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G'day from Australia! Last week, my friend Natalie and I were in Maui, checking out a new hotel. Natalie's birthday was quickly approaching and instead of spending it in Hawaii, which, by the way, would have been a fine choice, I thought it would be extra-special for us to travel to one of my favorite countries and one that she has desperately wanted to visit. That's why we're down under this week! Got time to squeeze in a mini-vacation? Then grab your passport and your spring clothes because we're about to visit the world's most beautiful harbour in Sydney! If you're pressed for time but still want to get a flavor for this incredible place, check out the two-minute Johnny Jet video at the end of this week's story. If staying closer to home is more your speed, then join Matt Wilson as he continues his exploration of Milwaukee and attends Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival.

MAUI MESS
Natalie and I had a 5am pick up for our 6:23am flight to Honolulu. The two wake up calls we requested came right on time from our posh Maui hotel but unfortunately, the taxi service did not. The front desk at the Wailea Beach Villas wouldn't open for two more hours. The security guard's kiosk was an eight-minute walk from the front doors of the hotel. When I finally got there, I could only get within 30 feet of it because I didn't have a key for the gate that was corralling me in. The young guard was sleeping on the job and I couldn't get his attention. Finally, a rock did the trick. When he did wake, he was slower than molasses, taking forever to track down the phone number for the taxi company. Not having the phone number myself was a rookie mistake. When the concierge kindly made the reservation, I should have requested the phone number ... and one for a back-up service. TIP: Always have all important phone numbers handy.

THE AMAZING RACE ... TO THE AIRPORT
Luckily, Tara, one of the hotel staffers agreed to give us a ride, otherwise it was really looking like we were going to miss our flight. Every taxi company I called was either not answering or had cars stationed at the airport, which was a 25-minute drive away. Tara drove like Jimmie Johnson and we arrived in record time: 17 minutes. At 6:03am, there were two people in line at the Hawaiian Airlines check-in counter and having no time to spare, I was about to snap as one of them was making small talk with the sole agent. After five minutes, I cut in front and said to the agent, "I'm sorry, but the self-service kiosk won't check us in because we're so late." She completely understood and said, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" UGH! She hurriedly checked our bags and said, "OK, run!"

SPRINT TO SECURITY
Run is what we did. We might just have been the first people to ever sprint through the Kahuli airport as fast as we did. It's one of the most laid-back airports in the United Sates. Under normal circumstances, missing our flight wouldn't have been devastating, since there was another flight departing an hour later. But because we were connecting to Sydney, we didn't have a moment to spare. The next flight leaving Honolulu for Sydney was 24 hours later! That would have meant that Natalie wouldn't have had an official birthday, as we would be in the air, plus, factor in the 21-hour time change. So it was imperative we made the flight.



MAUI TO HONOLULU
While putting my carry-on luggage through security, I noticed the dreaded SSSS (Secondary Security Screening Selection) on my ticket. That's the four-letter code that, loosely translated, means: Get ready to have a cavity check done by the TSA. Yup, I got pulled aside for a slow and thorough search. Just what I needed at 6am ... and then some. It was both comforting and disturbing, as our names were being paged for the final boarding call. While being frisked, I yelled over to Natalie to run and save herself, promising to catch up, which I did. Shockingly, we both made it onto the plane at 6:22am, just as the plane door was being shut.

HONOLULU AIRPORT
Given the mad rush, I didn't think our luggage was going to make it but thankfully, it somehow did. We made it to Honolulu with almost two hours to spare before our departure to Sydney. I took a deep sigh and breathed in that fresh, clean Hawaiian morning air as we moseyed our way to Terminal 3. I love the Honolulu airport (HNL). It's open-air with lots of places to pass time and is good for people watching – especially the Japanese, an interesting culture. Hawaii is so popular with the Japanese that there were five flights leaving for Japan within the next two hours. That, in part, explains why HNL has so many high-end designer stores, I think.



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