Travel Tales: Hawaii 2004, Part Five

Day six began with a search for the bus to take us to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling. After walking around for what felt like an hour, we finally had to ask directions, only to be sent back in the direction of our own hotel, where the bus was across the street!

We arrived at Hanauma Bay and had to wait on a very long line to get inside to watch a special video about what NOT to do while snorkeling. While this was an important thing to hear, Kara and I, of course, had to come up with our own ridiculous list of things you must NEVER to to fish. It reads as follows:

1. Lick

2. Poke

3. Take and Eat

4. Flirt with

5. Shoot

6. Pee on

7. Spear

8. Filet

9. Step on

10. Tease/Taunt

11. Insult

12. Rile up

We were also particularly entertained by the female employee who had apparantly seen the video so many times, she liked to sing along with the music!

We finally got down to the beach to snorkel. We rented equipment and got right to it, discovering that snorkeling gear is not an attractive look for anyone. We stayed together for a while, looking at fish, and not going too far past the reef because of the threat of turtles (you CAN go see them, but as I have a strange, irrational fear of being near turtles…).

After a couple hours of snorkeling (cut short by rain!), we headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for dinner. No chain restaurant – we were headed for the luau!

We met our bus and started the one hour drive to Paradise Cove. We had a tour guide of sorts on the bus who called us all a family and mentioned that we would be sitting together at the luau once the buffet had started. She also gave us a run down of all the things we could do once we were there, and then we settled in. Kara “made friends” with two guys sitting in front of her, who we’re pretty sure didn’t know how old she was (Lindsay started singing “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” as a hint). We also quickly discovered that one of them was a bigot, as he kept making inappropriate comments about various ethnic groups.

Once we were at the luau, we practiced our spear throwing (which we were all REALLY bad at) and made leis. Then it was time for the festivities to start! There was a ceremony with hula dancing as they dug the smoked pig out of the sand, and then on to the buffet dinner and the show. We watched more hula dancing, but the most interesting thing were the ones that performed with fire.

Towards the end of the show, they started announcing all the buses that had arrived, and each table would cheer for their tour guide. This became increasingly amusing and irritating at the same time, particularly when they announced a guy named Mark’s bus, and Lindsay yelled, “Screw Mark!” for me and Kara to hear. However, she was overheard by a honeymooning couple in our group who started laughing hysterically!

Then it was back to the hotel to prepare all our bags for our departure the next day. Our last day in Hawaii was not particularly exciting. We packed our things, made sure we didn’t forget anything and then headed to Lindsay’s dorm to hang out for the day (our flight being at night). We ordered pizza, continued to make fun of Kara’s sunburn and said our goodbyes before heading to the airport. After a long flight, with a stopover in Los Angeles (which, strangely enough, would be our next trip together, and the subject of the next edition of travel tales), we were home!

Travel Tales: Hawaii 2004, Part Four

Our adventures in Hawaii continued the next day with a trip to the aquarium. Apparantly Kara and I can’t get enough of the animals! (Actually, we had tried to go the aquarium the day before but couldn’t find it, ending up at the zoo instead!) Lindsay was back with us again, and with her help, we made it there. We spent a nice afternoon walking around looking at the fish (among other things we found Nemo) – at one point Kara got to hold some of sea creatures during a demonstration. When we got to the seals tank we were all concerned that one of them was dead because it was floating straight up and it’s body was not moving – but it turned out it just slept that way!

That night, on our way home from dinner, we were standing on a corner waiting to cross the street when a car full of boys poked their heads out and tried to take pictures of us. “Cheese! Say cheese!” the one holding the camera called.

“This is just one of those times you wish you had Sabrina [the Teenage Witch]-like powers,” I said to Kara and Lindsay.

Lindsay answered, “Yeah, so you can just make their car fill with cheese.”

“Actually, I was thinking along the lines of Velveeta,” I said. “And it wouldn’t fill the car, but coat it in a protective bubble.”

“Yeah, so they would have to eat their way out,” Kara added.

Yeah… I really don’t know what sparks these things, but when you get us started, we’ll just keep going!

