Then we got ready for our excursion, which was towline parasailing. This trip was Kendall’s birthday gift from me. We got picked up at the hotel next door to the resort and taken to the docks. We had to wait a little while for the boat, but it gave us time to put on sunblock.
Afterwards, we returned to the hotel to pack our bags. Our flight wasn’t until 5pm, and I asked if we could have a late check out but they weren’t doing that because the hotel was full. So we had to be out of the room by noon. We waited until the last minute and then left. We didn’t want to carry our bags around, so we checked them into luggage storage. We then walked to the Alakai hotel, which is right next to the resort, to try one of their restaurant pancakes. They were supposed to be really good, and they definitely were! We had the option of going to Queen Emma’s Summer Palace or going shopping, but Kendall just wanted to sit at the hotel. So we returned to the resort and found a couch to sit on for about an hour. Then we decided to go to the airport early and wait there. So we got our bags and took an uber to the airport.
The uber driver was funny, but he had an accent so he was hard to understand. He was telling us stories about his previous passengers. Apparently, he had a woman from China and she started taking frantic pictures of the mountain with clouds around it. She thought it was a volcano erupting, because there was a lot news coverage about the volcano on the Big Island. She didn’t realize that there was more than one island, and that Oahu doesn’t have a volcano. She was really sad when she found out she was on the wrong island. Once we got to the airport, we found a wall plug at a gate by ours and sat back to wait. While we were charging and playing on our phones, the guy at the end of our row of chairs looked like he was having issues. He looked like he was asleep, but he kept moaning and contorting himself in weird positions. We were at that airport 3 hours waiting on our plane, and he was still there when we left. I hope he didn’t miss his flight! I let Kendall have the window seat on the way back, even though it was my assigned seat. This time, I focused on watching the Jurassic movies since we had been to that film location. I got to see the scene with the log that I saw at Kualoa Ranch. I also recognized a couple of other locations from our visit. I watched Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on the long flight back. I was excited when we finally landed in Dallas. I showed Kendall how to make it to her terminal, and then got my bags and went home to get some sleep. I didn’t get any sleep on the plane, so I was really tired!
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We had to get up pretty early this morning to make it to the bus stop by 6 a.m. for our Pearl Harbor tour. Before going to the bus area, we went to Starbucks so Kendall could have coffee but it was too crowded. I didn’t expect the line to be that long at 5:45 in the morning! Since it was too long, we had to skip it so we wouldn’t miss our bus. Right after we walked up to the bus area they were calling my name, so we made the right decision. We got on the bus and had to stop at 2 more hotels to pick up passengers. At one of the Sheraton hotels there was a protest going on. Apparently the workers at that hotel were on strike because they were not getting paid enough. Their signs said things like “One job should be enough.” Our bus driver had no sympathy for them. They are working in an unskilled job and then complaining that the pay isn’t enough, and he said they were complaining too much. On the way to Pearl Harbor, our driver told us about the history of the place. About how in World War II Japanese bombers flew in unexpectedly and bombed the ships. There was a radar system, but it just identified planes coming in, not who the planes belonged to. Apparently they saw the planes on the radar, but a group of American fighter jets were expected that day and the commander just thought they were early so they didn’t sound the alarm. So there was no warning when the first bomb hit the first battle ship. It was before 8am, so most of the men were asleep below decks when they were woken up to alarms. The attack lasted only a couple of minutes, and it was over and the ships were sinking before many of the men had made it to the deck. The battleships in the harbor were all lined up together 2 deep. There were 8 of them in 2 columns and 4 rows. As the planes were dropping bombs on Battleship Row, the ships in the middle became trapped because the ships around them were sinking or in the way. One battleship attempted to make it to open water despite having been hit, but this attracted the Japanese attention and they focused on sinking that ship. When the commander realized this, he ran his ship to ground in order to prevent blocking the harbor. In the minutes of the first wave of the attack, one of the bombs hit the USS Arizona’s powder magazine which caused a huge explosion and sank the ship, taking 1,177 men with it. Only 335 men were able to get off the ship before it sunk. The USS Arizona was no the only ship to sink that day. In total, 18 ships were sunk that day including 5 battleships and 2,335 men lost their lives. Only a couple of fighter jets were able to get into the sky to fight the Japanese. The commander over the Air Force base was worried about sabotage and didn’t consider an air battle likely at the time. So he had all the planes parked nose to tale in an open field where guards could watch for sabotuers. This was a perfect target for the Japanese planes, and they destroyed almost all of the American planes during the bombing. A few were able to get up in the air to fight, but not many. After the overview of the history, we arrived at Pearl Harbor. The driver parked the bus and then we went and stood in line for about 15 minutes until the national park opened. We took a couple of pictures while we waited for the bus driver to get our tickets to the USS Arizona. We had about an hour to kill before our movie time and tour started, so Kendall and I wondered around. There was a snack area that had a vending machine for Starbucks coffee, so Kendall was happy. We also had nachos and a hotdog for breakfast. Afterward, we hit the souvenir shops while we waited and bought souvenirs for the people remaining on our list.
