Honolulu & Waikiki

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01/07/09 Wednesday Day 321 Aloha
Our flight wasn’t the best one at all. We were hoping we’d get tv screens in the back of the headrests in front of us but we didn’t. Instead there was one tv on the roof of the plane and another projected screen at the front of our section. We basically had to strain our necks to see the tv in the roof and we were too far from the projected screen. After the second movie, (first one was Duplicity, second one was 17 again), it was lights out and we all slept for a bit.
First thing we noticed after getting out of the plane was the heat. It was about 9.30am and it was already 26 degrees. We’ve also made up a day by crossing the international date line so we left Sydney at 7.40pm Wednesday night and landed in Honolulu Wednesday morning. After getting through immigration after being asked a dozen questions (Emer went to a different queue and was asked nothing!) we got our bags and got a taxi to the hostel. The hostel, Seaside Hawaiian Hostel is a bit rough around the edges but it’s located in Waikiki beach. We’re in a 6 bed dorm due to the tough economic climate! There’s free wifi and free breakfast and we won’t be in the rooms for any length of time any of the day anyway. So after checking in we slapped on the factor 30 and headed for Waikiki beach. It’s also 30 degrees and blue skies and might hot today. The beach is lovely although it’s narrow enough. Sometimes the waves catch people out sunbathing too close as the water creeps up and destroys them! By the middle of the afternoon we were well scalded.
Waikiki beach town is huge too. There’s a huge amount of hotels and restaurants and its got all the fancy name shops here. We’re about 2 miles from downtown Honolulu. There’s a good buzz around the place too at night time with a load of people just wandering around the town.

02/07/09 Thursday Day 322
Today was another day on the beach. Again it’s 30 degrees although there are few clouds hanging around. I didn’t like that at all. Again by the end of the afternoon, we’ve had enough. My eye lids are burned. Emer says that it’s like I’m wearing pink eye shadow or else like I’m on drugs. That didn’t sound good to me at all.
We had another walk around town tonight. All of the restaurants are doing great dinner deals with everyone looking for customers.

03/07/09 Friday Day 323
We decided to take a break from sunbathing today to give ourselves a break. Instead we decided to walk into downtown Honolulu which is about 2 miles away. It seemed to take ages to walk. The weather again is a scorcher. Downtown Honolulu isn’t anything to write home about. There’s a huge Macy’s there alright and Chinatown is also located there. Once we had downtown checked out we headed back by the coast towards Waikiki. There’s also another huge shopping centre called Ala Moana Centre. Also this bit drove me mental. We headed out for a few drinks and went to one place, sat up at the bar and ordered some drinks. Then the young one behind the counter says to us where we’re from and when we said Ireland, she said and I quote, “Awe, that’s so cute”. Oh good lord! And we got a high five for it!!
04/07/09 Saturday Day 324 Independence Day
Today is independence day. The beach was mental busy and this was at 10am. After a few hours of getting burnt we went back to the hostel where they were serving up hot dogs and apple pie for supper which was very good of them. We headed back down again to have a look at the fireworks. These started at 8.30pm. They were pretty good and there was a huge crowd around the beach. It also rained for a tiny bit, I’m talking about a 1 minute shower and then it stops.
05/07/09 Sunday Day 325
Again the beach today. The hostel also had a BBQ in the evening for 4 bucks which was great value.
06/07/09 Monday Day 326
This morning we checked out of our hostel. We then headed for Diamond Head State Monument which is about a 3 mile walk out the road. It’s basically a walk up one of the volcanoes that’s just outside Honolulu. The walk itself is 0.8 miles one way up the mountain. The top is small enough and it gets pretty crowded. We did get the bus back though. Even though it’s cloudy today it’s still very warm.
Our new accommodation is like a serviced apartment which has it’s own little kitchenette. So now we can do our own cooking.

07/07/09 Tuesday Day 327
We have free breakfast in this hotel. I use the word “breakfast” very loosely indeed. Basically it’s a cup of coffee, a small doughnut, a muffin and a bun. We thought it was going to be poor alright when the check in last said to us if we get sick of the breakfast we can upgrade it for the buffet breakfast for 3 dollars extra.
After breakfast we headed down for the beach. On the way down there was another shower of rain for about a minute, then it completely clears up. A tad bit cloudy at times on the beach today. On further inspection that night it turned out we got scalded today. We were out from 10am to 1.30pm!
08/07/09 Wednesday Day 328 Pearl Harbour
Today we visited Pearl Harbour and most of the attractions there. The weather this morning was a bit wet and windy so it’s was a good day to do something else other than the beach. Of course everyone else thought the same. The bus was packed and it took over an hour to get there. When we got there eventually, we checked to see about tickets to the USS Arizona memorial. Unfortunately all the tickets had been sold out since 9.30am this morning and it’s now after 11am. There is still a museum there which we had a look at. Nearby was the USS Bowfin which was a submarine. We got some tickets to have a look at this. It’s quite claustrophobic down there and it didn’t help that there was a big line of people going through it. The weather had also changed to the usual 30 degrees and sunny. We also got tickets to see the aviation museum which was a short shuttle bus away. Small enough museum but it had some cool war planes in it.

