Arrived at the hotel and checked in. The room was very basic and after a quick chat with James and Griep a quick brushing of teeth and contacts putting in we were off to Waikiki beach! This place really is beautiful and I can't wait to come back. Disregarding the TP & Avios earned this will now be my choice of TP run simply as I could quite easily spend a day or 2 here then fly back home!

After walking along the beach we found a bar with a good band on and joined in with the locals and party animals, we only stayed for 2 drinks before moving on as Griep didn't have a lot of time here. The sun was setting as we made our way to find another pub.









On our way back we made a mental note of a subway and decided we would be back later for food, on the way back to the hotel we found a bar that had pints from $4 so made a bee-line. The beer we chose was Long Board, a locally brewed hawaiian beer costing $5. It was nice but a bit on the sweet side however after 3 of them it was going down well. This is where Griep had to leave us and upon enquiring where our hotel was we found out the bar backed directly onto the hotel! WINNER!

Griep was waved off so me and James headed off to subway to get a snack. What we found was a travesty! Subway was closed! We set off to try find somewhere else to eat but somehow wound up back in the bar having not eaten! Oh well liquid food it was! More pints followed, James went onto vodka and coke which entailed me trying to keep up with him! We got chatting to some Americans and Aussies and then came my downfall, tequilla slammers, whiskey, morgans spice & coke, plus whatever else was put in front of me. All of these were subsequently drank and before we knew it 2am had come and it was time to leave.

The aussies led us to this other bar where we smelt the sweet smell of HOT DOGS. Now to me a hot dog is a sausage in a bun and you put sauce on it. This one was a sausage in a bun, I put sauce on it and I took one beautiful bite, chew chew chew and swallow, at which point my tongue started burning, followed by my gums, my lips and anything else that could burn! It lived up to its name as a HOT dog however I would have renamed it SPICE dog. Alas defeated I put the last 1/4 into the bin and headed inside for a rescue pint which was dispatched of fairly quickly. More pints and shots followed before it was 0430 and we were being turfed out. We bid farewell to our friends and headed home using the satnav on James' phone. The length of time it took us to get home was definitely longer than the time taken to find that bar, however it did lead us past a McDonalds which was very welcome. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 0500 and time for sleep.





Somehow having got to sleep at 0500 we woke around 0830-0900 and quickly got showered and ready whilst drinking plenty of water. We decided the best thing to do would be to check out, hand our bags to reception and go exploring as we only had about 12 hours left before heading to the airport. James wanted to go to the BOSE store and after finding out where it was we elected to go to it en-route to the airport later. On closing the door we found out how poor the hotel really was when the door handle came off in James' hand.



We headed for the beach and found a little bar on the front to have a few glasses of water and the waiter kindly gave us several pieces of pineapple to eat. Along the beach to the opposite end of the Hilton complex there is a nice little burger bar which we made our pit stop at. Suitably fed and watered we went wandering.

The sea front at Waikiki is really great, the water is so clear we both said several times we wish we had more time to spend there instead of just 36 hours! There is also several catamarans that you can go on.



We wandered down towards the Hilton complex and had a walk round. Whilst it does look great and has its own little private kind of man made lagoon it was too busy with people, whilst Waikiki front was busy, this area was heaving with people and families and felt very confined. I would much rather stay further up towards Waikiki.











At this point we decided to walk back and visit some shops James' fancied, we set off and accidentally ended up in McDonalds again. From there we visited several shops and realised how much cheaper it is in the USA than it is in the UK. We had arranged to meet up with some of the americans from the previous evening so before we headed off to the airport we went and had a few beers with them. They were a friendly bunch and ex US forces so I got along swimmingly with them, however like the night before I don't think James could understand how crass we were about certain things. At this point we said goodbye to them and thanked them for their hospitality and being so friendly towards us. We got a group photo before we headed off. Oh and they also commented on our travel plans and that we are 'Crazy'.



Jumping into a taxi we stopped at the BOSE shop which is probably the quickest I'd ever seen James move, in and out within 3 minutes! We then cracked on and I checked in for my flight as James had managed to do it on the App I hadn't. After that we finally found our way to the Sakura lounge and met up with PaulN who had done a Griep and only had a few hours on the Island. A few minutes before James left in walked El_Duderito who was also heading home. 4 FTers meeting up in one lounge heading out on 3 different flights. After that we went our seperate ways for the long slog home to be back in time for New Years celebrations.

Next up the trip home and some unexpected goings on.