The next day, Lindsay headed back to school and Kara and I decided to exprience some US history. We headed to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona Memorial. It turned out to be a day full of waiting around. When you visit Pearl Harbor, only a certain amount of people can head onto the memorial at any given time, and so we had to take a number and wait for our group to be called. As we waited, we engaged in one of our favorite activities: people watching!

Aside from Kona, our tour guide from the other day who just happened to be at the memorial with another tour that day, we also saw the Appleton North Band, which included a member with two hooks for hands. Neither of us could figure out just what instrument he played! We also “met” Amber, the stuffed dolphin doll owned by the girl sitting behind us. Unfortunately, his owner wasn’t so careful with him. After the lei Amber was wearing around one of her fins fell apart, the little girl said, “Mommy, I accidentally broke it!”

We finally got onto the memorial site after watching a short historical film about the event. To get to the memorial, which is a bridge/building built over the wreckage of the USS Arizona (which actually sticks out of the water), you have to take a boat over. Once there, you can look down onto the ship from the bridge and view the room of names of people who died that day. It was all very interesting to see, but it was a little bit eerie that the ship still sticks out of water that was too shallow to swallow it up completely.

Once we were done at Pearl Harbor, we waited for the shuttle to take us back to Pearl Harbor. Finding out we would have to wait an hour for one to arrive, we settled down in some lawn chairs to wait. After a few minutes, Kara asked, “If you had a code name, what would it be?” I don’t remember what either of our answers were, but apparantly the conversation was entertaining enough to occupy us until the shuttle came, and then it was off to lunch in Waikiki.

Later in the afternoon we met up with Lindsay and headed to dinner (chain restaurant of choice that night: T.G.I.Friday’s).

Coming Soon: Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay and the Luau!

Travel Tales: Hawaii 2004, Part Three

Day three of our trip to Hawaii dawned nice and bright (in fact, I don’t think it rained the whole time we were there, and even if it did it was a passing thing, like much of the island). Kara and I were flying solo, as Lindsay had classes to attend. Already dressed in out bathing suits for out beach excursion later in the day, we decided to walk through Waikiki and try to find the zoo, which was easy as long as we stayed on the main street that lined the beach.

The zoo proved to be like most other zoos. The larger animals were less than impressive. Kara and I had a discussion about how the lions and tigers never seem to do anything when you visit them in the zoo. We both agreed it was because they felt that they were interesting enough to just look at, prompting me to comment (in the “voice” of a tiger), “I’m a tiger. I know I’m impressive, so gaze at me whilst I while away the hours on my rock.”

The highlight of our zoo trip, however, had to be the evil peacock that almost attacked us. As we were walking down a path towards the cheetahs, we were blocked by a peacock showing us his full plumage. As we started to walk past it, it made whatever sound a peacock makes. There was no other way around, so we simply watched the animal for a few moments. We were “saved” by the arrival of other guests who wanted to take a picture of the creature. Forcing it to turn sideways, we “escaped” the bird by sneaking behind it while it was distracted by others! We left the zoo soon after.

We picked up a quick lunch and then headed to the beach for the first time on our trip. It was there that we encountered Diaper Man for the first time! Diaper Man, we would later assume, was a regular at this particular beach. He had quite a tan going for himself, and he slicked his blond hair back. His black bathing suit was rolled up at the legs and tucked in, giving the whole thing the look of wearing a diaper. His large gut hang out over the top of his bathing suit, and he stood wading in the calf-deep water holding a large Burger King cup. As it turned out, this was one of his favorite pastimes, as we saw him each time we returned to the same beach.

The last of the day’s excitement was after we returned to the hotel to wait for Lindsay so we could go have dinner (our chain restaurant of the evening was Red Lobster). Kara, who is notorious for getting a sunburn on her cheeks, had been very careful about applying sunscreen to the problem area. However, she neglected to put it on the rest of her body, resulting in a bright pink sunburn across her chest and shoulders! She spent most of the night standing in front of the air conditioner to cool it off!

Travel Tales: Hawaii 2004, Part Two

Our adventures in Hawaii began bright and early on the morning of April 4, when we headed out on the “Circle Island Tour.” As mentioned in a previous, “quote-of-the-day” post, our tour guide’s name was Kona, like the coffee. He picked us up at the hotel and we began our very full day of sightseeing.

