Aloha!

We made it to Hawaii safe and sound.  The 9 hour flight from Chicago to Honolulu was the longest of my life.  That's actually a false statement, I've been on tons of longer flights, but this one seemed to never end.  Ed and I got stuck in middle seating, and for some reason my bladder decided to act up on me.  I had to ask my neighbors to get up 4 separate times so I could pee.  I kept wishing I was pregnant so I could use that as an excuse.  But nope, I guess I just drank too much coffee and orange juice for breakfast.   AND, they didn't serve any food on the flight.  Not even peanuts.  What has the world come to?  We had to pay an arm and leg for a salad and wrap.  United Airlines, you just lost 2 customers.  Anyway, Ed played some game on his iPad for the entire flight, and he was happy as a clam.  My attention span was about as long as my 3 year old niece's (should have taken some Adderall...lesson learned).  I tried playing games on my iPhone, but it would only entertain me for about 10 minutes before I was ready to move on to something more exciting.  I eventually got so bored that I started thinking of all the things that could go wrong on the flight, and I almost convinced myself that I was going to get a DVT and die of a pulmonary embolus before the flight would ever end.  I think I've done too many Step 2 practice questions. (If the question involves a woman who just got off a long flight or a truck driver, the answer is something about a DVT.  Always.)

We've already had our first hiccup of the trip.  Victim: Ed Chang.  Perpetrator: Car Rental.  "Mr. Chang, may I see your license?" "Sure..........oh crap."  Ed had forgotten his driver's license.  How could this happen, you ask?  Ed always uses his military ID to check into flights.  So we got 5000 miles away from home before he realized the mistake.  Unfortunately, we don't know where his license is.  Since he never uses it except to rent cars, we are assuming it is in Seattle, WA, the location of his last car rental.  He had flown out there last week for an interview.  He has been on the phone for hours with the car rental place, but keeps getting the run around and no one will get back to him about the license.  Ed has contacted Arizona (the state that issued his license...long story, don't ask), and they said they are willing to send him a replacement license, but he has to send his license # to them.  Who actually knows their license #?  Not me.  Nor Ed.  So we are still counting on the Seattle car rental place to find it and overnight it to us.  Until then, I am in charge of the driving, which is uber weird.  I hate it.  I like to sight see and let my mind drift off to random stuff like DVTs, not worry about which exit to take and swerve in and out of crazy traffic.

Our condo is so nice.  We are located in Diamond Head Park, right south of Waikiki.  It's a 2 bedroom place right on the beach with a great view and full kitchen, living room, bathroom, cable TV, internet, etc.  Seriously, anyone is welcome to come visit us while we are here.  There is plenty of room.  I still can't believe Ed was able to find this place for under our daily housing stipend that the Army provides. That's right, we are staying here for FREE.  It's too good to be true.  I hope we don't have to work too hard while we are here so that we can actually enjoy our time in paradise.  We ate at a hole-in-the-wall Korean BBQ restaurant last night that was out of this world good.  Ed had told me that the Asian food was on a whole different level here, and he wasn't kidding.  It has not disappointed.

Here is a picture of our view from the condo.  I will try to update the blog a couple more times while we are here so everyone can know just how great our trip is.  :)