A pound of Kona coffee and a fresh pineapple to anyone who sends me good travel vibes on

[grace0418]

this upcoming Wednesday.

Okay, not really possible but I'll thank you profusely and think you're really awesome.

We planned to take a long trip to New Zealand and Australia to celebrate our respective 40th birthdays (husband's is in a couple of weeks, mine is in April). Then I got laid off last December and that plan was dashed. So we used every single mile we'd saved over the years to book a shorter trip to Hawaii. Not the dream trip but an AWESOME trip all the same, and I'm so glad we had the miles saved up to make it happen. We leave from O'Hare Wednesday afternoon and we're so excited.

Just saw the weather report for Chicago. Big snow storm coming through Tuesday night and continuing into Wednesday.

:scared:

I know folks have a lot worse problems to contend with right now but if you could spare a few safe (and on-time) travel vibes I sure would appreciate it. I really need this vacation and I don't want to have flushed hundreds of thousands of airline miles down the drain.

Thanks DU.

:loveya:

eta: We have a connecting flight to Hawaii in LA. So if our flight from O'Hare is even an hour late, we're screwed.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear grace0418!

All my very best travel vibes, sweetie!

And you know, Hawaii ain't exactly a slouch place for a vacation...;-)

I truly hope you get to go, sweetie...

:hug:

[grace0418]

2. Thank you CP! I reworded my post, didn't want to seem like I'm in anyway

ungrateful to visit a beautiful place like Hawaii. Thank you for your vibes. :hug:

[Gormy Cuss]

3. You WILL get to Hawaii and have a wonderful trip.

That's the vibe I'm sending out.

[grace0418]

4. Oh thank you Gormy Cuss. I felt that vibe, I really did.

I'm suddenly feeling a lot more hopeful! :hug:

[grace0418]

5. Oh, man. The weather report just keeps getting worse. I don't know what I should do

now. I wish we could just leave for LA today but we can't. My husband has to work through Tuesday. The storm is supposed to hit Tuesday night into Wednesday, with high winds and low visibility. Pretty much the worst possible scenario for trying to get a flight out at 3 pm on Wednesday.

Oh, and the weatherman said something like "This will be the first time in many, many years we've had such a big storm so early in December!" I wanted to throw something at the tv.

Mother Nature, I put up with you through a terrible winter last year. The spring was nonexistent and the summer sucked. Can't you just give me ONE TINY LITTLE BREAK?

[LiberalAndProud]

7. Oh dear! That's what our weather man was saying last night too.

The good news is that weather forecasters aren't always right.

Best of vibes for this wonderful trip. I'll be thinking snow-cloud-busting thoughts until you've made it safely to Hawaii. After that, you're on your own.

Have a wonderful vacation!

[grace0418]

8. Thanks L&P. I just called American Airlines to ask about my options. They're not great.

If the storm delays our flight and they get us on a later flight, we'll lose all the miles I spent to book first class tickets (any replacement flight will be in coach) in addition to losing a day of our vacation. I've never flown first class in my life, I just wanted to make this trip really special for my husband.

So long story short, thanks for the vibes. I really need them. Please Mother Nature, I put up with you every winter my whole life (I am a Chicagoan after all), can't you just give me one tiny little break please? I'm begging you.

This is why I usually never travel in the winter.

[nuxvomica]

6. Sending warmth and good weather vibes...

...to the greater Chicagoland area. :thumbsup:

[grace0418]

11. Thank you nuxvomica. I really need them.

:scared:

[Arugula Latte]

9. Have a great trip!

What island/s are you going to?

I was just in Kauai. Love, love, love it.

:hi:

[grace0418]

10. Thanks AL! I wanted to go to Kauai but couldn't get an award flight there. So we

are flying into Oahu, spending a couple of days there. Then taking a short flight to Maui, and we'll stay there for the better part of the week before flying home from there. So it may be our Oahu portion of the trip that gets cut short. I guess it could be worse, I was actually more interested in Maui than Oahu. I'm keeping all my fingers crossed.

:hi:

[Arugula Latte]

12. There's a groovy little town on the north shore of Maui called "Paia"

It might be worth a drive over, depending on where you're staying. http://www.paiamaui.com/

Lahaina is touristy, but has some charming old buildings. And the banyan tree park there is very cool.


Aloha!

[grace0418]

14. My sister-in-law told me I would like Paia. She said "It's all hippy and arty like

you are." Which I think she meant as a compliment. Not sure. ;)

I mostly want to do a lot of hiking, swimming, whale-watching and stuff like that, but some site-seeing in cute little towns is nice as well. I just don't want to be shuffling around with a bunch of people on cruises frantically shopping for souvenirs. So Paia sounds more my speed. Thanks for the tips!

