30th birthday trip...... ABZ-DUB-LHR-LAX-HNL-OGG-HNL-LIH-HNL-LAX-LHR-DUB-ABZ
Sep 10, 2015, 7:18 am
#61
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Wow so enjoying your TR, and loved your pics of the day trip around in the bus in HNL, did not realise there was so much to see, and so glad that the weather became better for you. Again wow what fantastic photos of your quick wizz around Maui, and the scenery is out of this world, what a lovely place to spend a day just driving around and admiring all the beaches, countryside before heading back to the airport for your flight back to HNL. Looking forward to the next instalment 
^
^
Sep 11, 2015, 8:38 am
#63
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: UK
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Very much enjoying this following my similar trip a few days after you! You even gave me some weather insights! You didn't take the Avis upgrade to a Jeep?! It was only $15 for three door or $25 for five door found it good for Maui
Sep 11, 2015, 12:21 pm
#64
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Thanks for reading mikeyfly. Hope you enjoyed your trip as much as I did. Avis didn't offer any upgrade. To be honest, I was happy with the Ford they gave me. It drove really well!
Sep 12, 2015, 5:31 pm
#65
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: BA Silver, EK Silver, HH Diamond, SPG Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 93
Yet other Fantastic trip report Stu! Loving it Mate! The Hawaiann islands are awesome done a trip out there a few years ago. But I don't understand!!!! How you possibly able to get up and walk off the plane in LAX after all that alcohol in Clubworld!!!! lol
I like your style man! Happy travelling
I like your style man! Happy travelling
Sep 12, 2015, 5:35 pm
#67
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Honors Diamond, Mucci de buveur de gin
Posts: 3,060
Yet other Fantastic trip report Stu! Loving it Mate! The Hawaiann islands are awesome done a trip out there a few years ago. But I don't understand!!!! How you possibly able to get up and walk off the plane in LAX after all that alcohol in Clubworld!!!! lol
I like your style man! Happy travelling
I like your style man! Happy travelling
Sep 13, 2015, 9:53 am
#69
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Honors Diamond, Mucci de buveur de gin
Posts: 3,060
Another day, another day trip. This time to the island of Kau'ai and another short hop with Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu to Lihue. The flight was 30 minutes earlier than the one I took the previous day so I figured that I would still be fine with the bus I took the previous day as I had about an hour to kill. I was wrong. I got the bus. It got into Honolulu Airport at 7.32am. Boarding for my flight started at 7.42am. Oops. I showed my boarding pass to the lady in the queue for security and she didn't bat an eyelid. At 7.40am, when I was still in the middle of the queue, I caught her eye and was like "Erm, do you think I'll miss my flight?" and she took me to the front! No time for breakfast when I went through - the flight was already boarding Zone 3 (me!).
HA333, HNL-LIH, N492HA
Bye HNL! See you later on!
Usual selection of drinks offered. I went with coffee.
We passed through some pretty big clouds on the approach into LIH and things got a bit bumpy for a while.
First job was to pick up the hire car. It was something similar to yesterday's one. I then drove down into Lihue and found a place open for breakfast by the sea.
Hello!
I'm not really that big a fan on breakfasts but thought I would take one for the team and order American. Glad I did. It was tasty but there was no way I could finish it all!
Agenda was the same as yesterday really. Drive around the island (or as much of it as I could) and stop off at some of the places the guide book mentioned.
First stop, a waterfall down at the end of a road.
The noise was deafening. It was fascinating just watching the water fall down into the river below. After a while, I followed the road back and stumbled upon this place which were offering boat tours up the river to a fern grotto. The next boat was leaving in 1 minute, so I paid my $20, rushed down and jumped on. Turns out it is a family run business. They all help out. Two of the older guys take care of the boat and the rest of the family has formed a band which played Hawaiian music at the grotto and then again on the return journey in the boat. It was really nice. I was a bit sceptical at first but the music was lovely. It has started to turn very dull at this point and it did start raining when we were in the boat. Thankfully, it was covered though so I didn't get wet. That was, until, it started pouring when we got to the grotto!
The spontaneous trip on the boat was good fun. The best part was the music - it was great!
Hopped back into the car and drove around the coast some more stopping off at some beaches around the way.
The backdrop to this church would be enough to convince me to go along!
I drove around the island a little bit more and came across a small lighthouse with some great views.
And then I managed to find my way to Secret Beach....
So after a load of walking, I was feeling pretty hungry to stopped off in one of the small towns to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the airport. The views across to the hills were nice.
I had a great tuna and crab dish.
