We had an early-ish flight on Thursday morning from Kona to Honolulu, arriving at about 10:30 or so. We picked up the rental car, instantly getting better service once we informed the person behind the counter that we were married. Apparently, she just loves the gays so I’ll take the preferential treatment, thank you very much. In the end we probably didn’t need to hire a car as we didn’t do a lot with our less than 24 hours in Honolulu but it was reasonably convenient to have it.
It was far too early to check-in to our accommodation in Waikiki so we went to Diamond Head, a national park that’s also an historic military site and an extinct volcanic crater. There were a lot of people there—it’s a popular spot—so we joined the queue to park the car in the car park, which didn’t take long.
We then lathered ourselves with suncream and joined the throng of people off to do the ‘hike’ to the top. This involved going along rocky paths in single line formation behind people of varying speeds, and then climbing a lot of stairs, going through a tunnel and up a spiral staircase. It was hot. The sun was beating down. We were puffed by the time we got to the top and were treated to a wonderful view…of young good looking men with their shirts off.
The other view you get from the top is looking down on the crater and then out to the ocean and into the city. The volcano itself is mostly yellow-brown from the heat and presumable lack of rain. If I’d researched this a bit more, I probably would have passed but it was a ‘recommended thing’ from a friend. The exercise was good; the slow people were not. But it got us out and up and doing something.
We then went to Waikiki to where we were staying and unloaded the car of the luggage and then parked the car in the hotel’s nearby parking garage. The room wasn’t ready (it was still early) so we went for lunch at Tommy Banana’s or Cabana’s or something for one of the more unintentionally expensive meals of our five-week trip.
I really liked my food, probably helped along by the two gin and tonics I had. Glen wasn’t so lucky. He didn’t like the cocktail and he didn’t like the salad. And then he definitely didn’t like paying a premium for the privilege. But it killed some time and I left full.
We returned to the hotel and had to wait for a while before getting into our room and unloading our stuff. The room was nice, definitely the nicest hotel we’ve stayed at while in Hawaii. The only downside was that the walls were thin enough that we could hear the people next door having a party, their conversation and the blaring of the television. We wondered how long that would go on for.
Glen wasn’t feeling well so I opted to go for a walk to the beach by myself. Couldn’t really not. The sun was out, the sky was blue, the beach was packed. I walked through the busiest sections around the Hilton and the Sheraton and then kept going down towards the zoo where it got less crowded.
I was anxious about leaving my stuff on the beach and going for a swim but I didn’t like the idea of coming all this way and NOT getting in the water so I took the risk. The water was warm and refreshing and salty…and I didn’t want to get out. I loved it. Plus the section I was in was practically deserted so that made it even better. Unfortunately I only stayed a little while, my time spent watching my stuff on the beach and wondering if someone did swipe it, whether I’d have a hope in hell of stopping them.
I walked back to the hotel, down the fancy street, my shorts dripping wet, carrying my thongs, and shirtless. This got more noticeable the more the shops outshone the beach. It was freeing in a way. I got back into the room and dozed for a while, as much as I could with the noise going on next door.
In the early evening Glen and I went looking for dinner, our first attempt at a tempura restaurant scuppered due to having to wait, so we went back to the Thai restaurant we went to the first night in Hawaii. It wasn’t as good as that night.
There were no plans to go out in the evening and as we had to be up at 4am for our flight back to San Francisco we were in bed by 8:30 and out by 9, ear plugs firmly wedged in. I woke up at quarter to one and could hear the two women in the room next door and their god-awful music. I banged on the wall about five minutes later and that seemed to do the trick. I passed out again, blood pressure going down, and woke up at 4, bleary-eyed and ready for our return journey to Australia. Five weeks had come to an end.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?