Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi everyone,
Apologies for being away so long but it’s been increasingly difficult to find the time or a place to use the internet. However, we have now purchased a tiny Acer laptop so that we can write blogs as we do things and use the internet each night in our motels. We reckon we’ll save so much money and time this way – let’s hope so!
So right now we are in Lone Star State, Texas, and Kav is driving us from Dallas to Austin so I’m writing my latest blog – how fabulous! But I’ll back up a few weeks to when we landed in Honolulu from Fiji and start from there.
Lots of people have emailed me saying how awful Fiji sounded and how sorry they were for us, so I feel incredibly guilty that I made it sound that way. It really is the most gorgeous place, the people are wonderful and I would jump at the chance of returning. It was just the hostel we went to that was a disaster, the rest was perfect, and I would recommend Fiji to anyone. I just wanted to clear that up.
So, our flight from Nadi to Honolulu was 6 hours long, in quite a small plane called a ‘winglets’ because the wings curve up at the end(!!!), and we flew over 90% water!! Not a fun 6 hours for me I can tell you, so I’m glad that it was a night flight and I could take my fabulous Tylenol PM tablets to help me fall asleep and stay asleep. Of course, when we arrived in Honolulu 6 hours later at 3am our time, I wasn’t quite so happy! I must point out at this time that we left Fiji on Friday April 24th at 9 o’clock in the evening and landed in Honolulu on Friday April 24th at 5 o’clock in the morning! Don’t get it? Well, we crossed the International Timeline and therefore gained a whole day which completely worked to our advantage as it meant we got an extra day to spend on the mainland and in Honolulu.
Hawaii (actually spelt Hawai’i and pronounced Hawai’e with a break between the i’s and the end ‘i’ sounding an ‘e’ ) is stunning, although I must admit whatever you think it would look like, it doesn’t, trust me. I was imagining all beaches, palm trees, bright blue sea, people in Hawaiian shirts and bikinis all day. The islands off O’ahu (the mainland) are but O’ahu is a real mix of all that plus high class, exclusive parts with posh and famous residents and lots and lots of tourists!
After landing, we took a very expensive taxi to our very cheap hotel we found on lastminute.com and were told we couldn’t check in until 2pm. It was 6am, so we wearily walked to the nearest bus stop and caught a bus to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial. I had no idea what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. The whole experience is free but they happily take donations to help fund the site and various charities helping the armed forces and their families. First you watch a 10 minute video on the events leading up to the attack on the harbor explaining how and why the USA got involved in WWII and then you are taken on a boat across to the actual memorial site which is a type of bridge like platform that sits directly over the USS Arizona, entombing 400+ US Navy and other forces personnel. This part is incredibly humbling and somber, with many of the (American) visitors taking off their caps, walking in silence and remembering family members, friends or fellow Americans who were aboard during the attack or who died during the war. The memorial also houses a wall remembering all the men who died during the attack on the harbor. Looking down into the water you can see the ship in quite scary detail, and oil that still escapes from the ship sits on the water’s surface making it seem still alive inside.
After returning to the main building we walked around the small museum that holds replicas of the ships that were sunk, items that were recovered from the wreckages and personal belongings and letters from servicemen. They also show letters that families received telling them that their loved ones had been killed. Outside the museum were 4 retired servicemen who survived the attack and are there to sign books and share stories with visitors and people paying their respects. Every time I walked past them or looked at them I had tears in my eyes and shivers down my spine. Quite an emotional couple of hours really.
That afternoon, in the beautiful sunshine, we took a walk down Waikiki ‘high street’. Waikiki is the incredibly up market part of Hawaii with shops such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Tiffany, etc etc. Although they also have Gap, American Apparel and such, the area is mainly for the rich and famous. They also have a fabulous market set among beautiful trees just off this road , with stalls selling beautiful jewelry, clothing and souvenirs. Further down is Waikiki beach which is home to many surfers and sun worshipers in Prada wetsuits and Ralph Lauren bikinis!! Take it from me, you don’t want to lay on this beach in a Primark bikini ‘”daaarling”.
After lots of window shopping and purchasing, well nothing, we finally checked into our room and found possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Kav turned the TV on to catch up on latest football results and as I heard him say “OK, I’m not sure the remote control is quite big enough” I turned around to see him holding a remote control with 2 hands because it was the size of an A4 pad! I promise you I’m not kidding and we have photos to prove it! It was hysterical. Why on earth someone would design a remote control that size is beyond me!! But at least it gave us a lot of laughs!
The next day we got the bus back to Honolulu airport to catch our flight to Maui. Now I wasn’t quite expecting a jumbo jet or anything but I really wasn’t prepared for the sight I saw walking out of the terminal gate to the toy plane I saw before me!! It was like one of those private jets you see Simon Cowell in on the X Factor! Straight away I had visions of us plummeting to our deaths or barrel rolling from a slight gust of wind but was slightly relieved when Kav reminded me the flight was only 30 minutes. I walked up the steps, which felt more like a gangplank to me, to this tiny plane which only held 40 people and found a seat. It was so small our ‘stewardess’ was only 5 foot tall. Honestly, anyone taller would have a serious back problem after their first day! We thundered down the runway and took off like an albatross off to find his dinner. It was very quick and smooth, until we got to 12 thousand feet (the highest we would go) and the wind picked up. It was like being on a channel ferry crossing. The plane was tipping side to side, you felt every bump and when the wheels came down for landing some 12 minutes later(!) it felt like the bottom of the plane was going to fall off. But we landed safely, if somewhat a bit too quickly for my liking (I think the pilot had a hot date) and I started my plan on how I would swim back to Honolulu to avoid having to endure that flight for a second time.