It was finally time to watch the movie. It was really interesting. It talked about most of the stuff our guide had already mentioned, but it also included interviews, photos, and videos of the event. So we could really experience what happened there. When we walked into the theatre, I made show we got a seat on the ground level close to the exit. That way, we would be among the first to leave and get a seat on the boat to the USS Arizona monument.
We also had some time to do some more souvenir shopping before getting on the bus to drive to the USS Missouri. On the way to the military base, we crossed a bridge where there is a law that you can’t take pictures from. I don’t know if he was telling the truth, but our guide said it was heavily enforced. The MPs supposedly have equipment that will tell them if you take a picture and they will force the car to stop and take your camera. I didn’t want to risk it, so I didn’t take any photos. But it was only on the bridge; once we got to the other side we could take all the pictures we wanted. We went to the USS Missouri to see the ending place of the war with Japan. We also had a tour guide here and she let us know a little about the ship. When they were picking the ship to sign the treaty on, there was a lot of pressure to pick the USS Hawaii since that was the first battle ground of the war. However, the president at that time was President Franklin D. Roosevelt and he was from Missouri. His daughter was the person who blessed the ship before it made its first voyage. So he considered it to be his ship and overruled everyone to have the treaty signed there. They also gave us the statistics on how fast and far the guns would fire and the later history of the battleship. After the war, she was still used as a battleship until she was decommissioned in 1955. During the Reagan presidency, he wanted to increase the U.S. military force and the cheapest way to do this was recommission older ships. So the USS Missouri was brought back to the military until she was decommissioned for the final time in 1992 and brought to Hawaii. Directly opposite the guns we could see the USS Arizona. They did this deliberately as a way of symbolically protecting the men who died at the beginning of the war.
Our next stop on the trip was to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific which is located in Punchbowl Crater. From this crater we can look opposite to Diamondhead Crater. It is a military cemetery, so only people who served in the military can be buried here. We could only take pictures from the tour bus because tour buses are not allowed to stop here. Apparently a couple of years ago a tourist was smoking a cigarette and decided to put it out on one of the headstones. They shut down the cemetery and no longer allow tour buses to stop now, which sucks for the rest of us. While driving to our next place, we got to see Washington Place. This is where Queen Lili’oukalani lived after she was forced to abdicate her throne. Our last stop was the Kamehameha statue, which rests in front of the Supreme Court. Kamehameha was the monarch who united and founded the kingdom of Hawai’i.
