Calchas

They plug the tablets in for you but if the battery is charged you can just unplug it. Since most folks leave the tablet plugged in the batteries are usually close to fully charged when you get them. The tablet will warn you (and somewhat impertinently demand you plug it back in) if it's getting low on juice.

KARFA

Thanks for the clarification. My table demanded me to plug it in, so perhaps it was just bcause it was low on power after all.

aceman

Enjoying the TR, I was in Hawaii when I was approximately 5 years old. The trip was memorable for 3 reasons:

1) we were stopped for speeding, caught by helicopter
2)Blacksand beaches
3) my blow up swimming ring flew out the window on the motorway and I cried for an hour.

Would love to get back now that I'm more mature, and would probably only cry for 20 minutes.

Its annoying though, I've often thought that the big, gaping hole in the TP run thing has been ex-LAS routes to Hawaii, I've never once seen a decent fare there, annoying since I'm in LAS for 3 weeks this summer and would quite like a few days in Hawaii

FlyingDentist

I've done LHR-HNL in both directions - via LAX and via NRT.

I can empathise entirely with those who are unimpressed at the lack of decent seats for a 5+ hour flight on a US domestic carrier. It also seems to be impossible to do anything other than an overnight flight HNL-US mainland, adding to the misery.

On my last trip there I needed to leave London on Saturday evening and be in HNL for a meeting at 0830 the following morning, so we selected LHR-NRT-HNL on NH as crossing the date line allowed me to travel 'back in time'.

Quite a long connection in NRT as I recall, but fortunately a lounge tour and finding the automatic beer-pouring robot in the NH lounge helped pass the time.

The NRT-HNL segment is operated by Air Japan as a codeshare. Business class was crade-style seats but not bad.

I made it in good time for my meeting, but I can't say I was in the best of shape...

Overall I am not sure which was better - certainly going via NRT was 'least bad'

ExpatExp

^

If Beardy were to start a nonstop, I would be very tempted… HA has discussed it as well, which would be interesting as we AA members can often get credit with HA. But a 13.5 hour nonstop would not be very pleasant in HA's longhaul F seats.

LondonAndy

Well, here I am at BRU, waiting for the plane back to LHR - the final leg of the journey. Unlike some, I actually made a holiday out of it and saw a bit more than just airports . Just in case someone is tempted to follow in my footsteps, here are my top 20 (non-plane related) favourite photos from the trip, in roughly chronological order. I'll add the plane/hotel ones when I download the photos from my phone.

Boston - USS Constitution: We did a few hop-on/hop-off tours as they seemed to be the best way to get some sort of overview of a city in 24 hours. The oldest commissioned battleship in the world is pretty interesting.


Honolulu - USS Missouri, Pearl Harbour: A WW II battleship which you can have a good poke around.


Honolulu - USS Arizona, Pearl Harbour: Very moving, the ship still leaks a quart of oil a day, but they don't drain it as they consider it a tomb to those who died inside.


Honolulu - snorkelling with dolphins: This was a bit of a drive out of town, but well worth doing in my view.


Honolulu - Hawaii State Senate/House: Visiting State Houses is just something MrsLA and I do when we can.......


Honolulu - Manoa Falls trek: Doesn't take too long, but an interesting diversion from the hustle and bustle of downtown. We were due to follow this with a dramatic 60 minute drive around “Round Top Drive” and “Tantalus Drive” but the car got a puncture so we headed for home.


Volcano - the end of the Chain of Craters Road: Nature won this battle, and the road won't be reopened.


Volcano - the cauldron: Dramatic by day, but even more so by night. The National Park is open 24 hours a day, and there is a hotel where you can have dinner overlooking the volcano, which is where this photograph is taken from.


Volcano - inside the lava tube:


Volcano - the view from the loo: We stayed in a guesthouse on the edge of a rainforest, and they weren't joking when they said it was on the edge of a rainforest!