Our first stop was the Dole Pineapple Pavilion, where we enjoyed “pineapple whip,” a frozen dessert. Kara and I thought it tasted kind of like cheesecake. The pavilion also had a maze of hedges we could walk through, but we didn’t pay the extra money to do it (plus, it looked really easy – you could see the middle from the starting point!). Instead, we walked around the plantation and discovered just how many miles from home we were (4,972).

From the pineapple paviliion we saw more of the island, including a stop at a Macadamia Nut Fam, where we were able to sample the many different varieties. Kara was particularly fascinated, however, by the automatic paper towel dispenser in the bathroom!

We ended up having lunch at a golf club/course (the Ko’olau Golf Club). During the meal, two wayward birds managed to get into the restaurant. They didn’t cause any trouble though – they simply walked around as though they had every right to be inside the building (which I suppose they did!). The golf club provided it’s own bathroom fascination as well – the bathroom was the size of an apartment, with a large seating area that looked as though you could hold an entire business conference!

Also around the golf club were some of the scenes used in “Jurassic Park,” which you can see by helicopter (we didn’t have time for that!).

Other sights seen on the tour were the Diamond Head Crater, Chinaman’s Hat (an island in that shape; we saw it from the bus), the “From Here to Eternity” beach and Hanauma Bay (which we only saw briefly on this day, but went to a few days later).

After the tour, dinner was at Outback (the first in a series of chain restaurants we went to), and we headed back to the hotel, but not after a stop at one of the ABC (All Blocks Covered) stores that grace EVERY SINGLE street!

Coming Soon: Day Three!

Travel Tales: Hawaii 2004, Part One

This entry is the first of our tales from our trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as the first of the “Travel Tales” series of the blog. Periodically I will post stories about our roving adventures through the world, in bits and pieces, since some will be very lengthy.

On April 3, 2004, Kara and I boarded a plane in Newark, New Jersey, ready for our two-leg journey to Honolulu, Hawaii. We had been planning and anticipating the trip for months. It was a chance to visit Lindsay at school and to see a state neither of us had ever been to! We were really excited to get there, but not at all looking forward to the 11-hour travel itinerary ahead of us. However, it had to be done and so we got on the plane and landed several hours later in Houston, Texas.

The first sight that greeted us from the airplane was what became known as the “Sludge River,” a brownish-yellow looking body of water, and the views did not become more impressive. Because we were simply in the state for a short layover before boarding our much longer flight to Honolulu, we never really saw the outside of the Houston airport. It was simply a chance for Kara and I to say, “Hey we’re in Texas!” However, it did have it’s uses: we managed to get chips, miniature Snickers and Creme Savers (a breakfast of Champions, clearly), which then gave me the world’s biggest stomachache (not good for a seven hour plane ride!). The airline (Continental) also provided us with a food – pretzels and a nut roll. We spent the entire flight (stomachache aside) watching the movies on the individual screens.

When we touched down in Hawaii, we could hardly believe we were finally there! We got our luggage immediately – in fact, it was the fastest I have ever received luggage in an airport (it was actually crusing along down the conveyor belt when we arrived in baggage claim), and then got into a taxi to take us over to the Ambassador Hotel of Waikiki (which has a REALLY cheap internet deal). Checking in caused a problem when they wouldn’t take my expired driver’s license as i.d. (which is just stupid – expired or not, it’s STILL my picture – I didn’t expire!). However, everything ended up working out and we settled down into the hotel room (see picture below). Just minutes later, Lindsay arrived bearing Orangina and after looking at the views from the hotel room a bit, we headed out for dinner.

We had dinner at Buca di Beppo, a family-style Italian place in Honolulu (which translates to massive amounts of food, the only way to eat!). Next to our table a family was celebrating Bill’s 50th Birthday Party. We had a lot of fun watching the raucous group enjoy their party, and we all agreed that Bill bore a striking resemblance to Henry Winkler.

After dinner, quite full, we headed back to the hotel and fell asleep (the jet-lag having finally caught up with us!).

Coming Soon: Day Two of Hawaii 2004