O7/12/2025 – I…had…a car…waiting…
Leaving our lodging early in the morning to refuel our rental car and head to the airport was a great way to start the day, especially since the car had air-conditioning. Our intended flight had changed just a few days earlier to an hour earlier than previously scheduled. This suited us fine; we were promised air-conditioning at our new hotel in Oahu. We got to the airport an hour early and were prepared to wait. At these airports, there are no security checks (other than checking ID) and there is no screening of luggage, either checked bags or carry-ons. Dave even had a water bottle with water in it! They started calling our names about 35 minutes before our scheduled flight. Apparently, all 8 of us on the flight were ready, so we took off early! The 30 minute flight from Molokai to Honolulu on the island of Oahu was nice and easy. Due to all the schedule changes, we made it there about 1.5 hours earlier than expected. Even that was not enough for Ace Rentals, with whom we had booked a car with back in February. We had received a text message at noon yesterday from Ace stating that they were looking forward to welcoming us soon and they gave us a number to call when we arrived. We called that number and they said, Oops! They have no cars available for us! Wait, what?!?! We told them that we had reserved a car back in February. They said they understood, but they made a mistake and have no cars available. We asked what our options were. They said they would call other rental agencies and see if they have a car for us. They called back and said that Thifty had a vehicle, but they had no sedans left. I asked if Ace would pony up the difference in the cost and they said no. I asked if they would send a car to pick us up. They said they only do that for people who rent cars from them! Can you imagine?? This reminded Dave of an old Seinfeld episode where Jerry tells the rental car agent, “You know how to take a reservation, but you don’t know how to hold a reservation. And that’s really the most important part.” We took a bus to the Thrifty rental counter, and there were at least 50 people in line. We would have to wait, who knows how long, just to see if they still had a vehicle available and how much it would cost. We decided maybe we didn’t need a car that badly and just took a Lyft to our hotel. A nice down day bumming around Waikiki didn’t sound all that bad. Plus, this hotel has air conditioning! We could stay here for the full 48 hours!
After settling in to our room (which we upgraded to a club suite for a stunning $4 USD for both days!), we walked down to the local church for Saturday evening mass. The church was nice, it was pretty full, the priest gave a lovely sermon on loving God and loving our neighbors, and…. we were definitely in the top 5% age bracket at this mass! It is the first time we have ever felt like we were among the oldest at a church service. It was refreshing to see so many of the younger generations attending mass.
Afterwards, we headed to an outdoor mall-type area for dinner, picked up dessert, and headed back to the hotel to soak up the AC.