Aloha

Aloha is the Hawaiian word for hello. We were reminded of this fact as we boarded our overnight flight to Hawaii. This being the first leg of our journey before a short lay-over, plane change and flight onto Los Angeles.

The flight itself was peaceful and mostly uneventful – until Luke decided it was time to say a surprise Aloha to some complete strangers 6 rows forward at 4 in the morning. It happened like this ...

There I was sleeping peacefully – as peacefully as possible on an over-night flight with a few hundred other people soaring through the air at mach 0.9 in a pressurised aluminium tube – when all of a sudden Luke is poking me saying, “I don’t feel well”. “Quick” I say, “is there a sick bag in the seat pocket?” But no such luck. So we unravel as fast as we can and I send Luke up the aisle towards the toilets. I stay behind briefly to make sure all our stuff is in order before following him. Looking up I see Luke lurching more and more, side to side – but there’s no turbulence to cause this – O, oh, I know this sign ... he’s about to faint! Sure enough, down he goes falling to his right entirely over this young couple 6 rows forward, with his head on her tray against the window, out cold.

Running forward I picked him up, checked he hadn’t vomited on them, and man-handled him another two rows to the galley before he went completely floppy like a boneless cicken. To the credit of the airline staff they were ready to wake the plane and find a doctor (although they did ponder out loud if he was simply just another drunk Australian)! But 15 minutes on the floor was really all he needed and then all was fine.

On the way back to our seat I spoke again to the couple Luke had Aloha’d. They were still a little bewildered, pleasantly concerned, and now very much awake, but thankfully none the worse for wear.

Aloha - The fainting Willos have embarked!