Sue and I had visited Hawai'i back in December of 1997. The opportunity had arisen when our software company, TSI Tailored Systems, Inc., was asked to make a presentation of our software product to the advertising department of Liberty House, a department store based in Honolulu. Our marketing director, Doug Pease, accompanied Sue and me for a couple of days in Honolulu. Sue and I extended the trip to include a few days on three of the other islands — Maui, Hawai'i, and Kaua'i. The trip to Maui included a one-day excursion to the island of Lana'i. So, we had visited all of the principal islands except for Moloka'i. We had enjoyed ourselves immensely.[1]

When I first heard that the Fall North American Bridge Championships would be held in Honolulu I immediately thought that this would be a good excuse to return to the island paradise and relive some of the remarkable experiences of our earlier trip. During the summer my long-time tournament partner, Ann Hudson, told me that she and her husband, Randy Johnson, were planning on attending. I immediately started making firm plans. Sue and I decided to spend a week or so playing bridge and then another week or so enjoying one of the neighbor islands.

Ann and I had played together in the NABC held in the fall of 2014 in Denver. We competed in two national events, the 0-10,000 Swiss and the Mini-Blue Ribbon Pairs, which at the time was for players with less than 5,000 masterpoints. We enjoyed the latter a lot more than the former. This year we both would be eligible for the Super-Senior Pairs. So, we planned on playing in that event and the Mini-Blues.[2]

I made plane reservations online through Delta. Because of the much lower costs I meant to fly on Thanksgiving Day. I accidentally chose the next day as the departure date, but the rates were the same, and the cost of switching was prohibitive. I used some of my frequent flier points to upgrade to the so-called comfort seats. The flight to Honolulu went through Atlanta and took all day, which was how we reached the islands in 1997, too. The flight back required two stops, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. The flight from LAX to MPS was a red-eye.

I also reserved a room at the tournament's hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The prices seemed outrageous, but the convenience was certainly worth something.

The two islands that we had enjoyed the most were Maui and Kaua'i. I purchased travel guides for both of them[3]. Kaua'i had been our favorite in 1997, but for me the best aspects of the stay there had been devoted to hiking, and my seventy-year old legs were certainly not capable of the same feats that they accomplished two decades earlier. I retained hopes for repeating my day-long hike on the Powerline Trail that traversed the middle of the island,[4] but a little research disclosed that the trail had deteriorated to the point where neither the guide book nor online commentators recommended it.

The demise of the Powerline Trail was enough to tip the scale towards Maui, which is not only blessed with an abundance of activities but is also close to Moloka'i. Perhaps we could arrange for a day-trip to the Friendly Isle. Two other activities in the Maui book also caught my attention, the Warren & Annabel show in Lahaina and the drive around the West Maui Mountains. I was also interested in driving to Hana again. The book strongly recommended staying at least one night in Hana.

It seemed reasonable to stay in Hana either the first night or the last night. Since our plane to LA did not depart until 3:30 in the afternoon, I decided to use Booking.com to make reservations for the first five nights at a hotel in Lahaina and the last in Hana. We had really enjoyed the hotel in Lahaina in which we had stayed in 1997. The one that seemed the most similar was the Plantation Inn,[5] a few short blocks from Front Street, the main drag. I also booked one night at the Travaasa Hotel in Hana, but only because they allowed cancellation. I had no intention of paying over $600 for one night.

I booked a rental car from Budget. I was amazed that I could get a weekly rate of only $250.

A few months later I got an email from Delta that announced that our flight to LA had been changed. The new flight left four hours earlier! The drive from Hana to the main Maui airport would certainly use up at least three hours. Staying in Hana the last night no longer made sense. So, we decided to try to change the hotel reservations and to stay in Hana the first night. Sue found us a cottage to rent in Hana, and, after a little negotiation, the Plantation Inn allowed us to change our reservations.

A few weeks before we left I discovered that the theater in which the Warren & Annabelle show was being performed would be closed for renovations from November 23 through December 17. I also learned more about excursions to Moloka'i, which must be done by air. The choice was between visiting the topside, which is sparsely inhabited, and Kalaupapa, the site of what is left of St. Damien's Leper Colony. I was more interested in the latter,[6] but I decided to postpone making reservations until I could do a little more research, and we had a better idea about the weather.

The day before we left I looked over the reservations. I discovered to my horror that the reservations for the flights to and from Maui were for the Kapalua airport, but the car rentals were based at the main airport in Kahului. Fortunately I was able to change the car rental without much trouble. The main difference was that the car that we actually got was a Nissan Rogue, an SUV. I never figured out why the rate for this car was about 40% lower than for all the other cars.

A cab was scheduled to pick us up at our house in Enfield, CT, at about 5:00 a.m. The temperature was 8° F. I saw the driver parked across North Street and waved to him to drive around the corner to our driveway, which was on Hamilton Place. I hauled the suitcases out to the driveway, but the cab was not there. The driver had turned around, but he was still parked on North St. I walked out to the car and explained where the driveway was. Trust me; it should not have been that difficult, especially at that hour when our garage and porch lights were the only illumination visible for several blocks.

Although the taxi company had assured Sue that the driver would take a credit card, he said that he could not accept credit cards before 8:00 a.m. I guess that we need to learn how to use Uber or Lyft.

We arrived at the airport early enough to check our bags, go through security, and buy breakfast sandwiches at McDonald's in the airport.

