Welcome to my trip report on Honolulu and the greater island of Oahu. In no way is this trip report intended to offend anyone in any way. All sections have been posted now. You may feel free to post. Thank you and welcome to the thread.

IMHO – In My Honest Opinion

This trip to HNL was booked in April 2009 as an award ticket, 65k miles per person, with 2 people. We were originally leaving HNL on July 1st, but pushed that back to leave on July 2nd. Fast forwarding a bit, mom was not feeling like it was necessary to book the hotel yet, a few weeks in advance. When she was finally looking into it a week before the trip, it appeared to be that the Hilton Hawaiian village was sold out. Needless to say she deserved that one (we had gotten a recommendation from some family that went there a while ago). So she had to book a room at the Sheraton, and she was flip flopping with everything, really annoying me IMHO. A cancellation at the Hilton confirmed us there, and we were all set. Mom and I were originally looking into switching the trip so I could fly to ALB and have July 4th there, but that plan fell through later as there weren�t enough award seats. It would�ve cost $100 though according to the DL agent.

I printed the boarding passes out the night before, fully packed myself and was ready to go. I went to bed at midnight, couldn�t fall asleep. So I got about an hour and a half of sleep. I woke up to the alarm at 4 am; mom as usual needs to learn to take faster showers. We had a commitment to leave at 4:30 but we left at 4:45. We arrived at the airport 5:18 or so, went straight to the economy parking. We usually go central but she thought we needed to save some money. I calculated the difference and it was only $35 or so, I offered to pay for that portion of it (I hate that lot) to go park in central. She turned it down, so that�s where we were. As we entered the lot, a bus just left so I was already off to an annoyed day. We parked at the very far back corner, 5 minute walk to the bus, and a 15 minute wait there. We were on for 5 minutes to get to terminal A. Then we got off the bus, went up the escalator and straight to security. The medallion line (mom is a silver medallion � they don�t care that much) was longer than usual. I noticed the CLEAR line was just cut off since they shut down the other day. Just before going through the metal detector I realized that I still had my belt on, and took it off. After going through it didn�t turn up, so mom had to ask where it was. It came out a second later, and proceeded to move on.

How this is significant:
-First time on plane with new DL colors
-First time using DL on demand after song shut down
-First tine on ex-song configured 757
-First time on plane with wifi
-First time ever to SLC

This plane today was N639DL. I was seeing a lot of action before boarding. There was a NW DC9, CO 737�s, in general a lot of action going on during the early hours. Boarding was normal, but only 1 GA was working the flight. I was happy to see that this particular plane had wifi, being a long haul. One of the FA�s was standing blocking the FC section during boarding, later found out he was the lead. We pushed back on time, and taxied to runway 22R for takeoff. An Air Tran 717 was taking off just before us. We had a loud and back-in-your-seat takeoff, the IFE was turned on just after takeoff, and we were in the skies. Up at 10,000 feet, I decided to watch a bit of TV, and then I bought the movie �Yes Man.� It was a decent movie, IMHO. Almost done with the movie, I started to buy the wifi for my iTouch. IMHO, the whole account and that with GoGo isn�t really necessary. But otherwise, the wifi was working great. We were served 2 snack/drink services: just at cruising altitude and before descent. First one I tried Biscoff � I�m not a fan as it�s kinda dull. Otherwise, smooth flight and I will now stick with peanuts. Descent into SLC is good, noticing that there are 4 stickers on the engine. The one on top had said �T/R DEACTIVATED� �T/R ACTIVATED� and 3rd copies the first and the 4th copies the 2nd. They were in a column, and I was confused as to whether there will be thrust reversers or not on landing. I got to saw the city of Salt Lake � seems more like a town than a city. I was able to identify the airport, and to see that we were flying right past it. Not sure if we were a go-around or just ATC wanted us to land that way, but we did a u-turn and landed on the left runway going over the marsh land. Touch down was normal, thrust reversers were deployed, and they were loud and took up a third of the engine. You could barely hear the FA as he made the landing announcement. There were a few RJ�s and a M90 waiting in line for takeoff on the same runway we landed on. A 738 was parked outside of the DL hangar. We pulled into D10 and I saw what then I thought was the plane to HNL. Fasten seatbelt sign was turned off and I jumped up in time to see the FA disarm 2R. The lead said �Flight attendants please prepare your cabin doors for arrival.� The door was opened up quickly and somehow we had gotten off the plane before anyone up front did.

