Our Hawaiian Vacation

In the summer of 1998, I had been with my little babe for over half a year. Not bad, as college relationships go, I think. Anyways, I was working at a local computer store earning about $14/hour, not bad, but not a lot either. At the same time, Mags had nothing to do, I think….. or did she go to summer school, I forgot. In any case, it looked like it was going to be a boring summer vacation with nothing to do and nothing to look forward to. Then a phone call changed it all…….

I answered the phone and it was my friend, Phil. We shot the breeze a little and suddenly he asked if I wanted to go to Hawaii. I was like, “I wish!!! If I got the money for all that!!” He said what if the price for a hotel stay in Hawaii near Wakiki Beach is free, would I go? I said “HECK YEAH!!!” Then he told me about this time-share that his family has on Oahu which he has for a week and was wondering if me and Mags wanted to go with him and his girlfriend, Susie. I thought….AWESOME DEAL!!! GOTTA TAKE IT!! So, I agreed to go. We searched for around for some cheap airfare and because we were looking about two months in advance, we found 2-round-trip tickets from SFO to Honolulu for $768. (We were looking in June for August flights 8/5-8/13) Since the time-share was already booked, all we had to do was book our flights and we were set to go, so I decided not to tell Mags and make this a surprise.

A month went by and so far, it was exactly what me and Mags thought this vacation was going to be like……boring, boring, boring. Actually, we shot pool, went paintballing, went to an amusement park, and some other stuff. Mags looked like she was getting kinda bored, so one day, out of the blue, I said to her that we should go on vacation….to Baja California!! She was like….”Why Baja California??” Before she could really ask much, I started to blab about this great deal I found on the Internet. We’re going to stay in this little hut next to the beach, near some lagoon and other wildlife. I told her that the place even has HOT running water and flush toilets!! We’re even going to get a kitchen with a MICROWAVE oven!! A week of that for a very low price!! I guess she saw how excited I was about this and tried to be as happy as possible for us. (I figured that as long she doesn’t ask me too much questions I won’t slip and let her figure out we’re going to Hawaii) In any case, she took the bait and started to tell everyone that we’re going to Baja California for a week in August.

Near the end of July, I needed to make trip back to LA and as usual, Little Mags came along. I was driving my old Buick Regal Custom coupe, big car and fast, but not too reliable. Everything was going well and on August 4^th, we started back to San Francisco from Los Angeles. It was a hot day and my dad said to watch out for traffic and possible over-heating problems. And right before we left, he told us to a fun time in Baja California. I was like….”WHAT???” See, I didn’t tell him anything about my trip to Hawaii or Baja, but I guess my sister told him and he just played along. I was cracking up inside because Mags was totally oblivious to the truth. We were almost out of LA, when my car over-heated. I started to go psycho!!! I have a 7am flight to catch the next morning in SF and I’m stuck in LA with an overheated car at 5pm!!! What the heck am I suppose to do!!!! I thought I was I was going to have a heart attack!! But, as luck would have it, a tow truck came out of nowhere within minutes after we pulled over to the center divider. The tow truck towed us off the freeway and left us in front of a grocery store. I bitching my head off by this time because I couldn’t believe my bad luck and to make matters worse, Mags has no clue why I’m so pissed. She tried to calm me down and told me that at the very worst, we can just drive down to Baja and forget the airplane flight. I’m like….”NO, NO, NO!!! We have to make that flight because, …because the trip comes as a package and we need to make the transfer flight in San Diego which will fly us to this remote lagoon and we can’t get there by car. Also, if we don’t make the flight in SF, then we can’t make the one in San Diego, then the WHOLE trip will ruined!!” (Not bad, huh? Made it up on the spot!) Luckily, after an hour, my Buick cooled down enough to start up again and we were able to get back to Berkeley by 2am.

Now, here’s the funny part. First, we barely made it to the airport on time and our shuttle pulls in front of the airline terminal called…..”Pleasant Hawaiian Vacations”. I thought Mags will definitely see through this and of course, she asked why was the airline called that. (Oh, at the last minute, I told Mags that Phil & Susie was coming with us.) I said that we’re going to ride this plane to San Diego where we would get off and proceed with our small private propeller plane to Baja. Phil confirmed my story by saying this happens all the time and airlines usually want a full plane before heading off to Hawaii to make profit. Mags thought that must have made sense and made a joke that how come we can’t go to Hawaii. I gave her my most sorriest look and told her that it costs too much and I can’t afford it at this time. I told her that maybe someday I could take her there when I had more money. Hehehe!!! Mags felt guilty and said that she didn’t mean it that way and started to blab about how fun Baja would be and that it’ll be the best vacation since she’ll be with me. ( I was cracking up inside trying my darnest not to laugh. Phil walked away to laugh so he won’t be seen. Only Susie manage to keep a straight face) We checked in and boarded the plane.

On the plane, in our seatbacks, there were brochures on “Planning your Hawaiian Vacation” and the “Pleasant Hawaiian Vacations” sign all over the place. I actually believe that Mags thought we were going to San Diego, even after we took off. The cool part was that we were in the center aisle, so that she never saw that we were flying over water. (I would have made an excuse like to that’s the way airlines fly or something else stupid) In any case, she went to the restroom and while she was waiting in line, a lady asked her where she was staying in Hawaii. Mags answered that we were going to get off in San Diego when the plane lands. The lady gave her a weird look like Mag is crazy and decided to not talk to her anymore. Mags came back to her seat, a little suspicious and asked me what was going on again. I just told her that the lady doesn’t know about the stop-over in San Diego because Pleasant Hawaiian Vacations made a last minute change in flight plans due to in-sufficient demand for the trip to Baja. So, they stuck us with the Hawaiian-bound flight. Cheaper that way, I told her. She believed me and fell asleep because we were both very tired since we had like a 2 hour nap the night before.

Three hours later, we woke up and had lunch. Now Mags got really suspicious and asked me what’s taking so long to get to San Diego. She thought we’ll be there in like a hour or so. I was starting to run out of stories and she was staring straight at me now, but I threw out something just for the heck of it. I told her with a straight face that our plane was diverted to Mexico City and that we will be landing there for our transfer to Baja. She continue to stare at me. I plowed on. I said that our original plane in San Diego has flown ahead without us because of some mis-communication on our arrival time and so, we’re going to meet up with it at another airport. At this time, I was looking towards Phil for help, but instead the dork cracked up!!! Started laughing like crazy!!! Mags turns to me and asked, “Are we going to Hawaii?” I gave up. I couldn’t the charade up any longer, although I was kinda hoping that she find out until we landed in Honolulu. She was sooo happy that she cried!!! So coool!!! Totally surprised!! I always love a well-executed surprise!