Day One Hawaiian Escapade

Day one began with a few hours at work before heading off at 12.30 pm.  Greg dropped us at the airport where it was pouring with rain, and there is a considerable walk without much cover to get to the terminal building.

Needless to say we are totally tired of the blasted rain and looking forward to a change of scenery.

Once we checked in for the domestic leg of our trip we were put on an earlier flight, as there were weather problems and by way of a compensation we were also given exit row seats, with much more leg room! SCORE!

So much for an early flight, we didn’t take off until 10 minutes after the scheduled time of flight we were originally booked on!  The flight was perfect, no drama, no turbulence, a pleasant flight until it came time to land…..we had to do a lap of honour and circle for about 45 minutes….. sadly so much cloud cover we weren’t able to enjoy the lights of Sydney.

Thinking we had a few hours before boarding the Hawaiian Airlines leg of our flight, we toddled off to check in……OMG the line was a mile long……. by the time we checked in, went through customs, had a toilet stop and tried to grab some food while passing Macca’s they were calling our flight.

Wanda and I got our food and headed off to gate 51….thinking Pauline & Gayle were following close behind.  Apparently not……Pauline wondered why we had hot footed it to the gate, when it was only just a little after 8pm!  She had forgotten her watch was still on Queensland time and an hour behind!

As you may have gathered we were the very last to board, it was a touch stressful, but by about an hour into our flight we had all settled and were relaxing into our holiday.

Once again the flight was perfect, great service, comfortable seats and quiet fellow travellers.

We all managed a few hours sleep. 

Our arrival at Honolulu International Airport was right on time, and apart from a short wait until the customs area was ready for another plane load, we were out reasonably quickly.  No customs drama, suitcases had all arrived and our hotel transfer bus was waiting for us.

  The remainder of the day has passed so very quickly, with hotel check in, lunch at the International Market with a little browsing thrown in.

   

This is the view from our balcony room

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Our room is spacious and well appointed.  The staff are very courteous and helpful, nothing is too much trouble for them.

After unpacking we took a walk to familiarize ourselves with the area.

 

The International Market Place

After scouting out a bottle shop and getting in a few owe headed off to catch a ‘trolley’ to the Ala Moana Shopping Centre for a recognisance mission.  After dinner of Pad Thai we walked through to our intended destination…………..WALMART!

 

These flags are in display in the entry of Walmart.

We had a ball, wandering around comparing what’s on offer here compared with home….the differences are amazing!  It was just a short visit as we were beginning to fade with fatigue and ready for an early night, we hopped in a taxi and were back at our hotel in about 10 minutes.

Right now, Wanda is in bed, Pauling and Gayle are on the balcony making short work of their bottle of scotch!

I’m off to joining Wanda ‘cause I’m exhausted.

Looking to another fun filled tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting,

Julie xxx