Hawaii - Day 1 - Oahu
Day 1 -
We left home around 4:30 A.M. Got to the airport and checked in (we used the sky cap that is outside, it was so much easier), and then went inside, found the terminal, and waited to board the plane. Poor Nick had a migraine, and got sick. He gets those now, ever since he had is fall at work. I felt so bad for him, and so helpless. I didn't know how to help him, other than saying a prayer. We boarded the plane about 5:45 and left just minutes after we boarded. It was a small plane, because we just flew into L.A. I'm not sure what big city we flew over, I thought it was Las Vegas, but I couldn't tell for sure. But I got a fun picture of the city lights.
We arrived in L.A. and had about a 2 hour layover then boarded the huge plane for Hawaii. It was 3 seats - isle - 5 seats - isle - 2 seats and it had probably about 50 rows, not counting first class. Nick and I had the 2 seats so we didn't have to sit by anyone else.
The movie they played was Speed Racer. We were going to take the kids to see it when it first came out, but when we found out that almost the whole movie was shot in front of a green screen, it kind of ruined it for us. So we didn't end up going to see it. But it was actually a pretty good movie. The special effects were pretty good. I bought a crossword puzzle book in the SLC airport, took my scriptures, and a hand held solitaire game. So I stayed pretty busy. Nick tried to sleep most of the way and took some medicine, so once we got to Hawaii he was feeling pretty good. It's about a 5 hour flight from L.A. to Oahu, but they are 4 hours behind Utah time. So we arrived in Oahu at 11:30 A.M. That was so nice. We had the whole day.
The clouds were so thick that we weren't able to see any of the ocean from the time we left L.A. to the time we got to the Islands. Which probably was a good thing since I was so nervous about flying over it.
When we came to the Islands of Hawaii, it was so cool. You could see where there were coral reefs, where the water was more shallow then in other spots, and even see the waves. On Oahu the landing strip for the planes is out in the ocean. You could look out the windows and see water on both sides of you... it was SO COOL!!! The airport is so neat... most of it is just open, no doors or windows, just frames and the open air. We had to walk a little ways to the baggage claim, then waited for a few minutes outside for our shuttle to arrive.
The shuttle had one other hotel to stop at and then dropped us off. We went inside to check in, and they couldn't find our reservation. Then they found it, but had us down as checking in the week before. We told them "No, we are supposed to be checking in today, see our addendum." Then they had to get their reservation people on the phone, but couldn't because they were closed for Sunday. The lady got her manager and she talked to our reservation place. After about an hour they got us a room and said they would straighten it out tomorrow (Monday), but we had to give them our credit card so they could charge us for the room in case they couldn't find our reservation. We were so tired and frustrated by this point that we just gave them our card, but they assured us that they wouldn't charge anything on it. So we finally got that all taken care of, but then they told us that we couldn't check in until 3:00. Luckily we had checked our luggage in with the Bell Hop Person (or whatever they are called), so we didn't have to drag all that around with us.
We walked across the street to an ABC store. They had tons of cool stuff, and we bought most of the souvenirs there. I could not believe how many ABC stores they had. We thought that the one across the street was the only one, but they are on almost every corner. Then we got something to eat at Subway. We got to sit outside to eat. It was so much fun. Other then the half naked men and women walking around. It was so different to see so many people in their swim suits (which most of them didn't have much on) just walking around like it was no big deal. But it was kind of cool because then they could just run and jump in the ocean whenever they wanted, without having to worry about getting their regular clothes wet.
Then it was time that we could go get our room keys and get "settled" in. We were checking in and told the lady what had happened, and she said "Well it isn't all bad. They've upgraded your room to an ocean view room." We were so excited. We were on the top floor and could see everything below us. We stayed in the room for a little bit to rest. Then called the kids to tell them good night. Since there is a 4 hour time difference, we had to tell them good night at 4:00 Hawaiian time, which felt really weird.
Then we went and walked around. Found a "Flee Market" where Nick bought be a pearl. We got to pick the oyster, then their tradition is we had to hold the knife together, tap it three times, then say "ALOHA". It was pretty cool. I had my choices down to 2 oysters and Nick made the final decision. Then we did the tradition, and the guy opened it for me. It's a huge pink pearl. The guy said he had never seen one so pink, that was natural. Most of the pink ones are dyed. I was so excited. He showed us a couple of ring settings, and we finally found one we liked. It's got open swirls on the sides, so I can put the kids' birthstones in and some diamonds. See the picture below:
It's a little blurry, but hopefully you can see it okay.
Then we wandered around some more. Nick bought me a Fresh Flower Lei and the lady gave me a flower for my hair, to match. We walked around the market some more and found T-Shirts for Nick that were 7 for $20.00. We also found some silk ties - 2 for $20.00. They are really cool. Once we were done at the market we walked over to the beach, but it was so crowded, that we didn't stay long. We grabbed some Fries and a Coke from Burger King, and went back to our room. After we ate we were off again, and as we were waiting for the elevator I looked out the window and saw a hill. It was so pretty... only half was lit up by house lights and the other half was completely dark. The windows were also cool, so I had to take a picture of them too. This time we walked down the street the other way. A guy who was tying balloons said that I had to have a balloon because I was so pretty, and Nick got one because he was with me. I think he just wanted us to stop hoping we would pay for them. He made Nick a hat and me two flowers. We gave him some money for it. :) We stopped by the Market again because we wanted to get our picture taken in front of the waterfall there, and found a cute family who did, and we took one of them. We started to get really tired by now, we have been up for almost 24 hours. So we went back to our room watched a movie on TV and went to sleep.
Also, our hotel had some people playing music and had dancers. It was really neat!!!
It was a really fun day!!! I will post a slide of just our first day!