We still had about $100 credit, so we wanted to use it on a nice dinner. But the dinner place we chose to eat at didn’t have a table ready until 8pm. Apparently we were supposed to make reservations. So we ended up walking to all of the restaurants on the list, trying to find a place to eat. All of them had a wait. Finally, we went to the burger place that wasn’t on the list. It was cheaper place to eat, but it had a bar and only a 10 minute wait. Afterwards, we went back to the room to sleep some more. We were supposed to get up early in order to get to Kualoa Ranch by 8:15 for our tour at 9a.m. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. We go to the check-in desk at 9am, and the guy had to radio to the bus not to leave. On the confirmation, they request that people show up 45 minutes before their scheduled tour. Luckily, the bus hadn’t left yet so we were able to get on it. The bus took us to a dock with a large boat. Apparently the dock was one of the film locations for Lost, at least there was a large sign saying so. When we got to the other side, we had a short orientation of the different activities and then we were set free to do whatever we wanted for 2 hours. There were all sorts of activities: kayaing, stand-up paddleboarding, glass bottom boat tour, ping pong, hammocks, swings, etc. Kendall immediately claimed a hammock to lay in while I went on the glass-bottom boat tour.
Kendall was still relaxing on her hammock, so I decided to join her for a little while. There were a couple hammocks open, so I took my book and went down to one of them to relax for about 30 minutes. I have never been stand-up paddleboarding before, but I have always wanted to try. So I went to where the kayaks and stand-up paddleboards were. One of the employees gave me some instructions, and then I took it out. It is easier to paddle while sitting, but it still takes a lot of effort. I kept getting pushed to the buoys which marked the kayak/paddleboarding zone from the swim zone. When I pushed myself out far enough, I slowly got to my feet. I was actually able to stand up without falling! Paddling while standing up and going against the waves was much harder. I kept getting pushed to the swim zone, so I gave up and just sat down to paddle away. I still wanted to kayak, so after a while I returned to the beach to exchange my paddleboard for a kayak. I actually know how to use a kayak since Danielle taught me when we were in Austin for TxDOT. I started paddling toward Chinaman’s Hat until I reached the buoys marking the end of the zone. I sat out there a little while, admiring the view and then I headed back. By this point, there was only about 30 minutes left, so I decided to relax. All the hammocks were taken, so I grabbed one of the beach chairs and pulled it into the shade. Then I read a little until it was time to leave. We returned to the main area, and since we had a little time we grabbed some sandwiches for a quick lunch. Then we went to line up for our next tour: the Jurassic Zipline.
She had plenty of time to get ready for the luau. We arrived after they started, but all we missed were some games they played and the conch shell challenge, which they were finishing just as we arrived. So we really didn’t miss anything. Our seats were just okay since we arrived late, but we still had a good view of the stage. Kendall also got to have her drink. Shortly after we arrived, they started releasing people to go to the buffet, and it was pretty good food. Kendall thinks the food here was better than the Polynesian Cultural Center, but I liked the Polynesian Cultural Center’s food better.
During the shows, they passed out a form to apply to be a Hilton Honors member, and the guy at our table’s card was chosen as the winner. He won a ton of tickets for free drinks. He shared them with the rest of our table, including Kendall and me, so we got to get more drinks. After the show was over we went back to our hotel to sleep in preparation for getting up early tomorrow.
We weren’t getting picked up until 10am, so Kendall and I got to sleep in today. Then we went to the front on to get picked up by our jeep for our Jeep Food Tour. When we got in the jeep, there was another couple already in there. On our way to the first stop, our guide told us a little about the history of the island and the history of the food. Authentic Hawaiian food is very bland because they didn’t have access to many spices. Then, when they were discovered and started accepting immigrants their food started getting more Chinese and Japanese influences. Our guide also talked about himself. Apparently he has been on the Food Network several times. Our first stop was a local grocery store so we could experience the local food. While we waited for some honey pineapple to be cut up, we had some mocha ice cream. This is actually partially authentic because it was created in Hawaii. It is ice cream surrounded by a Japanese rice cake, and comes in several different flavors. We each got to try a sample, and it wasn’t too bad. By the time we had finished, one of the store employees had brought the honey pineapple. It was amazing! It tasted like honey, but it was a pineapple. We next went to the poke (pronounced pokeeee) stand. Poke is actually diced raw fish. There were a lot of flavors, and we got to taste the most popular type. It was okay. It didn’t taste bad, but it isn’t something I would eat a lot of. We also got to have a block of spam musubi. It was actually pretty good. It has warm spam on the bottom with rice on top of it. It is then wrapped in seaweed. It isn’t native to Hawaii, but for some reason Hawaiians love spam. They are actually one of the top consumers of it in the world. I only ate about half of mine because I wanted to save room in my stomach for the food to come.
