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A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

United Airlines--Are You Listening?

The service industry ain't what it used to be...

This morning, my friend John sent me the link to a story about poor customer service on United Airlines:


Not-So-Happy Flying

Last week, I wasn't so happy with United Airlines myself. After two phone calls trying to get them to load a subtitled movie into the plane, I learned that I was going to have to create a new law to get the airlines to comply:

Dreaming of Accessible Airline Movies

Closed Captioning on the Airlines--We'll Need a New Law

But let's talk about service.

On the flight to Oahu, we were surprised to discover that there wasn't going to be any meal on the flight. We just assumed that on long flights, something would be served. We settled for five dollar boxes of assorted snacks.

Did I mention how crowded the plane was? Not only were we packed together like sardines, but there literally was no room for me to work on my sister's laptop--I couldn't open it all the way and had to squint to see the angled screen. They built that plane to squeeze in the most people they could.

The service on the way to Oahu was a heck of a lot better than on the way back. On the way back, we were served... one drink. The entire eight hours. This was in contrast to our arrival flight, where the staff came around several times to offer water and directed us to the back to get other drinks. (How about running that service cart twice on long trips?)

When I walked in the back to inquire about water, three of the staff were talking and I stood there for a minute before they acknowledged me and I asked for water. The staff person scooped up half-melted ice and poured in warm water.

Lovely. Just lovely.

I couldn't wait to touch down.

Have you had similar flight experiences? Share your story in the comments.

Hawaii School for the Deaf and Back Home Again

On Friday morning, our last full day on Oahu, we headed over to the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind. We were met by Harry Hayler, the school counselor, who gave us a tour of the school. The school currently has 72 deaf and deaf blind students and no students who are blind. All of the blind students on the island are in other schools.

The school was down to 20 students at one point and nearly closed. The deaf community rallied together and they were able to save the school from closing. The school averages about 80 students per year and teaches with the bi-cultural, bi-lingual philosophy of American Sign Language and English. "We often have middle and high school kids who transfer here for the social opportunities," said Harry.



After we left the school, we headed over to Hamanuma Bay, a state park which is a frequent spot for snorkeling. We were fortunate to spot some mongoose (mongeese-plural??) running around:

And all this time, I thought "mongoose" was just a brand name for a bike!

Our final activity of the day was to head over to the Hilton Hawaiian Village for a hula show and fireworks. While we were waiting in line for the show, I spotted hearing aids on a woman in front of us. My sister began talking to her and we learned that she was from Washington, near the Canadian border. She and her kids joined us during the show.

The Hilton Hawaiian Village is a beautiful place that has beach access right outside the towers. I would definitely consider staying there if we head back out to the island again. Here, you can see the flamingos that were on the grounds:



On Saturday morning, we drove along the shore of Diamond Head on the way to the airport--this was a nice, scenic drive. We had one final view of the beautiful ocean before heading home on United. Speaking of which, the service was sorely lacking on the way back. United needs to take a lesson from Southwest on how to provide great customer service.

A Whale of a Time in Oahu

Yesterday was a day of adventure. Early in the morning, we headed out to Wai'anae Boat Harbor on the north shore of Oahu to board the Hoku Nai'a for a dolphin cruise. We almost missed the boat, as we couldn't find the entrance to the harbor.



The boat captain was a gal named Joyce with nine years of experience. She explained that it was difficult finding the dolphins in the last couple of weeks. I wasn't expecting much but all of a sudden, we saw a whale. We followed the whale for a bit. Marine rules dictate that boats must stay 100 yards away, but we were much closer than that when the whale arched gently out of the water. It was quite a sight to see. I have pictures of the whale blowing water straight up, but I can't get the pictures to show up properly on here. I'll see if I can add it when I arrive home.

My mom became quite seasick and couldn't enjoy the ride. I felt really bad for her as the crew served some delicious hamburgers right off the grill. After we left, Mom started feeling better on the way back to the hotel so we decided to stop at Pali Lookout. That was well worth the drive as the view was simply stunning.



Back at the hotel, I headed out to the beach and finally got myself into the water. I rented a surfboard and asked the staff for the "free, five second lesson." Line yourself up against the wave, paddle to get it going, stand up and ride it out, the guy said. Ah, simple enough.

So I spent an hour trying to find a decent wave to ride for longer than five seconds. The waves were only a foot or so high and far too gentle to get enough momentum to ride it out. It was still fun to try and I definitely want to come back and try it again someday. I think the hubby and kids would love surfing as well.

