Monday 24th Honolulu –
dry land again
We packed and left the cabin by
8.30 and then sat in the foyer with the Australians until 10.15, when they made
the last call for everyone to get off. They were very upset that they had
booked through RC directly 18 months ago on the 2nd day of the
release and they were allocated a really awful cabin with a small porthole on
the 2nd deck next to the crew! We always did much better booking
discounted tickets at the last minute through the US website Vacationstogo.
There were no arrival formalities
and we walked straight out to the taxi and bus area. We found a shuttle bus
going to Waikiki and had an interesting tour of the luxury hotels that pepper
the beachfront down here – Marriott Hilton and Trump etc. Our modest
backpackers is right at the southern end next to the zoo at the foot of Diamond
Head volcano, which we hope is extinct.
We have a pleasant double room with
fan which we access through a 4 bed dorm and we share a bathroom with them . .
or rather with him because only 1 bed is taken. We are one road back from the
beach, which is west facing and very pretty. We found a Burger King for lunch
and had a rest during the hot afternoon. We found Steph (bruised but ok) and
Lissa (excited and chatty) on skype. Just before sunset we headed off for an
extremely pleasant stroll in the cooler air. The sunset was great and there
were surfers in the water and heaps of strollers and joggers and marginalised
hobos settling down for the night under the palm trees.
Waikiki beach
We asked a couple of information
advisers where we could find a supermarket where real people buy food.
Literally every second shop here is an ABC store which is basically a
convenience store with tourist stuff and liquor, but very expensive. We got
pointed to a nearby supermarket where we were still quite poleaxed by how
expensive simple foods were but we bought some food for dinner and picnic
tomorrow.
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