HA224, LIH-HNL, N479HA
I made my way back to the airport and was through security in less than 5 minutes. Hawaiian had offered me an upgrade to First for $50 when I had checked in earlier in the day. Purely for FT purposes, I took the upgrade and was interested in seeing what Hawaiian had to offer. When the check in lady gave me my boarding pass, she also gave me an invite to the lounge which had a code to be scanned at the door. She explained where the lounge was. Off I trundled and got into the lounge eventually after having to scan boarding pass at one side of the door and the lounge invite at the other side of the door. The lounge was basic to say the least (lol). Free flowing soft drinks (woohoo!) and nibbles. I stayed there for 20 mins or so and then went off in search of a pint.
Boarding was called and I was on the plane pretty quickly and settled into 1A. The seats were big and comfy. Proper first class seats, not like European airlines. At the gate, there was the usual call for those needing assistance and for families with kids under 2 years old. This family of 6 decided that they fell into that category (even although their youngest looked about 5). So the Dad does his bit and shoves past everyone waiting in the queue while the wife reminds him "I think they said kids under 2"....."It's ok, we'll just say we need extra assistance". So on they get. And now we're all on the plane. They're up the back. Then he appears at the front: "Oh, I've left something in the airport. Can I go get it?". The flight attendant let him off and he was away for 15 mins! Goodness knows what he had lost but when he came back, he declared that he hadn't found it. The flight attendants were getting annoyed by the length of time he was taking and then got pretty short with him when he said he needed to go to the bathroom before we took off. "No sir, you've already delayed us enough. We are ready to go. Take your seat". Good for her!
Main flight attendant went round those of us in First while we were on the ground and asked what we would like to drink once we were airborne. I decided to go for a Mai Tai which was nice!
Safety demo stuff stored in branded cardboard box
Bye Lihue!
Hello Honolulu!
Very short flight!
So that was the end of another great day trip! I was first off the plane and decided to grab a cab back into Waikiki. I still had a few beers in my fridge so I had a couple of them while sitting on the balcony watching the night go by.
HA333, HNL-LIH, N492HA
Bye HNL! See you later on!
Usual selection of drinks offered. I went with coffee.
We passed through some pretty big clouds on the approach into LIH and things got a bit bumpy for a while.
First job was to pick up the hire car. It was something similar to yesterday's one. I then drove down into Lihue and found a place open for breakfast by the sea.
Hello!
I'm not really that big a fan on breakfasts but thought I would take one for the team and order American. Glad I did. It was tasty but there was no way I could finish it all!
Agenda was the same as yesterday really. Drive around the island (or as much of it as I could) and stop off at some of the places the guide book mentioned.
First stop, a waterfall down at the end of a road.
The noise was deafening. It was fascinating just watching the water fall down into the river below. After a while, I followed the road back and stumbled upon this place which were offering boat tours up the river to a fern grotto. The next boat was leaving in 1 minute, so I paid my $20, rushed down and jumped on. Turns out it is a family run business. They all help out. Two of the older guys take care of the boat and the rest of the family has formed a band which played Hawaiian music at the grotto and then again on the return journey in the boat. It was really nice. I was a bit sceptical at first but the music was lovely. It has started to turn very dull at this point and it did start raining when we were in the boat. Thankfully, it was covered though so I didn't get wet. That was, until, it started pouring when we got to the grotto!
The spontaneous trip on the boat was good fun. The best part was the music - it was great!
Hopped back into the car and drove around the coast some more stopping off at some beaches around the way.
The backdrop to this church would be enough to convince me to go along!
I drove around the island a little bit more and came across a small lighthouse with some great views.
And then I managed to find my way to Secret Beach....
So after a load of walking, I was feeling pretty hungry to stopped off in one of the small towns to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the airport. The views across to the hills were nice.
I had a great tuna and crab dish.
HA224, LIH-HNL, N479HA
I made my way back to the airport and was through security in less than 5 minutes. Hawaiian had offered me an upgrade to First for $50 when I had checked in earlier in the day. Purely for FT purposes, I took the upgrade and was interested in seeing what Hawaiian had to offer. When the check in lady gave me my boarding pass, she also gave me an invite to the lounge which had a code to be scanned at the door. She explained where the lounge was. Off I trundled and got into the lounge eventually after having to scan boarding pass at one side of the door and the lounge invite at the other side of the door. The lounge was basic to say the least (lol). Free flowing soft drinks (woohoo!) and nibbles. I stayed there for 20 mins or so and then went off in search of a pint.
