Tier Point Run to Hawaii/San Juan in Feb 2014: Day 4 – Honolulu HNL to Los Angeles LAX

I woke at 3:30am – much earlier than I hoped. The melatonin not working that well this time around. Got up to date with FT, and checked in on line for my next flights without any problems via aa.com.

Popped downstairs to the Ali Tower business centre and printed off my BPs.

My hotel room in the Al’i Tower at HHV was nothing special as such. Most of the rest of the photos dispersed in this post are from around the HHV site.

When I arrived yesterday, the weather was warm but overcast. It was nice though. Early this morning it was a touch on the chilly side, but the sound of the surf was so relaxing.

It was a bit windy overnight, and my washing was all over the place on the balcony. Luckily I hadn’t lost any of it! It continued to be very windy during the morning, and indeed whilst I was out for breakfast a storm came in, and we got a reasonable amount of showers.

I headed down to Starbucks at 5:30am – it was lovely. First Venti Caramel Macciatto for a day or two. I have missed it.

I went into the HHonors VIP breakfast in the Rainbow Tower around 6:30am after my shower.

Standard continental selection – fruit, cereals and various breads and cakes/muffins Nice start to the day. Took my time and enjoyed the view (until it started to rain).

I waited for the rain to stop so that I could pop around HHV and take some photos for the blog and FT.

Headed to the Ala Moana shopping centre. I was so hungry by 10:45am I had to get lunch! So I said hello to the folk at Panda Express, which was lovely (although not that good for me).

I managed to negotiate a slightly later checkout at 1pm, and this seem to come really quickly, so packed up my (almost) dry grundies and socks into my laptop bag and headed down into the lobby. I didn’t want to get too sweaty before going to the airport, so decided to hang around the lobby for a while.

Around 1:30pm I wandered into Waikiki and the main shopping street to check things out, partly to see what shops were down there and partly to waste a bit of time. I didn’t need to head to the airport until early evening.

I found a great little shop called The Stupid Factory which sold wacky t shirts. V and I had found Crazy Shirts when we were in Palm Springs, and we have visited their shops numerous times now (San Diego, Hawaii etc).

There are lots of these types of shops now and so they are all getting much of a muchness. However, The Stupid Factory had a great range of interesting, funny t-shirts. I found one for V, but couldn’t decide on a size, and it’s just not worth the risk is it?

If you choose too small, you get some brownie points, but she can’t wear it, so it’s a waste of money. If you choose too big, you get hit over the head, and you lose major amounts of brownie points, and it’s a waste of money.

The likelihood of you getting it spot on is nil, so there’s no real point in taking the risk.

I ended up at The Cheesecake Factory (TCF) and decided to try and string it out as much as I could. I got a table at the front overlooking people walking by on the street, and caught up with FT. I had a Pina Colada (V and I regularly have Pina Coladas at TCF and it reminded me of her – it didn’t really – it was just a lovely cool refreshing drink).

I was very good – I had a chicken tostada salad which was lovely. Huge and I couldn’t finish it all, and I didn’t have any cheesecake either, partly in respect to my missing woman, although primarily because I was stuffed by this stage.

Headed back to the HHV and picked up by bag (which I had left in Luggage Storage). Left to head for the bus to the airport around 5:30pm. Expecting to catch the 19 on the reverse trip.

As it happens the no 20 bus arrived which also was heading to the airport so I was aboard that by about 5:40pm. Arrived at the airport in about 30-40 mins.

Security was almost empty so no hold up there, and ended up directly opposite the entrance to the Sakura Lounge, which I now remember from our last trip to Hawaii – I switched the TV in the lounge to the tennis for V – I can’t remember what the tournament was – probably the US Open.

It’s a bit of a disappointment of a lounge. It’s in a three sides of a square shape, and all the chairs are boring; all laid out in a consistent pattern, so there’s no personality at all.

Drinks were minimal, and food even less so. Never mind, it was clean, it had internet and it had water, so I was happy enough.

I had a 767 on the way to LAX and on the follow on flight to MIA. That means its got a slopey flat bed which should have been great for sleeping, but as a few have previously reported it’s very narrow and actually quite uncomfortable.

I did get a good 2 hours though which I appreciated (even though I woke up with a sore back). I didn’t see any Samsung Galaxy Tabs being handed out for entertainment, but I think everyone tried to get some sleep.

Anyway the incoming flight was late due to a late start and very strong headwinds. So much so that FlightStats had the flight as leaving about 15 mins late, but then by the time it arrived at HNL it was over an hour late.

It was a complete scrum at the gate – with so many pax in a fairly small area, everyone was jostling for position. I’m happy to report I pushed my way through and was third or fourth on…

Flight was pretty smooth initially but it was fairly bumpy coming in to LAX. LAX has been suffering really badly just recently with shed loads of rain – they should come over to the UK eh? I was out for the count straight away, so can’t comment on the service as such, other than there was no cookie before landing – feels to me like justification for a complaint and a shed load of compensation.

Arrived about 10 mins late in the end into Gate 41 so right next to the Flagship lounge. So checked in with them and got my breakfast. Looking forward to MIA now and I’ll catch a movie I think on this leg.

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to Hawaii/San Juan in Feb 2014