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Published: December 13th 2010
Date Thursday 18th November 2010
City New York, Phoenix, Honolulu
Currency NZ$1.00 = US$0.76
Climate Low 10c – high 28c
We boarded our US Airways flight from New York just before 10am for our 5 hour flight to Phoenix, Arizona. The bad news was there was no food supplied on the flight despite the length, nor were there any TV, movies or audio services at all. The good news was this gave us a chance to catch up on the New York blog and catch a few zzz’s. Our stop in Phoenix was brief, but long enough to grab a drink and do some emails. We also had to turn our clocks back 2 hours. Our next flight was also on US Airways and this time there was a TV, which showed a couple of TV comedies and a couple of old movies throughout the 6 hour flight. Naturally we had to supply our own headsets (which luckily we had packed). When we felt hungry about half way through the flight we ordered from their extensive two option menu. Choices were a turkey and ham sandwich, or a cheese and fruit platter. We were quite excited at the prospect of
having one of each and sharing. However our hopes were dashed as they had run out of both! It was only when the looks on our faces and rumbling tummies attracted the attention of the purser that they managed to rummage up the lonely last sandwich on board – yeah right! Bet the crew save a few for themselves! On arrival we had to yet again turn our clocks back – this time 3 hours. Therefore we had travelled for over 13 hours yet only progressed 8! We took the Waikiki Shuttle bus to our hotel, purchasing the return fare for US$15 rather than $9 each way. We were feeling very peckish after checking into the Courtyard Marriott Waikiki. We found our way to a place called Giovanni’s Pastrami – which served good pizzas and pastas and had a great cocktail menu. We sat in a booth down the back which doubled as a type of sports bar - a great relaxed venue. We enjoyed the food there – especially Shaun having an enormous bowl of fettuccine smothered in pecan pesto. Jennie’s pizza was very tasty and the chicken topping ordered was forgotten initially and then added later to the
gourmet vegetarian one that was served in error – a mistake not to complain about. Being in Hawaii, Jennie had the Blue Hawaii cocktail and Shaun a delicious Long Island Iced Tea. About 9.30pm we wandered back to the hotel, hoping to catch Max on Skype to wish him a happy birthday. With eyes closing in front of the screen Jennie had to settle for an email instead. We realised that by the time we turned the lights out at midnight – it was really about 5am in New York time – no wonder we were struggling to keep awake after a day of travel and the time differences.
Date Friday 19th November 2010
City Waikiki, O’ahu
Currency NZ$1.00 = US$0.76
Climate Low 23c – high 29c
We enjoyed a great sleep-in this morning awaiting the arrival of Shaun’s mum, Dianne, from Auckland. Once Dianne arrived and we had a quick catch-up we headed across the road to Ihop for breakfast. Yes, we know what you’re thinking – Ihop?! Ooohhhh, but what awesome pancakes! It has been voted best breakfast place - so that’s our excuse and we’re sticking to it.
After filling ourselves on pancakes and coffee
we headed down to the beachfront and meandered along Waikiki beach, tentatively picking our way through the throngs of people sunning themselves like seals beached on the shore. The sand felt fantastic slipping between our toes and we frequently dipped our feet into the warm Pacific Ocean. Dianne had a list of “must-do” activities whilst in Hawaii and one was to see the statue of Duke. This was easy as it stands close to the main tourist area of Waikiki Beach. After walking the busy street of Kalakaua Ave we decided food was once again required and so we ventured into Senor Frogs – a famous restaurant/bar/nightclub that is frequented by young and old loving a party time! They offer many happy hour specials throughout the week and specials of the day, so we indulged in some of these. Margaritas, nachos, chicken wings and the like. A bit naughty when dinner was just a few hours away. Back at the hotel we met up with Pip and Ferg who had just arrived. After a good catch up in the room over a couple of drinks we went out to find dinner. It seemed appropriate to go to a beach side
restaurant on Waikiki and so we had a great meal under the stars at Duke’s Canoe Club at the Outrigger on Waikiki. We were all fairly tired from travelling and knew that tomorrow was going to be a big day, boarding our cruise ship for the trip around the Islands. So after another great night it was lights out about midnight.
Date Saturday 20th November 2010
Destination O’ahu to Kahului, Maui
Climate Low 20c – high 30c partly sunny
Di, Pip and Ferg went off early to see the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbour. We offered to take their bags with us to the ship and this was relatively painless with excellent service from the hotel, taxis and porters. Tipping can make life easier when needed! We were at the pier by 11am and found ourselves in group 3, the third group to board the vessel that commenced boarding just before midday. Straight to the pool for us where we enjoyed a poolside lounger next to the spa pool while we awaited the others.
