Day 22 Kauai - Oahu: Culture shock in the city & Ohana Festival

August 13, 2022

This morning we don't have to get up so early for a change. Our flight to Honolulu / Oahu. After breakfast, packing everything up and stowing it in the car, we leave our apartment around 10 a.m. and drive to Lihue airport, return the car at Budget, and take the shuttle to the airport.

Everything goes quickly here. Check-in and off to the gate. There is live music with hula dancing in the airport building. That's what I call a nice farewell from the island of Kauai.

Our flight takes off on time at 1 p.m., and 45 minutes later we land in Honolulu. We are back on the "right" side and during the approach we see the Ko'olina lagoons, the Disney resort, and then continue past Pearl Harbor for the final approach.

This time our luggage has made it onto the plane - phew!

But the biggest drama is yet to come....

We go to Budget/Avis to pick up our rental car. It is 2:15 p.m. The line is already extending out of the building. OMG! What is going on here???? Both Budget and Avis have an endlessly long line of about 70-80 waiting and frustrated vacationers.

We have booked cars with Budget and Avis for the past 3 weeks and were completely satisfied, out after 15 minutes each time and even got free upgrades.

What on earth is going on here in Honolulu????

The kids sit outside in the airport building on a bench with our luggage, and the husband and I join the endless line in front of the Budget counter.

The employees sit behind the counters on chairs and chat, no one seems to want to work. After about 30 minutes, the first commotions arise, as so far only a handful of vacationers have made it to the counter and received car documents. After about 45 minutes, there are loud shouts among the waiting people, asking where the problem lies, why we are not being served, demanding to see the manager, demanding an explanation. One of the employees eventually takes pity and claims to be the manager. They cannot currently rent out cars as neither Budget nor Avis have a car available for rent.

Excuse me?????? No cars for rent????

The commotion gets louder, and I'm afraid there will be a fight if that remains the only plausible explanation.

The employee explains that there are currently no "clean" cars available. As soon as a car is available, they will rent it out. Unfortunately, they can no longer pay attention to the booked category, so it could happen that someone who booked a "compact car" receives a full-size car - and vice versa.

This is beyond belief!!!!

I can already see myself as a family of 4 with 4 suitcases standing in front of a compact car!!! Sorry, that's just not possible - they can't do that?????

Today we actually wanted to go for lunch right after landing, then explore downtown Honolulu, check into our vacation rental, and watch the sunset at Waikiki Beach. It is now 3:30 p.m. - the kids are hungry as hell and our sightseeing program for today is pretty much canceled.

Finally, we are allowed to go to one of the 2 (out of 11) open counters, silently receive a rental agreement, and are not given any information about the booked or now received car category. Relieved, we go up 2 floors to the parking garage where we want to pick up the car. The total disillusionment follows:

The problem has only been "shifted", because up here in front of the next Budget counter, the same waiting vacationers who have already been waiting in line in front of us for 1 hour are sitting. This really can't be true.

I'm fully annoyed now, and when the lady at the counter refuses to provide any information, I bark at her that our children have been without food and drink for over 6 hours, we haven't had lunch, and our first day of vacation on Oahu is going down the drain. None of this really impresses her. She just mumbles a "sorry" and sends me away. I'm boiling with anger!!!!

Angry, I say that I'm happy to clean the car myself and receive support from other vacationers who also express their dissatisfaction and have already asked for a "dirty" car at the counter 2 floors below due to lack of time.

I walk across the parking level where there should be hundreds of rental cars, but there is a yawning emptiness. Both at Budget and Avis. At the end of the parking deck, there is a line of cars, spread over several queues all the way to the entrance to the parking deck. These are all returned cars that have not yet been cleaned. Unbelievable....

When the lady at the counter calls us and offers us a Kia Rio, a COMPACT car, I ask if she's joking. She shrugs and hands the papers and keys over to another vacationer. I emphasize once again that our children are HUNGRY and THIRSTY, and it is now 4:15 p.m.!!!

10 minutes later, she calls us again and explains that she does not have a "full-size" car in our booked category and will not be able to get one in the next few hours. However, a Mitsubishi Outlander has just arrived, and we can take it. Without seeing it, we agree, hoping that the luggage will fit in there, and go to the car. It is 4:30 p.m.!!! We have now been waiting for a rental car for over 2 hours. Unbelievable!!! I have no idea if it is because today is Saturday (weekend), because our friends were already here a few days ago - on Mondays - and had a car after 20 minutes.