While we were sitting in the terminal waiting to board, blue lights began to flash, and a very loud and deep voice over the intercom recited something like “May I have your attention, please. May I have your attention, please. There has been an incident in the terminal. It may be necessary to evacuate the terminal. Remain in place and await further instructions.” This was repeated at least twenty times. Then it ceased with no “further instructions.” The employees at the gate at that point used the intercom to describe the process for boarding, and no one made any mention of the lights or the incident.

In other ways the flight to Atlanta was uneventful. I finished the “harder” Sudoku in the in-flight magazine before we had left the runway and the crossword before the flight was half over. I spent the rest of the time reading my Maui guidebook.

We landed in Atlanta at Terminal A, and we took the train to Terminal E. The flight to Honolulu was already sitting at the gate, and the boarding process began on time. Every single seat on the plane was occupied except for the one between Sue's aisle seat and my window seat. We noticed a little commotion a few rows ahead of us. A lady with a three- or four-year-old boy was trying to arrange to sit next to him. The agent approached Sue and asked if she would move to the middle seat so that the lady could sit across from her son, whose seat was across the aisle from and one row ahead of Sue's. Sue almost never says no. The lady took the seat next to Sue, but as soon as we reached cruising altitude she changed seats with her son. He sat (or lay) next to Sue for over eight hours.

Throughout most of the journey the kid was relatively well-behaved. At one point, however, the lady set up a small box or suitcase in front of the youngster's seat. This allowed him to prop up his small legs. In short order he was fast asleep. So was his mommy across the aisle.

Unfortunately, during this period both Sue and I felt the need to go to the bathroom. We had no choice but to crawl over the sleeping youngster, and that was what we did — twice, going out and coming back to our seats. Neither he nor his mother noticed this comical sight.

If you took into consideration its duration of eight hours and fifty minutes, the flight was reasonably pleasant. The extra leg room definitely improved the experience. I invested $10 in the in-flight internet, which allowed me to do all kinds of things on Yoga, my convertible notebook/tablet. Delta served a sort of meal soon after takeoff and another close to the end. I forgot to record what they consisted of, but I remember that they were at least edible. I stayed awake nearly the entire time, and Sue was also awake through most of the flight.

The temperature when we arrived was 76° warmer than when we got in the taxi in Enfield, CT.

We had not made arrangements for travel from the airport to the hotel. We walked around the street level of the terminal for a bit looking for a shuttle or something. Sue eventually called the hotel and arranged with Harry's taxi for a fixed-rate fare of $29 to the hotel.

Aside from the Ala Moana shopping complex[7] nothing looked familiar during the ride to Waikiki. The Hilton's complex is on the northwest side of the beach, which makes it the closest to the airport and downtown Honolulu. It is the furthest from Diamond Head and the Honolulu Zoo.

For me the Hilton Hawaiian Village seemed overwhelming. By my count there were eight different towering buildings. One registration area served all of them. It was, like almost everything in Hawaii, open-air. We missed the sign that indicated where the line for the Hilton Honors group began. We had to scuttle ashamedly to the back of the line.

I have stayed in dozens of Hilton hotels from coast to coast and in Paris. The check-in process has never required more than five minutes. Nevertheless, it took the young man at least twenty minutes to locate a room for us. At one point he had to leave to consult with one of his colleagues. He never explained what the problem was.

We stayed in the Tapa Tower in room #1353. The bridge tournament was divided between the second floor of the Tapa Tower and the sixth floor[8] of the Mid-Pacific Conference Center. Between the two buildings was the Tapa Bar, a few retail establishments, Rainbow Drive, and the Rainbow Bazaar, which housed several restaurants, more retail, and just about anything else that you could think of.

The hotel complex is difficult to describe. Its twenty-two-acre space was designed so that guests could enjoy a “complete Hawai'i experience” without ever leaving the grounds. Surrounding the towers were two huge swimming pools, at least twenty-two restaurants, dozens and dozens of retail establishments ranging from Louis Vuitton to ABC Stores, some exotic wildlife that I never saw, and a plethora of other things for which I had little or no use. Most of the people staying in the hotel probably had no idea that a major bridge tournament was going on.

We carted ourselves and our luggage past the Tapa Bar to the banks of elevators for the Tapa tower. On the left were the elevators for floors 19 and higher. On the right were the ones servicing 1-18. In between were machines for renting DVD's. Once in the elevator I pressed a button labeled 13 for the first time in my life . I guess that hotels no longer cater to travelers with triskaidekaphobia.

The room as seen from the door to the lanai.

The DVD player, TV, and desk.

Sue loved hanging out on the lanai.

Our room was very nice. I immediately went out to the lanai[9] and took photos in all directions.

Straight ahead: the Pacific Ocean.

Right: Honolulu.

Left: other Hilton towers.

By the time that we reached the room I had no energy left at all. I collapsed on the bed. Sue walked over to a deli named CJ's in the Rainbow Bazaar and brought back some Reuben sandwiches for our supper. I ate one and drank about half of my Diet Coke.

Down: the Tapa Pool.

Past the pool Port Hilton was visible.

This is a closeup of the sailboat and buoy in the "Straight ahead" picture above.

Every Friday evening brought fireworks to the Hilton. Sue went out on the lanai to watch them. She reported that they were very impressive, but I was much too tired to appreciate them.

I sent an email to Ann to inform her that we had arrived in paradise, and then I fell asleep.

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