Honolulu

Addendum to the Blue Mountains, 100 km west of Sydney: The daylight breaks here in the evaporated oil of the eucalyptus trees, creating a bluish shimmer. The bushfires raged particularly strongly in this region and many animals, including koalas, died. In the past, koalas climbed up to the 70 m high eucalyptus trees during forest fires. Nowadays, all the large trees have been felled due to the timber industry, so the shorter trees no longer provide protection. Furthermore, although there are over 100 different types of eucalyptus, koalas only use four for protection and food. Fortunately, the national park where we booked our camping trip, as you can see in the photos, was spared from the fire.

"Thank you for serving us!", said the sales manager of a promotional event in Honolulu to the participating military personnel. In order to pay $100 less for the whale-watching tour, we had to listen to the quite interesting event. Within a few days in Hawaii and Los Angeles, it became clear:

- how high the status of the military is

- that double standards are prevalent

- that money alone is enough to afford anything

Need examples?

Boarding order on the flight from Honolulu to LA:

1. active military (not us)

2. first class (not us)

3. business class (not us)

4. comfort plus (not us)

5. sky priority (not us)

6. main cabin 1 (not us)

7. main cabin 2 (not us)

8. main cabin 3 (us!!)

On the flight from Dusseldorf, it was "families with children first"

Frederic and I while shopping: I already had my hands full and Freddy was supposed to carry the cereal box and the single can of beer. Of course, it was not allowed (carrying the beer, I mean!). However, in Waikiki, advertising various rifles and pistols to try out was everywhere.

Because the ordered rental car was not available, we got a Jeep V6 with a 3.6l engine and 300 horsepower. The speed limit was mostly 25, often 35, and sometimes 45 miles per hour. Environmentally friendly vehicles on the roads? None. Consumption at a constant 60 km/h: 11 l/100 km. By the way, the cockpit displays mpg (miles per gallon...). In the parking lot at Pearl Harbor, there are parking spaces near the entrance specifically for "low-consumption vehicles". I wonder if the Toyota V8 Land Cruiser with the engine running (without a driver, only to operate the air conditioning) falls under this definition?

Early in the morning, all sights on Oahu are massively crowded. Even on weekdays, the parking lot at the "Diamond Head" volcano has a waiting lane for potential parking seekers. During the half-hour climb in a large crowd, you meet the whole range of misjudgments. Types like Reinhold Messner with mountain boots and a backpack full of provisions for 3 days, as well as Japanese mother with her daughter in a white dress and flower flip-flops. In addition, there are panting, reckless joggers and significantly overweight people in way too tight clothes. After the achievement of having taken a little walk, you could buy a T-shirt with the imprint "I hiked Diamonds Head" at the souvenir shop.

In the north of the island, a few turtles also come to the beach during the day. Volunteers then place a red rope around the turtle and set up a sign with its name, date of birth, etc. The tourist hordes then gather more or less politely around the turtle and take photos. On the road along the beach, everyone is of course stuck in traffic because there are not enough parking spaces...

The pilot on the flight to LA was not very trustworthy: "welcome on board this Boing, uhhm it's an Airbus..." By the way, it was a brand new aircraft with extra wide seats that provided more comfort for some passengers.

Upon arriving in LA, we went straight to the Hollywood sign and Walk of Fame in the afternoon. Actually, we rolled there. We spent several hours on the six-lane highway. Desperately, we looked for a supermarket and only found the burger chains and other restaurants that are known to us as well. Americans generally eat out! After accidentally finding a grocery store on the second day, we also knew why. It's simply cheaper to scarf down fast food than to buy fresh ingredients.

The next and final stop outside of Europe will be Costa Rica.