Hawai'i Part 1 - O'ahu

As we arrived late into Honolulu airport and it was already dark, Ant and I decided to take the supposedly safer option and get a taxi to our hotel.Taxis are regulated at US airports to prevent "gypsy" cabs picking up fares.However, there does not seem to be the same regulations regarding a driver's competence and ability to drive!!! I couldn't decide if the guy was blind, drunk or just didn't know his way around Honolulu!!!!The first sign that something was wrong was when he hit the traffic cones separating the main carriageway from road-works. After swerving back into the centre lane, he then proceeded to weave from lane to lane at approximately 15 miles an hour whilst hunched over the steering wheel squinting through the windscreen.We just about it made it to our hotel in one piece!!!

Hawai'i is the newest of the 50 US states and is the only state made up entirely of islands.It is also the only state that was formerly an independent monarchy.Only Hawaii and Alaska do not share a border with another U.S. state.

Hawaii is the only state of the United States that:

• is not geographically located in North America
• grows coffee
• is completely surrounded by water
• is entirely an archipelago
• has a royal palace
• does not have a straight line in its state boundary

The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km).There are 8 main islands but most people think of Hawai'i as Honolulu / Waikiki Beach.Honolulu is the state capital and is located on the island of O'ahu - the third largest island with a total land area of nearly 600 sq. miles and 230 miles of shoreline and is home to 80% of Hawai'is residents.

Honolulu is the capital city of O'ahu and downtown Honolulu is where the government builings, private offices and Chinatown are located.Waikiki is where the beaches are within easy walking distance of the hotels and this is what most people associate with Hawai'i.Our hotel is a couple of miles from downtown Honolulu and Waikiki and on our first morning, we set off to walk to Waiikiki in search of breakfast.First stop was the Starbucks in the lobby of the Hilton at Hawai'a - just across the street from our hotel!!!

Waikiki means "spouting water" and in fact the word "wai" appears frequently in the Hawaiian language as water is so important to them.Without water, Hawai'i would be just a barren lump of lava in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Despite it's commercialism, Waikiki is still a beautiful area and after a leisurely walk and cheap breakfast ($15 compared to $40 in Oz!!!), we wandered back to our hotel to pick up our towels and hit the beach.It is very windy and slightly showery today but this didn't stop us spending a couple of hours being sandblasted!!!When it got to much, we just moved to the hotel pool instead.

As we only have 2 full days here on O'ahu before moving on, we wanted to make the best of our time here so decided to book onto an organised tour to Pearl Harbour rather than make our own way there. Our driver Donnie was great - he was an Arsenal fan and congratualated us on Birmingham beating Arsenal until we explained that we had 2 teams in Birmingham.The pick up for our trip was the Hilton at Hawai'i which meant another trip to Starucks!!

The attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese Imperial Navy on 7 December 1941 brought the United States into Worl War II.The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers; 188 US aircraft were destroyed, 2,402 men were killedand 1,282 wounded.

Amongst the ships destroyed was the battleship USS Arizona the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941 when their ship was bombed by Japanese Naval Forces. The USS Arizona Memorial is built over the remains of the sunken battleship and is the reason many people visit PearlHarbour.Although entry to the memorial is free, it is on a first come basis and may mean at least a 2 hour wait for your time slot.When we arrived, Donnie got us booked in and picked up our tour tickets which were for 1:00 pm.As it was only 10:00 am, Donnie took us back into Honolulu and gave us a tour of the city.

First stop was the statue of King Kamehameha - an iconic figure in Hawai'i and his image and statue are everywhere.He was the first king of Hawai'i and is credited with uniting the Hawaiian Islands.The statue stands outside the Supreme Court building and features in the opening titles of both the new and old Hawaii Five-O TV show.In the show, this building is depicted as the police headquarters but in reality, these are just round the corner in a rather plain looking office building (well, this is where the interior scenes are filmed).We were quite pleasantly surprised to find that the show is actually filmed in Hawai'i and not in a back lot studio somewhere in LA.After visiting the Supreme Court Building to use the toilets, we jumped back on bus and headed for Punchbowl Crater.

Punchbowl Crater is an extinct volcano and the location of the NationalMemorialCemetery of the Pacific that serves a memorial to those men and women who served in the United States Armed Forces.One of the graves is for Ellison S. Onizuka who was one of the crew on board the space shuttle Challenger when it exploded shortly after take off on January 28 1986 - Ellison was born in Kona, Hawaii.

Back at PearlHarbour we just had time for a quick lunch and to take some photographs before our 1:00 pm film show of the attack on PearlHarbour.Once again it has been windy today and when we got back outside the theatre, ready to board our boat to the memorial, we were told they were not running anymore boats that day because of the wind!!!!

Back in town, Donnie dropped Ant and myself at the Ala Moana Shopping Centre where we found a bar doing happy hour cocktails, beer and appetizers for just $4 each - what a way to end the day!!! Luckily, the shopping centre is just a short walk (or stagger!) from our hotel.

Tomorrow we fly to the Big Island for the next stage of our Hawaiian adventure so we packed up 1 suitcase with just the stuff we will need for the next 9 days (the hotel are going to store our other case for us) and booked our airport shuttle for 07:00 am.