Hawaii vacation blogging - I had fun though some don`t · Wednesday January 14, 2009 by colin newell
Picture if you would… a little cafe that I have dreamed up. It is kind of a hole in the wall place. Long. Narrow. There are, like, over a hundred tables in this cafe… and the seats are really packed together. So much so that you cannot stretch out your legs. House rules: Everybody stays seated unless I say it’s OK to get up. I wander around the cafe once an hour or so offering people coffee or tea… or water.
And it’s not the best coffee either.
But my cafe is very, very expensive. And oddly, very busy.
People pay hundreds of dollars to sit here. Like I said, I just dreamed this up.
And I do not guarantee that I will actually serve any coffee – or offer any food.
I might charge a cover to come in… and not serve anything at all.
My cafe is so uncomfortable and unpredictable that you might ask yourself why on Earth you are coming here. I mean, what’s in it for you?
Truth is, this business, in real life is actually wildly successful.
Except, it is not a cafe at all. It is your average airline.
An Airline. Kind of like a cafe in the sky. You pay big money. You are treated like crap. Surly in-flight crew shuffle you around like bovine, throwing trowels of inedible food at you – all the while you wonder if your personal effects will be waiting for you at your destination.
Reminds me of a website I discovered on the weekend while thinking about my next trip. Airline Quality.Com blew me away with the candid reviews of Air Travel in the 21st Century. It seems that life on Earth in 2009 is in the 21st Century, but when you take off into the wild blue wonder – you might think it is actually the Dark Ages – right down to the cattle prods and Cat O’ Nine Tails .
Example of an Air Canada horror story – Total cumulative time spent on hold was estimated at 10 hours. I emailed AC this morning, Dec 30. They responded saying it would be 4 weeks before they would get back to me. Any airline can provide good service during the off-season, when the weather is good. The true test of an airline is when it is busy. Air Canada fails this test miserably .
Yup. Page after page of shocking true to life stories like these! I was glued to the computer for hours – my wife had to shake me out of my trance, locked into this like a mongoose being hypnotized by a cobra… couldn’t look away…
Personally, I like my humiliation on the ground where I am, at least, a little in control… or can walk away… Like work, or visiting the Passport Office (funny story – another blog) or doing a live television interview the very moment the interviewer realizes that I have the stage presence of Jean Claude Van Damme… Sorry Jean. At least if you get hassled in the air, you can round-house kick your way out of trouble and parachute to safety.
Anyway – before you fly or travel or plan your next vacation – visit two websites:
Airline Quality.Com and Trip Adviser.Com
For the coffeecrew blog, I am Colin Newell. Feet planted firmly on the ground… at least for now.
Hawaii vacation blogging - Return - Home is where the heart is · Tuesday January 13, 2009 by colin newell
For the last 3 or 4 days running, I have been waking up in Hawaii – even though I have been home for over a week.
It is as if I left something behind…
But what could it be?
This was the most wonderful trip ever. And I did connect on several levels that I did not before. And I met the most incredible collection of people.
Like Demetria Oster and her husband Joachim (photo above right) of Blue Horse Kona Coffee. They lived in Manhattan, New York until the early part of the 21st Century until circumstance brought them to Kealakekua, Hawaii – the Big Island as we call it. They brought their daughter to a New World, like explorers of old. It was quite the departure, from one of the riches cities in the World to a virtually unknown belt of agricultural land that produces the bulk of specialty coffee known only as Kona Coffee.
And if you didn’t know what a coffee plant looked like, you could very easily pass through town and not see a single plant – even though you were surrounded the entire time.
As my wife Andrea and I walked around the Oster’s farm, Joachim and Demetria’s commentary added a dimension to the tour that I was not expecting; humanity. passion. transition. hope. stoicism.
A coffee farm, any farm… and the terra firma that it is planted on tolerates your presence… sometimes just barely – I speak from experience. But if you are ready to give enough and love enough, then maybe, just maybe the land will yield – and reward your efforts with another year of survival.
