Aloha

We have arrived in Honolulu. Ahhhhhhhh. So warm but windy today. Getting to Vancouver included a car ride, ferry trip, local transit bus to Bridgeport, skytrain to Brighouse, transit bus to Steveston and a few blocks on foot to spend the night with high school friend, Linda. Up this morning at 3:30am with a taxi to the airport. 

It has been a few years since Norm and I have flown through the United States. Things have changed. Less personal contact, more on line. Cost for everything - luggage, meals and even the TV on board. Note to self, remove scissors before going through security. Oops. Knitting needles were ok. We flew first to San Francisco, almost 2 hours and then to Honolulu. OK, we travelled on our hard-earned Aeroplane points and for the "free flight" you take the route and schedule they give you.

Norm made several new friends among his seat mates -- on the Vancouver-SF leg, they were sisters en route to Maui, who grew up in Victoria on Hollywood Crescent, adopted daughters of a Dr. Rogers who went to Margaret Jenkins school, just like Duncan and Holland, but a couple of decades earlier. Flying almost 6 hours to Honolulu, he met two Filipina women -- one from South San Francisco who was off to Honolulu to surprise her 80-year-old auntie, the last of six sisters, who had just come out of hospital after a leg was amputated. The other women in row 27 was wife of a Modesto almond farmer heading to Guam,and she shared some delicious almonds with us, and lots of talk. You meet the nicest people. 

Mary thought the SFO-HNL flights was was probably the roughest flight she had ever been on, with much turbulence. When landing I thought we were going to be blow sideways. I actually hung on to the seat in front of me. Norm missed my concern since we were not seated together for either flight. That might have something to do with flying with Aeroplan points?? 

Off the plane and into Waikiki by bus. We are staying right by Diamond Head. The bus trip took about 1 1/2 hours to wind through the town. Great way to get the feel of the place. Then we walked an hour to find our accommodation. What a beautiful spot. 

This is the view as we walked along Diamond Head Road. There are surfers out there. 

Even Yellow Bunny was impressed.

We found our 1 bedroom basement suite, unpacked, put on our shorts and sandals and headed another half hour walk to find a snack and groceries. Now here we sit relaxing, planning tomorrow's adventure. Norm always has something exciting in mind. Stay tuned.