Originally Posted By AZDLDad Bless the lord for our safe return to the mainland. I am thankful for my families safety and that no one was killed on any of the islands. Wiser because, I should have stopped at the ATM the night before to obtain a little extra buffer cash. Left a little more gas in the 'return empty' tank. No power means, no debit/credit cards purchases at most businesses that might happen to be open or gasoline. Price for Oahu/Honlulu hot dog once power was up was $3.64 each. Luckily the airline arrived later at the gate with free water and Twix bars. Up until then we feasted on Krispy Kremes at the only area with electricity on Maui on the way to the airport. We had long delays in check-in due to the old manual procedures of handwriting bagagge tags, etc. Extra snacks and water from the kind attendant on our first flight off Maui. Sitting on Oahu tarmac for one hour, and in a darkened airport for several more. We left 5 hours after scheduled time, and arrived weary and glad to be home in Phoenix this morning. The events of Sunday morning, were frightening. Being shook out of bed, and feeling the second shock. The hotel resort staff was not prepared for such an emergency. No one came over the intercom system or was mustering people to safe areas. So I checked out at the front desk and headed 35 miles towards the airport. Traffic was light, there were a few rocks and boulders on the roadside. Police were at major intersections. We had to drive through one very short tunnel-quickly. It was open countryside after that until we got to the Hot Donuts beacon of KK. I let my wife go in to order as I gathered more info on the 'one' only radio station in the car. I made some calls to family and to secure a bed in town just in case we could not get from Maui to Oahu. We then decided to check the airport. We decided to get in line and the rest is history. Moral of story- Keep extra cash on-hand, a little extra snack food if you can, a little more than an 1/8th of tank of gas, talk to your hotel personal about emergency procedures, find out which radio station is your EBS broadcaster in your area, keep caring family informed of your travel plans.
Originally Posted By mele I'm glad you guys made it home safely! (And you even got Krispy Kremes!) ;-)
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Well certainly when you are spending that much on a vacation you should call ahead and make sure that no natural disasters are planed for the time that you will be there. ;-) Glad you made it home safe and sound!
