Tier Point Run to Hawaii/San Juan in Feb 2014: Day 7 – Honolulu HNL to Los Angeles LAX

By Nige on Tue 04 Mar 2014 at 10:09
Type: Post
Story: Tier Point Run to Hawaii/San Juan in Feb 2014
Tags: American Airlines | Hilton | HNL | Honolulu | LAX | Los Angeles | Trips | USA

I had set my alarm for 8am – fat chance of staying asleep until then! Woke at 5:30am and decided to get back on line – always seems loads to catch up on!

I went down for breakie just before 8am, which was completely uninspiring to be honest. Poor service – I had to wait about 5 mins for someone to seat me, and when no one turned up I had to go find the waitress (can’t think of a better term) to see whether she had a table for me.

Continental breakfast was free for me, and if I had anything hot it was an extra $7. Well I had a look at the bits which were hot, and I decided it wasn’t worth it. That probably tells you all you need to know!

Arranged a vaguely late check out for 1:30pm, so will need to plan out my day. I don’t want it to drag by – better I find something to do.

I had wondered about heading up to Pearl Harbor again, but a) I wouldn’t be able to see any of the major exhibits since you need to book ahead, and b) I’d have to get that flaming bus again!

Rang my Mum just after 8am and had a nice conversation – she was very pleased to hear me calling from the other side of the world.

There was a distinctive echo – about half a second after I spoke which was a bit of a distraction but one I could deal with.

With Three it’s free for me to use my inclusive allowance from the US which is amazing, so I can surf, text and call (effectively) for free.

So headed out for a walk – my intention was to get up to Kapiolani Park and take some photos and just generally enjoy Honolulu. Found a SBux for my morning coffee.

Then I walked back along the shore – it was lovely. It was starting to get pretty warm – it was obviously relatively humid, but the general feeling was lovely.

I headed back to the hotel and scrubbed up ready for the long trip back home. I checked out around 1pm. The plan was to go down to Dukes and spend the rest of the afternoon there before grabbing the bus to the airport.

I headed down to Dukes for 2pm. Grabbed a table and after a bit of messing about with tables etc, settled down with my laptop tethered to my S4 – there was no active Wifi I could get access to.

Took a couple of photos including a selfie. Apologies for the selfie – I never look that good – I normally put on some stupid face, and this one is no exception!

Mai Tai’s probably aren’t my favourite cocktail, but a cocktail is always great in a fab place like this. It’s a beautiful location and Dukes sure is popular. Next time we are here I will need to bring my other half. I think she will appreciate this place.

I ordered the Chicken Quesadilla to start with which was very good, and then I ordered the Cheeseburger which was also exceptional.

The only issue I had was that I really wanted to occupy a table until about 5pm when I wanted to catch the bus, but they clearly didn’t want me hanging around too long, and the waiter advised that at 4pm they wanted to prepare for dinner service.

I appreciate I wasn’t the sort of customer they really wanted, but that was a little disappointing.

Got the bus – this time no 19 and it was definitely far slower and took a more convoluted route than the no 20 (just in case anyone has the choice of the two at some stage in the future).

It was also far more popular so it was mad busy again – I got my seat early and stuck in it all the way.

I couldn’t check in on line, so when I got to the airport I had to join the massive AA check in queue. I must have counted at least, well just little old me in the security queue.

Even though it was just me, I still had to go into the First/Priority Queue (not out of choice I was told to go there), and I went in the TSA Pre-Check queue when i was the only person in the queue. I didn’t take anything out of my bag so that was nice and easy.

Straight up to the Sukura Lounge again above the Kona Brewing Co. I took a couple of photos of the garden outside – nice day and the garden looks great.

The incoming flight arrived a good hour ahead of the departure time, but we still left a good 20 mins late – may have been something to do with the expected short flight due to the tail winds. CC turned up late as well.

Hit the sack fairly quickly – initially into the elevated lean back position and then I went for the full angled flat position – wow that was uncomfortable but I managed to get a couple of hours before going back to the inclined position again.

With an hour left of the flight we got the dreaded call over the comms system – “is there a doctor on board?” Oh no. With us being so close to LA there was no question about turning back, and to be honest I’m not sure it was life threatening.

However the medics were waiting and came on board as soon as we landed and docked at the gate. Obviously we got the instruction to stay in our seats etc.

Interestingly it was 3 members of the fire dept that came on board? I assume they were the only medically trained personnel in the area, and speed is of the essence.

However I would have thought that with almost an hour before landing they could have arranged better cover?

Anyway the patient was taken off first – she was suffering nausea in a big way.

Arrived into Gate 47B and within a min was back in the Flagship Lounge. The staff had started to recognise me, which is nice. Next stop Newark.

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