I finish my hotel stay sitting by the balcony with a view of the ocean and the sliding glass door open and write a few more post cards. I am meeting a student's parents at the registration desk at 11am to send the student off. He is staying on for a vacation. Already, we have sent a few students home or to meet their families in other locations. As we collect students and luggage one more time in the seating area below the hotel lobby the choir group is discussing what to do since their flight has been delayed by two hours. They decide to load everyone up and stop one more time at the mall before heading to the airport.
The instrumentalists are waiting for their buses to arrive. The buses are circling the hotel area, but they can't pull in until the choir buses have left. Navigating traffic in O'ahu has been challenging for the drivers and we marvel at how they seem able to move these vehicles in, out and between traffic and people to get us where we are going. We load up the buses and head for the airport thinking there will be time to grab snacks and drinks there. It is crowded and there are lines of people out the doors waiting to go through security. We discover that if we walk the length of the terminal to a more distant entrance that there are no lines, but still, we arrive at the gate as first class is boarding.
Once we're on the plane we settle in for the trip home. Nine hours in the air, two hours shorter than heading west, and we arrive at JFK. It's Friday, June 22 at 7am. The students don't want to leave the luggage claim area. They have their bags, but they are stretching out their good byes as long as they can. We have three buses waiting for us to return to HM. Since the morning the group has gotten smaller and smaller with each step. We hardly fill two buses, about half the students we started with. We arrive back at school by 9:30am and by 11am I am asleep on the couch. I know you are advised to stay on local time to fight jet lag, but I can't resist.
No comments:
Post a Comment