For the past month, whenever I told
someone we'd be flying out on Christmas day, the universal response
was something akin to “Oh that is the best day to travel!”. I
also heard “you'll have the airport to yourself!” as well as
“Everyone is in such a good mood!”. Perhaps those people weren't
flying out of Seatac, or maybe it was the time of day, but the
airport was most definitely not empty and all in all it was little
different than any other time we've flown. Not bad by any means, but
not remarkably different than normal. Though everyone did seem to be
in a great mood, but that might have been encouraged by G handing
candy canes out to every airport employee we encountered as a way to
say “thank you for working on Christmas so we can fly to paradise.”
(G absolutely delighted in the way their faces lit up when she gave
them the candy canes!)
I must give a shout out to the
wonderful employees of Alaska Airlines. When it came to our meal
time, they weren't able to locate ingredients on the dinners for me,
so I suggested they swap my hot meal for a cheese plate (which I've
had in the past). We discussed my food concerns, and the attendant
suggested the option of their Mediterranean Tapas Plate – which I
had no idea existed. Apparently this is their gluten-free-and-vegan
option... hummus and chips, dried fruit, olives, etc... each
component individually wrapped with ingredients listed. It even
included a little dark chocolate waferThe flight attendant ended up
bringing me both, and I had more than enough food for a totally
satisfying Christmas airplane dinner.
Upon landing, we grabbed our checked
bags and stepped out to the warm embrace of Kauai's humid evening.
We were concerned about getting to the rental car place before it
closed, so rather than negotiate our big luggage onto a shuttle, D
left G and I with the bags and raced off to get our car on his own.
Our timing was fortunate, the rental place just happened to get a
fleet of brand new SUV's in stock, so we were quickly set up with a
car so new, it only has 500 miles on it and still has the shiny New
Car Smell. My concerns about a possible repeat car-bug infestation
have been laid to rest... so far.
It was a quick drive down the empty
highway to the resort, and we were able to see the Christmas full
moon over the ocean as we drove. We were all excited to finally see
the interior of our condo in person, and we were not disappointed.
The place is immaculate, the location is wonderfully quiet, and the
view is absolutely beautiful.
We have a Christmas tree! Also coffee and chocolate and fruit
A bit of glare off the glass, but this is my view as I sit at the dining room table.
As excited as we were, the entire day
began to weigh us all down. We all went to bed after 11 on Christmas
Eve, were up at 4:30 Christmas morning, had a full morning of opening
gifts, then scrambled to finish packing, de-decorate and remove the
Christmas trees, close up the house, race to the airport, fly to the
island, drive to the condo, and arrive at what felt like 2 a.m. (but
was really 11:40 local time) After a small bit of unpacking and a
little freshening up, we all soundly crashed for the night.
Had to include this... this was me on Christmas morning around 5 A.M. "Yes, yes, yay Christmas... I'm excited... let me know when coffee is ready."
Night 1 wildlife encounters:
Saw a long bug in the airport garden –
a millipede or centipede?
HUGE snail just off our lanai (shell
was bigger than my hand)
BIG bull frog – which hopped across
the path in front of me in the middle of the night (thankfully it was
windy, so my girly scream was sufficiently muted so as not to disturb
the sleeping vacationers)
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