A story of Pineapples and Pearl Harbor

"I think Hawaii would be a good place."  He said.  "Everyone who's been there says it's wonderful."  Hmm.....  Hawaii?  Do you know, it's not ever been on my radar.  I don't even THINK about the place and a as a holiday destination for New Year? The time difference, the jet lag.... You must be mad. 

Two months later.  I have done just about all the research I can manage.  The choices for Hawaii are huge - each island has it's own 'flavour' and I had no idea where we might find a great combination of bustle and hustle and sun and good food. I enlist the help of Journeywoman - a great website for women travellers - and a very good friend here in Tokyo who knows it really well.  It all boils down to this being the very first visit to Hawaii and what we want to do.  So.... Oahu gets the vote and, we figured, if we are going to Oahu, then we might as well stay in the centre of  it all - Waikiki.

So following an amazing Christmas here in Tokyo we boarded a flight to Honolulu one evening.  I must just do a small aside here - if you ever hear me saying I'm using a Delta flight, please, please, please fell free to slap me.  They were, quite possibly, the very worst airline we have ever been on.  We had great seats, so that wasn't the problem but members of the cabin crew were astonishingly, laughingly the very worst we have met.  They were rude, loud and very clumsy.  They shouted at the passengers (us!) to demand a choice for the meal and then proceeded to throw the meal onto the tray in front of us - missing Dave's and thus making for a rather hilarious scramble for the hot dish before it hit the floor.  Dave has lost none of his rugby skills and was there like a shot - something to do with food driving him on I think!  Anyway..

Waikiki was everything we'd hoped.  After a bit of a wait (we did arrive very early in the morning and they were full), we had a wonderful room with a fabulous view of the beach and ocean beyond. It was busy and bustly and full.  We soon learnt to book restaurants days in advance and found wandering off site was the best thing to do.  We found some amazing places to eat - some better than others and we also found a fabulous bar with a Jazz Duo who really engaged with their audience (of about ten on some evenings).  It's a little known spot it seems, but was a real find.  We spent a few evenings in there and always found something to celebrate!

One of the surreal moments was whilst booking sunbeds - the phone in the booth rang.  The ring tone?  Hawaii Five O!!  I had to pinch myself.  We were actually staying in the very hotel that is used as a base for the Hawaii Five O team and we had seen the place on the TV before we even arrived.  As you can imagine, it's hopeless now.  When it's on the TV I cannot concentrate on the story line - I keep shouting "IWe were there, we were there;  that's the bar we had lunch in!!"  Very irritating for a certain member of the family!

We spent time seeing something of the island.  We visited a high end Mall, a low end Walmart and also wondered about in Waikiki which seems to favour all the designer stores.  We did Pearl Harbor - that was fascinating.  I had been to the Japanese museum here in Tokyo and knew that side of the story so was very impressed by the even-handedness of the US in their telling of the story.  The sheer ingenuity of the Japanese came across clearly.

We visited North Shore too.  We saw some HUGE waves and some very brave people surfing in them....

On the way over to the North Side we passed the Dole pineapple plantation.  We arrived very early in the morning and were able to move around very easily.  We took a little train ride through the plantation and learnt about pineapples and what they do with them!  Then came the yummy bit:.......

The gardens around the plantation were worth a look see too but time was tight - we had a schedule to keep.



 

New Year's Eve was a spectacular event, billed as the greatest thing in Waikiki.  Well, that mya well have been so.  We had a top notch dinner and watched some fabulous singers and three well known Hawaiin Divas who had got together again just for this event.  Two of the three sould sing well - the other one?  Not so well really but they had a lot of fun.  We sat on a table with some lovely people and entered into the spirit of the evening - getting up to dance with the singers when asked!  Great fun - lovely evening and a very different way to spend New Year's Eve!

Finally the Hawaiin Sunsets: