harbor "traffic" (a couple of sailboats and some paddle boarders), the captain cut the engines and let us swim around for a bit. Not surprisingly, the water temperature was perfect, too.
I don't quite remember what was going on in that photo, but if I had to guess, Steve (center) said something characteristically hilarious that had Michael and Aimee in stitches.
After the cruise, we came back into Waikiki to walk around and explore the area. Waikiki is like San Diego minus the hipsters crossed with Las Vegas minus the gambling. There are Gucci stores next to surf shops with street hustlers out front distributing fliers for escorts and gun ranges. It's a funny little place, but we loved every bit of it.
