Aloha! from Hawaii

Well - we are here on Waikiki Beach but it was a hard time to get here! Our plane was to have left yesterday (Sunday) morning at 8am from Phoenix. As we arrived at the gate, we saw the plane being moved AWAY from the loading area to a place farther away on the tarmac. We were told that an antenna used for long range communication was faulty and would need replacing. The part needed to come from Los Angeles and would be arriving at 11:30 and planned departure would be 1pm. They gave us meal vouchers and we settled in. At noon, they told us that the part had missed the flight and would now be coming in at 2:30pm and they hoped to get us out at 5pm. Great groans were heard from all the disappointed people. We had now begun to be a small community - we heard many of the "stories' of our fellow passengers, including 2 who were taking their dogs to Hawaii and had to go down to take them out of their crates for exercise. Hawaiian Airlines compensated us with $200 travel vouchers to be used in the next year - hmmmm! what can we do with these?? FINALLY - we saw the crane move to the tail of the plane, the part installed and then we could board - we left Phoenix at 5:30 after NINE hours of delay. Arrival in Honalulu was after dark but today is lovely and we are beginning to explore this island with the Gerry and Dia TerHaar.