Hawaiian havoc

It alllll started when a huge weather storm hit Oahu on Thursday, Dec 11th the day I was suppose to fly home. There were flash floods all over the island, which was devastating to many cities. Laie just so happened to be one of the unlucky towns to be affected pretty bad. The whole night before it rained non-stop, and all that morning. I stayed inside all morning to avoid the rain, but after the arrival of my roommate's boyfriend, he let us know that traffic coming in and out of Laie was blocked because of flooding over the roads, and no one could drive to or from campus, because at that point it was waiste deep. Later on in the late morning Wolfgang and I walked around to check it out and this is a little of what we saw:

one of the fields on campus- apparently they didn't care that is was contaminated water...


thank goodness my parents brought my waterproof jacket! I knew I would need it

More about the flood in the community:
http://newsroom.byuh.edu/?q=node/2041

So because of all the flooding, on my way to catch my flight we only got about 20 minutes out of town before we were stopped in traffic for 1 1/2 hours. Needless to say, I missed my flight. We continued on to the airport anyway and changed my flight for the next day, which was luckily at no extra cost.

So the next day, I got on the plane, but I didn't get to the airport until kinda late so when I checked in the lady at the counter said that my luggage might be put on another plane. I didn't think too much of it because I was in a hurry to catch the plane. So finally I got on the plane and we were in the air, and I thought I was finally done stressing about my flight and that everything was now fine.

I was wrong.

About 30 minutes into the flight, the pilot come on the intercom and tells us that one of the two navigation computer things went out, and that we had to go back to Honolulu to fix the problem and refuel. So we turned around and went back to Oahu. When we got back we had to wait about another 30 min. on the plane for them to fix the problem. Luckily I discovered several of my friends from school on the same plane, so talking to them made the time go by faster. Finally we were off again, and I made it to Pheonix, AZ at 2:30am, instead of midnight like we were scheduled for.

I got to the baggage claim, and waited...and waited...and waited. no luggage. I remembered that they said it might of had to go on a different plane, so I talked to the lady that deals with lost baggage, did the paper work, and she said that it will probably be coming on the next day's flight. So I was told to come the next night at midnight, or between 5:30-8:30am the next morning. Luckily my friend Khrista and her boyfriend were kind enough to take me to the airport at 12:30, but of course, the plane was delayed an hour, so we left. Then this morning, my parents and I went to the airport and made it a few minutes before 8:30, but not a soul from Hawaiian Airlines was there. NO ONE. I tried so many ways to get help, and even a kind lady from a different airline checked in the back for me, and there was no luggage. I made every phone call I could make, but all I got were voicemails. So, I left them a message saying I was here when I was told to come, but no one to assist me, and now I'm on my way home which is 5 hours away. Pretty much when I call them tomorrow, I'm going to demand that they Fedex my luggage, and they're paying for it.

Needless to say, this flight home has been officially labeled as the flight from hell. Everything that could go wrong (besides crashing and dying), DID go wrong. Luckily my seat buddie wasn't a creepo. Luckily I have a few shirts that I have left behind at home that I can wear, and I bought some underwear today, which by the way, are cute yet disappointing, they aren't that great. Good thing they were cheap.

So, that's my story. Even though the last few days have been a headache, I am happy to be home and school-free, and I'll be even better when my luggage arrives, and it better be dang quick too. Now I'm just surviving the cold and sitting in front of the fire. I was suprised to see that several things have really changed in Page since I was home last, and it was only 4 months ago.

Ok, now that this post is a novel, I'm done venting. Maybe it's time to list things I am grateful for so that I don't go to bed with a bitter heart against Hawaiian Airlines.
1. The few shirts that are here that I left behind that I can wear for the next few days
2. The complimentary head phones that Hawaiian Airlines provided after the delays, and because of that I was able to kill some time by watching the movie provided
3. My kind parents for coming to pick me up in Phoenix
4. The great Christmas choir concert that the stake put on tonight, and that I was able to talk with some dear friends
5. This nice fire I'm sitting by
6. The internet so that I can trouble you with my woes of the last few days, and to still communicate with my boyfriend who is officially in Austria and whose phone doesn't work there.
7. Those of you who stuck it out and are officially tired of reading this post

Ok, goodnight.