HONOLULU EN ROUTE TO SYDNEY

An invasion of red, yellow and white-shirted Hawaii World Youth Day pilgrims swarmed Qantas Gate 33 at Honolulu International Airport on Sunday morning, July 13, excited to be headed for Sydney, Australia.

The group, from St. Augustine Parish in Waikiki, St. Michael Parish in Waialua including two from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Ewa Beach, and Molokai’s Blessed Damien Parish, made up the largest traveling contingent from Hawaii. An earlier island group had already departed, having planned a stop in New Zealand. Many other parish groups traveled independently.

There were some hiccups with the check-in — tickets with misspelled names, one missing ticket, and one pilgrim left behind. That was Father Peter Dumag, diocesan director of vocations, who could not board because of a visa mixup.

Bishop Larry Silva, who was also traveling with the group, gave everyone a pre-flight blessing, asking God to watch over them all on their journey. St Michael’s pilgrim Joshua Kapika played his ukulele and others sang along.

A small party of Philadelphia pilgrims, sitting in the same back section as the Hawaii group, chatted with the bishop during the 10-hour direct flight. Others passed the time playing cards, watching the four movies, reading, napping, and enjoying the steady stream of free food and beverages.

Tevita Williams, one of 12 pilgrims in Lataki, St. Augustine’s Tongan young adult group, challenged his traveling partners to multiple games of Trumps.

“I just realized just a couple of days ago, ‘Man, I’m actually going to Australia,’ said the college senior. “I didn’t get done packing until 1:30 last night.”

Williams said he was looking forward to meeting people from around the world and the “once-in-a-lifetime experience” of Mass with Pope Benedict XVI. Another anticipated highlight for him was the planned gathering on July 21 of Tongan pilgrims from around the world.

Approaching Sydney at dusk, the group craned their necks to see the city’s famous landmarks, including the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge. Upon touchdown at about 6 p.m. on July 14, Sydney time — the city is 20 hours ahead of Hawaii — a cheer went up.

Tired but excited, the diocesan group, were escorted onto a bus to the Sydney Central YHA, a hostel in the middle of the city’s business district. Patty Kaluau, the diocese’s World Youth Day coordinator, was already there to greet everyone and hand out room keys, official World Youth Day backpacks and the “pilgrim passports” the travelers would be wearing around their necks as identification for the next seven days.

Then some went out to explore the city while others decided to catch-up on Sydney sleep time. Their journey had begun.