Walking up the jetway and into the concourse, it is a bit obvious that SLC airport is a tiny bit stuck in the 80�s. The signs, limited seats, seat covers from the old old old old DL, etc. There was a 3-way switch so D8 was to some other Hawaiian destination, D3 was to ATL, and D1 was to HNL. All of those were 763�s so they had a 3-way switch. We were walking around the airport: Paintings by concourse E, walking down to a book store by Concourse C, getting pizza, looking at some tarmac action, etc. It was a busy airport today, gates full, people moving, etc. To my surprise, there was more mainline action than I expected and it was a busy airport. So I was sitting by the gate, on my suitcase, waiting for the pizza, and one of the pilots walked by and onto the plane. Mom shows up with pizza, and we go by D2 to sit down. D2 was a flight to NRT, leaving at 1:30 IIRC. The time then was 10:30 I believe, and there were 7 or 8 Japanese tourists waiting in line for the GA to help them. It is either they thought that they would be there any second or they just want to be the first in line. After that, I went to charge my iTouch by D4. By that time, the flight to ATL was in final boarding. One GA was scanning BP�s while the other one was sitting at the computer calling for one more person to arrive. The plane to ATL was a repainted 763. Mom called me and said the plane was boarding soon so come over. I got over there, and was waiting with a bunch of other people for zone 2 to be called. Zone 2 was called, and we got in line. The GA was the bald guy with glasses, saying to one of the little boys with his family in a happy voice �You�re going to Honolulu!! I wish I was going there!� After that, I am on my way to HNL.

Well it was 2005 since I had been on a 763, so I was in for a refresher. The plane itself was showing its age, and it was kinda dark. The FC section seemed very small IMHO. I realized that this plane still has the old overhead bins just like these:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2405/...2bfec9a545.jpg

I thought that all of the 763�s had completed the overhead bin change. Apparently not. I did a 763 in 2005 and I believe that one had new overhead bins. Otherwise, lead was a blonde female, I believe she leads the SLC-HNL-SLC runs, as I saw on YouTube a video of SLC-HNL landing, and her voice came up. That was 3 days after my flight. Can tell by the way she says Honolulu. Otherwise, two middle-school girls were behind us. They were obviously looking at the PTV screen during boarding because they were saying stuff like �Where�s Valencia?� �Ooh, I want to go to Tokyo� etc. When it came for departure, the pilot came on the PA and said there was a minor maintenance problem onboard, and the gate needs to be re-attached so the maintenance crew can come onboard. Gate was re-attached and a guy came onboard, went down the right aisle. He stopped a few rows behind and just simply put the panel back in its place. As he left, one person clapped but that was it. FA called for cross check again, and we started to push. Then I noticed the GA was worshipping the pilots, like bowing down to them pretty much as we were pushing back. We were in reverse all the way down the concourse. Then we started up and taxied out to the parallel runway of where BOS-SLC landed. Takeoff was much quieter, and then I realized D2 was an A330 (thought it was a 744) and then we were off. PTV activated just after takeoff. Up at cruising altitude, the live TV was on and off once we hit RNO, gone by the time we were over SFO. When the FA�s came by with snacks, mom asked when there was going to be lunch. She said there was no lunch, just the EATS menu. I was really ticked from that, as mersk862 said DL�s website had made a glitch and there should be lunch. Oh well. Later, I got up to go to the bathroom. The bathroom on the right side had a stretch of masking tape that said �INOP do not use�. I was waiting there for 5 minutes before someone came out. I would�ve walked down to the end but the FA�s were still in the aisles. After that, I was mostly asleep or just playing trivia. Descent into HNL was good, was able to see the Pearl Harbor area upon landing, and normal touchdown. This landing was a shorter one than I thought. Just as we got off the runway a UA 763 landed (probably from LAX). There were 2 744�s, one in NW colors and one in DL colors. We taxied to the DL colors and parked at gate 22, disembarked quickly, and we were on our way to paradise.