We left home around 4:30 A.M. Got to the airport and checked in (we used the sky cap that is outside, it was so much easier), and then went inside, found the terminal, and waited to board the plane. Poor Nick had a migraine, and got sick. He gets those now, ever since he had is fall at work. I felt so bad for him, and so helpless. I didn't know how to help him, other than saying a prayer. We boarded the plane about 5:45 and left just minutes after we boarded. It was a small plane, because we just flew into L.A. I'm not sure what big city we flew over, I thought it was Las Vegas, but I couldn't tell for sure. But I got a fun picture of the city lights.
We arrived in L.A. and had about a 2 hour layover then boarded the huge plane for Hawaii. It was 3 seats - isle - 5 seats - isle - 2 seats and it had probably about 50 rows, not counting first class. Nick and I had the 2 seats so we didn't have to sit by anyone else.
The movie they played was Speed Racer. We were going to take the kids to see it when it first came out, but when we found out that almost the whole movie was shot in front of a green screen, it kind of ruined it for us. So we didn't end up going to see it. But it was actually a pretty good movie. The special effects were pretty good. I bought a crossword puzzle book in the SLC airport, took my scriptures, and a hand held solitaire game. So I stayed pretty busy. Nick tried to sleep most of the way and took some medicine, so once we got to Hawaii he was feeling pretty good. It's about a 5 hour flight from L.A. to Oahu, but they are 4 hours behind Utah time. So we arrived in Oahu at 11:30 A.M. That was so nice. We had the whole day.
The clouds were so thick that we weren't able to see any of the ocean from the time we left L.A. to the time we got to the Islands. Which probably was a good thing since I was so nervous about flying over it.
When we came to the Islands of Hawaii, it was so cool. You could see where there were coral reefs, where the water was more shallow then in other spots, and even see the waves. On Oahu the landing strip for the planes is out in the ocean. You could look out the windows and see water on both sides of you... it was SO COOL!!! The airport is so neat... most of it is just open, no doors or windows, just frames and the open air. We had to walk a little ways to the baggage claim, then waited for a few minutes outside for our shuttle to arrive.
The shuttle had one other hotel to stop at and then dropped us off. We went inside to check in, and they couldn't find our reservation. Then they found it, but had us down as checking in the week before. We told them "No, we are supposed to be checking in today, see our addendum." Then they had to get their reservation people on the phone, but couldn't because they were closed for Sunday. The lady got her manager and she talked to our reservation place. After about an hour they got us a room and said they would straighten it out tomorrow (Monday), but we had to give them our credit card so they could charge us for the room in case they couldn't find our reservation. We were so tired and frustrated by this point that we just gave them our card, but they assured us that they wouldn't charge anything on it. So we finally got that all taken care of, but then they told us that we couldn't check in until 3:00. Luckily we had checked our luggage in with the Bell Hop Person (or whatever they are called), so we didn't have to drag all that around with us.
We walked across the street to an ABC store. They had tons of cool stuff, and we bought most of the souvenirs there. I could not believe how many ABC stores they had. We thought that the one across the street was the only one, but they are on almost every corner. Then we got something to eat at Subway. We got to sit outside to eat. It was so much fun. Other then the half naked men and women walking around. It was so different to see so many people in their swim suits (which most of them didn't have much on) just walking around like it was no big deal. But it was kind of cool because then they could just run and jump in the ocean whenever they wanted, without having to worry about getting their regular clothes wet.
Then it was time that we could go get our room keys and get "settled" in. We were checking in and told the lady what had happened, and she said "Well it isn't all bad. They've upgraded your room to an ocean view room." We were so excited. We were on the top floor and could see everything below us. We stayed in the room for a little bit to rest. Then called the kids to tell them good night. Since there is a 4 hour time difference, we had to tell them good night at 4:00 Hawaiian time, which felt really weird.
Then we went and walked around. Found a "Flee Market" where Nick bought be a pearl. We got to pick the oyster, then their tradition is we had to hold the knife together, tap it three times, then say "ALOHA". It was pretty cool. I had my choices down to 2 oysters and Nick made the final decision. Then we did the tradition, and the guy opened it for me. It's a huge pink pearl. The guy said he had never seen one so pink, that was natural. Most of the pink ones are dyed. I was so excited. He showed us a couple of ring settings, and we finally found one we liked. It's got open swirls on the sides, so I can put the kids' birthstones in and some diamonds. See the picture below:
It's a little blurry, but hopefully you can see it okay.
Then we wandered around some more. Nick bought me a Fresh Flower Lei and the lady gave me a flower for my hair, to match. We walked around the market some more and found T-Shirts for Nick that were 7 for $20.00. We also found some silk ties - 2 for $20.00. They are really cool. Once we were done at the market we walked over to the beach, but it was so crowded, that we didn't stay long. We grabbed some Fries and a Coke from Burger King, and went back to our room. After we ate we were off again, and as we were waiting for the elevator I looked out the window and saw a hill. It was so pretty... only half was lit up by house lights and the other half was completely dark. The windows were also cool, so I had to take a picture of them too. This time we walked down the street the other way. A guy who was tying balloons said that I had to have a balloon because I was so pretty, and Nick got one because he was with me. I think he just wanted us to stop hoping we would pay for them. He made Nick a hat and me two flowers. We gave him some money for it. :) We stopped by the Market again because we wanted to get our picture taken in front of the waterfall there, and found a cute family who did, and we took one of them. We started to get really tired by now, we have been up for almost 24 hours. So we went back to our room watched a movie on TV and went to sleep.
Also, our hotel had some people playing music and had dancers. It was really neat!!!
It was a really fun day!!! I will post a slide of just our first day!
Comments
Maybe one day we can all Vacation there together!!