Sarah and Rachel do Hawaiifornia, July 2009 - Journey home

[DisneySarah]

The cast:

Me (Sarah) 24 – Disney addict and holiday planner extraordinaire

Rachel, 21 – Lover of sleeping in late and not doing a lot else. Partial to a little Disney. Oh, and my little sister.

Days 17, 18 and 19 – Hawaii to London
Wednesday 29th, Thursday 30th and Friday 31st July (Yes, it did take us that long to get home!)

We had set our alarms for 7am today, because we wanted to get those last few hours of sun on the beach! Didn’t seem such a great idea when the alarms disturbed our sleep, especially considering we had such a long journey to make, but oh well! We could sleep on the plane.

It was off to Denny’s this morning for a slap up breakfast to fill us up for the flight, and it was deserted – apparently we were the only ones crazy enough to get up that early in Waikiki beach! I had waffles and bacon and Rachel had pancakes and bacon, which we both ate every single scrap off.

Then it was off to the beach, where we relaxed and read for a few hours. It rained on us occasionally, though you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at the sky:



We reluctantly dragged ourselves of the beach around 10.30, as we had a shuttle booked for 12pm and we needed to shower first. We were waiting for the shuttle in the hotel lobby by 11.50 and it was on time. There was only one other family on the shuttle, no other hotel stops and the journey was completely uneventful.

Uneventful is not how I would describe the rest of the day, though! We strolled up to the empty check in desk, about four hours before our flight was due and as we got there, I looked up at the screen just to double check our flight was on time. Uh oh. It said, “New time” next to the Chicago flight, and that new time was basically an hour delay.

Normally this would now bother us at all, but we only had a 45 minute connection time in Chicago! Ahhh! I just KNEW this would happen, it had been worrying me all holiday, even though I had checked with STA travel that it was DEFINITELY possibly to make this connection if both flights were on time. Missing the connection wouldn’t have been so bad if there was another flight within 12 hours out of Chicago to London. We REALLY didn’t want to hang around Chicago O’Hare airport for 12 hours after an overnight flight, only to get on another overnight flight and we couldn’t get a hotel room, as it would have been during the day.

The United representative lady at the check in desk was so friendly and helpful and looked at re-routing us via San Francisco, LA, Denver, Dallas etc etc etc, but she said she simply couldn’t get us in to London on Thursday night, whichever way we went. We were so disappointed because we had booked and paid for a hotel room at Heathrow. Eventually, she said that going via L.A. might be the best option because United would give us a hotel room there, and then we could do the overnight flight to London the next day.

So L.A it was – she was so lovely and gave us meal vouchers to use there at the airport, (even though we were now on a flight that was leaving an hour earlier than our original one! ), meal vouchers for breakfast in L.A the next morning, a hotel voucher and... an upgrade from Honolulu to L.A!

Phew! It was sorted, so we headed through security, got some lunch in Burger King and phoned our parents to tell them the new time we were getting in, as they had very kindly agreed to drive all the way from Somerset to pick us up at Heathrow.

The flight to L.A was smooth, and it was nice being in premium economy again. We landed in L.A around 11.30 pm local time and then the madness began again!

Straight off the flight, we legged it to the nearest United desk, as it was almost midnight and we had been told they shut at midnight. We were served by this really nice Australian guy, who chatted to us about Waikiki and not only confirmed our hotel voucher, but checked us in for the flight the following day, which was at 1pm. As he was printing out our boarding passes he said,

“I’m sorry girls, but the only seats we have left are exit seats, where you will have to stretch your legs right out”

YAY! That was 2 upgrades and 2 lots of exit seats in the 4 flight we took on the holiday We felt really lucky, thanked him and went to collect our luggage and find the shuttle bus to our hotel, La Quinta Inn.

