Hello Hawaii

Time flew by. We would have loved to stay longer. But after everything Jeani told us about Hawaii, we were also looking forward to it.

The flight time was almost humane. We didn't have to get up until 7:00 a.m. because we had to leave the house at 8:15 a.m. We wanted to make sure we caught the ferry at 9:00 a.m. Punctuality is usually not our thing, but you learn that on Vashon.

Two hours before departure we were at the airport. We had to get off quickly because Jeani could only park in the second row. That was probably a good thing, because otherwise the goodbye would have been even sadder than it already was.

We expected an empty airport building because the school holidays in the USA didn't start for another three days. We were amazed when we saw the crowds at the security checkpoint.

As we stood in line, we were still talking about our time on Vashon. That's why we didn't hear what the security officer called out to us. It wasn't until the third time that we understood what he wanted. Another security gate had opened and was empty. Since we apparently were the first ones to listen to him, we could just walk all the way to the security checkpoint. This time, four out of our six pieces of luggage were pulled out and hand-searched, then scanned again. Since we always pack our luggage the same way, it is a mystery to us by what criteria the luggage is searched again.

The whole procedure took about an hour, so we had another hour to spare before our flight. Contrary to all probability, we had to walk to the very last gate for each of our flights. Depending on the airport building, this can be quite far.

The flight was uneventful, so we landed in Honolulu on time at 3:30 p.m.

Now we were looking forward to the very special scent of the flowers that our friend raved about. And indeed, when we left the airport building, a smell unknown to us drifted into our nostrils.

We wanted to take the bus to our hotel in Waikiki. So we asked an airport employee where the bus station was. She looked at us completely surprised and bewildered and asked, "Do you really want to take the bus?" Our security officer reacted somewhat worriedly to this statement and asked the woman if taking the bus was dangerous. She just replied that a taxi wouldn't make any stops and that it would be much more comfortable. That reassured us and we went to the bus station. Accordingly, only Germans and Japanese were on the bus.

The good smell we smelled when we came out of the airport building didn't last long. Because when we arrived at the bus station, it was overpowered by another smell. It seems that marijuana has been legalized in Hawaii too.

While we were waiting for the bus, it started to rain. When the bus finally came, we were pretty soaked. The bus driver was kind and turned the air conditioning on full blast. The passengers who didn't get wet were happy about that. We, on the other hand, took out all the long items from our bags that were within reach and now looked as if we were going skiing.

On the bus ride, we also saw Hawaii's not so beautiful side. Whole streets were occupied with tents where the homeless slept. Especially next to the old royal palace. We also found the Chinatown quarter particularly sad, as most of the shops along our route were closed.

The bus stopped very close to our hotel, so we didn't have to walk far. We liked the lobby of our hotel very much, especially the smell that greeted you when you entered the hotel. It smelled like Hawaii. We were very satisfied with our Airbnb apartment on the 15th floor. And by satisfied, we mainly mean Heike, who declared it clean. We were most impressed by our view. We saw lots of high-rise buildings, roads, and cars. The only beautiful thing was the park right below us. Somehow we had the idea that Hawaii would be more palm trees and sea and less big city.

Since we were a bit hungry, we went in search of a supermarket. After the third excellent supermarket that didn't have any pasta, sauces, or anything else to cook with, we decided to bite the bullet and walk to the next bigger supermarket. This was about 20 minutes away. To sweeten the way for the children, we went to the nearest 7Eleven, which was on our route. The children were allowed to choose a drink and a snack. After the sugar rush, we made faster progress.

The supermarket called Walmart was really huge. This time we had the agony of choice.

We searched through long rows with an endless selection of products. The children had never seen so many types of cereal before. We picked out the most necessary groceries for the next few days.

Since we didn't want to walk back, we ordered an Uber. Since the children wanted to ride in a Tesla, we ordered one. True to form, we were chauffeured from Walmart to our hotel in a Tesla. When we arrived at our apartment, we sat down on the beds and ate pizza. We didn't feel like cooking anymore.

And so the first day in Hawaii came to an end.