[Kajsa]

16. +1

Paia is very cool.
The people are very nice there
and the shops are great.

But is you see Laird Hamilton( pro surfer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laird_Hamilton

remember- he doesn't like to speak to anyone
outside of his clique.

Meh- I'll take Kelly Slater any day over Laird.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Slater

Kelly co-sponsored a surf camp for Palestinian and Israeli kids.

http://surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/slater-surfforpeace/

Back to the topic here- Paia is cool- Have a great trip!

[Kajsa]

13. Good vibes for a safe trip, Grace!

I'm sending good thoughts for safe travel weather on Wednesday.
I hope you have a wonderful time!

:)

Edit- our forecast here in the greater LA area( I'm in OC)
calls for rain on Wednesday, but that shouldn't be a problem.
Our rain is usually light to moderate.

We NEED the rain, very much!

[grace0418]

15. Thanks Kajsa. It never even occurred to me to worry about the weather in LA. LOL!

I've never had any kind of weather delay at LAX. O'Hare is another story. :(

Thanks for the vibes. I hope you get the rain you need. Yeah, my brother lives up in Beechwood Canyon and is hoping for rain as well.

[Haole Girl]

17. Could you try to get out early?

Call the airlines... ask to speak with a supervisor. Explain your situation.

Good luck & aloha! :hi:

[grace0418]

19. I was on the phone with American Airlines earlier. I have to wait until they issue

some kind of weather alert in AA's system before they can accommodate me. Otherwise I have to pay $300 to change our reservations in addition to losing all the miles I used for our first class tickets because we would have to take coach. I don't care about taking coach, but I don't want to have used an ungodly amount of miles for the privilege, you know?

The other problem with leaving early is that the storm is supposed to start Tuesday and stick around until Wednesday. We can't go any earlier than Tuesday, which will put us smack in the middle of the storm. Currently our flight is at 3 pm on Wednesday, which *could* be late enough for the airlines to get back on schedule, or *could* be a victim of the domino effect. It's so hard to know. If AA gets the go-ahead to rebook us, I may do it earlier anyway. I figure that a late Tuesday flight could get delayed several hours and still get us to LA in time for our Hawaii flight. It's a gamble for sure, especially if they start canceling flights.

Anyway, thanks Haole Girl! I need all the vibes I can get.

:hug:

[applegrove]

18. Have the trip of a lifetime!! Vibes.

[grace0418]

20. Thank you applegrove.

This is helping, I can feel it. :)

[blueamy66]

21. HAVE A BLAST IN HAWAI!!!

MY FAVORITE PLACE, EVER!!

[grace0418]

22. Thanks blueamy66.

I'm looking forward to it. I hope we make it on time and in one piece!

[arcadian]

23. Which islands?

Big Island is awesome. I can tell you some secrets if you tell me what you're into. Definitely go down into Waipio Valley, it's old Hawaii down there.

edit, just saw you are going to Maui and O'ahu

[grace0418]

24. Thanks arcadian! Do you know any secrets about Maui

and O'ahu? :)

We're into nature, hiking, animals, good food (not necessarily gourmet food, although we enjoy that too, but we adore local places with awesome food), chilling out. My husband has some issues with motion sickness and it not a confident swimmer so we're going to try whale watching but it may be all he can handle in the water. I'm hoping to explore some beautiful tucked away places and waterfalls. Not much into shopping or tacky tourist stuff. I think we're going to go to the farmers market on Saturday at a community college. I read that they have all local fruits and veggies. That sounds awesome to me.

At the moment all our trip planning has gone out the window because we're focusing on figuring out how we're getting out of Chicago. :(

[arcadian]

25. Definitely hike down into Haleakala crater.

Don't just go to the summit. Hike down and check out the rare silversword. I'd also go snorkelling out on Molokini Island, it's the best snorkelling on Maui and most boat operators combine it with a whale watch. Make your husband do it, it's awesome. ;-) Road to Hana is awesome and the Seven Pools at the end.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipahulu,_Hawaii


Silversword


Molokini

[grace0418]

26. Fabulous! Thank you!

All of that was definitely on our lists. We're going to have to see how the road to Hana goes, my husband's brother has the same motion sickness my husband has and got really sick on the drive. He's got a bracelet and ginger pills so we'll see how it goes. We also found an eco-tour hike of the crater and snorkeling around Molokini. Sounds great. I can't wait to get there. Thanks again!

:hi:

[jellen]

27. Good vibes on flight to Hawaii.

I'll take the Kona. And send me some vibes on my trip to Denver from MKE. Coming or going could be kind of chancy. I leave on Saturday. Aloha
Oh ya, good vibes to you.

[grace0418]

28. Denver to Milwaukee, that is going to be tricky. Good luck and safe travels.

And thanks for the vibes. :hi: