The day had finally arrived. It was time to head home from paradise. To say we weren't ready is an understatement! It was so nice to live life day by day instead of on a timeline. It was also nice to spend time with just each other. Our flight didn't leave until about 4:30 pm so we got up that morning, grabbed some coffee, and headed to the beach for one last walk. It seems like wherever you go in Hawaii the nature is beautiful! David spotted this flower and took a picture.
I spotted this camel and wanted a picture. I have quite an eye for art. ;) Haha!
It was a little overcast and I'm pretty sure it's because the Hawaiian gods didn't want us to leave Hawaii! I told David this but he didn't believe me! It was still pretty early, but there were already surfers out there! This picture doesn't do justice to how big these waves were. They weren't nearly as big as waves on the North Shore of Oahu are, but they were still knocking people over! I equated it to the waves on Myrtle Beach when a hurricane is coming.
I really could see myself living in Hawaii. It was just so beautiful and peaceful. How could you not be happy living in Hawaii?
I decided on one last walk in the water and turned around for a picture opportunity. And boy did David get the shot of the century! He snapped right as a huge wave hit me from the back! It was perfect, haha!
And of course I was still putting flowers behind my left ear since we learned its meaning at our luau the night before!
We headed back to our hotel to finish packing and head out. We stopped to get a quick bite to eat at a little restaurant but neither David nor I could eat much.
Aloha, Hawaii! We were sad to leave your little slice of paradise.
We boarded our plane and headed for home. Or so we thought! About 30 minutes into our flight we started smelling something burning. Umm, not normal. The flight attendants were in constant contact with the cockpit and kept asking us, "is it any better? Can you still smell it?" And everyone kept saying, "it's actually getting worse." It was not fun! I leaned over to David and said, "we're going back." "What?" he replied. "We're turning around..." And sure enough, about the time I said that, the flight attendants came over the loud speaker and said we were turning around to land at the Honolulu airport.
Okay, turning around I can handle.
But then the pilot got on the loud speaker and said, "Obviously something isn't right and we feel safer turning around to get everything checked out. Just letting you know, though, that we will be having an emergency landing." Emergency landing...not so sure I can handle that!
Now I was positive Hawaii didn't want us to leave! :)
It was still light enough when we flew over Honolulu that we could see Pearl Harbor! That was so cool!
We reached the airport, started descending and could see the flashing lights waiting for us. Y'all, that was a scary moment! We hit the runway and literally flew out of our seats. The plane was so stinkin' heavy. We were flanked immediately by the fire engines, but luckily nothing happened. The firemen were decked out in some funky fire repellent gear. They looked like astronauts. When we came to a stop the entire plane erupted in in applause and the pilot came on and said, "And the Tigers have beat the Yankees!" which resulted in another round of applause! We were so thankful for such seasoned pilots who remained calm and collected during this flight. I've been on a lot of flights and gone through a lot of things on planes but this was my first emergency landing and I'll be fine if it's my last! :)
We had to have an emergency landing because we had so much fuel on board. It was too much to dump and because we had so much, it made the plane heavy- which is why we bounced so much when we landed. If we had landed just a tad off, anything could have happened and with a plane full of fuel- well, you know why the fire department was there.
It turns out that the A/C unit on the plane had overheated, so it's a good thing we turned around. They fixed it and we were taking off about an hour later. We missed our connecting flight in Dallas but managed to catch another flight about an hour later. We were exhausted by the time we actually arrived home!
When we got around to giving out gifts, everyone loved what we got them! Everyone that is, except Marley. He was less than thrilled about his Hawaiian shirt and lei. ;)
Hawaii, mahalo for showing us a wonderful time. We can't wait to visit again and see what other wonderful experiences you have in store for us! Aloha!
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