Boarding was called and I was on the plane pretty quickly and settled into 1A. The seats were big and comfy. Proper first class seats, not like European airlines. At the gate, there was the usual call for those needing assistance and for families with kids under 2 years old. This family of 6 decided that they fell into that category (even although their youngest looked about 5). So the Dad does his bit and shoves past everyone waiting in the queue while the wife reminds him "I think they said kids under 2"....."It's ok, we'll just say we need extra assistance". So on they get. And now we're all on the plane. They're up the back. Then he appears at the front: "Oh, I've left something in the airport. Can I go get it?". The flight attendant let him off and he was away for 15 mins! Goodness knows what he had lost but when he came back, he declared that he hadn't found it. The flight attendants were getting annoyed by the length of time he was taking and then got pretty short with him when he said he needed to go to the bathroom before we took off. "No sir, you've already delayed us enough. We are ready to go. Take your seat". Good for her!
Main flight attendant went round those of us in First while we were on the ground and asked what we would like to drink once we were airborne. I decided to go for a Mai Tai which was nice!
Safety demo stuff stored in branded cardboard box
Bye Lihue!
Hello Honolulu!
Very short flight!
So that was the end of another great day trip! I was first off the plane and decided to grab a cab back into Waikiki. I still had a few beers in my fridge so I had a couple of them while sitting on the balcony watching the night go by.
Last edited by stu1985; Sep 23, 2015 at 10:13 am
Sep 13, 2015, 10:10 am
#70
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: MSN
Programs: AA, BAEC Gold
Posts: 3,933
We are off to Kauai for 12 days in a few weeks. I doubt that we shall do as much as you did! It is fascinating to see how much can be done in such a short time - TP runs might not be too bad after all.
Sep 13, 2015, 10:27 am
#71
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: SJC
Programs: BAEC Bronze, AS MVP Gold 75K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 488
It seems that the A380 BA captain on your flight was Dave Wallsworth. He is one of the most active BA pilots on Twitter and an absolute gent. If you are on twitter and one of his followers he normally pops by to say hi during the flight! For those interested his Twitter handle is @davewallsworth.
Great TR. Keep it up.
Great TR. Keep it up.
Sep 13, 2015, 12:00 pm
#72
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Honors Diamond, Mucci de buveur de gin
Posts: 3,060
It seems that the A380 BA captain on your flight was Dave Wallsworth. He is one of the most active BA pilots on Twitter and an absolute gent. If you are on twitter and one of his followers he normally pops by to say hi during the flight! For those interested his Twitter handle is @davewallsworth.
Great TR. Keep it up.
Great TR. Keep it up.
Sep 15, 2015, 2:41 am
#73
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Honors Diamond, Mucci de buveur de gin
Posts: 3,060
After all of the travelling around the past few days, I was looking forward to a few days of R&R on the beach. Thankfully the sun was shining when I woke up in the morning.
I wandered down to the beach but walked quite a bit away from the main touristy bit to a quieter part of the beach. I whiled away the hours enjoying the sun, listening to some music and swimming in the sea every half hour or so to cool off. I popped over to the ABC store and grabbed some lunch before heading back to the beach.
The sun set was around 6.50pm so I decided to stay on the beach and watch it. I was surprised how many people were still surfing / swimming as it started to get darker.
I wandered down to the beach but walked quite a bit away from the main touristy bit to a quieter part of the beach. I whiled away the hours enjoying the sun, listening to some music and swimming in the sea every half hour or so to cool off. I popped over to the ABC store and grabbed some lunch before heading back to the beach.
The sun set was around 6.50pm so I decided to stay on the beach and watch it. I was surprised how many people were still surfing / swimming as it started to get darker.
Last edited by stu1985; Sep 24, 2015 at 5:20 am
Sep 16, 2015, 5:13 am
#74
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Iver
Programs: BA GOLD/OWE BA Amex Prem Plus Tesco Airmiles Qantas Bronze IHG SPG Eithad
Posts: 2,902
Again loved the photos of your next island you visited, and they were in panoramic view which was great. Thought the photos of the sunset in HNL were amazing with the different stages of the sun setting. You certainly were round at the right time and right place to get setting sun images. Keep it coming^
Sep 18, 2015, 2:18 am
#75
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: BA Gold, Hilton Honors Diamond, Mucci de buveur de gin
Posts: 3,060
Again loved the photos of your next island you visited, and they were in panoramic view which was great. Thought the photos of the sunset in HNL were amazing with the different stages of the sun setting. You certainly were round at the right time and right place to get setting sun images. Keep it coming^