Hawaiian holiday, Post 1: Sunday

From 7 to 14 November, we spent a blissful week relaxing and enjoying the sunshine on the island of Oahu, Hawaii! This was to celebrate the end of our semester 2 exams and refresh us before we dived into our semester 3 subjects (we're doing two each) immediately afterwards.

On Saturday 7th, we drove to Seattle and met up with Ben's cousin Connie, whom we'd both met for the first time the previous weekend in Montana! She had kindly volunteered to drop us at the airport and look after our car for the week. First, we spent a couple of hours chilling with Connie and her housemate Kristy in the gorgeous house they live in with two other gals. Our flight left at noon, and after a stopover of a few hours in San Francisco (not for long enough to leave the airport - hope to visit properly sometime!), we were on our way to Hawaii.

We arrived around 9:30pm, and after a bit of a wait at the bus stop, during which a friendly airport employee gave us lots of sightseeing advice, we rode the local bus service (creatively called "The Bus") about 40 minutes to Waikiki. This was a noisy experience as there were lots of army-type guys on board (the US has army, navy, airforce and marine bases on Oahu), enjoying a night on the town!

Our hotel was the Aqua Waikiki Pearl, just behind the International Marketplace (a cool section of touristy market stalls under big banyan trees). It was about two blocks back from Waikiki Beach. This was our room...



Around midnight we wandered the streets of Waikiki trying to find somewhere to eat that was still open, and eventually being forced to settle for MacDonalds. Midnight on a Saturday was an interesting time to have Waikiki make a first impression on us... there were quite a few, shall we say, "businesswomen" hanging around hoping for customers!! And lots of revelling holidaymakers spilling out onto the streets. But the temperature was perfect!

The next morning we caught a taxi to the meeting, which was only 5 miles away. This was our first glimpse of Hawaii in the daylight, and it looked very inviting! Afterwards, we linked up with a couple from Edmonton, Alberta, to get a ride back to Waikiki, where they were staying as well. However, they ended up treating us to lunch and we spent the rest of the afternoon with them! Their names were Les and Sandi, and we had a great time getting to know them and being chauffeured around to some very picturesque spots!

Our first glimpse of a Hawaiian beach was when they took us to Kailua, which ended up being our favourite beach on Oahu. White sand, palm trees, blue water, offshore islands... gorgeous! We went back on Thursday when it was much sunnier, but here's a preview...













And here's the view from Pali Lookout on the highway between Kailua and Honolulu... the windiest place on the island (as the first photo may attest!)...









We even saw two black wild pigs beside the highway in one place - apparently a fairly rare sight (and too camera shy to photograph). They were quite cute with their spiky mohawks along their backs!

In the late afternoon we went to the gospel meeting (at which we were privileged to hear a few speakers, as it was preps time on Oahu), and then Les and Sandi dropped us back at Waikiki. That night we were so tired that we fell asleep in our clothes instead of going out for dinner as planned! But that set us up with lots of energy (to spend on relaxing) for the rest of the week. :D

To be continued...

Click here to view more photos from our week in Hawaii (photos from Sunday to Tuesday uploaded so far).