There’s nothing like nice surprises when you’re traveling. I managed to get all the way from Pupukea to Waikiki on a $2.50 ticket, actually used my return shuttle bus ticket to the airport, wasn’t manhandled by US security like normal and didn’t have to pay the $10 fee for checked baggage because I’m international. Win!
There’s only a Starbucks in the airport though, so I had to fund my most hated of companies by buying an oversweet drink and a shit scone. Fail.
I’ve seen quite a lot of off-duty Army or Navy people in Hawaii, wearing their military ‘civilian gear’ or carrying a camouflage rucksack or something. I think that’s a bit odd. Also, while boarding the Hawaiian Airlines flight, I heard this between a dude and a girl wearing a football shirt. There’s been some kind of massive American Football game on just prior to boarding:
Dude: I hear they love [team] in the military.
Girl: I am in the military. I just got back from Iraq.
Dude: (suddenly much more reverent) Well thank you for serving.
I wonder whether Americans stop to think about why young girls and guys are being sent to farflung countries to risk death or what the rationale is being pushing this idea of “serving the motherland” for the sake of the “land of the free”.
What do Americans get for their taxes? Their education, except for the very top schools which of course no one but the rich can afford to go to, is an international joke, nothing is free on healthcare and even their transport systems are lacking in most places.
Why aren’t they annoyed in paying as much tax as the rest of the Western world and still getting a shit deal because their government spends it on invading Middle Eastern countries on morally-dubious grounds and paying a million dollars a piece for those horrible intrusive new xray machines at airports?
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