After meeting up for a late lunch on board we went back on shore to do a bit of shopping at the Ala
Moana shopping complex. Ala Moana is the world’s largest open-air shopping center with over 290 stores and restaurants. We completed our shopping list in breakneck speed and we were back on board in plenty of time for our 6.30pm departure. Starting the trip with gusto we all went to the American pub crawl - 5 bars and 5 drinks in 1 hour. It was a good icebreaker to meet some of the other hard-case passengers and we covered the Gold Rush saloon, Martini Bar, Key West “Mojito” Bar, Waikiki “Cigar” Bar and the Ocean Drive Bar. The host running it added a lot of hilarity with special pub crawl toasts taken at each stop. Well lubricated the group were well placed to help the cruise director team kick off the “sail-away party” as we left port.
Our ship is the Norwegian Gem – 93,000 tonnes, 2380 guests, 1154 crew. It has 10 restaurants, 11 bars and lounges, 2 swimming pools and 6 spa pools, a fitness centre, bowling alley, shops, rock climbing wall plus all the other standard ships amenities. Baggage facts: between midnight Friday and 8pm on Saturday the baggage handlers on the ship will gather, move and sort
over 11,000 pieces of luggage. That’s equivalent to the baggage on 20 Boeing 767’s. Luggage is delivered at the rate of almost 700 bags an hour (approx 1 bag every 5 seconds) non-stop for 8 hours.
We met for dinner in the Grand Pacific Main dining room and then partied in Club Mardis Gras until very late. The DJ said it was the latest first night he’s ever had! Di was getting everyone up dancing and everyone had a fun time. Tonight we were sailing for Kahului, Maui.
Date Sunday 21st November 2010
Destination Kahului, Maui
Climate Low 20c – high 27c – fine and sunny
We arrived into Kahului port on the North shore of Maui. Maui is apparently the most visited of all the Hawaiian Islands even though it only has 10% of the state’s population. It is home to pineapple, sugar cane, cattle ranches and rain forests. Our tour driver told us the pineapple crops are being reduced as they cannot pay the wages in Hawaii and still compete with low export prices being offered by other nations such as the Philippines. Before lunch we took the free shuttle to K-Mart to pick up
some goodies and returned to the ship to relax by the pool for the afternoon. This evening we went on a wonderful sunset cocktail cruise. It was a ship excursion but operated by the Pacific Whale Foundation Eco Adventures
located at Ma'alaea Harbour. 100%!o(MISSING)f the profits they generate from their Eco-adventure cruises are given to their non-profit programs to continue their dedicated research, enriching education programs, and successful marine conservation work. The trip was so awesome. The weather was great and we spotted whales while sipping on cocktails admiring the fantastic sunset! The clear night showed up the big volcano Haleakala, where the others are venturing for the sunrise tomorrow. We wanted to go on the Molokini crater snorkel trip but we had left it too late to attend the ship’s organised trip. Therefore we asked the Pacific Whale Foundation what availability they had and we were able to get a couple of spots on their trip tomorrow through one of the hosts on the sunset cruise.
Once back at the ship we went to dinner in Liberty dining room, deck 6 aft. We laughed as we felt we were given the “naughty corner” as we were rowdy. The entertainment was a Beatles tribute show by Toby Beau (Balde and Rennetta Silva). They were great. Ferg and Shaun went for a cigar at the outside cigar bar on level 12 aft - eventually homeward bound about 2am with Ferg and Pip needing to get up at 3.15am for their sunrise adventure up Haleakala!
Date Monday 22nd November 2010
Destination Kahului, Maui
Climate Low 18c – high 28c – clear and sunny
We overnighted in port last night so that people could experience the sunrise from Haleakala. Having done this previously we went on our Molokini Crater snorkelling trip. Molokini is a world class snorkelling environment inside the protective ring of an ancient volcanic crater, where over 250 marine species thrive in crystal-clear Hawaiian waters. Molokini is actually a u-shaped remnant of what is called a tuff cone, formed by one or more underwater volcanic explosions. The islet's arc shape, the fact that there is little or no soil to run off into the sea, and the relatively shallow, protected waters combine to offer an incredible snorkel experience with excellent visibility. Located just 2.5 miles off the coast of Maui's South shore, Molokini's shallow inner cove
provides a unique habitat for fish and coral species, some of which are found nowhere else in the world but Hawaii.