After exiting the plane and heading towards the exit, I realized this airport is more of a mall than an airport. A lady at the info desk right around the corner was helpful, giving the bus maps, etc. After exiting the security area, we went out to get a taxi. There was a taxi dispatcher there, with a bunch of other people waiting, so I just sat down. We were there for 20 minutes or so, and the crew from our flight walked right by us, most likely to a hotel shuttle. When we eventually got a taxi, the guy was an Asian man, nice, driving a Lincoln Towncar, car in ok shape. He was friendly, and when he was asked about the North Korea missile threat, he said that nobody was scared. It took us about a half an hour to get to the hotel, went straight into the line for check-in. I was thinking about something else, and I saw my mom suddenly at the HHonors check-in desk. There was some confusion on our stay, but the person checking us in had called the manager over and she had cleared everything up. We went straight to the room, not too long of a walk actually. In the Kalia tower, there was a Starbucks, store with ukuleles and other Hawaiian stuff, concierge, and check-in/out. Mom got Starbucks (she is a big DD fan, but she can handle Starbucks). After she got her coffee we went to the elevators right next to Starbucks. But they were only to the 4th floor. Then there was another section of elevators right next to the check-in/out desk, and my mom asked �why didn�t we just check in there?� and I said �We didn�t know that we were going to this tower.� Owned. We went up to the 19th floor, turned right, and we were shortly at room K1934. I have the hotel review further down in case if you were wondering. We were getting ourselves settled in, seeing the view, etc. After that, we went to the regular pool right by the beach; it was packed needless to say. When I was done swimming, mom had gotten me a strawberry smoothie thing. Good drink, good way to start off the vacation. She had mentioned there was other food there; I complained to her that she could�ve just gotten me a cheeseburger. We went over there for that dinner. Since there is a LOT of this trip, I will just give out a flat 85 on this restaurant. We went over to take a quick dip in the ocean, and from there we went back to the room from there, and that wrapped up the day.

Well I got up at 6:30 am because of the time change. Mom went out early for a walk down the beach; I was just organizing, waking up, etc. After she was ready, we had decided to go walk across the street, she showed me what was there since she went earlier. We went to IHOP for breakfast (my rating on that is 92), went to the ABC store (which was in the hotel � I knew about it but she didn�t), and walked down a bit further to see McDonald�s and Subway. We walked back to the hotel, I showed her the ABC store inside the hotel, and we were looking in the shopping area. By the time we got back up to the room, 9:45 ish, the maid had already cleaned the room. /We then went down to the pool with the water slides. That one was even more packed. But this pool was warmer than the other one. After that, we went back up to the room. Lunch: ham, lettuce, and cheese sandwich from ABC store. Good sandwich IMHO. After lunch, I was watching some TV and that. Mom was going to the Hilton timeshare thing. She left 2:40 ish, and I was still in the room. I left around 3 to go take some pictures by the beach. I also went down by the rocks, hoping to catch the 744 take off to ATL. I believe I saw it, as it looked like new colors and a 744, right time (3:35 ish), but the camera doesn�t have that big of a zoom, oh well. There was some sort of wedding going on right by the beach, not on the hotel property, but maybe a quarter mile west, right on the beach, there was some sort of wedding. Otherwise, I was walking around the hotel, and went back to the room around 4:45. Mom came back at 6 and she went to get me some McDonalds. That wrapped up my day.

