Good bye 2020

 It has been a trying year to put it mildly in the extreme.  COVID-19 has taken its toll on everyone and everything.  We've been mostly cooped up in the house since March, culminating in the loss of my position at Tyrannex (the first job I've ever lost that I liked).  On the other hand, after almost losing his eye and struggling to finish his undergrad, Matthew commenced a career in Environmental Science by landing a job with 360ELM.  Myles' situation has been in flux since before our trip to Japan with NoTable, but he has a great opportunity with Major Tom - but that has been delayed by the COVID too.  Karen has been diligently holding the fort and earning the well deserved break we have now embarked upon, which is the actual subject of this and subsequent posts.  Oh, and by the way, other posts since Hilton Head don't exists because all travel has been cancelled due to COVID till now.  Which brings me to Hawaii.  Way back in January, we began to plan ahead for Karen's 60th birthday.  A multi island trip to Maui and the Big Island seemed to be the ticket.  So we secured our flights as that seemed like the most challenging part.  Then the pandemic struck.  At first, it seemed likely that there would be no problem because December was still a long way off and surely we'd be over and done with the quarantine but then.  Not the case as it turned out.  By September, things started to look more troubling.  In October, I started to really worry - but there was some news that Hawaii was planning to re-open to Howli's.  In November, I started to check the new rules more diligently and discovered that while "Safe Travel Hawaii" was accepting negative COVID test results to circumvent 14 day quarantine requirements, only from "trusted testing partners", none of which existed in Canada, let alone Alberta.  This was a shock to say the least as we had thought that we had a sliver of a chance with the testing protocol establish at YYC for our return seemed like it had opened the door vis-a-vis the boy's work situations (i.e. they wouldn't have to quarantine 14 days upon return).  Speaking of that latter issue, the YYC protocol had precipitated a change in our itinerary due the the requirement for a US originating direct flight into YYC was necessary.  We were able to rearrange our flight to skip the Big Island and return direct from Kaihilui while picking up the extra nights at Menehune Shores in Kihei (even got some WJ bucks!).  But back to the Safe Travels Hawaii.  Once I learned that the State Government of Hawaii was unaware of the existence of Canada (let alone Alberta), but had "trusted testing lab's" in Japan and the states, I decided to raise the issue with my MLA.  Fortunately, my old friend Dick Gotfried is also an MLA (after a career in the travel business) so I copied my rant to him along with another MLA acquaintance.  Dick responded to hang on briefly and sure enough the next day, Alberta announced the recognition of a "Trusted Testing Partner" affiliated with WestJet.  Quicking Thinkly, I set up an appointment with Dynalife for December 24 (72 hours before our flight), worrying about the timing over the holiday season.  In the end, it all worked out (no mean feat).  There were some very anxious moments on Christmas Day awaiting our test results but all four returned negative and we were able to upload and get our "QR Codes".  The flight was long and boring with only pop and biscuits on offer, but after a startling landing, our arrival in Kaihului commenced with our best ever episode of "Luhi, Pōloli and Make Wai"!  This was exacerbated by a fairly inconvenient episode while picking up the rental car.  Hertz didn't have any.  After waiting in a long line up and fighting with my phone to get the documents (COVID and otherwise), we learned our reservation was useless.  Try Budget.  That put us to the back of the queue, but this time we had a helpful agent and were able to secure a car (Maxima) that we were just able to stuff ourselves and our luggage into.  Then it was off to the nearest McDonald's for a feast with the chickens.  Possibly not the most eclectic travel meal we've ever had, but it surely fit the bill.  After that, we found our way to Menehune Shores and into the condo.  A few groceries to get us through breakfast and then we were off to Miso Phat for sushi.  A long dark walk ensued crossing back and forth over Kihei road got us there.  Myles was extremely pleased to see a long line up indicating a good choice.  We waited about an hour before our patience was rewarded with a sushi feast.  Matthew and I chowed down, Myles and Karen not so much.  It might just be that Myles and Sushi are not that enamored of each other?  We already knew about Karen.  Uber'd back with our driver relaxing the COVID restrictions to allow us all in!   What a day, and really glad to be on vacation in Hawaii.