Aloha! I thought of each of you might get a kick out of hearing the details of our adventure from Minneapolis to Hawaii. It all begins on Monday afternoon. The weather bureau forecasts one of the worse ice storms in years is scheduled to hit the Twin Cites. Schools and after school events all over the area begin to close or cancel events. We decide that it might be a good idea to call a few hotels next to the airport to determine room availability. We found rooms at the Hilton, Embassy Suites and Holiday Inn all available. We decide to call my Dad and he agrees that if the storm hits we might all have a hard time getting out our driveways and to the airport. We elect to complete packing and leave in the next 20 minutes. On the way to the hotel I call to book a room to find that all three hotels have increased their rates from $30-50 per room since I had called earlier. I guess that is a great example of the free market and economics at work! We get to the hotel and I realize I left without my watch. I guess I will be buying one in Hawaii.

The next morning we are getting ready to leave and Barb thinks she left her purse in the car yesterday. Good news it was under my shirt on the chair. We set off for the airport planning to arrive at 9:30 (two hours before our flight) thinking the airport will be jammed. After all Northwest cancelled over 180 flights the day before. We get to the airport and check 4 bags to Lihui airport. We go inside the airport and find it is dead! So we proceed to the ticket counter to get boarding passes and determine that our tickets are incorrect. We are supposed to be going to Kihliu airport on Maui and the tickets are going to Lihui on Kauai. We need to get the our tickets reissued and of course Northwest needs to locate our bags and retag them for the correct destination. Since we have two hours before the flight they assure us this won't be a problem.

We go to breakfast and our 11:30 departure was "on time" until 11:00 when they announce the plane we are going to take is in Mpls. but in the hanger to correct a couple problems. Plane is supposed to be there shortly. At 12:45 they let us know they can't repair the plane so we will be waiting for a plane from Seattle and will be leaving at 2:20. The plane arrives and we board at 1:50. As we go down the jet way there are two options and of course we (along with 15 others) walk down the wrong one which is a dead end as we walk back the gate agent accuses us of going through a "locked door". I of course suggest that we aren't at fault and she insists the door was locked. I suggest we didn't have a key so it seemed unlikely it was locked. Cooler heads intervene and we board. We get seated to find that the two guys behind us are a couple goof balls. One is from Alaska and has not taken a shower in weeks! He smells like dirty feet. The other guy has a cat under Barb's seat that begins to meow. About this same time My nose starts to run and I can't decide if it is the cat or a cold coming on. I t turns out to be a cold. Good timing! We .pull away from the gate at 2:20 and go out on the runway to have the Captain inform us that we have an "electrical bus" problem and we will be going back to the gate. After another almost three hours we leave for our first stop in Seattle. I mention to Barb I sure hope we don't have the same problem in Seattle. We are now dangerously close to being so late that we will miss our connection in Honolulu to Maui. We arrive in Seattle and determine we will miss our connection and will be receiving hotel vouchers upon arrival in Honolulu.

We board the plane and the lady behind us mentions her seat smells and seems wet. We tell her about the guy how stinks and the cat before her and maintenance comes on board to replace her seat. We push away on time and the Captain comes on the intercom to tell us "we have an electrical bus problem" and we will be going back to the gate for the mechanics to evaluate. We are told it will be 40 minutes before we know anything. I tell them to call Mpls. because the symptom is the same as we had earlier. We are given the option to get off the plane. I was the first off and went to the gate agent and asked if there was space available on the morning flight. There was so I rebooked and picked up a hotel voucher to stay in Seattle. I was told to be sure that I hang on to our boarding passes because we will need the next morning. I asked three times if I needed any thing else (like a ticket) and was assured the boarding pass was it. We gather our carry on bags and head to the hotel. Of course I left my prized Minnesota hat in the overhead bin on the plane. Another thing to buy in Hawaii! We get a good nights sleep (except for my cold which is getting worse) And get up the next morning departing to the airport 1 1/2 hours before the flight. We skip breakfast thinking we should get our boarding passes. We are told we could go to the gate and promptly get lost in the airport. After finding our way we arrive as they are beginning to board an overbooked flight. The first thing the gate agent asking me for is our ticket. I show her the boarding pass and she says I need a ticket. I explain what I was told the night before and I get the same answer "I need to see your ticket". About this time I am ready to bite off her head and any one else associated with Northwest airlines.

Things get better from here on. She writes out a ticket, we board on time leave on time and get to Honolulu on time. We go to the Northwest baggage claim area and our bags are not there. We are told they think they went to Maui. We get on the next flight to Maui and low and behold our bags are waiting for us. We go to Avis and our car was still there and we got a free upgrade.