Adventures In Aloha Land Day 1 (really long!)

Finally getting a chance to give yall my trip report from Sept!

The night before my flight I packed and worried and fretted until about 4:00am. I was leaving my amputee 83 year old father here in the house alone….was I doing the right thing? Since my mom died 5 years ago, I hadn’t really left him for much time at all. He is in a wheelchair and does most things for himself, but he is not as healthy as he used to be and forgetful…anyhow, I was a baby saying goodbye to him. He actually did great!

So, woke up after 3 hours fitful sleep and got the last minute stuff together and myself dressed. The cab horn sounded and off I went to the airport. I was lucky enough to have first class seats, not much difference from here to Atlanta….but boarded first and had plenty of legroom as I had a bulkhead seat. Short hop from Charleston, SC to Atlanta. Uneventful landing…the best kind.
Got my considerably heavy carry on together and walked through the airport. I decided a cushy neck pillow was just what I needed so I bought a bright pink one. (Buy one of these at home before you leave, they are much cheaper.) Got some breakfast and bottled water and it was time for my flight straight to Honolulu.

The first class on Delta was fabulous. They have individual monitors at your seat that fold up from the arm rest. They had 2 movies, but they also had sitcoms and other pretty cool stuff to watch. That kept me from taking a nap for most of the flight. They also had a screen that you could look at to see where the plane was flying over and how fast we were going, altitude and wind direction and speed. Pretty cool. Yes, I am a dork. The man next to me was very nice, friendly but not intrusive. They seemed to feed you every few minutes, I never even used the water or snacks I brought in my bag.

We hit some bad weather just before we got to the islands. The pilot told us we would have some turbulence. That was a little scary but we never hit anything too bad. The sky was really dark and ominous as we came to Oahu. The cloud cover was so thick you couldn’t see Diamond Head L . But as we came around the south side of the island and approached the airport from the west, it cleared up a good bit and there was a BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW right over the airport. I felt very welcomed to the island by the sky!

After getting off the plane, I made my way to baggage claim. It was about 7pm by this time. I found my bags and also found the really nice man with the limousine service a friend hired to bring me to my hotel. He helped me get my luggage and gave me a beautiful lei. I had to call him a couple of times to get the time right, they switched my flight number in Atlanta (boring not worth mentioning story). Inside the limo he had all kinds of wonderful fruit juices to choose from and a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts! :) He chatted very pleasantly the whole way in to town, pointing things out to me as went. He was very friendly and knowledgeable. I will have to look up his name and info as I am typing this on my laptop outside.

We pulled up to the Outrigger Waikiki On The Beach about 9pm. Kalaukaua was really hopping. The bellman got my luggage and showed me where the escalator was located to reach the lobby. The lobby is beautiful with a huge outrigger canoe in the center. The front desk ladies were very sweet. I was exhausted from the plane trip and the time difference. You sit down and they look up your reservation. They had all my information and the room was prepaid. I used Hawaii Connections. They had the cheapest rates and were excellent to work with.

The bellman showed me to my room. He opened the door to a beautiful immaculate room. The view was of the hotel next door and of the water. The moon was very bright and the lights so I could see the waves gently rolling in to the sand. I was right above where the beach boys keep their surfboards chained up at night! :) The room had a king or maybe queen size bed, a couch, desk and television cabinet, and dresser. The bathroom was huge and had a separate little alcove for hanging your clothes and a free in room safe. Then a sliding door into the area with the toilet and bathtub/shower. The bellman showed me how to use everything and I tipped him for his trouble. The bathroom was excellent for a girl! :) There was a lighted mirror hanging on the wall and plenty of outlets. Underneath the counter was a refrigerator stocked with a couple of complimentary bottles of ice cold water.

I was starving and sleepy. Decided to head downstairs to the infamous Dukes! It was really crowded. I walked in to the bar area and tried to get a drink. I wanted to try the famous lava flows yall all talk about! Well, I couldn’t figure out why I was not getting served. I stood behind some folks at the bar forever. Finally, a little miffed, I went upstairs to the Hula Grill for dinner. I was beginning to think this whole traveling to Hawaii on my own thing was not such a good idea after all! Maybe they had some problem with women alone in the bar? I was VERY pouty about it. The view from the Hula Grill was excellent. Really beautiful. The water at night was breathtaking. I was seated right on the rail, very lovely restaurant. My waiter took forever to wait on me, I was really becoming one unhappy hungry sleepy single woman. Not a good combination folks!

Finally, he comes up and say Aloha can I bring you something to drink? Before I have a chance to complain, he then tells me about how he just had this huge collision in the kitchen and he had been cleaning all that up and didn’t see me. It mad the situation so much better, I have waited tables, I know how it can be. It didn’t hurt matters that he was adorable! J So my night started getting better. I ordered the filet, it was to die for, the beef was perfectly cooked, the vegetables were seasoned just right. I also had a couple of really great lava flows! LOVE THEM.

After my meal, he asked if I would like some dessert. I looked at the menu and chose the hula pie. OH MY GOD! That thing is monstrous! So, I did what any red blooded woman would do…….I ate all of the chocolate syrup off of it! :)

After paying my tab and chatting with my waiter, I went happily up to my room, walked out on the balcony and took a few pics. Then I turned on the tv and crashed. I slept so hard I didn’t even notice the TV was on until the next morning! More of adventures in aloha land later. Hope this wasn’t too detailed and boring!