Maui not so Wowee

Just a short little thought for now. We really had a good time during our week on Maui and I will go into more detail in a later post, but this is just something for nowie.

I have been travelling to Hawaii since about 1982. Tamara and I just returned from a week in Maui. On the return flight to Los Angeles Airport, I mentioned to Tamara the difference in flying to Hawaii my first time as opposed to our most recent adventure.

On my first flight in the ‘80s I remember getting onto the plane and hearing Hawaiian music with ukuleles, slide guitars, and singing that created visions in my head of hula dancers. The stewardesses (yes, we still called them stewardesses at that time) wore Hawaiian attire and warm smiles above the fragrant, floral leis around their necks. We had been greeted with “Aloha” and heard in-flight messages with a final punctuation of “Mahalo!”

During this most recent trip in the 21st century, there was no Hawaiian music during the entire flight, the United Airlines flight attendants donned the standard corporate suit, and not once during our 5 ½ hour flight to Maui did I hear a single “Aloha” or “Mahalo.” On a side note, during one beverage service, the first flight attendant asked me if I wanted anything to drink. I requested coffee. Before she could serve it to me, the beverage cart was moved and continued down the aisle. The second flight attendant at the beverage cart stopped just to the row behind me. I still wanted coffee and attempted to vocally get her attention. When she obviously did not hear me and did not respond, I touched the back of her arm to get her attention. When she turned around to look at me, I saw a look from her as though I had just stuck her with a needle from a syringe containing HIV!

Once we arrived in Maui, again I did not hear an “Aloha” or “Mahalo” unless I spoke it. In fact, when I did say the words, I received looks as though I had just handed them a warm turd (my honor to J. D. Salinger’s character in “Catcher In The Rye”).

Ah, well, obviously Hawai’i has now officially become Americanized. Sad.

One last thing: Howaya doin’?