The story about a missed bus and a forgotten bag
This is a little story about how I almost lost my bag.
I’m still on the Big Island. Yesterday was Christmas eve. I had spent most of the day with some friends. We had driven from Hilo which is on the east side of the island to Kona on the west side. The plan was to take a bus back at night. May I point out that the bus system here is terrible and there is only one bus in the morning and one bus at night.
So long and behold we set off for me to catch the bus back to Hilo. Problem number one; where is the bus stop. You would think they have clearly marked bus stops here but no, you are just supposed to know where the bus stops. We ended up driving to another location where we actually did find a tiny little sign that indicated that indeed it was a bus stop. It was getting very close to the departure time and my friend insisted, do not worry, this is island time, busses are never on time. Well he was wrong it turned out that I’d missed the bus.
One could think, no worries, just catch a bus tomorrow, however it’s Christmas day today so most busses are not running. Bugger. So as soon as realised I missed the bus I started to get worried and we decided to drive back to the house. What I didn’t think about however was that I had already unpacked my bag while waiting for the bus. In all the drama, I had totally forgotten that my bag was still outside the car and we just drove off.
When we got home I finally noticed that my bag was missing. That I was worried was an understatement. The bus stop was only about 10min drive but on the way home we had stopped somewhere so my bag had been unattended for quite some time. So back I jump in the car and drive back. I was praying to the travel gods all the way over to the bus stop. And…I couldn’t believe my luck. The bag was still at the same place I left it. Standing there all by itself. It was my lucky day. I don’t think my travel insurance would have paid me anything for my stupidity..ha, ha.
I still was faced with another problem. How do I get back to Hilo. As I said it’s quite tricky on this island to get anywhere without a car. I could catch a couple of busses and spent all day on the bus on Christmas day. I could hire a car, but the only available car was a minivan that cost $380 for the day. I could fly back to Hilo for $240. That option would have been funny because it would have included to fly to Honolulu and when back to Hilo. Luckily I could also change my flight to leave from Kona. The couchsurfing people I’m staying with were kind enough to put me up for 2 more nights and for only $30 I was able to change my flight. So today I get to relax, write some blog posts and look at the ocean while doing it. Thank you travel gods!!!! I wish everyone a very merry Christmas! (or Mele Kalikimaka in Hawaiian)