Our trip was the Molokini-Lana'i Snorkel which departs daily 8:30am (approximate duration 6.5 hours)
This tour offers two great adventures in one: 1) snorkelling at Molokini Crater plus 2) snorkelling at a beautiful reef off the island of Lana'i. We also visited areas along Lana'i's scenic coast where wild dolphins live and play. The island of Lanai is known for its populations of wild spinner, spotted, and bottle nose dolphins. Some of these dolphins are found in large social groups of 30 or more. After snorkelling at Shark Fin Bay on Lana’i we had dozens of dolphins bow ride alongside our vessel and surfing the wake behind. It was really fantastic seeing these gorgeous creatures enjoy their wild habitat. Many of them were mum’s with their cute babies. On board the certified marine naturalists gave interesting insights into the wildlife we were seeing throughout the trip. We were also fortunate to see three Hump back whales, Hawk billed turtles and Green turtles. Some people saw flying fish as well as we were told to look out for them, but
we didn’t see them. All in all it was an awesome excursion for wildlife, sea and sun.Once back at the habour we caught the local bus back across the Island to the mall and walked to the ship from there. We arrived back at 5.00pm with last call for boarding at 5.30pm. Tonight was formal night and so we dressed up and dined in the Liberty dining room. Following dinner we attended the very entertaining show ‘The Magic of Matt Marcy’. He has performed in Las Vegas, for Fortune 500 companies, world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood and Fox TV’s Masters of Illusion.
We also popped into Club Mardis Gras for the Second City Improv-based comedy sketches show which failed to impress – so off to bed after a huge day.
Date Tuesday 23rd November 2010
Destination Hilo, Hawaii (the big island)
Climate Low 17c – high 27c – mostly cloudy
Today we caught the free shuttle to “Hilo Hattie’s” well known for its Hawaiian gifts and souvenirs. In the vicinity there was a Sears and some other stores. We found a Starbucks where we were able to catch up on emails using their free w-fi - very
handy! Once back on board we soaked up the sun and enjoyed relaxing on board the ship.
Late afternoon Di and Jennie went to a fresh orchid lei making class. There were 20,000 pretty purple and white orchids from which we made the lei. We used a needle and thread to create the gorgeous living necklace. There were a few hundred of us in the class which was held in the auditorium.
Tonight was busy with cocktails and jazz in Pink’s Champagne Bar at 6.00pm. We went to the show at 7pm, the comedy of Bud Andersen. He’s featured on HBO, comedy central, Fox, MTV, and Showtime. Written comedy for Home Improvement, The Drew Carey Show and The Ellen DeGeneres show. We really enjoyed it. Then we had a dinner before Kilauea volcano viewing at approx 9.45pm. The Captain took the ship along the coast so we could view the hot lava flowing into the ocean. It lets off a huge puff of steam and is quite a spectacular sight at night. Firstly we went to Pip & Ferg’s room to view it from their balcony before scurrying to our rear balcony for another glimpse as it faded into the
distance. The late night entertainment was the ships version of the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ competition, with a whole lot of flesh being flashed and dirty dancing moves mandatory, held in Club Mardis Gras. It was hilarious with judges Matt Marcy, Sarah the cruise director and a comedian from the Second City. The woman, who eventually won with a crew member as her partner, really threw herself into it and gave us plenty of laughs.
Overnight we sailed for Kona.
Date Wednesday 24th November 2010
Destination Kona, Hawaii (the big island)
Climate Low 17c – high 28c – partly cloudy
Today we tendered into port using the ship’s lifeboats. We took a local operators shuttle bus to a nearby beach. It was Kahalu’u Beach, small but protected by a reef so had very calm waters to view a vast array of fish. Shortly after our arrival a small green turtle swam right up to a sheltered pool at the shore. This gave the children immense please as it swam around them. We used our swimming goggles to view the many varieties of fish swimming in the clear shallow waters. After a couple of hours the skies clouded
over and so we caught the shuttle back to town. The bus driver pointed out a great looking bar/restaurant claiming they made the best fish tacos in Hawaii. It was called Fish Hopper Restaurant and so we decided to have lunch there. We sat up at the bar as it was so busy and enjoyed chatting to the barman as we ate our meals and sipped on ice cold refreshments. A “Lava Flow” for Jennie and a locally brewed beer for Shaun.