Our last stop was Leonard’s Bakery which is apparently famous in Hawaii for their doughnuts. Our guide bought us some cream-filled malasadas, which is a Portuguese doughnut. It is just like our doughnuts, but there is no cut out center. It is also covered with sugar and it is very messy to eat, but delicious! Since this was our last stop, our guide gave us the spiel of rating him on TripAdvisor and then took us back to our hotels. We watched the other couple, and it didn’t look like they tipped the driver but we did. We rested at the hotel for a little while and then headed to Diamond Head for the short hike to the top. Diamond Head got its name from explorers. When they were approaching on their ships, monument sparkled like diamonds and the explorers thought there were diamonds there. It was actually volcanic rock that was causing the sparkles, because Diamond Head is an extinct volcano. It exploded millions of years ago, leaving a huge crater. During WWII, the U.S. military used it as a base for preventing attacks on Honolulu because the views are so good up there.
Originally, the plan was to get up early, rent a car, and drive out to the Pu’u o mahuka heiau by 8am. That didn’t happen because someone *cough* Kendall *cough* didn’t want to get out of bed. By the time we rented a car, it was already getting late so we skipped the heiau and went straight to the Dole Plantation.
It started raining just as we left the train so we hurried to the Dole gift shop. Inside, there was a place to eat so we ordered some lunch along with Dole Whip. The lunch was good, but the Dole Whip was amazing! It definitely tasted of fresh pineapple. We then spent a while going through the souvenir shops and picking out gifts for people. We did all our shopping and when we went to pay the lady told us that each area has a different vendor. So we had to retrace our steps to find where we could pay for each item before we could leave. We ended up showing up 2 hours late for our rum tasting tour but they still let us do it. We showed up about 5 minutes before the tour, so we wondered around the main lobby until it was time. On the way out the door, we picked up some large umbrellas to protect us from the sun since it had stopped raining. I’m really glad they provided those! We walked up on an observation deck and looked over some of the fields. The rest of the fields are hidden in the tree line. The guy told us a little about the company, Ko Hana. It was started in 2012, so they are only 6 years old but they are growing fast. They are the only rum factory on Oahu, and they ship their rum to the mainline U.S. We then walked down and looked at the different types of sugar cane they use in their rum. Each flavor uses a different type of sugar cane, and some use multiple types. He showed us how to tell them apart, but they all looked the same to me. We then walked over and looked at the equipment they use. There really wasn’t a lot of it, but they are still a small company. He walked us through the process of how they make the rum and we could look in the window at the bottles that were being prepared for shipment. He also told us that in a couple of months they will be opening a bar at the location so people can come and drink there.
We then drove to Ka’ena Point State Park to go see the tide pools. I tried googling to find where they were and found out that the tide pools only appear during low tide. It makes sense. If they were always there the water would be dirty and attract bugs. Since there were no tide pools to see we drove back to Makua Beach. This beach was popular among the locals. We could see a lot of canopies down the beach and the locals were treating it like a family bar-b-q. We sat on the beach for a little while, but we looked like tourists and I think it made Kendall uncomfortable. When it started raining, we decided to leave early to go back to the hotel and relax.
