Kona

We just got back from our "once in a lifetime" trip. We had two international frequent flier tickets on United that had to be used this year or be lost so we began planning our anywhere in the world trip last fall. We initially thought New Zealand or Australia then United changed their frequent flier requirements and it wasn't quite anywhere so we looked a little closer to home. We settled on Hawaii. Not a place that was on our roster, but all we know who have been have had rave reviews. So off to the Big Island we went. It is a LONG flight! Or should I say flights... We headed down to Boston on Friday since it costs less to stay at a hotel with extended parking than to park at the airport, or any nearby lots. We got up at the crack of dawn to catch our 6am flight. We stopped in Denver for a three hour layover. Very weird stopping in CO and not seeing any friends or family but we had a great Mexican lunch before hopping the flight to Kona. We arrived at 4:00 in the afternoon (and a six time zone change) exhausted but excited. We picked up our Chevy HHR, checked in to our timeshare unit, hit the beach then an outside restaurant looking over the ocean for some dinner.
The smell was the first thing we noticed about Hawaii. Kona smells wonderful! The flowers? The ocean? Surely a combination of things but it smelled delicious! We went to bed fairly early since we felt jet lagged and otherwise floopy!