For me, having the Oster family open this window was a significant piece of the coffee puzzle falling into place. Part of this trip was about my coffee journey and thinking about writing the next chapter. The connection has been made.
And as I have been waking up at 3 AM every night, I am sure a part of me was left behind… with a whole bunch of work to do.
In fact, I traded a piece of my heart for a basket of coffee farm soul. And there is no cure other than returning for some more.
Colin Newell lives and breathes coffee – on the green planet Earth and hopes one day to have a better understanding of it all.
Hawaii vacation blogging - Return - Phil Fontaine - Air Canada · Tuesday January 6, 2009 by colin newell
Our return flight from Honolulu was at 10:45 PM On Sunday last… Andrea and I arrived at around 8, planning on chilling and exploring the lovely airport. Checking in at the Air Canada kiosk, we were informed quite gently by one of the gals that there was some snow in Vancouver and that the flight had been delayed getting out. So we were to be delayed. Initially the board showed about 1 AM. Then it moved quickly to 3 AM. Then 5 AM.
But the flight was never canceled – and I never doubted it would be. And maybe it was the culmination of a quietly creeping sleepiness that softened my nerves – I do not know. Either way, I was calm the whole time.
We got through the TSA Check-points effortlessly, like all the other TSA check-points at the other airports – coming to, in and around the Islands.
Truth be told, the TSA is brilliant. I have never had a problem. I do not anticipate ever having a problem with the TSA – and they were good-natured as heck – making the experience as seamless and painless as humanly possible.
American customs are typically more human and gentle than their Canadian counterparts.
Example: I am passing through TSA at Kona-Keahole Airport. My camera bag, bristling with unusual electronics and gadgets – more than enough to get a command module to the moon, catches their attention. The officer holds it up and asks, “Can I look at this again, please?”
Why sure officer. “What you got in here, Camera equipment?”
Yup.
“No problem… have a great day… safe travels…”
Yea. Pretty much it.
When officially crossing into America from Canada, a youthful male Customs officer commented as Andrea and I approached… “Hey! You two… Holding hands! My wife stopped holding hands with me 3 days after we got married!”
Welcome to America. Have a nice stay.
Back to Honolulu again. We wandered slowly around the International Departure area and finally found our tentative gate – there were few people there by 9 PM – having obviously figured out that they were not going anywhere… anytime soon.
Who I did notice almost right away was Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada, Phil Fontaine (Photo above) sitting and reading quietly.
Being who I am; inquisitive, curious, bold, annoying…
I wandered up and asked: “Are you Phil Fontaine?”
“Yes, “ he volunteered…
“It is… an honor… Sir. I am humbled to meet you… having followed your illustrious career all these years…
“And you are?” He countered…
Honestly, I think I said I was nobody. The mere fact that we had one of Canada’s most important and influential people… in our departure gate… flying Economy no less (Yes, he WAS flying Economy…) that I knew everything was going to be fine. He and I had several opportunities to talk story – but I tried not to impose. Andrea got the thrill of a lifetime meeting up with him as well. Our conversations about current political things were candid, open and at times, illuminating – And ALL off the record thank-you very much (so if you are a journalist reading this, do not bother e-mailing me for details…)
Anyway – that is part one of the story. More to follow!
Hawaii vacation blogging - watching the sun go down - and eating · Sunday December 28, 2008 by colin newell
Can you have too much of a good thing? Too much relaxation? Too much good food?
Kona, Hawaii has air that is like silk, water as pristine as the planet and Mother Earth will allow – and a never ending warmth and joy that is impossible to replicate anywhere else.
I never breathe and think so clearly as when I am in a place like this.
Today we had a tour of the Blue Horse Kona Coffee farm with the Oster family – wonderful, gentle, warm hosts – who gave 2 hours of their time. For me, this was the farm tour and connection I have been waiting a lifetime for.
If you love coffee – you must visit a farm and be with the people. It is that simple.
