Day 1 -- Tuesday, October 20

'Da plane! Da plane!'

That's where this fantasy begins: da plane. Lying back, stretching my legs out, and settling in for the long plane ride to Hawaii. And nothing makes 5 ½ hours go by faster than First Class. The constant flow of food & drink, the ample space, the dutiful attention and the quiet ease with which everything takes place. It was actually a pleasant morning.

'Smiles, everyone, smiles.'

As the shuttle from the airport wound its way through the lush hills of Oahu, the most populated of the islands and our home for the next four days, the four of us who had just arrived looked out the windows and marveled at the beauty and splendor of the sky and trees and mountains and water. And we couldn't help but smile. "We're in Hawaii!" came the occasional cry from one of us. And we smiled. A four-day trip to a tropical paradise. Smiles all around.

Well, OK, it's not all a tropical wonderland. The set was a 45 minute drive from the airport. Once there, we had to wait around an hour for the read-through. After that, another 45-minute ride to the studio. Once there, the four of us spent an hour-and-a-half in wardrobe. Or more accurately, I spent 20 minutes trying on clothes and the other hour or so waiting around again, the 5am wake-up starting to catch up to me. Finally, we finished up, and lo and behold, another 45 minute rise back to the hotel. Suddenly, the 'tiny, little island' of Hawaii was feeling mighty huge.

Kathy and Kahealani Kamakaiwi

After a walk into Waikiki to buy a camera and some postcards, I showered (spirits improving) and met my Hawaiian aunt and cousin for dinner (spirits greatly improving) and then returned to the Colony Surf Hotel, a beautiful spot on the beach with first-class amenities. I looked over my scenes for tomorrow and pulled the covers up to my chin. Everything felt very nice, very peaceful, very cool. I'm in Hawaii working on a TV show making money to boot.

'Welcome to Fantasy Island!"

Go on to Day 2

Day by Day | Fantasy Island | Ducey on TV