Travel from Kansas City International to Bora Bora
This blog describes how we got from the middle of the United States all the way to paradise, Bora Bora. We took cars, airplanes, shuttles and boats to get there, but it was worth every minutes of it
Glen Cork
5/1/20242 min read
Have you ever noticed how sometimes the anticipation of a long trip can be as exhausting as the actual trip itself. That is exactly the case for the beginning of this trip. Planning for this trip began over two years ago when Kim at CruiseDreams.com announced this Trip of A Lifetime. So the last few weeks and months have dragged on and on in anticipation. But for the two nights prior to leaving our home and traveling three hours to an airport in Kansas City, we both tossed and turned. Our minds were racing with all we had to do in preparation for our twenty-two-day trip to the French Polynesia islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. For two days, we packed, re-packed, shuffled suitcases, loaded backpacks, and reprogrammed the sprinkling system.
Day 1
KC to LA-Finally, the day comes, but way too early because once again we had been tossing and turning in anticipation. We load up the car and head to the big city, Kansas City. Just before reaching the Embassy Suites near KCI, where we’ll park the car for three weeks, we stop and eat a quick lunch at Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen. The tuna was OK, but Dianne’s Cajun pasta was outstanding.
After lunch, we dropped our car at the Embassy Suites’ long-term parking and took a bus to the airport. Man, what a pleasant surprise the KCI airport is! The new terminal is clean, open and fresh. The folks of KC should be proud of their new airport and from what I was told, it pays for itself, no tax dollars required, which is even better.
Well, we make it to the airport with two hours to spare. Yea, in our haste to account for time and delays, we were way early, but that’s a lot better than five minutes late! Cruisedreams.com had booked us first class tickets on Delta and just two minutes before boarding we met up with Pam and Jimmy, friends from one of our previous cruisedreams.com trips. The ride to LAX on the A320 was a smooth three-and-a-half-hour glide. The only bump we hit was about thirty minutes from landing when another lady in first-class just starting yelling, and we still don’t know why. But it was obvious she was pretty toasted. When we de-planed, we saw her attempt to walk up the ramp, only to stagger backwards. Dianne, the nurse, and my wife, grabbed her, as did the nearest flight attendant, Meagan, and they walked her up the ramp to a seat at our arrival gate.
Our bags, all three of them, beat us to baggage claim, as did all four of Jimmy and Pam’s. After a three-minute walk, we jumped on our Hyatt bus to the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Airport. What a nice place. And the staff is so friendly and helpful. We met Jimmy and Pam for a quick bite to eat in the Hyatt Restaurant, where I wouldn’t recommend the cold sweet potato fries. We thought this would be a quick bite, but we ended up talking late into the night. It’s going to be a great trip!