The tender line was long when we wanted to go back to the ship, but we joined it anyway as the weather was looking darker. We stood in the line as the rain held off. Shaun was able to connect to the Wi-Fi of a nearby hotel so he was able to check emails on the iTouch to make the most of the waiting time. Once back on board it was all go again. Quite a heavy social schedule was planned with the highlight being Ferg’s birthday festivities. It started with attending the show at 7pm - “Oh What a Night” tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons –very good, performed by four talented young guys. Next
we went to dinner in the posh Jefferson’s restaurant. We were impressed with the gorgeous Versace dinnerware at the table which they quickly removed once we sat down. They must have been talking to the staff in the Liberty dining room and warned about our rowdy behaviour! Following dinner we called into the White Hot Dance Party in Club Mardi Gras, complete with the white hot “Ship n’ Male” dancers, which started at 10.00pm. Exhausted from the busy day and night we called it a night before midnight.
Date Thursday 25th November 2010
Destination Nawiliwili, Kaua’i
Climate Low 16c – high 28c – mostly sunny
We arrived into Nawiliwili for a two day stay. We enjoy staying overnight in port as it isn’t rushed to get back to the ship and it enables us to experience night life on shore. Many people take the opportunity to go to a luau, but we didn’t book in time and so we have another thing on our list for next time!
Kauai is the Northern most Island and the fourth largest of the 8 main Hawaiian Islands, famous for Waimea Canyon, dubbed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It has a
population of fewer than 64,000. In 1961 Elvis Presley sang his way through Kauai in “Blue Hawaii”. Other famous movies filmed here were Raiders of the Lost Ark, Six Days/Seven Nights and Jurassic Park had scenes filmed here as did the King Kong remake.
We caught the free shuttle to the Kukui Grove shopping centre in Lihu’e – the Islands main town. We looked around K-Mart and then found some internet access. After a couple of hours we ventured back to the ship and the local beach. The nearby beach of Kalapaki Beach is gorgeous, with lovely fine sand and gentle surf. The Marriott is situated on this beach and as there are no “private” beaches in Hawaii we could lie in front of the hotel and secretly grab a nice lounger to sunbathe on. After an hour in the sun we sat in Duke’s Canoe Club Bar and enjoyed some local Hawaiian music and a late lunch, washed down with a ‘Lava Flow’ and a ‘Wrong Island Ice Tea’.
Back on board we had Thanksgiving dinner – yes we had turkey, then we had more entertainment in the form of a band called “Never too old to Rock n
Roll” with Toby Beau. (#1 hit on the billboards with their pop ballad hit “My Angel Baby”) They have toured with Bob Seeger, The Steve Miller Band and The Doobie Brothers in earlier days.
We thoroughly enjoyed the Late Night Comedy at 10.30pm, The Liars Club. It was very much like the dictionary game we have played sometimes at home with family and friends. Essentially the participants make up definitions to very obscure words presented to them by the host. The audience had to vote on the correct one. The participants were the very talented comedian Bud Andersen, Rich Baker from Second City and Balde and Renetta Silva from Toby Beau. It was tricky to know who was telling the truth and who was flat out lying. They must’ve been given the words well in advance to develop such convincing answers. Tittiup was one of the words and examples of the definitions were; the name given to the sound of galloping horses made with cans and a push-up bra. The fun was in the way they approached the definition. It typically involved a long winded story that they each shared, telling us how they came to know of the word.
Clever and funny!
Date Friday 26th November 2010
Destination Nawiliwili, Kaua’i
Climate Low 18c – high 25c – sunny
Not being very familiar with Thanksgiving we were educated on what Black Friday and Blue Saturday meant. Basically all the large department stores open their doors very early on Friday morning of Thanksgiving weekend with very good sales. The advertising papers are published in advance and so people know what will be on sale and in what quantities. Very early opening could mean midnight or 4am or 5am – depending on the competition. When we visited K-Mart yesterday we learnt that their Black Friday would commence at 5am and run for 6 hours only. Then the Blue Saturday prices start the next day. The shuttle driver advised us that he would be ready and waiting at 5am to take all keen shoppers to experience the big sale. We had spotted cheap memory sticks and given that we were sold a dud in China we thought we’d better be on that early bus! In fact we took the 7am shuttle as we thought there would be plenty of memory sticks to go around. On arrival it was madness –
people everywhere lining up at the checkouts for their selected items. We eventually got what we wanted and got out of there.
