17 Jan 2024
A couple nights ago, as I was scrolling Facebook before bed, I saw this post from a diver I know in Kona:
Shoot.
I’m supposed to fly into Kona on Wednesday… I may have panicked a bit and started looking at flights into Hilo instead (the other airport on the Big Island) but there weren’t a lot of good options (really tight connections, really expensive, or both), but there are a lot of cheap inter island flights, so I figured if I could at least make it to Hawai’i, to any island, I could eventually make it to the Big Island.
I did email the rental company of my apartment to let them know I may be checking in kinda late, and reserved a car in Hilo, just in case, but there’s really not a whole lot that can be done at midnight so I tried to sleep and hoped there would be an update when I woke up.
The Hawai’i DOT Twitter account turned out to be my best source for updates:
(ok, that first update is less than helpful)
But they had a plan
And communicated it (with pictures!)
(I woke up around between these two updates)
This update was surprising:
I really didn’t think it would be repaired so quickly and part of me was nervous that the repair wouldn’t hold and my flight would still be cancelled, but later in the afternoon I spotted this on FlightRadar:
A plane! Leaving (or arriving at) the Kona Airport!
I was able to check in for my flight and, while I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much, I was cautiously optimistic that my flight would make it to Kona.
It was a whopping 1°F when I left home this morning, but Hawai’i has been in the 80s all week and there were no new airport closures, so warm weather, here I come!
Good morning, chilly planes!
Hello, rainy Seattle:
and, finally, hello, Hawaii!
Ok, so technically we haven’t landed yet, but we were losing light and that shadowy mountain in the back is Maui. Close enough?