Well, the good news is that we're back in Honolulu, and all is well.  Started off in New York City. Hotel said there was a set $70 cost of the taxi ride to JFK Airport.  Well, when you add the toll charges and tip, it was up to $90.  That in itself was okay.  So we checked in for our 1PM departure time, which was ticketed more than three months ago.  After we picked up our tickets, we went to the excellent Alaska Airline lounge and was beginning a leisurely breakfast when we found out that we needed to board the plane at 11:05, which was less than half an hour away.  We never got any notice for this change.  We came extra early to be safe, and it turned out that we only barely made this flight. Some photos. Bloody Mary and champagne in Alaska Air lounge. Here is about when we learned we had only a few minutes rather than a couple of hours in the lounge.  Our plane. Goodbye Manhattan from air. Then noticed the plane we were on was the  Boeing 737 MAX  9, the one that lost a door i

 I yesterday posted on how COVID is changing.  To conclude,  Time  magazine reported on  The New Vaccines to Get in 2024 : This week the CDC provided their new guidelines on everything from COVID-19 to the flu to chickenpox. There is a new updated COVID vaccine targeting the Omicron variant XVV.15, which protects against evolving strains like the  JN.1 variant . This version is now responsible for more than half on U.S. cases. JN.1 is more infectious or severe than other SARS-CoV-2 variants. Anti-vaccine sentiment is on the rise in the country. Much of this resistance comes from Republicans. In fact,  two years ago it was revealed that Donald Trump, through his policies when president, killed more than 400,000 Americans!!! However, attitudes today reflect a broader avoidance, as only 20% of U.S. adults got the previous latest booster. Vaccinated individuals are four times likelier to AVOID LONG COVID! The good common sense today is to still wear masks in public. The federal government