Once back at the ship we decided to chill for the rest of the day. On the back deck there is a great adult’s only area with small swimming pool and a spa pool. We settled in there, had lunch and soaked up some rays. We left at 4.00pm to sail around the Island before heading back to Oahu. The Na Pali coastline came into view approx 5.15pm. Majestic sea cliffs rise 4000 feet above Kauai’s uninhabited North shore. We gathered together with friends and watched it from the “Waikiki” Bar on deck 13 aft.
The last night is always a sad time. You want to squeeze everything into your nightly programme, but it competes with packing and other housekeeping activities such as collecting and checking the room bill – always a shock! Collecting the drinks taken on embarkation day and finding friends to exchange addresses. We still found time to enjoy a final martini at Happy hour in the Martini Bar 9.00-10.00pm and to sit around the grand piano with Chuck Perry in Pink’s Champagne Bar between
10.45-11.30pm. We called in briefly to the Hang Loose pyjama party with DJ Dynasty, in Club Mardis Gras – but it was empty. We were the only ones there and so we decided we’d better get our bags outside the room for the midnight collection (as it was already after the witching hour!).
Date Saturday 27th November 2010
Destination O’ahu, Hawaii
Temp 25c – fine and sunny
The plan today was to leave our checked luggage with Pip and Ferg to pick up off the cruise ship, so that S, J & Di could just take our hand luggage to pick up the rental car. We caught a taxi to the Hertz depot at the airport as we couldn’t rely on when and if the Hertz shuttle would turn up. We signed out the car and surprised Mum with a 2011 Ford Mustang convertible, sparkling silver with black racing stripe.
We started off the road trip with the top down, but after 10 minutes on the highway pulled over to lower the top! It plays hell with your hair-do at 60 mph and it is hard to hear each other over the whistling wind! One push of the
button and the roof folded up and over to cocoon us. On the road again and we headed North through the centre of the island with first stop being the Dole Pineapple plantation – a 20,000 acre plantation that started its life in 1950 as a pineapple fruit stand. It also boasts one of the largest mazes in the world, made from 11,400 colourful Hawaiian plants After looking around the grounds we indulged in an enormous fresh pineapple ice cream before we continued on to Hale’iwa for Jen and Di to have a look around the surf shops. Shaun stayed in the Mustang with the top down trying to look cool while he waited, with the strains of The Beach Boys pumping out of the stereo.
Waimea Bay was our next stop and being a Saturday was shaping up to be quite busy, with car parking at a premium. We illegally parked to check it out before deciding to make for Sunset Beach instead with the promise of more parking and bigger waves. We found a great spot on the fringe of the Banzai Pipeline and Sunset Beach where we made ourselves comfortable on the pristine, white-sand beach and watched
the energetic manoeuvres of the surfers and boogie boarders. The waves were of a decent size so Shaun thought he’d jump in for a spot of body surfing. He lasted about 30 minutes before submitting to the power of the ocean that kept dragging him down the beach and threatening to crush him under the weight of the unrelenting waves.
We walked down the beach to dry out and found a large contingent of surfers busting their moves on the waves, with a small crowd of onlookers and a photographer snapping away on his tripod mounted behemoth lensed camera. We were actually on the Island at the same time as a couple of the surfing competitions – the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing for men and the Gidget Pro for women, but they had been postponed today due to insufficient wave size. They were still considered large by NZ standards!
Once back in the Mustang we went past the competition site just down the road, with grandstands and sponsor marquees standing bare, with the ocean flat as a pancake. They should’ve moved just down the road! We were getting a hunger on and stopped at Fumi’s shrimp shack – a brightly coloured truck with paintings of the infamous sunset - nestled on the side of the road near the Kahuku shrimp farms on the North shore. You can’t miss them with their not-so-subtle signage! We ordered a selection of lemon pepper and spicy garlic for the three of us and they also came with rice and fresh pineapple slices to cleanse the palette. The flavours exploded in your mouth and the spicy garlic packed a zingy punch! We continued our drive around the island; past Chinaman’s Hat and pulled into Kailua Beach Park to watch the crazy kite surfers doing their thing. There were dozens of them out in the fresh breeze and some were getting huge air off the waves.
Diamond Head eventually loomed in front of us, which meant we were getting close to Waikiki again, just as the sun was beginning to set. We found our accommodation in downtown Waikiki, which was actually a backpackers using rooms at The White Sands Hotel. We had our own hotel room complete with balcony and a nice pool! We even managed to score a park right outside on the street for the Mustang with free parking for the weekend.
