Holiday to Hawaii in Aug 2013: Day 4 – Honolulu

Woke just before 4am having gone to bed a touch after 10pm. I don’t think that’s too bad for first night on the other side of the world! Feels weird that.

The view from our room is amazing – given me a chance to test out my new Gorillapod which is a flexible but sturdy tripod which allows you to wrap it around railings, which means I can mount my camera on the top of the balcony railings.

Couple of shots posted in Photos from Day 3 were taken using this mechanism.

The sound of the waves in our room is very soothing – we left the balcony door open over night to get some fresh air in, and it’s wonderful.

Finally got up around 6am. I dropped off again, and Vick is now struggling with grogginess – she thinks this is linked to taking the melatonin.

Had continental breakfast at the Rainbow VIP Terrace which was fine – opportunity for coffee and lots of sugar (bread/muffins/pastries etc)! (not me- I had fresh pineapple and melon -V) Grabbed our first dip in one of the many pools on site here, and after a shower we went off for Vick’s shopping trip at the big mall just 15 mins walk away – well it took us a while longer to reach the Ala Moana mall than we thought it would – went the wrong way, rather than following my nose. (yeah, one of N’s famous wild goose chases).

Sought out a pharmacy and did the lot in one shot – happy with that! Then had lunch at a food court – nice and cheap – happy with that too.

Popped in to Macy’s and we both purchased Hawaiian clothing – I found a top quality Hawaiian shirt, which I could safely wear back home, and Vick picked up a nice Hawaiian dress.

Started getting very hot in the midday sun, so we headed back to our room to cool down. (are our readers all that interested in this?!)

Got slathered up with sun tan lotion and headed out to try and find some sun loungers and then go for a swim. Managed to con our way in to the Paradise Pool (which I am sure we should have had access to anyway), but turns out a) there were no available sun loungers, and b) there were kids everywhere! So had to leave that pool and headed back to the main pool, but couldn’t find any available sun loungers there either. All lathered up and nowhere to go!

Decided on getting a drink at the bar, and got talking to Joe who clearly had been around a while. A few drinks later (it was happy hour after all), we decided we would be able to find somewhere to lounge now, and Vick showed her new cunning, ruthless nature to take over another couple’s sun loungers just as they picked up the last of their belongings.

Enjoyed the quick dip and then it was back to the room for showering and getting ready for tea/dinner. (fascinating – V)

Ate at Tropics, watched the sun set behind the palm trees, listened to some great, live music, and all was good with the world. Lovely day in a tropical paradise, but looking forward to a quieter island tomorrow.

Follow the whole story here: Holiday to Hawaii in Aug 2013