Where are the Hawaiians?

Christian and Heike had different ideas about how to spend the five days in Hawaii, as it turned out when Christian suggested a hike to a volcano. At first, the family was quite confused, as such suggestions usually came from Heike. Therefore, we concluded that this volcano must be something very special. So, due to jet lag, we set off very early for this volcano. After just an hour, we stood in front of the ticket booth. We were supposed to show our reservation. Since we didn't have one, we wanted to make up for it. But unfortunately, everything was already fully booked. The kids weren't sure if they should complain or be glad. Because the actual hike was a steep path that ended at a lookout point. So we took the beautiful path back to our hotel, accompanied by light rain. On the way, we wondered why we didn't see any palm trees, but instead, we saw a lot of skyscrapers and luxury shops. We thought we were in the wrong country. Everything looked so modern, and we encountered mostly Japanese people. All the signs and magazines were in English and Japanese. It felt like we were in Tokyo. But it was too dirty for Tokyo.

Heike diligently smelled every flower that came under her nose, but she couldn't find the Hawaiian scent anymore.

We arrived completely exhausted at the hotel. To relax, we went to a nearby lagoon. There, too, the perception differed from reality. Crowds of people were lying on the shore, and in this relatively small muddy hole, countless children, pedal boats, and stand-up paddle boards were frolicking. After a short time, Flora proudly came out of the water with a dead fish in her hand. With the good prospects, Christian and Heike also went into the water and quickly came out again. Because the water was really cold.

Fortunately, the kids soon lost interest, so we went back to the hotel. There, we first wanted to check out the pool. We really liked it, so we continued swimming there.

When the kids had enough of the pool, they went to our apartment. We stayed for a while longer.

When we also didn't feel like it anymore, we took the elevator to go to the kids. There, we found an invitation to a free wine and cheese reception. Of course, we followed this invitation dutifully.

When we arrived back in our apartment, Flora had already cooked. During dinner, we decided to rent a car for the next day. We really wanted to see the Hawaii that we had imagined.

Since we were still feeling the effects of jet lag, we went to bed early. We were all very satisfied with the apartment, and especially Heike was very happy that there were no cockroaches. One minute later, Mattis called out and said he had to show Heike something. She was already falling asleep and didn't really feel like opening her eyes. But since Mattis insisted, she looked at what Mattis urgently wanted to show her. Suddenly she was wide awake. So Christian had to reluctantly wake up too. There was a giant cockroach crawling on the wall. We were already used to a lot in Barcelona, but this specimen far exceeded the Spanish ones. Now we had to find a bowl that was large enough to catch this cockroach. Unfortunately, we didn't have such a bowl. But that didn't matter, because in the meantime, it had disappeared behind the wardrobe. Since Christian was afraid that we would have to change the apartment now, he eagerly started stuffing the gaps between the wall and the wardrobe so that the cockroach couldn't come through anymore. That reassured Heike. But since then, we didn't feel so comfortable anymore.

Heike slept restlessly that night and kept checking the walls.