HAWAII – OAHU
Day 1 Wed Jan 10
Flight United Airlines UA154 MAJ-Honolulu (HNI) @19:55-o2:40 +1.
This flight departed Majuro on Jan 10 theoretically arriving on January 11. But I crossed the International Dateline and it arrived on Wed Jan 10!! I had booked my accommodation for the 11th with a plan to sleep at the airport when I arrived.
Honolulu gets away with a lot of hotel abuse because of where it is. Because I needed a hotel for the 10th (all the hostels were booked), I went onto Booking.com. Aloha Suites Waikiki was $104 – no reception but in a Real Estate office down the street, only 2-day bookings (I didn’t see this) and undisclosed costs (taxes, $85 cleaning fee) and I was charged $285 for one night as I had to pay for two!!!. To get a refund, I had to cancel in Booking.com and then communicate with them about stating that the booking was cancelled and sent to the hotel.
Kuhio Banyon was $77 but had a $42 surcharge and a $250 deposit for the key which was to be refunded back to my credit card.
The flight arrived at 3 am and by the time I went through immigration, it was 4 am. I had had a fairly good sleep on the plane and wasn’t tired so sat outside departures and mooched airport wifi.
At 6:15 I caught the airport bus to Waikiki $3. I got off about one block from my hostel and went to leave my luggage. This is when I realized that it was Jan 10, had made the reservation for Jan 11 and the hostel was full.
The hostel down the street was also full and I went online and found a nearby hotel for US$104 – Aloha Suites Waikiki. I put my arrival time at 8-9 am and it charged me for two nights instead of one.
This is an odd hotel with no desk. Someone outside said it was managed by a company down the street but they were not open yet. I went to a nearby Denny’s for breakfast.
What a screw-up.
I returned to the Real Estate office down the street from Aloha Suites Waikiki. The double bill was because they only accepted 2-day stays and then added an $85 cleaning bill. I had to go onto Booking.com and cancel the booking who would then inform them of the cancellation and they would refund the total fee. What a mess.
I now had almost 3 full days in Honolulu instead of two.
I went online again and booked Kuhio Banyon Club – $77. When I checked in they had a $250 key deposit plus a $42 charge!! none of this is discernable when booking. I guess this is Honolulu where they can afford to abuse people.
ON Kuhio Banyon Club. Murphy bed but otherwise fine.
HONOLULU
Day 2 Thur Jan 11
I decided to postpone seeing Oahu, stay in the hotel till check out and see the museum on my way to Waikiki Beachside Hostel. I had an overpriced breakfast burrito $16, with no flavour in front of the hotel. I then sat in the shade and worked on stuff for a few hours.
Lucoral Museum. Exhibits with gemstones, fossils, sculptures from various places around the world, endangered and rare plant/animal species, and the history of the island, and its volcanic activity. Free
Jewelry-making workshops are also free.
Day 3 Fri Jan 12
I rented a scooter from the company below Waikiki Beachside Hostel to do a drive-about around Honolulu. The costs kept piling up: Scooter $35 for 8 hours, insurance $25, rent phone holder $15, fill up the gas $6 + tax = US$88 – just for a scooter (I have hardly paid this for a rental car. The scooter had so little power I could hardly go up any incline.
Manoa Falls. Walk about one km through lush jungle to this impressive 150-foot waterfall.
Lyon Arboretum. Many big trees some with strangler figs, palms, bromeliads, bamboo and nice beds to the ethnobotanical garden. Kalo plants have 154 varieties. The Lapita culture spread through the Pacific arriving in Hawaii from Marquesas about 600-1000 AD. They brought taro, breadfruit, sweet potato, and sugarcane (Hawaii had no native plants with a high protein or carbohydrate content and no edible fruits or vegetables. Half the native birds are extinct. There are presently 1160 native flowering plants and ferns all descended from 270 colonizing plants spread by wind 2%, water 25% and birds 75%. 90% of Hawaii’s plants are endemic. Free
I wanted to go north but all roads were prohibited by the scooter company.
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Containing 45,000 graves, all flat in many acres of lawn and trees (large monument with many marble walls full of names). Each grave can have 4 caskets, two at 7′ and 2 at 5′. All burials, services and even a colour guard if desired are free. There are soldiers here from all states of the US and all wars (only a few from WWI, Iraq and Afghanistan) and most from Pacific theatres of war. Wives and other family members are also included and free.
John Young Museum of Art. At the University of Hawaii, John Young was a native Chinese Hawaiian who travelled all over the world collecting art, most from New Zealand, China, Korea and South Asia and none from Hawaii. Free
Koko Crater Botanical Garden. Koko erupted about 50,000 years ago creating this crater with high mountains on the west and open to the east. The eruption was underwater creating explosive ash laid down in thousands of layers. Opened in 1958, it has rare and endangered dryland plants – baobab, cycads, aloe, silk cotton trees and many more seen on a 2-mile-long loop trail. Free
Makapu‘u Point Lighthouse, Waimanalo. Walk up a long 2 km trail to a ridge and then switch back to the lighthouse.
Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design. Seen only by tour booked through the Honolulu Museum of Art. They had no openings when I arrived.
Kawaiahaʻo Church. (The Stone Church). Built in 1839, using 14,000 coral slabs quarried by divers in water 10-20 feet deep. Each weighed 1000 pounds. It has a grand square tower with a clock and clear glass windows. A large stone plaque on the side memorializes Hiram Bingham (178901869), a pioneer missionary in Hawaii from 1820-40. It is only open on Sundays.
Iolani Palace. Built in 1882 by the last king of Hawaii, it has been restored completely. All that is original is the wood on the staircase. See by a tour with an audio guide. A lot of portraits of all the kings and their wives since 1821, diplomats and others in the entrance hall, the dining room and upstairs in the separate bedrooms. Much information about the kings, their premature deaths and the politics of the royalty. $28.95
Cathedral of St. Andrew. A gorgeous yellow sandstone building with a huge square bell tower. The high stained glass windows have the crests of many cities and areas – Calcutta, Polynesia, Sarawak, Auckland, Osaka, Melanesia, Brisbane, Wellington, Capetown, Bombay, Singapore, and Pakistan, all on one side. There is a huge SG window on the back with a blue background. Open on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Hawaii State Art Museum. There is an outside sculpture garden and 2 upper floors of all Hawaiian art. Free
Foster Botanical Garden. Mostly large trees and grass with few flower beds. Free
Ala Moana Center. A large shopping mall with many high-end stores.
I didn’t see these because of lack of interest, time and distance.
Honolulu: Honolulu Zoo
Waikiki Aquarium
USS Bowfin
Tropic Lightning Museum
Honolulu Discovery Center (a children’s museum)
I returned the scooter exactly at 5 and got a refund for the gas fill-up.
My Flight Westjet HNL-YCC (Calgary) @23:40-08:47 +1. 14’30” layover was cancelled presumably because the ground crews did not show up because of the -38° temperature. I got a room at the Waikiki Marriott with $60 of food vouchers. The cost of this was much more than the cost of my flight. It was impossible to contact Westjet to find out how the flight was to be made up and I just wanted to get home.
ON Waikiki Marriott. I don’t understand the enormous cost of these hotels, little better than much cheaper places.
Day 4 Sat Jan 13
I booked a new flight Air Canada HNL-YVR @23:00-07:00 +1, YVR-YQQ @09:20-10:04. CA$839. I could have cared less of the cost and ate the Westjet flight (maybe I will get a refund?).
I checked out at 11, used the voucher for lunch, hung around the Marriott all afternoon and took the #20 bus to the airport $3.00.