Today was Pearl Harbor day. First, I was challenging my mom to see whether it was even open on Sunday. Well it was. So, I got up again at 6:30, and left the room at 7:35. Quick stop at concierge desk � take bus 20 or 42. We went to the bus stop, was there for 1 minute and a bus 42 showed up. Female driver, it was a split two part bus. Mom got a monthly bus pass from concierge. I had a $5 with no change, so the driver yelled out �Anyone got change for a 5?� One person came up and gave change. We were there at 8:35, and we were at the line for the tickets at 8:45. The next available tickets were for 9:45. During that hour we were taking pictures, looking in the gift shop, looking around, etc. We went over to where the tour was to begin, and it was a long line to get in. We walked into a theatre, a �ranger� who lectured us about the tour itself. Then he put on a 20 minute video on the attack, and from there we boarded the boat out to the memorial. Right upon arriving there, a line of people was there to take them back. I didn�t know that these boats were doing tight turnarounds. But it truly was an amazing memorial. It really amazed me how oil was still coming out of the boat now. I would like to take this time to remember ALL of our country�s Military Members, fallen in the line of duty or still alive today, thank you very much for your service. Otherwise, we went back to the center, bought a few gifts from the gift shop (since they won�t let you bring items on the boat.) After that, we went to the bus station. We were there for 25 minutes, and we were just so tired of waiting we just hopped on a bus. An hour later, we were at the last stop � the shopping center. The driver gave me a transfer slip and we got off. 5 minutes later we got on a different bus, and we got back to the hotel. We walked down the shopping area, I got a personal pizza for myself, and mom got sushi somewhere else. We met at Starbucks and had lunch there. I decided to buy an hour of wifi, it was charged to the room. After that, we did the same as the day before � pool and beach. We also went by the lagoon and rented one of those 4 people bicycle boat things. It was about $20 for a half an hour. It was a decent amount of exercise IMHO. We went back to the room later, and mom got me McDonalds again. That wrapped up the day.

This time I managed to get up at 7. Breakfast today was frosted flakes (the portable type). Mom went to go take pictures from the top of that mountain (can�t think of the name sorry.) After she got back, we went straight to the pool to try to get decent seats; we were there 9:45 ish. Apparently the seats were all taken by that time. So mom parked at the lagoon, I was just in the pool. We were moving around pretty much all morning. We went back to the room and quickly changed, went down to CJ�s NYC style Delicatessen. I give that a 90. The rest of the afternoon I was on the wifi again, (by the way, $8 for an hour). I went up to the room; mom went out to the shopping center. Tonight was room service night. Tonight was some chicken with mashed potatoes, bread and butter. When I originally ordered, they said 45 minutes, but it had arrived in 21 minutes. The guy delivering was friendly, quickly glancing at the news, so I gave a little extra tip. It had already added 17% tip, I could�ve honestly left it at that, but I felt like being generous. It came out to be $45. Rating: 97. I was so full after that, I couldn�t eat or drink a thing until breakfast tomorrow morning. That wraps up my day pretty much.

Today was the day to drive around Oahu. IMHO, this was the day I wasn�t looking forward to. Mom had gotten up to get the rental car from Enterprise. She had just reserved a regular car, but she shows up with a mustang. She said that �you could upgrade for $10 more� so she did it. We drove off, and we were on our way around Oahu. Our first stop was Wal-mart to buy some Kona coffee, souvenirs, some food, etc. First thing I noticed about the cart was there was something on the front right tire. A sign explained that if you take it past the yellow line it will stop. I didn�t see any yellow lines anywhere. I thought this was more a fact of theft prevention, but after we checked out, I realized it was more of keeping the cart where it belongs. Next stop was McDonalds for some breakfast. After that was the Dole Plantation. Right before we got out, on the radio there was something about a 5 year old girl found in the ocean, surviving the plane crash. I thought it was from AF447, but I was corrected later that night by Charlie Gibson. We went into the plantation, saw the pineapples, etc. It was one heck of an interesting place. Went inside, and that place was literally a grocery store. There were a great variety of items inside, not just pineapples, but a lot of other stuff. After leaving there, we were going around the island, looking for a beach. There was one really good one, ocean was light blue, food and drinks, etc. but there were no parking spots there. We found another beach, and parked it there for an hour. This side of the island definitely much more calm, less people, etc. After that, we stopped in a shopping center, I got pizza hut (it wasn�t even a restaurant � just an ordering area and 2 benches.) Mom got taco bell and we ate over there. After lunch, we kept on going around. We took a 5 minute stop at one of the viewing points (forgot the name of it.) Great view of the east part of Oahu I must say. After that, mom dropped me off back at the hotel; she was driving around until she had to drop the car off. She came back with McDonalds later and that wrapped up the day.

