The long (free) ride home

Location: Lihue Airport, Kauai, Hawaii
Time rental car due: 7:30pm
Time of Andrew’s flight: 8:00pm
Time of Rachel’s flight: 11:30pm
Updated time of Rachel’s flight once checked-in: 12:15am
Current time: 10:21pm

Hmm. This sucks.

So here I am at the Kauai airport. I’ve been here nearly three hours already, and my flight doesn’t leave for another several hours.

Despite the fact I am INSIDE the airport and have gone through airport security, I am actually OUTSIDE. This airport is an open-air design, probably intended to make visitors feel the island vibe immediately upon disembarking. Likely cuts energy costs, too. Still, I feel like I’ve been sitting in a public plaza for three hours. And by “public plaza” I mean a place with aging and worn furniture, dim lighting, cranky people, little to no back support, no wifi, and fewer than 3 power outlets for those of us who would like to keep our laptop batteries charged.

I can’t say it’s the perfect end to the perfect vacation, but I suppose it could be worse. I could be stuck in the Vegas airport where instead of the smells of island breezes and plumeria, the mixture of cig smoke and cheap booze is the prevailing odor.

Kauai is a fun place, and I am really glad I had a whole 10 days to experience it, and with the best company one could hope for. I did a lot while I was here, and I drove a TON – maybe around 550 miles – so I have certainly gotten my fill of the garden island. There are a few things I learned about that I would like to share with my reader.

1. Do not expect peace and quiet on Kauai. This place is NOISY – mostly filled with the sounds of chickens and roosters, helicopters, leaf blowers, mowing machines, weed eaters, etc. The only peace and quiet is found either at a swamp that takes 2 hours of hiking to get to or at the beaches. Both of these places have no chickens, which I appreciated after listening to them talk all night long, every night I was here.
2. The best things to eat are kalua pig, shaved ice (with ice cream at the bottom), and spicy tuna poke. You can eat these three things relatively cheaply, too, if they are purchased from budget vendors.
3. The beaches don’t disappoint – lots of choices – swimming beaches, surfing beaches, snorkeling beaches, etc.
4. Avoid Princeville. This place is boring, but the shopping center café area has a good espresso shake and fish tacos. Lots of golfing types hang here, so it definitely doesn’t get my thumbs up.
5. Stay with Connie and Major Inch. Their place is clean, cheap, has a drooling cat, an old horse, has lots of amenities like boogy boards to borrow, etc. However, sadly, they do have loud chickens. Can’t win ‘em all.

I’ve learned other things, but I will not share them quite yet. I am tired and being at the airport is making me less inclined to share all the good nuggets at this time. The above 5 points should satisfy your hunger for awhile.

Aloha from Kauai and signing off.

Time of sign off: 10:51pm
Time of flight, updated: 12:30am