We made it to Hawaii!

Hawaii!

 

I didn’t think I was going to blog this trip, but once we got started, I realized that I was writing it in head sort of automatically – autopilot, as it were – so at 3:48 am Hawaii time, decided that if I didn’t want to forget anything, I’d better get up and start typing!  So … our trip to Hawaii in February, 2024 with Debby!  Here we are!

 

A few months ago, I saw an incredible airfare to Hawaii come across my email … and, while I knew we would just be coming back from France, I just couldn’t resist the offer.  Sometimes sales are like that!  We also invited our dear friend Debby Rotstein to come with us, knowing that she loves to travel.  And, while she traveled with her late husband Art annually to the islands, she hadn’t really spent much time at all on Oahu.  So … the decision was made and the tickets were purchased! 

 

We left Tucson on Monday morning, picking Debby up at 6 am for the approximately 8 hour drive to my wonderful sister’s house in Southern California, where we’re staying the night.  Kitty, my amazing sister, had planned on making dinner for us, but as she had had a fairly large group over for the Super Bowl, we convinced her that dinner at the Silver Palace, a local Chinese restaurant would be a good alternative.  And it was!  Truly amazing Chinese food – I think we must have brought 3 pounds back home with us! – and I wish we had a place like that in Tucson!

 

Kitty, bless her wonderful heart, then got up VERY early in the morning so that we could be on the road to LAX at 4:20 am.  There was quite a bit of traffic even at that hour (we are talking Los Angeles here…) but we were at LAX a few minutes before 5 am and into Southwest’s Terminal 1. 

 

Southwest, being incredibly efficient, we had our mobile boarding passes and just had to print out our baggage claim tickets to put on the suitcases, and hand them in.  Then through TSA-Pre check, and we were at the gate before 5:20 am, with the flight set to leave at 7:20.   

 

We boarded our 737 Max and I was really surprised to find that the seats were really spacious and comfortable!  We had more room than when we came back a few weeks ago on American from Paris to DFW, and we were in Premium Economy!  Incredible!  The flight did include a lot of families, most of whom were fairly well behaved … I was also very surprised to find that Southwest provides free movies, which Debby and I were able to watch on our iPads, and R on his phone.  Additionally, I think that we are more accustomed to the longer, international flights, so that 5 hours 38 minutes really didn’t seem like that long – at least it didn’t to me, and soon the flight attendants were describing the islands over which we were flying!

 

Landed and headed to baggage claim, and WOW!  That lovely Hawaii air … could feel my skin just soaking up that moisture!  SO different from Tucson, that’s for sure!  Our luggage came off the plane fairly quickly, so no anxiety there.  All in all, a very comfortable and impressive trip on Southwest!

 

Next thing was to pick up the car.  Headed across the street to the rental car center, but as I am a regular renter with Budget, there was my name on the kiosk, so we could avoid any lines, waiting, or signing.  We got directly into our lovely Nissan Rogue and loaded up the bags; everything was able to fit into the back, which was great!  (Because Debby was with us, I reserved an intermediate, rather than a compact or economy this time.)

 

Out into a beautiful day, about 75 degrees, just about noontime; perfect Hawaiian weather!  As they say here:  ALOHA!  

 

We’ve rented a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom penthouse condo for the week, and couldn’t get in until 3 pm, so we had a few hours to kill.  So…first stop, Costco to pick up a few items (wine, snacks, fruit).  Parking lot was crowded, but once inside, it wasn’t bad at all!  First thing I found was a very nice pair of mint green linen shorts!  Wow!  

Walking into our Penthouse!

Living room

View with Diamond Head in the distance

Ali Wai Canal

Where R found his shrimp

And we found Mexican food!

City to ocean view from our dining room

From there, as we were hungry, we decided as there was a Tommy Bahama’s in town, we would go for a light lunch – we each had bowls of their wonderful crab bisque (incredible!) and split a coconut shrimp appetizer, along with nice cold glasses of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  Then, off to get into our apartment.

 

It was literally just 3 minutes away from Fort DeRussy, on a quiet street, but as it is part of a much larger hotel, it took us a minute or two to figure out the instructions.  Robert, however, managed to get the keys out of the lockbox and then we found the parking garage and we were in!

 

What a lovely apartment!  We are in a privately-owned penthouse suite on the 40^th floor of the Waikiki Monarch Hotel, right next to the Ala Wai Canal, with spectacular views of Waikiki and, off in the distance, Diamondhead.

 

After bringing in the luggage and goodies from Costco and unpacking and relaxing a bit, (Debby and I had to have a welcoming glass of Prosecco; R, some Sauvignon Blanc) we decided to get some dinner, but nothing elaborate, since we were not terribly hungry.   I, looking to the street way down below, noticed a collection of food trucks just next to our building, so down we went to check them out.  Perfect!  Spicy shrimp (very messy but good) on rice for R, potato asada (baked potato and carne asada) for me and a shrimp quesadilla for Debby (who vows to have fish every day, but has not yet found her perfect fish taco … but it’s early days yet!)

R's messy garlic grilled shrimp

My baked potato aside

Debby's shrimp quesadilla

Evening falling in Waikiki!

R enjoying his dinner!

Back to the apartment.  By about 6:00, Robert needed a nap.  Apparently, he still has not yet completely recovered from his case of jet lag following our trip to France a few weeks ago and now, shifting three more time zones added to the problem, so he slept soundly until about 11:30 – 5½ hours.  After that, he was up and down apparently, until 4:30, when he finally got up to find me writing at the computer!  Oh well!  At some point I suppose we’ll all be back to normal!

 

So, that’s it for getting here!  Today (Tuesday, Valentine’s Day!) we’ve got a Docent-led tour of Iolani Palace, and then a reservation at The Pig and Lady for dinner.  I’m still not sure about the restaurant … going to have to look at the menu again … so! 

 

More later!

Much love,

m

xxx