We then went into the Blue Room, which was a small gathering room before entering the dining room. It was named the Blue Room because everything was blue. Here our guide told us more about the history of Hawaii leading up to the overthrow. After the last king of the Kamehameha dynasty died, a new king was elected. This king was King Kalākaua, also known as the Merrie Monarch. He was very forward thinking. He was the one that ordered the Iolani Palace to be built. He was also the first monarch to visit the United States in 1881 in his trip around the globe. When he returned to Hawaii, he ordered electric lighbulbs to replace candlelight, making Iolani Palace the first royal residence with electricity. In 1887, King Kalākaua and his wife and sister were invited to England for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. KingKalākaua could not attend because of tensions in Hawaii but his wife and sister attended in his place. While they were in England, King Kalākaua was forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution, which took power away from the monarch and gave it to the legislature. 13 men, all Americans who owned a lot of property in Hawaii, created the Bayonet Constitution. It also restricted the right to vote, taking voting rights away from Asians and poor Hawaiians. When Queen Kapi’olia and Lili’oukalani heard, they rushed home from England but it was too late. King Kalākaua ruled until 1890 when he died in California during a visit to the United States. Communication was non-existent during that time, so his family wasn’t notified until they saw the black ship sails. His sister and heir, Lili’oukalani, became the next queen of Hawaii. In order to become queen, she had to sign paperwork that she would uphold the constitution that her brother was forced to sign. She didn’t want to, but her American husband convinced her to sign, saying that she could always change it later. Her husband died 7 months into her reign. Our guide told us she would tell us more about The Overthrow later in the tour in the Imprisonment Room.
We then went into the Imprisonment Room. In 1893, Queen Lili’oukalani tried to instate a new consititution to regain the powers of the monarchy and give the right to vote to Asian citizens and poor Hawaiians. A group of 13 American and European citizens were opposed to this, and called on the U.S. Marines to protect them. The Marines came off the USS Boston and surrounded the palace. In order to prevent bloodshed, Queen Lili’oukalani agreed to temporarily relinquish her throne to the United States. The group of 13 created a government to replace Queen Lili’oukalani and enacted martial law. President Harrison ordered an investigation of the matter. The official report was that the Marines should not have helped overthrow the government and that Queen Lili’oukalani should be reinstated as the head of the government. The Dole government that had taken her place refused, stating that Hawaii was not part of the United States and that the U.S. had no jurisdiction. In 1895, there was a rebellion against the Dole government with the aim of restoring Queen Lili’oukalani. The rebellion failed and the leaders were arrested. Queen Lili’oukalani was implicated in the rebellion and was arrested for treason. In return for officially abdicating the throne, Queen Lili’oukalani’s supporters were spared the death sentence. She was tried for treason and sentenced to 5 years hard labor in a military prison and a fine of $5,000. The sentence was later commuted to imprisonment in the palace. She was confined under guard to a couple of rooms in the palace. During her confinement, she wrote The Queen’s Prayer and worked on a quilt, which we saw in the room. The people of Hawaii would send her flowers, using newspaper to wrap them up and this was her contact with the outside world. When the guards found out that she was reading the newspaper, they stopped allowing newspaper through and she was completely cut off. In 1896 Queen Lili’oukalani was granted a full pardon and was allowed to leave her prison. She decided to travel to Massachusetts to visit her husband’s family and petition the United States for indemnity for her loss. By this time, there was a new president in office and the world was a different place. The United States decided it needed Hawaii as an outpost to watch China and Japan and annexed it in 1898.
We next went to Magic Island to relax on the beach for a while. It was really nice! The sand was amazing. With each step you would sink down into it. It wasn’t too crowded, so we put down our towels and bag and went into the ocean for a quick swim. We then relaxed a little before heading to the hotel to change for the Polynesian Cultural Center. We met the bus at the Ilkai hotel, which is across the street from the Hilton we are staying at. The drive was an hour. I thought they bus would take us there, I didn’t know it would be part of a tour. We had a guide and he talked the whole way, which was a problem because Kendall and I had planned on taking a nap on the way. Also, it started raining on the way, which was concerning since the cultural center is all outdoors and we didn’t grab an umbrella. Along the way, our guide told us about what to expect at the center. He also told us that 80% of the workers are students at the Brigham Young university. The center supports the students and covers their cost for school, which allows people that couldn’t afford to attend get a chance. I thought that was really cool and nice of them.
