Hawaii: Flight Day (Tuesday, 1 April 08)

We’re happy to report our flight day was uneventful, just as one would hope it would be. It began with a 3:30 AM pickup for Dave and Linda, then a 5:00 AM drop off at Philadelphia airport for breakfast and a 7:00 AM flight. We stopped in Phoenix for gas, directions, and a new plane (as the first one seemed to have a lot of warn-out parts). Unfortunately, the second one wasn’t much better but it got us across the Pacific to Honolulu just 30 minutes late (about 10:00 PM at home). Just as we were trying to figure out how to get our “transfer” to the airport, there she was! Someone was holding an Apple Vacations sign with our name on it!

We got lei’d and then escorted to baggage claim … and on to our hotel … on Waikiki beach!
About all we had the energy to do tonight was to have a nice meal in the hotel (first one all day) at Duke’s Canoe Club and hastily plan for the next morning. Then we crashed for the first real sleep Pam and Tom had had in about 48 hours.
Of course, that was AFTER we ejected our lei (string of orchids) to live on the lanai of our hotel, on the other side of the glass, so we could breath.

Day One – Hawaii Food Tours’ “The Hole in the Wall Tour” (Wednesday)

We’re alive! (sort of). After a breakfast at the Hula Grille, on a lanai overlooking Waikiki Beach, we eagerly awaited our introductory event to Hawaii: a tour, led by the chef and food critic for the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper, Matthew Gray, that would take us to all kinds of places for local food that we would probably never find or consider visiting if we weren’t with someone local. We were in front of our hotel at the appointed time … no tour van. Five minutes later … no tour van. I called them: “Oh, THAT Outrigger Hotel!! We’ll be right there!”.

With that little “oops” out of the way, we were off and running, sampling breakfast sandwiches at the Royal Kitchen, Coco Puffs pastries at Liliha Bakery, everything from exotic fruits to dried fruits to rice noodles to several kinds of pork dishes as we were led around Honolulu’s Chinatown. Our last stop in Chinatown was a Northern Indian restaurant called Zaffron … then on to our final dessert stop at Leanord’s Bakery for Malasadas (Portuguese donuts). They even have a Malasadas Day! It’s the same as our Pennsylvania Dutch Fasnacht Day … same idea … still donuts … still the day before Ash Wednesday!

It was time to bid farewell to our new friends, Matthew and Keira, and return to our hotel … very tired.

Here is a slide show of hopefully the best of the groups' pictures of the "Hole in the Wall" tour with Matthew and Keira. Enjoy!




We had drinks at Dukes, then started to share some pictures from our four cameras to our 2 laptops, then had every good intention of walking on the beach for sunset. But, alas, Pam and Tom were again exhausted and excused themselves from evening activities and slept for 10 straight hours. Hopefully, that will begin to reinvigorate us for the coming days. We’ll have to see what adventures Dave and Linda may have had while we slept … dinner? Jazz club? Shopping?

Thursday morning will be all about a ukulele factory!