My wife dropped me off at the airport early Sunday morning, 10/22. Nothing eventful with TSA. The first leg wss from Portland, PDX to San Francisco, SFO. I was in the back of the plane so I waited until I was one of last to board the plane. I was seated in the isle seat next to an elderly Hispanic couple. The wife had the window seat.
This was the first time I ever tried to communicate in limited Spanish phrases. In broken English she complimented me on my long painted red nails. We exchanged names, Theresa and Juan. She told me they were going to Hawaii for seven days. I counted to 10 in Spanish and she helped me get to 14. I was staying for 14 days. She told me she had come from Mexico a few years earlier. She told me her sister was some where on the plane, but could not see her.
After taking off Teresa started a movie in the middle seat. She did not get a headset when the stewardess was handing them out so I gave her mine. I changed the instructions to Spanish and she picked a Korean love story. She stuck one ear bud in her ear and gave the other one to her husband. He quickly lost interest in the movie and gave the ear bud back to his wife. She gave me the ear bud and turned on the English sub-titles. Juan just sat their patiently while we watched the movie and tried to make small talk.
Juan had a cane and was expecting a wheel chair at SFO. When we arrived at SFO we got separated. I assume that they either got the wheel chair or one of the carts to take them to the departure terminal in SFO.
After getting on the plane in SFO, I was in the ailse seat and there was young man in the window seat. A couple of minutes after taking my seat, he announces he is not feeling well. Another first while flying in either mode and I have flown a lot. I look for the barf bag in the seat pocket in front of me. Nothing. The seating arrangements were 10 seats across, 3-4-3. The person in the middle section to my right found a barf bag and handed it me. I handed it to the sick traveler. The bag had a hole in the bottom. Fortunately, he started feeling better and did not need one.
As we were close to landing, I asked one of the stewardess if Juan and Teresa made it on the plane. She was looking for a last name which I did not get. She said that there were three passengers that might fit my description. I told her Juan had requested a wheel chair and she was able to confirm that they made it on the plane and were seated behind me. When we landed in Kona, KOA, there was no jet way so you had to climb down the stairs. There is no internal terminal, it is outside and it was hot and muggy.
I descended the stairs to the tarmack and noticed that there was a lift for people who needed assistance were coming down. I thought I would see Juan and Teresa coming down, but they actually came down the stairs. The landing agents did not want people loitering on
the tarmack and were hurrying people along. I did wait for Juan and Teresa on the tarmack. We walked over to a shaded area and waited for her sister. She finally arrived and I was introduced to her sister as her amiga, friend. Her sister did some quick translation and we went our separate ways. I hope they had as much fun as I did.
Originally Posted by Karren H
