Mahalo

Mahalo is the Hawaiian word for thank you. Mahalo was the word we heard constantly with every announcement on the plane flight, as well as in our stop-over at Honolulu airport. It all felt a little over-done for our cynical Aussie ears. Way over-done, that is until we had need to say as many mahalos as we could muster. It happened like this...

During our 4 hour lay-over in the airport terminal we set up camp near gate 53 in a quiet corner where we wouldn’t disturb anyone. Exploration forays to find information and pick up supplies was pretty much all that happened. Eventually they declared our next plane was to leave from Gate 22, about 1km away in another building along some pleasant walk ways. So we shifted camp, walked the walk, re-made camp, ate some dinner and readied to board the next plane. Then, just as they called us to board, Ethan declares, “I’ve lost my ipod! I must have left it at the other Gate.” With our next plane now boarding and 2 hours having transpired in-between campsite shifts, I declared it lost. We reported it to the desk who gave us the number for lost-and-found who told us to check in with them tomorrow. Not a great result but the best we could do in the circumstances.

However, the boarding line was really long and moving super slow. So we thought, why not jog back over and have a quick look, surely we’d be back in time. So off I ran with Ethan and we swiftly discovered that running 1km after an over-night flight wasn’t so easy as it sounded (and then we’d have to jog back!). We eventually panted our way back into Gate 53. Nope it wasn’t under the seats. None of the new passengers had seen it either. I checked with the staff nearby and what-do-you-know ... there’s Ethan’s ipod sitting front and centre of the desk just waiting for us to come back and claim it. Mahalo to every one at Gate 53!!

But to our dismay more mahalos would soon be needed. You see we still had to run back to Gate 22.

All up the round trip had taken 15 minutes. In actual fact more than enough time to fully load a 767 bound for Los Angeles. And all that were left in deserted Gate 22 were 4 members of Team Willo and a bunch of highly stressed flight attendants declaring the flight would likely have to leave without us. Was it Heathrow all over again? But no, just in time, Ethan and I slogged round the corner wheezing for breath. As we called mahalo to everyone in sight, they ushered us onto the plane with ipod and everything else now firmly in-hand.

Mahalo Honolulu airport staff – Team Willo is in your debt.