There Are No Inter-Island Trains in Hawaii.

I’m in Honolulu tonight. There’s a gathering tomorrow of a lot of old agency people — meaning advertising agency people — and I flew over from Maui to attend the luncheon. It will be fun: lots of old friends, most all retired by now, but all of us were here, doing what we enjoyed … what we were good at … at a time when our clients appreciated what we did and how we did it. Well, most of them, anyway.

In the very early days of my agency, we had an art gallery as a client. The owner and his marketing person were very demanding, calling meetings on a few minutes’ notice and expecting us to drop everything to attend. The owner actually ended up in jail. It seems the “original” prints by Salvador Dali he was selling were being printed in the art gallery’s basement.  

Anyway, it was, and no doubt still is, a talented, creative bunch and it’s always fun when agency people get together and talk shop, especially when it’s about former clients. 

I flew over here from Maui, of course — it’s the only way to travel among the several islands — and that started me thinking that when local folks here have to travel from, let’s say, Hilo on the Big Island to Honolulu here on Oahu, they do it by jet. It’s less than 200 miles, but we don’t have another option. I flew here from Maui. It’s a 20-minute flight and it cost me $120. Ouch! But we pay … or we don’t go.

In other words, this is what it’s like for communities with no regular train service. Funny, isn’t it. I’ve lived here for more than 50 years and this is the first time I ever thought of it in those terms.