They then showed how the Polynesian Cultural Center was started. A fire destroyed their temple and they didn’t have the funds to rebuild it. So they decided to have luaus and stood outside the hotels with signs for the tourists. They charged a fee, and with the money they were able to rebuild their temple. They decided to continue, and they bought land and gave each area an island name and started educating people about the culture of Polynesia. Eventually, it grew into what it is now. The final dances on the canoes had all of the islands coming together and celebrating their shared culture.
Then they asked for 3 volunteers from the audience. The first guy was from Dallas, Texas. The 2ndguy the speaker chose out of the group. He looked Asian but was actually from New Orleans. I think the speaker was trying to get different countries. The 3rdguy the speaker also chose, and this guy was from South Korea. I don’t know how he chose the 3 funniest guys out of the crowd, but he did. The speaker would do something in the traditional way, and the guys would try to mimic him but he went so fast they had no way to copy him. Instead of being embarrassed, they owned it and make up their own moves. Even the speaker couldn’t help but laugh, they were hilarious. After the Tonga presentation, we went to Aotearoa, also known as New Zealand. Here we got to hear the group singing traditional songs. We also watched a haka war dance. After the war dance, they played a stick tossing game while singing which look really hard. But they were able to do it without dropping the sticks, which is impressive. The last “island” we went to was Fiji. We were one of the last to arrive, so we had a bad view with a huge pole blocking our view. But at the door everyone was given long bamboo sticks. One side of the bamboo was open and the other hollow. The speaker walked us through different patterns of sounds we could make by thumping the bamboo on the floor. At the end, they played a traditional Fiji song which was accompanied by dancers. While they played the song, we tapped our bamboo sticks in the patterns we had just learned. This was the last presentation we attended, and I enjoyed all of them! I wish we had time to attend some of the presentations at Hawai’I and Tahiti, but we ran out of time. We learned something new at each one, but the presenters made it fun and interesting instead of a dull lecture. They really engaged the crowd and made us a participant instead of just an observer.
At the end of the show, they made the people that were celebrating a marriage or an anniversary come up on the stage and dance together. They also honored the current and retired military members by making them stand, but they didn’t have to come up on the stage. And then they made the people celebrating a birthday in the month of October stand and come to the stage. So Kendall had to go up on stage and dance in front of everyone. It was hilarious! And that was the end of that show. We then walked over to the theatre that had the last show. Since we had a little time, we stopped at one of the shops and got some Dole pineapple whip. It was pretty good. And then we claimed our seats for the Ha Breath of Life show. Sadly, we couldn’t take pictures, but it was really good. Even without understanding what they were saying, I could see what was happening. It started with a father and mother having to flee their land because of a volcano erupting. At the time, the mother was pregnant. They travel across the sea and finally make it to a new island just as the mother is ready to give birth. She gives birth to a healthy son. The people of the island find the family and welcome them. We then watch the boy growing up surrounded by his family and village. We watch the boy learning to hula dance and later learning how to fight and be a man of the tribe. Later, he becomes a man and falls in love with a woman from another island. He then has to travel to this island and meet his bride’s family. He then has to prove that he is worthy to his bride’s family. We then watch the couple get married. Then, the man has to protect his village when they are attacked. In the attack, his father is killed and dies in his arms. The father’s spirit rises up to join the man’s mother in death. The man grieves for his parents, but life must continue on. In the last scene, the man’s wife gives birth and we can see his dead parents watching over their grandchild, completing the circle of life.
