Hello Hawaii!

We flew to O’ahu today!

Music to listen to while you read this blog: The Strokes – Hawaii

The morning started taking four Super Shuttles to LAX, dragging all of the research equipment with us. There was so much baggage to check! I had Yuma from Trimble as my carryon. The TSA officials apparently had never seen a GPS receiver before and took some swabs from it. Once past security I had some Burger King (a delicious bacon Gouda biscuit) before boarding on the Hawaiian Airlines plane. Casual Hawaiian music played throughout the cabin as I sat down. I was one seat away from the window and watched as the plane immediately went from the runway to over the Pacific.

The five hour flight went by quickly. I mostly read (The Trial by Franz Kafka, since it was one of the few e-books I had on my phone) and listened to music. There was also a documentary on passenger-screens about Hawaii.

I was in awe of the beauty of the islands at the first glimpse from the window.

We drove across the island to our temporary new home at Tradewinds Ranch. We settled in, played some large-size jenga, saw all the different animals here, and then had dinner. Following dinner, most of the group walked down to the beach and went for a swim. I have never swum in water so clear. The water was not as cold as I thought it would be. I should have worn my water shoes though. There were more rocks than sand.

Now to go soak in the scenery.

Our new temporary home.