Well, here we are again on a plane going to Maui. It’s Ginny’s birthday in about a week and we’re going to celebrate. I’m not going to say how old she’s going to be, but I’ll give you a hint it starts with 5 and ends with 0. You do the math.

Our flight was entirely reasonable leaving at 10am, so we only had to wake up at 6am so we could be on the road by 7am. As usual, the cab arrived about 20 minutes early but we didn’t try to rush. Riley wasn’t happy, but that was to be expected.

I checked us in using United’s website seemed like a good idea. The only problems occurred when we checked our bags. First we had to hike down to the other end of the terminal to get to the “United.com bag check area and the barcode scanners at the bag check stations couldn’t read our boarding passes. I think they were broken though as two other people had trouble using the scanners.

Once our bags were checked, we went through security. I really hate the security check even though I know and understand the need for them. I wish they had a longer run-out after the x-ray machine. If people are the slightest bit slow getting stuff off the table, things get jammed up. It would also be nice if you didn’t have to take off your shoes.

Because we arrived at the airport so early, we had some time to kill. We picked up some coffee and muffins for breakfast and I wandered around a bit and picked up a book and a copy of Wired magazine (I only read Wired when I’m traveling).

I did see something interesting in the airport terminal so sponsored kiosks that were nothing more than really small carrels with power outlets. One was sponsored by Verizon (advertising their wireless broadband service, but there was no wireless broadband service available there) and another sponsored by Principal Financial Services. They both were basically just billboards. Nice idea though. I also noticed a distinct lack of available power outlets in the terminal seating area. Ginny ran out and picked us up some sandwiches for the flight. I’m not sure what’s better, buying in flight or before we leave. The meals they have in flight are only $5, but I suspect the fare you can buy in the terminal is better quality.

No big problems boarding the plane Ginny asked if there was any possibility of getting upgraded to economy plus, but the flight was completely booked. Considering how many open seats I saw when I checked us in, I was quite surprised they weren’t asking for people to volunteer to take a later flight.

So far no big problems on the flight it’s a little bumpy, but nothing too bad. Sometimes Ginny gets nervous when the flight is bumpy, but she’s fine.

We’ve been feet wet for a while it’s 11:47 HDT (4:48 CDT) so we have about 2 hours of flying time left. The flight crew reported we may arrive a little early, so that’s nice.

About 3 hours ago I realized I had forgotten my camera tripod at home I always forget something. I’m going to see if Steve can send it over. Not sure what the cost would be, but I suspect it would be cheaper than buying a new one. Of course our walking sticks (which I didn’t forget) have camera mounts in the head but that’s only good for short term stabilization not enough for long exposure. Of course there’s always the option of asking Steve to just get it to my mom & dad, since they are joining us in 5 days. That would probably be harder to manage than just having Steve ship it to us.

Ok, I just found another nice feature of this laptop (Dell Latitude D630) the screen is a little shorter than my Inspiron 600m was (because it’s a wide screen), so it fits better on the airplane tray without bumping into the seat in front.