This was the last full day of being in Hawaii. Today I got up at 6:45, got ready for the pool, and left at 7:45. We took a quick stop at ABC store to get a HLC (ham lettuce cheese) sandwich and watermelon. Went down to the pool, finally got some decent seats. Mom went to walk down the beach, I ate my breakfast, swam in the pool after. Mom comes back later, and we keep on moving along. At 2 pm, we arrive back at the hotel room. Then we were getting ready for the luau. Fast forwarding, mom got the free ticket to the luau just by going to the timeshare thing, so that was good. After waiting in line forever, we got our pictures taken, and we were escorted to a table. A guy came by taking drink orders (2 drink coupons per person.) and there were no drinks I liked. I just stuck with the water on the table. There were some cake like items on the table, one was pink and that was delicious. At the table were 3 Japanese tourists (mom actually talked to them a bit) and another couple (from Australia or Britain � can�t tell the different accents that well.) The host was introducing himself, the band, etc. At the beginning they did a blow horn competition, and the host said �From the island nation of�.TPA�.is�� and people were laughing. The band at the luau was good also � 3 guys, drums, guitar, etc. Later, someone came to the table to tell us we can go up and get food. There was a kid�s table there � it was literally meant for kids 3.5 feet tall. There were 3 selections from that table � chicken nuggets was one, but I forgot the other two. I was trying some stuff mostly, there was some salad (no ranch dressing), and I would�ve thought there would be more variety of stuff, but oh well. Just after sitting down, someone came over asking if we wanted to buy the luau picture for $20. Gheese, if you had told everyone in advance, nobody would have to wait in that long line. The food was pretty good for the most part, and the shows were good also. As we were leaving, we were one of the first people out. We got an elevator, and it was filled quickly. We went right to the room and that wraps up the day.

I had only a limited amount of time today, because of packing and that. Mom and I went down right at 8, and we had the same exact chairs that we had the day before. Same HLC and watermelon breakfast, mom goes for a walk again. We left the pool area by 9:30 for one last dip in the ocean. After the beach, we went back to the room to pack up, shower, and leave. We left at 11:20 and checked out downstairs. The total bill came out to be $1,515 for everything. That went on the AMEX, and we went to the airport shuttle area. The shuttle manager there said that the bus will arrive soon. It did, because at 11:50 we boarded a Ford E-series bus, a few years old. One of the panels in the entry door was broken, so the driver had to constantly go back and forth to manually open and close that one panel. 2 other people were on the bus with us when we left the Hilton. We turned right, and picked up 2 more people from a different hotel down a bit. After that, we just got onto the highway and went straight to the airport.

Room comfort 9/10
Bed comfort 9/10
Bathroom overall 13/15
Toiletries/Standards 8/10
Food on site 13/15
Entertainment on site 12/15
Room cleanliness 10/10
Hotel Safety/Security 5/5
Hotel staff 5/5
Bonus 5/5
TOTAL 91/100 = A-


Great hotel I must say. Everything was good in this hotel stay. I was not a fan of the shampoo that was there � smelled horrible IMHO and it made my hair change colors a bit. Otherwise it was a great and memorable hotel stay.

