Day 1 - Melbourne to O'ahu

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I was up today at about 9:45am to shower, clean my room, pack and do my nails, among other things.
I was ready to go at 1:30pm, Marnee and Bec were getting dropped off at 2:00pm so we could leave by 2:15pm.
Except for a brief delay on Citylink between Toorak Rd and Yarra Blvd we made it to the airport in pretty good time. We parked in the Long Term Carpark by Bus Stop H and jumped on the bus to the International Terminal.
Check-in took about 40mins then Bec went for a smoke while Marnee and I made our way to P.J O’Brien’s Pub for something to eat and drink, shortly later Bec joined us. Marnee got a Chicken Parma and Bec and I got a bowl of chips to share as well as some celebratory pre-departure drinks.
From there we went through the big doors, passed through security and then through customs with no problems or delays. Bec and I got a wrap each to take on the plane so we didn't have to be eating plane food. We boarded on time and hit the runway just after 6:05pm.
I tried to snooze for about 40mins but there was too much going on with cabin crew serving people food etc. Also, considering it was only 6:45pm I decided to have my chicken and pesto wrap and watch an episode of Orange is the New Black that I had preloaded onto my tablet. Marnee joined in on another episode before I decided to try and get some sleep. About 4hrs45mins into the flight we hit some pretty decent turbulence and this continued for a little while. I slept on and off, uncomfortably for the next 3 or so hours before being woken with 2hrs to go. I decided to get another episode of the show in to make time go a little quicker.
We landed safely just after 8:10amO'ahu time and as we got off the plane we were hit with a very welcome blast of warm air, ahhh summer! We collected our bags, cleared customs and made our way out to find some transport to the hotel. It was going to be a 45min wait for a shuttle and cost $15 each so we asked a cabby how much and they said $35-40 leaving now. Sold. The driver informed us on the way that the reason there is so much traffic was because there was a parade on called King Kamehameha Day Floral Parade, celebrating the island’s first monarch.
We arrived at our hotel and couldn't check-in but got changed and left our bags at reception and made our way on foot to find some breakfast and have a general look around.
We ended up at a place called Cheeseburger Beachwalk. Bec got herself some poached eggs on toast and Marnee and I got the pancake stack each. On completion of eating we heard the parade coming down the street so I went out to get some photos while the girls settled the bill.
The parade was really cool, very American with marching bands and Miss Hawaii and the Princess' of each island.
From there we walked down to Ala Moana Shops to search out our Fitbit Charge HR we had wanted. No luck in Neiman Marcus or Macy's but we did find it in a store called Brookstone. Stoked.
From there we went to Sephora where I got a few bits and pieces then made our way on foot back to the hotel. We stopped off at McDonalds for a drink as we were so parched from the heat and the kilometres we had already gathered for the day.
We headed back to the hotel, checked-in and made our way down to the pool. It was lovely. Marnee and I quickly grabbed two banana lounges in the sun while Bec went for a snooze in our room. We stayed by the pool for a good 3hrs before heading back to the room to wake Bec.
We then went down to the ABC Store to get some mixers and a bottle of Vodka (Absolute 750ml only $20) to have some pre-drinks in the hotel room.
We showered, had some drinks then headed on foot in the directions of the sports bar we had spotted earlier. Well, that was a disaster. It was almost empty and the people that were in there looked pretty sketchy. So instead we headed back in the direction of Waikiki and stopped in at Cheeseburger Waikiki for some dinner.
Bec got herself a BLTA minus the Bacon, Marnee a Caesar salad and I got a chicken sandwich. Wasn't the best meal I've had that's for sure. We paid our bill and headed in the direction of Kelly O'Gradys but it was pretty dead so went across the road to Moose's but that was dead too, we did stay for one drink though. Then it was time to go.
We walked down Kalakaua Av past all the big name shops like Fendi, Louis Vuitton, etc and realised that even though it was just before 10:30pm and a Saturday night they were all still open. So of course, we went in a few. After that we walked back to the hotel but Bec and I decided that we weren't ready for bed, and wanted to build up our steps and kilometres on our new Fitbits. So we started by going around the block but that wasn't enough so we just kept walking for another few kilometres. We went down and along the beach and up through various other streets then finally back to the hotel by just after midnight. But then it reset our steps for the next day so went for another walk. We had clicked over another 1700 steps/1.2kms for tomorrows count already.

Total steps for the day: 23,840
Total kms for the day: 16.54

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