We met up with Pip and Ferg at their hotel overlooking the beach before heading out for dinner at P.F. Changs
, just off the main street in the Royal Haw’n Centre. There was a bit of a crowd waiting so we shot next door to Senor Frogs to imbibe in a pre-dinner cocktail, with the restaurants buzzer in hand to alert us when our table was ready. The food at P.K. Changs was fantastic and we enjoyed great conversation in the balmy outdoors, overlooking the grounds lit by Hawaiian flaming torches.
Date Sunday 28th November 2010
Destination Waikiki, Oahu
Temp 27c sunny
We had some unfinished business to do this morning as we hadn’t finished our sightseeing tour, so Mum and Shaun were out the door at 8.00am while Jennie started packing back in the hotel. First stop was at the light house below Diamond Head, where an on-shore swell provided a great surfing break for the locals. We enjoyed watching the locals before heading up into Diamond Head – a dormant volcano that is the most identifiable landmark in Hawaii. We drove through the tunnel into the crater and were surprised as it revealed its large bowl. The surrounding rim was quite accessible, with trails and look-outs peppered around its edge, but as we were a bit tight for time we didn’t climb up to the craters rim.
We drove out of the crater and back around the shoreline, heading for Honolulu to view the royal Iolani Palace and the statue of King Kamehameha I, the most beloved hero of the Hawaiian Islands. Just as it started to rain we headed for the Hertz depot at Honolulu Int’l airport to drop off the car. We had really enjoyed the Mustang but it was time to hand it back. Once we’d done that we took the Hertz shuttle to the departures drop-off and caught “The Bus” back to Waikiki Beach for $2.50.
We met Jen on the street after using the walkie-talkies to track each other down. She was busy doing last minute shopping. Feeling peckish we all set off for the beach and had a very enjoyable relaxed lunch overlooking the golden sands and pristine waters of Waikiki Beach at ‘The Banyan Court’ – part of the Moana Surfrider Hotel. We only had to walk a couple of metres to lay our towels down to soak up some rays after lunch.
The afternoon slowly slid away and we had to start thinking about returning to the hotel to start packing before going out for dinner. Tonight’s gastronomic event was to be at Bubba Gump’s to feast ourselves one last time on seafood. The Bourbon Street Mahi Mahi and Scampi dishes were the choice of the ladies and Shaun just couldn’t resist the large appetiser seafood combo selection. We struggled to finish our delicious seafood and were amazed that we actually had to leave a few luscious shrimps behind – first time ever! We had to call a truce before we exploded. We eventually cabbed it back to our hotel and finished our packing before hitting the sack.
Date Monday 29th November 2010
Destination Waikiki, Oahu
Temp 27’C sunny
Mum was catching a shuttle to the airport at 4.30am today to catch her flight on Jet Star so we set the alarm for 4am. The shuttle was right on time out the front of the hotel and after saying our farewells we went back to bed for a few more hours of beauty sleep. We woke up around 9am and decided to go to Ihop for breakfast on the way to the beach. We had some photos to take in the morning sunlight and so after that we caught an hour or so of sun before returning to the hotel. As our flight wasn’t until much later in the day we decided it might be nice to keep our room a bit longer than the advertised 11am checkout time. We wasted over an hour trying to secure a room for the day as they wanted to move us to another room which made the whole thing a little pointless. So we finally gave up on that option and just left our luggage in their storage before heading back to the pool for a swim and some internet time. At about 2pm we took the bus to Ala Moana shopping centre. We did a quick scoot around the centre, each with our own list of things to get and met back at the taxi stand to get back for our airport shuttle collection at 4.45pm. Most airports we have been to have a reasonable area within the airport for dining, relaxing and waiting, but this airport was hopeless for any of that. We needed to finish drinking our water and some wine that we had but there was nowhere to do this. We were hoping to sit at a café and have dinner and finish our drinks but we had to go through security before doing this – meaning all our liquids were confiscated. We were flying overnight to Dallas on American Airlines and as they don’t serve any food we grabbed a meal in the Chinese fast food restaurant on the other side of security. The flight to Dallas was six hours, the seats were cramped and we were stuck down the back with annoying kids. Not a great start to our three day journey to Reconquista, Argentina. At least we were on our way to this exciting part of the trip. More next blog!
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Di
non-member comment
Hawaii
What a fabulous time you all had!! :-) Sigh, I wish I was there still!! See you soon!