After landing on the exclusive island of Maui , I, with weak knees found us a cheap shuttle bus to take us to our hotel which again we found on lastminute.com for a wonderfully cheap price. Larry, our incredibly loud and talkative but very nice driver, gave us a guided tour of the island on the way. The island is fascinating and has the second wettest area (uninhabited) in the world which helps keep the island so lush and fruitful. There is also an active volcano in the middle of the island which is so high most of the time you can’t see the top because of the clouds, and there are only 2 highways on the island. The speed limit is 40MPH everywhere and so even getting to the next town takes half an hour, but the people and scenery are amazing and their crime rate is amongst the lowest in the world. Then again, if you live in such beauty and shorts every day, why would you want to commit crimes?!
Our hotel was amazing. On lastminute it said it was a 2* hotel, but when we got there, it had recently gone through a multi-million dollar refurbishment and every room was brand new, there was a huge pool with a bar, free internet and the biggest,, most comfy bed I ever slept in in my life! We were quite literally in heaven. After spending a month in a caravan and then 5 weeks in hostels I could have quite happily stayed there forever. We also had a fridge In our room, so still being ‘travellers’ and all that we made sandwiches for lunch and only went out for dinner a few nights. We did find a great cheap Mexican place that served yummy tacos, burritos and such, and even more yummy frozen fishbowl Margaritas and ‘shots’ of Tequila that actually should have been called ‘tumblers’. I think we went there twice, or was it three times? I can’t remember. I wonder why??
Most of the time we were on the beach or by and in the pool, but a couple of days we ventured out to see the rest of the island. One day we rented a car and did the famous Road to Hana drive which was the worst drive we’ve ever seen or done and so disappointing that I won’t bore you with the details.
One night we went to a Lu’au but don’t get excited thinking I’m going to tell you about debauched partying, cocktails and limboing! Lu’au’s in Hawaii aren’t like Lu’au’s in the rest of the world. They are a celebration of Hawaiian culture with Hula dancing and feasting on pig cooked in a pit similar to how the Fijians and Mauri’s do it. When we arrived, with 2 thousand other people(!) we received a Lai (the flower garlands they wear around their necks) made with real purple flowers and were showed to our table which we were to share with 6 other people for dinner and the show. I wasn’t too pleased we had to share a table, but the cooky couple from California and the quite boring family from Vancouver were surprisingly good company and fascinated by our trip so I got to do a lot of talking that night to people other than Kav – always a bonus! Dinner was a buffet, so Kav was his usual camel self storing food for the winter, the ‘show’ was a bunch of hula dancing stick girls and a relentless whining ‘chief’, so I befriended our lesbian waitress who brought me enough red wine to get me through the evening.
The day before we left we went hump-back whale watching which was just spectacular.
After seeing dolphins, mantas and other sea life creatures in Australia and New Zealand we only had whales left (and sharks, but no one wants to see them too close in the wild!). We were only on the boat for 5 minutes before the guide saw our first whale of the morning. Now I must point out that as we boarded it was announced that this was the last day they were taking people out for the season as the whales start migrating back to Alaska so we may not see anything but we saw quite a few and even the staff aboard were stunned. The first whale we saw was coming up for air and so we were told that it may not surface again for around 20 minutes, so the captain lowered a sonar microphone into the water so that we could hear the whale singing. Well, the moment I heard that noise I had tears in my eyes and goose bumps. It was just one of the most fantastic things I’ve ever heard. Knowing that a huge hump whale is so near you singing away in his own environment and you are privileged enough to hear it was amazing. Seconds later we turned to see, in the distance, a whale breaching. This is when they jump out of the water and to this day marine biologists and such have no idea why they do it. Some think it’s for fun, others think it’s to break barnacles off their skin. Whatever it’s for, it’s truly amazing to see in the flesh. After seeing this breach we were even luckier to see a mummy whale and her baby swimming right next to our boat. What makes this even better is the fact that the baby cannot hold its breath as long as it’s mother so both of them come to the surface every couple of minutes so you get to see them more than adults on their own. Adult whales by nature are loners and travel on their own so seeing 2 at a time is so lovely to see. We managed to get great photos and video footage, but I’m sure we won t need them as all those images will be forever in my memory. It was a great end to a great week.
Unfortunately for me I never figured out a way to swim back to the mainland so on Friday May 1st I reluctantly boarded the contraption Mesa Airways called a ‘plane’ for the 12 minute flight back to Honolulu. Even though I was terrified the whole way, I had to laugh when after only managing to listen to 1 and half songs, after takeoff, the stewardess come over the intercom (yes, I too was surprised this toy had intercom) to tell us we were coming in to land and all electronic equipment had to be turned off. Honestly, I spent more time scared during takeoff and landing, not being able to listen to music for distraction, than being placated by music while actually flying. I just hope that these pilots are regularly tested on their ability to take off and land seeing as this is mostly what they do all day!
What I must say at this point is how excited I had been all week because my Daddy was flying to meet us in LA for the weekend after Hawai’i. Since the day he had emailed me to tell me his plans back in February I was looking forward to it. Four months is a long time to not see your family (especially your Daddy) and it also gave me a great sense of security knowing that he was going to be there to greet us. I also knew that he had a really fun weekend planned for us in LA so our 5 hour flight from Honolulu to LA although went SO slowly was enjoyable because I knew I would see his face when we stepped into the terminal.
That’s all for now folks but right after this I’m starting my USA blog… the story so far, so don’t forget to come back in a bit to read about our American escapades.
Much love xxx
- comments