So, after a week of being wet on the Hilo side, I decided it was time to head back west to Kona. Besides, IronMan was approaching and I was signed up to volunteer for it... After a long (but free!) bus journey - the bus broked down and we had to wait an hour for the new bus to arrive - I arrived in Kona, along with my newfound friends, Johanna (Denmark) and Lena (Germany). I had previously booked a hostel to stay at, but they weren't so lucky. With the IronMan coming up in a few days, everything was booked [View Full Entry]

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Okay, It seems that I may not be all that good at keeping a travel blog... though I am going to try to update it weekly :) First and foremost, that you all so much for your comments - it is so helpful to hear from people I know and love when I am so far away. After a long day of flying and stop-overs, I made it onto the Big Island of Hawaii around 8 pm (3 am NS time, meaning that I was awake for a full 24 hours by this point) on Sept. 29th. I found my way [View Full Entry]

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The last day of cruising was pretty short. The ship arrived around 7:00 AM at the port of Honolulu. We had to have our bags packed and in the hallway last night, so there was nothing much to do in that regard today. We had to be out of the cabin by 7:00 so we went to the buffet for our last meal on the ship. As usual we had plenty to eat, except I seem to have finally eaten all the pineapple on the ship - they better restock before the next passengers arrive. The ship sails on tonight, eventually [View Full Entry]

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Checkout from the hotel is at noon today, but the flight doesn’t leave until after 5:00 PM, so we still have time to do a little more before we leave. We started by sleeping in and not getting up until we were ready (no alarm clock today). We considered eating breakfast on the hotel terrace overlooking the beach, but after all the fancy meals we have had the last two weeks, we decided something simple was all we wanted. We had seen a Burger King while we were walking around the night before, so we went and had plan old ordinary [View Full Entry]

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Sights around Oahu [View Full Entry]

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This morning we woke up in the port of Nawiliwili, Kaua’i. At this port, the ship ties up to the pier so our days of tendering are over. We decided to have one last “leisurely” breakfast in the Club restaurant. It was good as always and then we headed to the pier to meet our tour. Today’s tour was apparently very popular as there were multiple buses. They took the first 18 of us who arrived early to a small bus and we got to leave first (ahead of the other buses). Our bus driver Marilyn is a fulltime school bus [View Full Entry]

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Awesome diving today!!! Dove the YO and San Pedro off Waikiki. Saw dolphins, eels, turtles, sharks, and the Atlantis sub. [View Full Entry]

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Last night we ordered breakfast to be delivered to the room. We had to get up early for it, but breakfast was delivered at 6:30. Everything came as requested except they brought a pot of coffee instead of hot water for tea, but that was easily corrected. So we got to enjoy a nice quiet breakfast on our balcony. We had to use the tender to get from the ship to the shore here in Maui. They announced that we were 6 or 7 cable lengths from the dock, but all that tells us is that cables are long, because we [View Full Entry]

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Nun, der Urlaub ist am Dahinsiechen, wir wurde heute morgen mit "tigerenten"-Ergebnissen aus Deutschland geweckt (das war das erste mal im Urlaub, dass sogar ich den Laptop vor allen anderen Dingen anschaltete) und sind inzwischen zurück in Honolulu (und Stephan hat noch seinen iPod bekommen). Zeit also, die letzten 14 Tage zu rekapitulieren: Die schönste Insel: Schwierige Sache - mit Ausnahme von Oahu (was auch nicht zu verachten ist, sobald man den freilich ziemlich großen Honoluluer Speckgürtel verlassen hat) haben alle etwas. Mit einer Pistole auf der Brust würde das Ranking wohl so au [View Full Entry]

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Dieser Text dient, obgleich er dem Zeitgeist vermutlich von vernichtender literarischer Bedeutung erscheinen mag, doch wohl als zeitgemäße Demonstration amerikanischer Urlaubsgewohnheiten im einundzwanzigsten Jahrhundert. Seit wir gestern Abend auf Kaua’i ankamen, haben wir nicht allzu viel sinnvolles getrieben. Ein wenig Einkaufen, ein wenig Sightseeing - etwa des Waimea Canyons (freilich ohne nervenaufreibende Tätigkeiten), ein wenig Schnorcheln, ein wenig mehr Alkohol und eine nicht zu geringe Menge an konsumierter Literatur. Alles in allem, zwei entspannte Tage, sieht man von der Het [View Full Entry]

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