USA 2004
Off to Honolulu
Following a 14-day road trip through the western United States, we now have a week to relax on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Oahu is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also home to the city of Honolulu, the capital of the state of Hawaii, with the world-famous Waikiki Beach. Pearl Harbor, with the USS Arizona Memorial, is also located on Oahu, along with, of course, lush nature, the ocean, and gorgeous beaches.
Our flight departs at 11:30 a.m. from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
Nothing out of the ordinary happens on the flight. Just like on the outbound flight, there are two movies to watch: The Day After Tomorrow and Harry Potter 3, both in English, of course.
After a 5-hour, 20-minute flight, we arrive in Honolulu around 2:00 p.m. local time and are now 12 hours behind German time. We wait a while for our luggage and are driven, just like on the outbound flight, to the Alamo car rental station, where we once again have to stand in a huge line.
Around 4 p.m., we pick up our stylish little red car and head toward Waikiki Beach to the hotel. Around 4:30 p.m., we arrive at the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel and check in with the help of a hotel employee at a new electronic kiosk. It turns out that this electronic check-in kiosk is a new feature at the hotel, so every guest receives personal assistance at first and must answer two questions at the end about how they find the electronic system. We both think it’s silly, even if it’s technically well-implemented. A human being at the front desk simply cannot be replaced. In our view, the decision to use such a technical terminal here in America is incomprehensible anyway, since we get the impression that the staff here is literally being "wasted". There are several examples of this: live stop and go signs at construction sites, parking attendants in parking garages even late at night, baggers in department stores, etc. Anyway, we don’t have to understand everything… When we saw “Oceanview” on the printout for the assigned room says “Oceanview,” we’re happy again anyway, since we had chosen Park View because of the much lower price (Oceanview surcharge: 50 EUR per night and person).
We take our suitcases up to the room, unpack our swimsuits, and head to the beach. The sand here is quite coarse, and the ground is very firm. The water is, as expected, very warm.
For dinner, we go to a Japanese steak and seafood restaurant. We are a bit skeptical, since we can’t quite wrap our heads around the connection between steak and Japan, but we decide on the restaurant anyway, since the steakhouse at the hotel is unfortunately closed and we don’t want to drive out again just for that. Since there aren’t any seats available inside the restaurant at the moment, we sit down at the tables outside to be called over when a table becomes available. We order two beers, and believe it or not believe it, but they ask to see our IDs. Of course, we’re both stunned. Andy has his driver’s license with him and gets a beer, but I have to go back to the room to get my ID. The Japanese waiter apologizes for the inconvenience, but my annoyance is only lessened by the fact that a table has become available in the restaurant.
The restaurant itself turns out to be a great choice: the food is cooked right at the table, accompanied by a circus-like performance by the chef. The food is every bit as impressive as the performance and the overall atmosphere—my steak and Andy’s tuna steak are excellent.
