We made it home

The biggest challenge of vacation this year was getting home. We were suppose to take off on Saturday night, but a mechanical failure grounded our flight home. The part was not available in Honolulu so it had to come from the mainland.

We had to deboard the plane and take all our luggage with us. Of course, we got off the plane after Lihue airport closed, so the lights in the baggage and pickup area turned off. Then there were only two shuttle buses ferrying 11 passengers at a time. By the way, it was raining.

AJ got to speak to the coordinator and got us on shuttle after standing in line for an hour. Of course there was another line at the hotel the airline put us up at...so another hour waiting in that line. Then it took half an hour to get a crib in the room.

The next morning, there was an hour wait at the restaurant...and they ran out of food. We stood in another line for an hour trying to get back to the airport. Of course they ran out of room on two tour buses, so we took a special shuttle bus. We we the last to check our bags at the counter, then the usual TSA line...giving us about 10 minutes before we had to board the plane.

The plane was delayed in taking off for about an hour because they had to add extra fuel (the first fuel truck ran empty so a second had to be brought in).

After 19.5 hours of mechanical, logistical, and human delays- we finally landed at LAX late last night. Enzo took all the delays in stride and had a smile when we landed. That is all that mattered.