The shuttle bus was absolutely PACKED as there was cabin crew going to their hotel and all of United’s delayed passengers that had been given a hotel for the night. The queue was also long for check in at La Quinta, as it appeared that everyone had been given the same hotel, and it took us about half an hour to get to the front desk

By now, it was nearly 1am and we were so tired, that when the check in lady said, “I’m sorry, there is only smoking rooms left,” we didn’t have the energy to argue with her. As we left the desk to find our room, she shouted to everyone else in the queue, “I’m sorry, there are no rooms for United customers left, you have to go back to the airport!”

As you can probably guess, there was chaos! People were shouting and waiving their vouchers, telling the check in people that the United desks closed at midnight, and what were they supposed to do?! I can’t say I blame them, and I would have been just as angry, although it was not the hotel’s fault, United obviously don’t check how many rooms are actually available when they give out vouchers!

Anyway, we shot off to our room feeling a bit guilty at getting the last room, but also very relieved! The room was fine and we had a good night’s sleep, getting up again at 8am to go back to the airport.

I have to say, as we weren’t on the receiving end of the lack of rooms at La Quinta, that I can’t fault United through the whole of our holiday – the staff were absolutely fantastic on all of the flights and couldn’t do enough to help. We ended up not spending a penny from the moment we arrived at Honolulu airport on Wednesday, to when we landed at Heathrow on Friday morning due to hotel and meal vouchers, which was really nice. Also, we were chatting away to the member of the cabin crew who was sitting opposite to us on the LA – London flight and when my personal video screen didn’t work, she gave me free alcoholic drinks for the entire flight (and brought me things down from business class that people didn’t want!) and then gave me FOUR vouchers to redeem online at united.com. These vouchers entitle me to $150 off an internal flight in the US or 10% an international flight, although I don’t think I can use them all at once.

We finally landed in London around 7.30am English time and out parents were waiting for us in arrivals. We stopped somewhere on the M1 for breakfast and I was back in Leicester for 10am. I ended up cleaning my house to try and stat awake, as Dbf had been alone for 3 weeks – I can say it definitely needed a clean!


Final Thoughts


I have really enjoyed writing this trippie, and it ended up being over 20,000 words! Thanks to all of you for reading, and for your comments.

We had an absolutely fantastic holiday, some unforgettable experiences and we were pleasantly surprised at how well we got on – I missed Rachel loads after we went back to our own homes! I would definitely go away with her again if circumstances allow.

Would I go back again? I would love to go back to Hawaii, but I would probably go and see the other islands next time, as I really wish we had had time to do this. If I had the chance to go again, I would try and do it as a part of a bigger trip, maybe going on to Australia or Japan, as it really was a LONG way and the journey back was not really one I would like to repeat.

What’s next?
Well. I had originally planned to go back to the US in August, as one of my friends was getting married in Indiana, but I spent much more than I thought I would on the Hawaii trip and didn’t have the funds to go.

For now, I am working away at my new teaching job and Rachel has a new job in a new city. I’m going to Dubai in the spring with friends, which I’m really excited about as I’ve never been to that part of the world.

We probably won’t head back to America for a while, unless it is to visit friends in the Chicago area (I lived there for a while), as I have been loads in the past 10 years, but as soon as I have my own kids, I’m taking them to Florida!

[Guest]

I've really enjoyed reading your trip reports.

Thanks for taking the time to share them with us.

[JudyC]

I enjoyed your reports, thanks for posting them

[P&S]

Really enjoyed reading all your reports thanks for posting

[Guest]

Thanks for the reports, ive loved them!

[pepsicube]

What a fabulous holiday, thanks for sharing

[Guest]

I have loved your report soooooo much! I can't wait to go to the west coast next year! How long is the car journey from San Fran to Yosemiti?

[DisneyMadAng]

What a long journey home. Great flight upgrades!

Thanks for taking the time to post your trippie. I've enjoyed reading it so very much.

[Strommie]

I have really enjoyed reading all about your trip. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[tracy99]

i have loved loved loved,reading your report!
it brought back so many memories,of both san francisco & oahu.i am say with a smile on my face,just thinking about it.
glad you both enjoyed your holiday,
tracy