Aloha...

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Travel Companion - PED (Paul Edward Davies)

Duration - 4 nights

Movies watched - none - was too tired and slept

Plane companions - Aussie couple who kept to themselves

I easily convinced PED to visit Oahu with me. The dude is always working so had clocked up enough holiday time. I have wanted to travel to Hawaii for as long as I can remember and being a massive fan of the new Hawaii Five-0 series, I was secretly hoping we would bump into Alex O'Loughlin (aka Captain Steve McGarratt). Very randomly (thank you tour guide) I did find out where he lives but PED was not up for stalking and so I will have to remember the street name for my next visit.

Oahu was absolutely beautiful and everything I thought it would be! This is one place I would like to live...for a few months, at least. We checked in at Hyatt Place and, unfortunately, our upgrade was no match for our Vegas pimp pad. We headed to Waikiki beach and enjoyed watching the surfers and the beach bodies, we explored for the rest of the afternoon, stopping for some lunch and a few drinks and took in the Hilton fireworks. What I noticed was a large number of Aussie and Asian tourists - surprised me, but makes sense, I guess.

We booked a tour of USS Arizona Memorial and USS Battleship Missouri Memorial and who would have thought I'd love a good ship! We spent hours exploring and it was very, very cool and a somewhat poignant and moving experience. I actually learnt a lot as well. My high school history teacher, Mrs Jordan, would be proud. After a day of touring we headed back to our hotel and propped ourselves up at the hotel bar, where we met our lovely barman Nick and discovered Happy Hour. PED opted for Mai Tai's whilst my preference was the Blue Hawaiian. Well it didn't take many to get us merry and as a result our plan to explore the Oahu nightlife failed! Not once but twice!

Sunday was spent sun-baking on Waikiki beach for most of the day and making it back in time for Happy Hour. We tried out a few recommendations for food. The people of Oahu are just lovely and there is a real sense of family and respect for their ancestors and culture. Even tough tipping is pretty much mandatory we did receive exceptional service in both Vegas and Oahu and it was a pleasant change from the London hospitality trade.

Monday was our second tour day and we passed Diamond Head (disappointed we didn't stop), found out where Steve McGarratt lives, stopped at Hanauma Bay, Kualoa Ranch, pineapple plantation and hit the North Shore. The island was absolutely breathtaking and it was an eye opener to witness how the rest of the island operates and lives, away from the tourist trap of Waikiki Beach. Tired, we hit Happy Hour again, ate at Lulu's and called it a night. Tuesday was back to London town via LA. My aim of starting this blog, on the return journey, was never going to happen when I realised the plane was half empty. I positioned myself along a row of seats and slept most of the way back.

Next stop....Spain (via London)

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