Blog: Honolulu after delays and 30 hours of travelling
Christine Reed from Travelworld Exmouth is on a fam trip to Hawaii with the One Stop Touring Shop and Hawaii Tourism. She arrived to start the tour after a five-hour delay in San Francisco.
We were met by Kuku at the airport with fresh Lei (flower garland) – which we really didn’t expect that at 3am!
We were then transferred to the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort where Michael the tour manager was also waiting for us. He’d already arranged check in so we were finally able to get to bed. After about 30 hours of travelling I honestly fell in love with my bed that night, best feeling ever.
After a couple of hours’ sleep we headed down for breakfast. They had everything you can imagine for breakfast, including an amazing omelette station. I would highly recommend this.
We began today with a tour of Pearl Harbour. At the visitor centre, we watched a 30-minute documentary which explained why the Japanese attacked on Sunday 7th December 1941. It was really interesting to watch.
Following the video we took a boat ride to the USS Arizona memorial site. Here they list all the names of the deceased that were entombed in the Arizona. They also have ex-military volunteers who are there to answer any questions and one gentleman was explaining what happened on that fateful day to sink the ship.
There were also additional museums within the Pearl Harbour visitor centre, including the Bowfin Submarine which costs $10 to go inside. We also saw the US Missouri Battleship, but only from a distance.
Then we took a drive through Punch Bowl Crater, where the military are laid to rest if they achieved the Medal of Honor. From Punch Bowl, there were incredible views over Honolulu.
We stopped at Maui Divers where we watched jewellery being made in the work shop.
We then headed back to the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort where we had a site inspection followed by cocktails on the terrace looking over stunning views of Waikiki!
Dinner was at the Beach House Moana Surfrider, where we also had a site inspection. We dined à la carte right on the ocean front, able to watch the hundreds of surfers as they waited for the perfect wave! The meal was phenomenal – one of our party (Allison from US Airtours) had lobster, whilst the rest of us had tender steak.
We then walked along Waikiki Beach and sat down to watch a huge firework display courtesy of Maybelline, who happened to be having a celebration in the area.
We walked back through town, soaking up the atmosphere of Waikiki’s nightlife.
Diane
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