When we were on the bus, my mom mentioned to me that we�ll probably arrive around 1 pm. We arrived at 12:30 ish. Checked in at a kiosk, notification came up saying that the 744 was oversold and they may need volunteers, see GA for more info. We got our BP�s and went right to security. By 12:50 we had went through security and on our way to the food court. We got some Burger King, and by the time we had just gotten it, it was 1 pm. We had left the food court by 1:10, and went right to the gate. Mom went to the GA�s to see about VDB while I went by the window to look out. This ship was N664US, one of the well-known 744�s. Still in NWA colors and a dent above the over-wing door. Mom came back and said the bump would take us to MSP leaving at 5:30, would get $400 a person. Then she left to go walk around the airport. Some good action today: Co B757 pushback, CO 764 pulling in and pushback, another CO 764 pulling in, UA 763 pushback and startup, various Hawaiian DC9 taking off, etc. Mom had came back at 2:15. Boarding announcements began then. I would�ve figured because you have 400+ people to board. Waiting by the gate desk, an agent took out the typical airport roping and was standing there. Zone 1 was called, and she apparently was doing the zone check on BP�s. A few people were actually were turned down by her. How do I know? She was looking at mine when zone 2 was called. Then I went down the ropes and right next to the door. Agent there scanned my BP, and down the jetway and onto the 744 I go.

How this is significant:
-First tine on NWA
-First time on 747
-Biggest plane (surpasses 764)
-Widest plane (surpasses A332�s 2-4-2) as 744 has 3-4-3
-First time on 4 engine aircraft (A340/A380 are also 4 engines)
-First time on 2-floored plane (A380 also is 2 floors)
-2nd longest flight time (8h20m falls short by 10m of ZRH-BOS)
-Longest flight distance (surpasses BOS-ZRH)
-Biggest passenger load
-First time to Concourse E in ATL

As stated above, this is a big flight for me. As soon as you walked on the plane you could tell it needed overhaul. Coming from 2L I knew where we were going, and mom was following me. I just speed-walked to row 52, mom was saying �Wow this is a long plane.� Sitting down, I had a great view of the spoilers. Mom noticed instantly that there were no PTV�s; I mentioned that this is NWA, and these planes are being overhauled completely. As we were still talking, a man puts his bag up and asks if we were together, mom said yes, he asked if we wanted to sit together, she said not really, and a bunch of people behind him were laughing. He sat down, and he and my mom were talking. He said he was moving to JAX. There were 11 FA�s onboard this flight, but no basis was ever said. I caught that the FO�s name was Howard, didn�t get the pilot�s name. This call was �Flight attendants prepare your doors for departure, arm and cross check, standby for all call.� Just like SLC-HNL, we got pushed all the way back past the other terminals, and onto a taxiway, and we started up from there. We taxied all the way out to the reef runway for takeoff. Fast and loud I must say, could easily see the HHV. At 10,000 feet, it seems that all the FA�s got up and started preparing for snack and dinner services. Soon, we were up at 33,000 feet and cruising at 560 mph. Snack was typical peanuts, but the FA gave a full can instead of just a cup. Nice job. Just after the snack service, about 5:40 HNL time, was dinner. It could�ve waited another half hour, but whatever. It was beef with vegetables, rice, salad, bread/butter, and a brownie. I enjoyed the fact that it came with ranch dressing, but it wasn�t enough. After that, I was on and off asleep, went to the bathroom and walked around. Moving on, longer descent into ATL, many turns before we finally landed. We went all the way to the end (but by the time we were at the end, we were going 2 mph.) we turned right, crossed the parallel runway. There was a big parking garage on the left, then T, A, B, C, D, E. Apparently we had gone too far so the pilots had to take us onto the taxiway going in the opposite direction, then go in between D and E. We pulled up to E10. It took us about 15 minutes to get from the seat to just outside the gate area. In the meantime, my mom was talking to one of the FA�s there. It came out he was from HNL, 30 hours in ATL, etc. Then I left the 744, my first ever ride on a 747.