Kauai: The Garden Isle

All these photos were taken out the windows of the plane!

This morning, we left Maui on our last "inter-island flight."  When I started researching and booking this trip last year, I was mildly annoyed that the three of us had accrued small amounts of frequent flyer miles on several different airlines, and we couldn't use any of them for a full fare ticket--6,000 on United for each of us, 11,000 on American, and so on. I needed to book 3 round-trip tickets from Fort Lauderdale to Hawaii, plus 9 inter-island tickets so that we could visit 4 different islands. I had made peace with the expense of it all and decided we could save the baggage fees for all these flights if we each limited ourselves to a carry-on roller and small duffel bag.

Then, a lightbulb went off in my head. These 9 flights are short. Doesn't Hawaiian Airlines partner with any of those companies? I felt like I won the lottery as I started tallying the miles on a piece of paper and realized each small flight was only 5,500 reward miles. That meant that with a bit of careful planning (my specialty!) the 3 of us could fly together, and free, on all 9 island-hopping flights. Yeeesss!
So I am typing this as I gaze out the window of seat 19A on the third of our 3 free flights.  I'm drunk off the intoxicating perfume of plumeria around my neck--leis last a while when you put them in the fridge at night.  We took off from Kahului, Maui and we first pass the northwest corner of the island. Within a few seconds I spot Lanai and Molokai.  We will have to come back to Maui someday and take the ferry to these two islands.  We continue west in the air, and over Oahu again.  It's hard to see the crowds and traffic from the air...just the stunning coastline.
Over the water for a bit longer, we approach the Garden Isle...Kauai...and it's only 11 a.m. 😉 Looking forward to our last week here. I'll be looking for velociraptors, Mister Rourke and Tattoo, and Elvis with his ukelele.  Or maybe I'll just stare out the window with my pina colada...