What an experience! From the time we left Cebu, I started getting sick. Joseph had somehow generously managed to share his lurgy with me…I was coughing, feverish etc and jetlagged on top of that.
Our experience at Honolulu airport wasn’t that great. Getting off the plane, we had to go into a terminal, go up escalators, then wait around for a shuttle bus to take us to another terminal to go through customs. I swear, 4 plane loads of people had arrived and there were seriously only 6 custom officers processing them. Overzealous custom officers too as the whole process just took sooo long. We all had to get digitally photographed and finger printed. It took us over an hour to go through customs and then we got lost trying to find the baggage carousels. I swear, Honolulu airport is the most disorganized airport that I have ever been to. The highlight after all that was getting allocated a stretch limo to take us to our hotel.
We stayed at the Aston Prince Honolulu which is a rather budget hotel right in the heart of Waikiki strip. Fabulous location which is close to a lot of great food and nightlife. We got a family room there which was a 2 bedroom unit with laundry facilities which was great. Yah, call me crazy, but it was good to get a proper washing machine and dryer for all the laundry that we had to do.
Weather in Hawaii wasn’t that great…it was cool and most definitely not beach weather and sadly….our family must be the only people who didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful beaches….we didn’t get to feel sand between our toes or go for a swim. We didn’t make it to a luau….no flower lei…no pineapple drinks with minature umbrellas.
Jeromel and I were so sick for the first couple of days that we spent our time sleeping while the others battled jetlag. It actually got so bad for my body clock that I was awake one night for the whole night….totally unable to sleep and the following day I was a totaly walking zombie but I forced myself to stay away for the day and by night, I was totally overtired and so desperate for sleep that I had to get something to help me sleep.
During my zombified day, we decided to explore our surroundings….
Right at the end of the street ….we see this beautiful sight….a fabulous little mountain which is most likely the side of a volcano and on one side of it….lots and lots of houses! It was usually cloudy while we were in Hawaii and it rained everyday….just short showers….but it rained everyday. It seemed much warmer early in the morning but by early afternoon it cooled down considerably.
This is at the top of our street of our hotel, say a 1 min walk and we’re at the Waikiki Strip…we truly were in a fabulous spot. Top two photos are of the left and right views at the top of our street.
HILO HATTIES SHUTTLE RIDE
In one of the many brochures that us tourists pick up at the airport, Hilo Hatties is featured quite widely…..they have a free shuttle trolley (tram looking bus) which goes all over Waikiki ending at the Hilo Hatties store which sells all the Hawaiian souveniers. So being very budget minded tourists….we hop on…
We see lots of sights on the way and we snap away like the tourists we are!
This was as close as we got to a beach….hehehe!
We actually have lunch here one day and browse at a few of the shops. Guess is on one corner while Armani Xchange is on the other….we thought of Brice!
We get to Hilo Hatties and we’re all greeted with a shell lei! I’m excited….I have been Lei-ed in Hawaii….ok…so it’s not flowers…it wasn’t by a pretty Hawaiian beauty wearing a grass skirt…I can’t be picky….but he wore a hawaiian shirt and he said Aloha……so that’s got to count. Hilo Hatties is home to the World’s Largest Aloha Shirt. It’s got it’s spot in the Guiness Book of Records….the shirt has these ginormous measurements Chest 168 inches, Waist 161 inches and Neck is 61.5 inches. Mammoth!!
Looks like you got a lot of growing to do Jeromel to fit into that shirt.
My little man with the cute toy sea turtles….see the little shell lei around his neck? Jeromel looks quite different here….he had been unwell….so he had really puffy eyes. Poor little man!
My own Aloha man!! And oh yes…he bought the shirt…..so he has something to wear on Loud Shirt day at work! hehehe. Mil bought some souveniers but I left empty handed….I dunno….I’m not really one for souvenirs…but there were a lot of fun things in the shop. There was a thong slipper on a handle….fly swatter. There was a hula girl duster that was very cute. But I resisted….knowing that we still had a long way to go.
LeSports Sac shop near the Waikiki Plaza. They have a gorgeous range of bags at a disgusting price. LOL
Ok…the following photos are from the International Market Plaza which is right across the road from where we live. Absolutely gorgeous little market place surrounded by big beautiful old trees. There is a food court here which we sometimes get our food from.
hehehe…this was my favourite shop at the Market place. The Stupid Factory….they have hilarious tshirts and magnets with funny sayings on them. I ended up buying two little books…one titled ‘Boys are stupid…throw rocks at them’ and the other ‘Girls are Weirdos but they smell pretty’. Very very funny reads!!
LOL…..the macaws were absolutely gorgeous…..and Jeromel thought he might enjoy holding them….but he hadn’t expected how sharp their claws were or how heavy they would be. He doesn’t look like he’s enjoying the experience very much at all!!!
It wasn’t till our last night in Hawaii that we had some fun. Noy Angel and Nang Linda took us out for a drive, dinner and we went to two nightspots to listen to some live music and have a few drinks.
Later we were joined by Luis Gabrillo, Iwing and Aida Gabrillo and unfortunately Gigi Villarta is not on the group shot here.
A quick stop at Nang Gonyang and Amay Silva’s place.
Leaving Honolulu, we had another horrible experience at the airport. The people who work there are just so unhelpful There are so many checks to get all our luggage through and no trolley in sight and once we had checked our luggage in and gone through security check, we had to walk so far to get to our gate. We had to walk all the way from one terminal to the other on the outside footpath….seriously like 3 times the whole length of the outside of tullamarine airport.
