Aloha from Oahu, Hawaii

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11th June '12 Oahu, Hawaii



After no sleep we arrived totally shattered at a virtually deserted Honolulu Airport. We got our bags, cleared customs and immigration with no problems and found the bus stop and were soon on our way to Waikiki Beach. Despite the tiredness we were both really excited!! We drove through the modern high rise city of Honolulu and into the modern high rise hotels which fill Waikiki but the sea was a beautiful blue! We had our noses pressed to the windows and our mouths gaping as we passed millions of restaurants selling all manner of tempting food!!

We got off the bus and after a short walk in the wrong direction found our road – right where we got off!! Ah well we were knackered. Much to my astonishment our hotel was just that!! – a proper hotel – The Alhoa Surf, it was lovely. Ordinarily you couldn’t check in until 3pm but I think they took pity on us and they said they would have a room ready for us by 10am. So we had breakfast and sat in the lobby and used the free wifi and then picked up our key.

We were on the 15th floor and had a balcony, I could hardly get up on the bed as the mattress was about 2 foot deep, there were little bottles of shampoo and lotions and it all seemed like the height of luxury! I managed to scale the bed and fell asleep instantly.

Two hours later I woke up bursting to get out and explore and see THAT beach! We were only a couple of blocks from the beach and I spent the walk goggling at all the shops etc (well it has been a very long time). Waikiki Beach wasn’t quite as I pictured it, I had imagined a really long curving bay with white sand and huge waves, the reality was it was a long curving bay with white sand but it was sectioned off with sea walls and the waves were pretty small. Still it was Waikiki Beach yaaay! The sea was full of people bobbing around on surf boards waiting to catch a wave – it’s actually the wrong time of year for the really big waves but they still managed to find some to get up on.

We found a spot and sat down to watch all the life going on around us but it wasn’t long before we were boiling hot and had to get into the sea. Again I was amazed to see fish so close to the shore and with so many people around but there were and some were pretty big too. It was great to think we were swimming at Waikiki and I really wished we had a boogie board or something to muck around with.

We had a bit more of a sun bathe and then feeling really cooked headed back to the hotel. We had noticed the hotel did an all you can eat buffet for $15 so we went to check it out and it looked great. After a quick shower and change we went down to feast and found we were the only people there, after trying the food we realised why! It was ok but hardly great and once tried you wouldn’t want to repeat the experience. We finished eating (and were still the only customers) and then as we were still shattered just went to bed.

12th June ’12 Waikiki

Oh what bliss sleeping in that bed was!!!! Howard got up at 6 am to go down to the lobby to watch the England match while I just slept and slept. We are coming back to Waikiki for another 4 nights at the end of our Hawaii trip so there was no need to rush.

I discovered the email from Holly with her fantastic news about her job offer and then managed to catch her on skype which was brilliant, we were all over the moon and laughing like loons!

Following all this excitement we went out to catch the free Trolley bus which went the length of the coast and would eventually get us to the Aloha Mona Shopping Centre, I say eventually as it was a free trolley ran by a shop called Hilo Hatties and you had to go into the shop before you could get a lift to your real destination!! Still it was no problem and we got a free shell necklace each ha ha.

Eventually we got to the Aloha Mona Shopping Centre (the 3rd largest shopping mall in the USA no less) we entered, used the loo, exited and went to Walmart – one of the best shops in the USA it has to be said!! I now have all new, clean and shiny clothes to replace my old, sweat soggy, smelly travelling ones and at a similar price to using the laundry a few times!

We then walked back through the high rises on real pavements (!) to get back to our hotel and after a shower and change went out for a celebratory tea (Holly’s news) and it was wonderful!

13th June ’12 Oahu to Kauai

We were up fairly early to get the bus to the airport for the 1pm flight to Kauai. Oh dear the bus stopped at every stop, we were still on it at 11 and were supposed to be at the airport 2 hours before hand. Finally we arrived only to discover we should be at a completely different terminal! Time was ticking away when we eventually found a lady who only spoke broken English but managed to communicate to us that we needed to catch the Wiki Shuttle.

Luckily one pulled up quite quickly and we were off again, we eventually got to the right place by 12 and joined the very slow moving queue. In the end we made it ok and only had to wait about 10 minutes before we boarded. It was a very stressful experience though! The flight only took 20 minutes in a little 48 seater plane.

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Photos

Oahu
View from our hotel

Oahu
Waikiki Baeach

Oahu
Waikiki