Our flight departed Orlando, Florida at 8 AM, and we didn’t land in Hawai’i until 13.5 hours later (3:20 PM local time, 9:20 PM home time)! We were tired, but excited, as we waited for our luggage and took our first breaths of Hawaiian air.
Unbelievably, the airline lost one of our two bags! The staff said it would likely arrive on the next flight and they would deliver it to us later that evening. We were disappointed at this hiccup in our plans, but we tried not to get too discouraged, especially since we would have our belongings returned to us soon.
DAY 1 | The Big Island, Hawai’i
We headed outside to find our rental car, hopped in and headed to a nearby Walmart for Tom to grab a few essentials that were in the missing bag. Immediately, we were greeted by many rainbows – mostly on license plates, but also a vibrant one almost directly in front of us. We felt warmly welcomed to Hawai’i.
And then we were finally on our way to Na’alehu, near the southern tip of the island where our AirBnB was located. It was an hour and a half scenic drive, especially once we left the populated area of Kona.
The ocean rivaled the sky for the most blue color. We passed field after field of tumbled lava rock, and admired the vibrant tropical flora along the roadside.
We tried to wait up for the delivery of our bag, but we were exhausted and wanted to be well-rested for our first full day in Hawai’i. And so, we quickly succumbed to the dreaded jet lag.