Throughout the show, the performers danced the hula, performed fire knife dancing, and even walked on fire. It was breathtaking and worth the money! After the end of the show, we got on the bus back to the hotel. On the way, Kendall and I both took a nap. When we got back to the hotel, we went straight to bed. I ended up waking up at 4am to do my data analytics project and release my time for work. I finished at 6:15 and went to make sure Kendall was awake. She was awake but she hadn’t gotten out of bed yet. We were supposed to leave at 6:30, but that didn’t happen. We ended up leaving at 6:30, and then when I got to the first light I realized I didn’t turn off my AC before leaving, so I turned around and turned it off. Then we got to the Parking Spot and took the shuttle to the airport. The line for Security was a little long so that took a while. However we time it just right because we got some breakfast and drinks at Starbucks and then walked up to the gate just as they began to board our group. Our seats where okay. Since we booked the flight so early, I picked us seats at the back of the plane that were only 2 to a row instead of 3. So Kendall and I could sit beside each other without having someone in the middle. She looked out the window or read a book most of the time while I watched movies. I got caught up with the movies I was going to rent at Redbox, so I don’t have to rent Deadpool 2, Tag, or Steve Jobs anymore. While I watched the movies I worked on my cross-stich. We bought water bottles at Starbucks, so we didn’t eat or drink anything on the plane, which was worrying the flight attendants. After 7.5 long hours, we finally made it to Hawaii. The weather was beautiful outside the plane! We grabbed our bags and then had to wait in line for a cab, but we made it to the hotel with just enough time to drop our bags off before heading to the shuttle to go to the airport for the helicopter tours. I’m really glad I’m a Hilton Honors member. There was a special Honors line for checking in, so we got to skip the longer general admission line. Also, since I booked with points we didn’t have to pay for the addition resort fee, which is $39 per day. Finally, we also got upgraded to a suite! Since we only bought the standard room with no view, it was a really nice upgrade. When we got to the room, we had a balcony suite with a view of the ocean! Sadly, we didn’t have much time to enjoy it since we had to drop our stuff off an run downstairs. I looked up the price of the room we got, and it is $471 per night, and it was free for us! I had to use my Hilton points, but I don’t pay for those since that is all from traveling for work, so it really is FREE!! We met the shuttle bus driver at the Grand Islander bus depot in the hotel. He was super nice. We were the only ones on the shuttle, and when we mentioned that we were hungry he stopped at a convenience store so we could grab a quick bite to hold us over. He and Kendall got into a long conversation about the Dallas Cowboys and football. We also compared house prices. He bought a 5 bedroom house for over $800k! This is also his 2ndjob, his first job is working as a correction officer at a prison.
Since we only paid for 30 minutes, we then had to head back to the airfield. I really enjoyed the tour! It was the perfect tour for the day we arrived. It allowed us to do something, but was short enough that we could go back to the hotel to rest. We also paid for the video. I thought the video would be just of the outside, but it was actually a split screen. So one camera showed what we were seeing outside, and the other captured our expressions inside and our conversation. After the tour, we took the shuttle back to our hotel. The shuttle driver was different from our first one, but really nice. He gave us recommendations of places to see and eat at. We mentioned that we were going to the Polynesian Cultural Center luau, and he told us that they don’t serve alcohol there, which I didn’t know. Apparently they are Mormons and they don’t drink. Kendall was disappointed because she was looking forward to drinking.
Today I had to work all day before going to the airport to pick Kendall up for our Hawaii trip. Since I didn’t have to pick Kendall up until 9pm, I decided to go into work at noon and stay until 8pm. I left work at 8:30 to drive to DFW to pick Kendall up. While I was driving, she texted saying her plane had landed 15 minutes early. So instead of running to Wal-Mart for some last minute purchases I went directly to the airport.
But I ended up waiting because they kept the plane on the runway for a while before letting the passengers off. Kendall didn’t know where to pick up her bags, so I ended up parking and meeting her at baggage claim. On the way back to my house, we stopped at DQ for some ice cream and then Wal-Mart for my last minute purchases. Then we went to sleep to get ready for tomorrow. |
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June 2022
AuthorThese are details from my adventures around the world. |