09/07/09 Thursday Day 329
Spent the morning and early afternoon on the beach, then spent the rest of the afternoon lying beside our pool in our hotel. The pool is quiet refreshing when it gets really hot in the afternoon. It’s so hot then that it takes about 10 minutes lying out on the pool lilos to dry off.
10/07/09 Friday Day 330 Mini Coupe Hawaii
Today we rented a 3 wheel mini coupe scooter yoke. You don’t need a motor cycle licence for this as it’s classified as a moped. We went for a limited edition one that has a 4 stroke instead of a 2 stroke engine and it has better suspension too which should make it a little bit more comfortable. We were going to do the west coast of Oahu but our shuttle bus (which was included in the price and the driver asked for a tip in the end. We “didn’t” hear him ask!) driver told us it’s like dodge-ville LA. Instead we decided to head up to the north shore straight up the middle of the island. Getting out of Honolulu was a little tricky because you’re not allowed on the highways so there was a little evasive manoeuvring to avoid that one. Also it’s kinda mental with 3 lanes of traffic and you’re in the middle one. This scooters are also very low to the road. I thought either a car or truck would run us over! Once we got on the right road up north it was a little easier. It didn’t take us long at all to reach the north shore. We did have to stop for gas though. This thing has a tiny gas tank so it only takes about 2 or 3 dollars to fill it. There’s amazing views from when we hit the north shore running down the east coast. It’s yet another scorching day so we’re getting toasted from the sun above us. Also this yoke can go up to about 40mph so our faces are also getting blasted from the wind. We decided to stop for a bit of lunch just over half way down the east coast. Unfortunately that didn’t go to plan exactly as we wanted it to go. You see, we’re not allowed on any of the highways or any of the 60 roads like the 61 and 63 highway. The next thing we know is we’re coming up to a split in the road we’re currently on. Left goes on the 61 and right goes on the highway. If we’re caught on any of these roads by the cops we’ll get a ticket. We went with the 61 road as the highway would have cars going 60mph. We even went through a tunnel through a mountain only to end up in some kind of big town. We hadn’t a clue where we were but after driving around for a bit we were actually back in Honolulu. What a disaster. So we had lunch in the hotel and then went back on the scooter and headed along the south east coast going past diamond head. After going about an hour on that road we decided to head back only to get slightly lost and also ended up on another highway. Luckily the next exit was a half a mile away.
We headed to Moose Macgillycuddy’s that night to get some of their cocktails specials. 4 bucks for any cocktail from 5 to 7pm, then upstairs from 7 to 10pm they’re 3 bucks. Excellent value!

11/07/09 Saturday Day 331
After all the cocktails last night we were a bit lazy today and spent it lying beside the pool instead of going to the beach. The only bad thing about lying beside the pool is that the sun isn’t really shining on the pool area until about 12pm because of the height of the building.

12/07/09 Sunday Day 332
Today is our last day for sunbathing as we leave tomorrow so we headed down to the beach around 11am. It’s ridiculously hot again today so we left the beach around 12.30pm and headed back to our hotel to lay by the pool. Where we were on the beach wasn’t the best for going into the water as there’s a loads of rocks in the sea about 2 metres in. It’s a lot easier to take a dip in our pool.
This also happened as we got the lift up to our room as some stage. This young American guy was going into the lift with us. He asked us where we’re from. I said Ireland. He said what. I said Ireland again. He then said “Oh right. What country is that in”. I said Europe. What a tool! I should have said it’s a small island off the coast of France or England!

13/07/09 Monday Day 333
After checking out we headed for the shuttle bus outside out hotel to get to the airport. There isn’t much here in the airport. Loads of gift shops and really fancy duty free shops. Our flight was supposed to leave today at 12.50pm to Los Angeles. It’s now 1.20pm and we’re still sitting down. About an hour ago we were told there’s a problem with the generator on the aircraft which provides electrical power to the cabin. This doesn’t sound good at all. We were supposed to get to LA around 9.30pm tonight. It’ looks like another late one by the time we get to our motel.
We eventually got to LAX around 11.30pm and got our bags no problem. Out motel is only about 2 miles away. The amount of traffic at the airport at this late hour was unbelievable. It was totally mental trying to get to our motel. None of the taxis wouldn’t take us because it was so close and the minimum charge was 17.50 dollars so sod that. One taxi driver told us to go to the shuttle bus. When we asked the shuttle bus driver, he told us to go back to the hotel courtesy bus area. When we asked that driver he told us to go back to the shuttle bus area. These shuttle buses seemed to only go to the car parks around the airport. We waited for another courtesy bus and the driver said he would drop us off at a hotel on his stop route very close to our motel. When we got to that hotel he said he would drive us to our motel.
The Super 8 motel is a great motel. Huge rooms, loads of tv channels but there isn’t much else around it in the line of shops and eating places.

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