Hawaii Aloha!

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In the middle of the ocean floor

Welcome to my final Americana blog for 2011! I arrived in Hawaii on Tuesday night after a 5 hour flight from Los Angeles and even though it was relatively short I still was quite tired. After waiting around for my shuttle I eventually made it to my hotel around 10pm and the weather that greeted me was actually pretty nice – not too hot but not cold either.

I had an early night and got up early Wednesday to do the pre-requisite Laundry duties (down to my last few items of unworn clothes) and after that headed to Denny’s conveniently located below my hotel for some breaky. It’s all runofthemill fastfood diner meals, but they had weird concoctions for bacon which seemed to be their food of choice. Bacon smoothie anyone? Ick ick ick.

I then caught the Aloha bus tour which takes you around all the points of interest in Honolulu and I decided to trek to Pearl Harbour for a sight see. Getting there took a while but we stopped by Hilo Hatties where I saw the world’s largest Hawaiian shirt and watched a free Luau in the shop whilst people did some purchasing. Bit weird really.

Anyways so after arriving at Pearl Harbour, I found that they have free entry to one of the sights for the USS Arizona, which was one of the battleships completely destroyed (killing all 1200+ personnel on board) on 7th December 1941. The weather was perfect and it was eerie to actually be there at the site where America was forced into WWII. Bit serious – but you watch a 20min film narrated by Stockard Channing with actual footage of what happened that day and being there makes you feel the place a bit more if you get me? They took us on a boat ride to the remains of the Arizona which is still visible under the water and strangely enough there were bits of oil still lingering in the water. Not sure if that’s remnants from 1941 or just the Harbour itself but still interesting see.

Anyways I then returned back to my hotel and decided even though I was sunburnt to head out for a few drinkies at a Tiki bar. I was out for a few hours but it wasn’t a huge night and even though I spoke to a few people I didn’t really hangout with anyone in particular other than the chatty barstaff. So it was ok – but not huge though.

Thursday I went to Waikiki beach and strolled around a bit, haggled at the international market and got me some more stuff and went to Ala Moana which is the worlds largest outdoor shopping mall. I had a typical American burger meal for dinner and then had to pack as it was my last day in Hawaii and here I am now at the airport ready to board my plane back to Sydney.

The weather has been great and if I had a few more days here I would probably be able to see more and relax a little before returning home. That said I am eager to come home and sleep in my own bed though!

My trip has been very quick and although there was a lot of packing/ unpacking, little sleep and travelling from place to place I have really enjoyed it. I was nervous coming to America and not sure what to expect but there are definitely places I would like to come back to (NY!!!) and there are so many different places to go to - it definitely deserves a second trip somewhere down the line. I hope you’ve enjoyed my blogs for this trip and hope that I see you all again soon wherever you may be at in the world.

Take care kiddies and travel safe.

Xx P

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