I have no idea, we will never find out. We cannot recommend BUDGET and AVIS here at the airport in Honolulu under any circumstances!

Our luggage fits in the Outlander, a little squeezed, but it should be fine. The car is only poorly cleaned. There is some kind of "goo" stuck on the inside of the windshield!? We ignore that and leave the parking garage. Sightseeing is out of the question, we directly look for something to eat and - oh wonder - end up at Taco Bell again.

After a late lunch, we head straight to Waikiki Beach to our apartment. I booked a "Deluxe Banyan Suite" at the Imperial Hawaiian Resort. For us, it's now a sharp "downgrade" in terms of the size of the accommodation, because compared to our spacious apartments on the last 3 islands, it was really difficult to find something comparable in the same price range here on Oahu. 2 separate bedrooms were not affordable, at least not in a location so close to Waikiki Beach. Our Banyan Suite has 1 bedroom and a living-sleeping room with a sofa bed and a Murphy bed. At least separate beds for the kids.

The Imperial Hawaiian is right in the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. When we arrive, all possible streets are blocked, police cars are everywhere, and masses of people are flowing through the streets. I'm experiencing culture shock....

Welcome to the city! Is it always this crowded here????

We park our car at the hotel entrance, where we hand it over to the valet parking service after checking in. Unfortunately, there is only "valet parking," but considering the parking situation, the husband doesn't even argue with me (otherwise he hates paid parking), but here it is absolutely necessary. So we book the hotel parking for the next 6 days ($35/day) and check in. We are on one of the upper floors (I can't remember if it's the 10th or 13th), there are several elevators, and on the roof, there is a small pool with sun loungers and seating. On the lower floor, there are 2 hot tubs and showers.

As expected, the apartment is very small and quite worn out, the bathroom is very small and not really clean. But well, it'll do for the week. The two small balconies are only for those without a fear of heights, and there is no room for more than 2 chairs here.

We unpack our things and then decide to explore the area. There is supposed to be a free hula show at Kuhio Beach, which we want to watch if we make it there in time.

Since we want to go to the beach, we take the route to Fort De Russy Beach and then, according to Google Maps, walk the Sheraton Beachwalk to Waikiki Beach. However, at the beach, we realize that the aforementioned "Beachwalk" no longer exists. The last storm must have done a lot of damage here, as there is no longer a beach in front of the 5***** Halekulani Hotel and the neighboring Sheraton hotel. Everything has been washed away. Oh no....

We turn around and walk back to the main street and then continue parallel to the beach on the closed main street. The "Ohana Festival" is taking place here, so all roads are closed. There are food stands, food trucks, handicrafts, jewelry, etc. everywhere.

And I haven't seen this many people in one place in the past 2 years!

We weave our way past the shops, through the Royal Hawaiian Center, past the Moana Surfrider Hotel and a Christmas shop (hehe, just like on Kauai), and reach the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Statue and Kuhio Beach with the Kūhiō Beach Hula Show. It's packed! We find a standing spot to the side and watch for a while, but we find the show rather boring and sit down at Waikiki Beach. There are so many surfers in the water that I wonder how they manage not to run into each other.

However, waves are rather scarce. The surfers are mostly just sitting on their boards and drifting.

After a while, we walk back through the main street through the Ohana Festival back to the Imperial Hawaiian. I treat myself to a real Hawaiian ukulele at a ukulele stand. To the delight of my son. He would love to learn to play the ukulele right away.

Back in the apartment, my son starts playing the ukulele, and my daughter relaxes on the sofa bed, which she has chosen as "her" bed, while the husband and I go shopping for the week. We go to Walmart and only buy the essentials. Since we don't have a complete kitchen equipment this time, we won't be able to cook much. So we end up with cup noodles and microwave meals in our shopping cart, as well as 4 small ready-made salads at a bargain price of $7.95 per bowl! We don't care today, we have a strong desire for something "healthy."

Since I'm not allowed to turn on the air conditioning because the husband feels a draft, I leave the window open when we go to bed. The noise of the city and party music keeps me from falling asleep. At some point, I'm too tired and fall asleep.

Welcome to the urban jungle - I already miss the other 3 islands....