Sitting still

Those of my friends who have previously remarked on my general inability to sit down for more than 5 minutes at a time may be impressed that today I managed with good humour, 20 and a half hours of stillness, broken only by a three hour stand in line in a vast marble floored hall, waiting to go through Border Control at Los Angeles.

Fast speaking Airport staff in ill - fitting   light-blue V-necked sweaters reminiscent of my old school jumper,  shepherded confused travellers from outside the USA into the same long zig-zag line regardless of the tannoy announcements directing us elsewhere. The energetic and charismatic steward who divvied us up to queue again at the end of the zig-zag apologised that Border Control had pulled rank and ordered a single line of several thousand as there were only ten officers on duty. As I neared the front of the queue, the tension became palpable as individuals, usually non white, were sent to one side to await escorts to elsewhere. Thoughts of Ellis Island slid into my mind and I wondered where those individuals would end up.

Potential visitors should note that this is now the quiet season and that during the summer the airport was processing 30,000 travellers each day with a queue many many times longer. Each check took at least one minute with questions as to purpose of visit and duration of stay,  fingerprinting and digital eyescan. 

The long wait was offset by a speedy jog around the exterior to reach Terminal 2 for Hawaiian Airlines Check-In with minutes to spare before the 5.30pm flight closed.  There the mood changed as smiling staff ushered us through security to be greeted by airline staff wearing - yes - floral shirts and flowers in their hair. The flight safety talk was a clever video  with the exit instructions given by a hula dancing stewardess on a blue sky beach and a surf board carrying steward. A smiling family standing knee high in the sea demonstrated use of the oxygen masks.

The flight to Honolulu turned out to be two hours longer than I expected due to another time difference and when Harriet met me and placed a sweet smelling garland of tuber roses round my neck it was  2 am Tuesday UK time but only 9 pm Monday in Hawaii.

So - we went for a coffee and I had apple pie and ice cream to complement the three servings of vegetarian pasta I had eaten during the flight. Then I was duly delivered to a neat two-roomed apartment in the old Japanese quarter that is to be my home for the next few days and there I slept, waking up every two hours to see if it was time to get up now and explore.