Hawaii (A Family Reunion)

The midwinter blues should be settling in by now. With cold grey skies threatening to dump more rain on the green drought that South Australia finds itself in after a record breaking dry season. But no, we’ve kept warm by reviving memories of our past trips to the Hawaiian islands. Who would have thought how much warmth a photograph can generate. Bringing back those days of luau’s, hula dancing and slack key guitar pickers, as we soaked up the eternal sun. Now after an enforced break, that started with a pandemic and morphed into worldwide upheaval we find ourselves ready to take to the air, Hawaii bound once again. The world hasn’t stopped turning, life goes on in every corner of the planet, change though is a constant. Families grow like trees branching out, babies are born, before you know it they have graduated, married and had children of their own. In our world the branches have spread across the planet, dropping seeds in Australia, Sweden and America. While those seeds are scattered widely, particularly in America, we are lucky that the nearest overseas family resides in the 50th US State, just 9 hours and 25 minutes away from Sydney by Boeing 737. The Aloha spirit awaits, the word itself wrapping, love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy all into one unique greeting. That can be used as a welcome or farewell. More now than ever the world needs to embrace aloha, and we can’t wait to be bathed in its warm light. We have long found that Honolulu is the without doubt the friendliest gateway to the USA, the holiday mood palpable the instant you step through onto US soil. Even usually dour border control officers have a welcoming smile on their faces. This is still in the future as we make our way along glistening rain soaked roads under a pale cold southern sun to Adelaide international airport.

We arrive in Sydney as the sun is going down washing the horizon in an orange glow that reflects off the cities glass clad buildings. Once on the ground we make our way to the international terminal. After all these years by means of a bus, no modern monorail for this countries preeminent city, that sees millions of international visitors daily. The cool of the night is drawing in as we board the bus, for a chilly ten minute ride. Our next challenge in this tricky game of international transit is to navigate border control’s automatic passport station. Passports at the ready a steady queue of passengers file through the gates, like sheep to be shorn. My turn comes and I’m too slow off the mark exiting the facial scan, alarms beep loudly, as this worldly traveller shrinks to the size of General Tom Thumb. I don’t look back as I make a hurried exit. Once clear I look back, Amanda is stuck repeatedly scanning her passport as it rejects her attempts each time. Seconds that start to seem like minutes pass, with fidgeting passengers behind her before an officer realises there is a log jam at her gate. Eventually coming to her rescue by advising she presents her US passport instead. Magically that works and she’s through, a little bewildered by the process that put her US citizenship ahead of her Australian, but that’s the mixed up digital world we live in.

A huge mechanical face in motion stares at us from an optical store, as we pass through the high end retail area, on our way to the Qantas lounge. Where time passes as our flight to Honolulu approaches.

The next leg of our journey is soon upon us, all goes well as we settle in for a meal and a movie. Meal service is disappointingly slow, we are half way through the two hour plus Bob Dylan bio pic before we see food. With flight time around 9 hours we desperately want to enjoy some sleep before we arrive to relive the 14th of July. Reliving the early Bob Dylan years took us back to our lives as teenagers. The Cuban missile crises, JFK’s assassination and importantly to us teenagers the musical and cultural upheaval those times brought with them. Bob Dylan penned it all, the times they were definitely changing.

We have started our descent in to Honolulu as I write this, a shaky landing but we are here.

Our entry to this US territory is smooth, a short ride on a wiki wiki bus, a far cry from the mundane ride between terminals in Sydney. Maybe they should call them Hoppers (think kangaroo). We disembark and are through border control in a flash with Aloha’s all the way. Suitcases collected, sunglasses on we walk out of the airport to a 30c tropical day. Taxi’s line the kerbside cab rank, no waiting as a diminutive Hawaiian of chinese ancestry loads our bags into the back of a Tesla, our first electric car ride. Safely within we are quietly whisked off to the Hokua building on Ala Moana Blvd where sister Kate is waiting to greet us. Our holiday reunion begins!