The final day of Dragon Scout Group Hawaii Overseas Exchange Program 2012, it’s Day 10 of our adventure in Hawaii. Waking up early in the morning, we checked out from our hotel. Our Hawaiian Hosts, Wayson and Edwina were there to bid farewell to us. While we were feeling a bit sad that we would be leaving after 10 wonderful days in Hawaii, we were also looking forward to returning back home to Singapore. We would like to say Mahalo (Thank You in Hawaiian language) and farewell to Hawaii! A school bus was booked to ferry us from the hotel to Honolulu International Airport, it was an interesting experience to ride inside the yellow coloured school bus in the United States.
When we arrived and checked in at Honolulu International Airport, we received news that our flight was delayed from 1155hrs to 1630hrs Hawaiian time due to severe weather conditions at Incheon International Airport, that caused many flights in and out of Incheon International Airport to be delayed. Due to the circumstances, we adapted to the situation and checked in and entered the airport area waiting for our delayed flight to Incheon International Airport. During that time, we were facing the possibility that our connecting flight at Incheon International Airport would be missed completely. The teachers and myself were discussing on the scenarios on what could happen if we missed our connecting flight. With the weather conditions affecting the flights and out of our control, we just relaxed and rested, having lunch and shopping inside the airport.
Our flight from Honolulu International Airport to Incheon International Airport took off at 1630hrs Hawaiian time, it was a long 10hrs 40mins of flight, heavy turbulence and a bit of air pockets along the whole journey. With such a bumpy ride for most of the flight journey, I couldn’t really sleep on the plane and decided to watch movies instead. We arrived at Incheon International Airport at about 2315pm Korean time and we saw Incheon International Airport ground being covered in thick snow that were cleared to the sides, that explained why our flights were delayed due to the severe weather storm in Incheon. We asked for assistance at the Transit Desk on our missed connecting flight from Incheon to Singapore. We found out that our connecting flight that we supposed to board was also delayed from 1835hrs to 0015hrs and we were able to get into this flight. It was a bit of a rush with the administrative work to change our boarding passes. Soon we were reissued with our new boarding passess and we rushed to our departure gate for boarding.
The boys and girls quickly called back to their family and informed them of their new arrival timing at Changi International Airport. The flight back from Incheon International Airport to Changi International Airport was smooth and we arrived safely back home in Singapore, touching down around 0700hrs Singapore time. It was great to be back home in Singapore, we collected our backpacks and stuff, gathered for one last group photo before the DSG boys and girls were officially dismissed, signifying the official end of the DSG Hawaii Overseas Exchange Program 2012.
It’s Day 11 when we arrived in Singapore due to the time zone differences. Overall, 10 days of awesome exciting Scouting exchange and adventure in Hawaii (and approximately 2 days of flying and transit time). This would not be possible without the planning, hospitality and warmth of our Hawaiian Hosts that made our Hawaii Overseas Exchange Program 2012 successful and fun. Mahalo to our Hawaiian Hosts, Sterling, Wayson, Edwina, Betsy, Nancy and Thomas.
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Suddenly, i am reminded of my scouting days…! 🙂