Hilo - Botanical Gardens: We ended up at this one instead of the World Botanical Gardens by accident, but this was great - 3,000 species of plants to see, about half a dozen of which I'd seen before!


Hilo-ish - Mauna Kea Observatory: About a 90 minute drive to get to 9,000 feet, above most of the clouds. With a 4 wheel drive you can go to the observatories at 14,000 feet. Unfortunately there was high cloud the night we were there, so no star gazing


Los Angeles - Studios: LA just isn't my sort of town, but I felt that I had to put a token shot in.....


Washington DC - The Capitol: Another bus tour (Big Bus Tours) which had four loops, of which we did three.


Washington DC - Smithsonian Air and Space Museum: We had enough time to wander round here after the tour, and you could easily spend a day there. We saw an exhibition about the mad Austrian who jumped from the edge of space not so long ago (including his suit and capsule), some old planes, including the original Spirit of St Louis which was the first plane to cross the Atlantic, and a replica of the Wright Brothers first plane. They also have a big space exhibition, including this genuine Apollo space capsule.





Washington DC - The White House: I thought that us Brits were paranoid about security, but the Americans take it to a whole new level. I especially liked the irony of the uniformed "Secret Service" staff driving around in their Secret Service cars - guys, it's not that secret



Hopefully this may inspire some future Tier Point runners to add a couple of days into their schedule to actually see beyond the airports

ExpatExp

Also a fun place to swim, if you don't pay attention to the signs

That drive is beautiful, but what's even more beautiful is to wander up some of the hiking trails that lead off Tantalus Drive. Maps here. Note that you may run into a wild boar or two!

Fascinating! Where was this?

billinghamn

Some great photos there LondonAndy - glad you had a good time. I think one of your photos needs rotating 90 degrees - Chain of Craters Road - it made me turn my head anyway!

Brought back lots of good memories for me - places billinghamv and I have visited. We stayed at Volcano Lodge and got the exact same photos as you. However we soon realised we didn't really need to pay way over the odds to stay at the Lodge to get the nice photos! You can get the photos just from visiting the lodge and staying late for dinner etc. It was an experience though.

Fruitcake

Excellent TR Andy. Thanks! ^

Quite agree about the security around the White House. You got a good photo of it though. Last time I was there, only last week, it wasn't possible to see that famous view at all.

LondonAndy

In the long immigration queue at LHR... I know one photo needs to be rotates but Flickr wasn't playing ball, despite uploading twice. The Crater Tube is in Volcano National Park - we went back to visit or having seen a photo of it after we had spent a day in the park. It is the second stop on the road down to the lava covered road. We looked at staying at Volcano House but it was full. However, as you say, dinner there got you the view!

xenole

Your photos have pretty much covered everything so I can devote more time to flying

I normally do try an have a couple of days here and there when I do my runs.
I've done Washington DC and did find that sometimes you can go up to the fence of the White House and other times they keep you on the opposite side of the road.

Do want to visit Pearl Harbor so just need to figure out how to get from Honolulu to Hawaii without wasting too much time in doing so.
Seeing an active volcano will be good.

KARFA

Excellent photos LondonAndy. Did you walk around to the north side of The White House? You can get a lot closer on the north side.



I think you will find I saw the road between SJU and the hotel, and had a day in Honolulu. I went on the beach!

Chandler Bing

Even though I'm only on the road for 72 hours, I've got a day in Philadelphia and a day in Honolulu scheduled so I get to at least see a little bit. And a night in the Hilton at Phoenix airport

But great pictures you have there, looks like you had a lovely trip!

Calchas

I certainly spent a very enjoyable afternoon there last year. I second your comments on enjoying the towns one flies through and thank you for your trip report.

EDIflyer

Hehe I opted for the Waldorf Astoria Arizona Biltmore instead via Amex FHR - $119+tax rate (that includes upgrade/breakfast) came with $100 of F&B credit, pretty good for a 1-night stay