It’s a l-o-o-o-n-g flight to Hawaii if you’re flying a Delta 757 with 6″ of

Deplaning at Kona airport

knee space between seat rows.  4-1/2 hours ATL-LAX plus 5-1/2 hours LAX-KOA adds up to 10 hours and a lot less fun than a 10 hour trip to Europe.  Traveling east to Europe, Delta serves meals, offers customized movie choices and provides reasonable leg room.  Traveling west to Hawaii, Delta dispenses with all the niceties and just gets you there.  The destination is the reward.

Kyle & Betsy at Kona airport

Betsy, Kyle and I landed in late afternoon at an airport that is an open-air assemblage of tiki huts, an immediate immersion into island culture and charm.  To start, you deplane directly onto the tarmac before walking over to the nearest tiki hut.  Betty of Dynamo was waiting to greet us at the baggage claim, along with the three Dynamo Triathoners (Barbara, Micki, Michael) on our flight.  We snagged our bargain rental car (another story!), made a grocery stop at Costco where Katie joined us before returning to the airport to pick up Ollie. Then we headed for our rental house on the hillside above Kona.

It was 9 PM Hawaii time (3 AM EDT) before we got settled; Katie returned to her Dynamo team house and by 9:15 we were in bed!