Surprisingly, the travel agent through The Newlywed Game booked us on an awesome flight both to Kauai and back home to LA 6 days later. First of all, both flights were direct, which after talking to several people is apparently very unusual! Our flight left LAX at 9:45am...we arrived at the airport at around 8:15am which should be plenty of time right? Wrong. There was SOMETHING going on wtih American Airlines and their security, which was causing humongous backups in the security lines. We were moving at a snails pace in line starting outside by the curb, winding up some stair, going down a hallway until finally winding our way to a Disneyland inspired rope course to actually get to the security points. By the time our ID's and boarding passes were checked we had less than 15 minutes before boarding began, we tried to have the TSA agents let us move ahead in line, our conversation went something like this:
Jason: Hi, our flight is boarding now, is there any way we can move ahead?
Me: Trying to rub my belly pathetically and look as miserable as possible
TSA Agent #1: It's boarding Now? let me see your ticket...No, it's boarding at 9:15
Jason: Umm...ya, exactly...what time is it?
TSA Agent #2: Oh, it's only 9, you have 15 minutes, plenty of time
Jason: It's not 9, it's after 9
TSA Agent #1: Oh, well ya, it's 8 after 9 so you have plenty of time
AWESOME.
We made it to our gate after the entire flight had been boarded. We were very surprised to see that the flight was nearly empty! There was no one else in our row which was very exciting since I was pretty nervous about flying for 5+ hours while 6 months pregnant. My carry on was stalked with snacks in case hunger struck at any moment- which it usually does. No one else ever showed up to take the 3rd seat in our row, so we were able to stretch out and relax.
There was a nice couple across the aisle from us who were going on their past due honeymoon. They had their 5-1/2 month old son, Zachary, with them and Jason and i were both intrigued by their ability to travel without breaking a sweat...their secret? Milk...lots and lots of milk! That little boy ate SO much! But every time he fussed, they popped in a bottle or the Mom snuck him under her hooter hider and all was silent again! It was definitely inspirational seeing them travel to easily together. Jason and I will be the couple with the 5-1/2 month old in December when we travel to Seattle for Christmas.
When we arrived in Kauai, we headed out to the car rental place to get our car and hit the road! We spotted our first rooster while pulling out of Enterprise- a site we would soon become very familiar with! Instead of heading to our hotel first, we were starving and decided to hit up our favorite restaurant from Maui that is also on Kauai...Dukes! I think on our honeymoon, Jason and i ate here every single day! The wait staff always thought we were crazy because all we would order was appetizers, and Lava Flows with extra shots of rum for each of us! haha. But it was always a great time. This time, obviously, there would be no Lava Flows with extra shots for me...but that didn't hold me back from ordering a virgin lava flow! That for me, a local beer for Jason and appetizers galore filled our babies and put out trip off to a great start!
Once we finished our food, we headed over to our Hotel to check in. We were staying at the Kauai Beach Resort and our stay was covered by the game show. When we checked in, Jas was told that we were VIP's (obviously) and that the trip was comped! Sweet! when we won our prize, we were told we would have a deluxe ocean view room...the room we initially checked in to could more accurately be described as a deluxe FIELD view room with a sliver of the ocean showing if you were standing in a specific awkward location in the room. Unacceptable for VIP Laubsters! We decided to be bratty and head back down to the front desk and politely ask if they had anything more to our liking. After giving us the run around, Carol finally gave up the goods...room 2530...much more convenient location and a much better view of the pool, the grotto and of course, the ocean! Here are some shots we got after a big rain and early in the morning.
Our hotel was nice, especially wtih the upgraded room. I'm quite proud of the fact that i have converted Jason to be just as big of a hotel snob as I am over the years, so it was nice that while we were both Ok with our hotel, were we given the choice of choosing our hotel, we probably would have chosen somewhere...different...but more on that later.
That night we decided to hit up a great restaurant that Jason's family had recommended to us before we left, The Beach House. It's a beautiful restaurant that is best seen at sunset because all of their tables face the water. Given our crazy schedule, we didn't arrive until around 8:30 so there was no sunset to be seen, but there was great food to be had which we enjoyed immensely! So much so, that we made reservations for a few nights later before we left the restaurant. This time, we made sure we'd be there to capture the beautiful sunset.
So that was our first day! Tomorrow we head out to the Wailua River and go kayaking!
