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:: Monday, March 21, 2005 ::

Maui
03-19-05
Day Fourteen
Saturday

Maui
Day Fourteen
03.19.05

Saturday
"The Final Day"

After breakfast I drove to pick up Bruce, 10:15, said goodbye to Jill, then proceeded to Pa'ia for my last keepsake of Maui...a tatoo from "Island Ink." I had an 11:00 appointment with Matt E. Hayes, the proprietor, who had done some of Shawn's tatoos. I survived the experience (uncomfortable at times, but not too bad...didn't need to chomp on a bullet or anything...).

We did a little food shopping for Jill at Mana's, then off to lunch for us at charley's Bar and Grille, a place Co-owned (?) by Willie Nelson. I had a Woofie Burger (local grain-fed beef) with mushrooms and swiss cheese with onion rings, and a tall local foamy beverage.

After lunch we returned to the condo for me to do my final packing. Off to the plane at 4:00. I said my goodbye's to Bruce, and headed into the terminal to wait. The check in lady said there was a $200 voucher if I wanted to go on standby as the plane was overbooked. I thought it would be too much to ask Bruce to stay and then change all my plans at home. After getting on the plane the stewardess announced a $700 voucher for someone willing to give up their ticket! Ouch! That would've given me a free trip next year! Oh well, they probably only give you $700 off THEIR regular price of $1400 (not the reduced Hotwire specials like I found), which would cost me the same amount.

I also had a little moment, sitting in the back seat where a girl comes up to me expecting to sit where I was as she had the same seat number! The stewardess found my "actual" seat number somehow, and I moved up to 25c...on the aisle fortunately. Unfortunately after all the pre-movie info on the big screen in front of me, and announcing the movie "Finding Neverland" that I did want to see, the big screen failed to work with the movie, and I couldn't watch it. Of course at this time I'm wide awake!

We land six and a half hours later at 4:30 am local time in Dallas/Fort worth. All of the terminal shops are closed at this point, but fortunately a coffee shop opens soon, and I get a coffee and a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast (or was it dinner?). As I'm reading a Sue Grafton Mystery novel, I read where the main character has to book a flight through the same airport I'm currently in, and she describes the floor and the chairs and the shops I'm basically looking at! Creepy!

Just after 6 am we board for Boston. This leg of the flight is about three and a half hours, and the inflight movie is "Lemony Snickets" which I also wanted to see, but as I'm so tired I fell asleep around half way into it!

After arriving in Boston early at 10:25, I wait in the baggage claim area for my suitcase, hoping to now catch the 11:15 bus to Portland. The luggage is taking forever, finally starts coming, but I don't see my bag. It's now 11:10, and no sign of my bag. The conveyer finally stops, much to the chagrin of 40 or so passengers. Then someone points back by the check in counter, and we see that a bunch of bags were offloaded there in a pile. Thanks for telling us Boston!! Schmucks. So I run outside and see a "Peter Pan" bus and ask the driver where the Concord Bus pulls up. He points behind as the bus I want pulls in. And it's 11:25. 10 minutes late, but I made it!

The inflight movie on the bus was "Shall We Dance." Shall we Pass, was my reply. I got about an hour of head nodding sleep, and we pulled into Portland at 3:00. My mother was meeting me, and we went back to her house where we visited for a while and I got my car and drove home. Roughly 21 hours door-to-door! A long trip, but worth it!

DC





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DC

:: David 3/21/2005 01:20:00 PM [+] ::
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