That night, we decided to try the buffet at our hotel, the Waikiki Marriott. It was a meal that was well worth it. For twenty dollars, you get an incredible buffet of prime rib, roasted turkey, pork loin, Thai seafood, tofu with watercress and veal ragout. There were many more dishes and side dishes to choose from. The desserts were out of this world, especially the creme brulee which is one of my favorites. My compliments go out to the chefs at the Marriott.

Tomorrow, we head home in the afternoon. I'm not ready to leave but I sure miss the hubby and kids. And the dog, too!

The Dole Plantation and a Hula Show

Good grief, it's already Thursday. Our time here in Oahu has flown by. Yesterday, we headed out to the Dole Plantation on the northwest side of the island. A small train took us around the plantation where we viewed the various crops that are farmed there. Can you guess my favorite plant? It wasn't the pineapple, it was the plant that makes...



Chocolate!!!

After the train tour, we sat down to have pineapple icecream with fresh pineapple on it. That alone, was worth the trip. The next best part was the incredible gardens on the site. There were an abundance of beautiful hibiscus flowers in every shade imaginable. We were planning to go to the botanical gardens, but I think the Dole gardens took care of the botanical craving.



We grabbed dinner and then dropped off Dad at the hotel. His feet weren't holding up anymore and he decided he was going to call it a day. Mom, Linda and I walked over to see a hula show, thanks to Stephen Hopson's advice: Free places to go on Oahu. This show featured local talent and some older dancers:



After the show, I discovered that I sat on some bird droppings and decorated my very favorite capri pants. I spent the rest of the night washing out my clothes. So a word of advice for those who are going to see the hula show on the grass: bring a towel to sit on!

Pearl Harbor Revisited and a Sunset Cruise

We headed back over to Pearl Harbor yesterday to tour the U.S.S Bowfin submarine and the U.S.S. Missouri battleship. Once we were on board the Bowfin, we met an intepreter, Vanetta, who was the staff person explaining the operations compartment in the submarine. Vanetta moved to Hawaii from Ohio to go to school out here. It was nice to be able to chat with her and ask questions. We obtained scripts for all of the audio tours so we had access to the tour information, but nothing beats chatting directly with the staff.

Two of the videos at Pearl Harbor were not closed captioned. The video in the Pearl Harbor museum supposedly had captions but the captioning wasn't working. The video on the Missouri was not captioned at all. We did view the Pearl Harbor movie with rear window captioning-- a system that I'm not thrilled with at all. I really wish there was an option to turn on open captions when needed.



Later that night, we headed over to the harbor to board the Star of Honolulu for a sunset cruise. We pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we weren't going to see a sunset. It was cloudy and gray when we left. The food was delicious and the entertainment was fantastic. There's something about Hawaiian guys moving their hands and hips--makes a girl want to move out here. The staff signed "America the Beautiful" at the end with a combination of ASL and gestures. It really moved me.

For five awesome minutes, the sun broke through the clouds and we were able to view the sunset:

Visiting Pearl Harbor--Dad Fulfills a Dream

Ok, pinch me. Here I am in Oahu with my parents and my sister. Yesterday, we headed out to Pearl Harbor and spent the entire day there. We aren't finished-- we're heading back out there to see the U.S.S. Missouri and Bowfin.

This trip came about quite suddenly and unexpectedly. A few weeks ago, I was up in Michigan, sitting across from Dad and asking him, "If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?"

He had always wanted to take a trip out to Pearl Harbor to see the place that lead him to spend three years overseas in World War II. Dad fought in Guam, Guadacanal, Okinawa, and stayed after the war for the Occupation of China. When I was growing up, Dad didn't talk much about the war. It was a time that was better left to the dark depths of memory. The older I became, the more I wanted to know about his part in history. So little bit by little bit, he shared some stories.

There were a lot of dark stories, but there were some lighthearted ones as well, such as an amusing moment when he snuck off to grab an ice cream bar only to be called back to attention by the sergeant-- with the ice cream melting away in his pocket.

In the fall of 2007, Dad was reunited with his Marine buddy, Albert. You can read more about that here: Marine Buddies Reunite.

So there we sat that spring morning, talking about our "someday" plans. I looked at Dad and said, "This 'someday' that you're talking about, what's stopping you?"

Well, the next thing that I knew, we booked airline tickets and a hotel. And that's how we ended up in Pearl Harbor yesterday, fulfilling a dream.