We hadn't really thought that much about going to Hawaii as it always seemed so far away, but when we were on our way I started to get very excited about it. However, we didn't get off to the best start when we arrived! The flight from Fiji was much longer than I had expected at about 6 hours, and we left at 10ish at night on the 27th of July, and arrived in Honolulu at 7am the same day. It was very weird going back in time like that and as you can expect we were both very tired. When we went through immigration I got into a bit of an argument with the man there which didn't help things. I was tired though! I don't think Americans go travelling like this as they didn't really understand what we were doing. He didn't like it one bit when I said I didn't have a job in England and kept asking me loads of questions about how I was going to support myself and if I wanted to work here. I didn't dare say I was just using my credit card! I think I will just lie when we fly to LA as they will probably be even worse there. Anyway, we eventually got through and collected our bags and when we got outside, shock horror, it was raining! I couldn't believe the weather was so bad considering it is summer here and was very disapointed. We caught the shuttle bus into town and eventually arrived at the hostel we had booked. We stayed in a place called Waikiki which is the main holiday area on the island of O'ahu, and is techically a suburb of Honolulu. It was very built up and busy, a complete contrast to where we had been in Fiji. The hostel was ok and we checked in our bags, and then when I looked outside the sun had come out and it had stopped raining. Apparantly it rains most days early in the morning, then stops, so that cheered me up no end.

On our first day we spent a while having a walk around and getting our bearings. Except for the beach Waikiki is mainly shops, hotels and restaurants. We had a walk around the shops and got some lunch before hitting the beach. The beach is very long but quite narrow, and very busy. There were people everywhere! It is very pretty though and once the sun had come out it was very, very hot. We stayed there for a few hours but I couldn't lie in the sun for long and had to keep going into the shade. It was so hot that it was just unbearable. Fiji had been hot, but there s always a breeze to keep the temperature down, and that was what was missing here. We left about 4 in the afternoon and it was still boiling. That night we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner and then had an early night to try and catch up on our sleep.

The next day we got up very early to catch the bus to Pearl Harbour. The place we went to is actually called the Arizona Memorial, and is about an hours journey by bus from Waikiki. We were told to get there early as it gets very busy, and we did, but even at 9 when we arrived the place was still packed. We had to go and check our bags in as you can't take anything into the memorial itself, and then get our tickets to go to the memorial. We still had to wait about 90 minutes before it was our turn to go so we had a walk around the museum there and the smaller memorials, and had some snacks. When our number was called we went into a small cinema and watched a 20 minute film about Pearl Harbour and what happened when it was attacked, then caught a boat across to the memorial. The memorial has been built over the USS Arizona ship which was sunk and is still under the water. It as quite sad, and you could still see bubbles and oil coming up from the boat below. A lot of people died there and are still buired there, and some soliders who surved were buried there when they died so they could be with their friends. We spent about 10 minutes looking around before we went back. There are other parts to see apart from that memorial but that is the main one, and we had been there a while so we caught the bus back and went to the beach for the afternoon. That evening we went out to get some food, then had a walk along the beach. It was the only time of day when it was quiet enough to do that!

We were only going to stay in Waikiki for two nights, and then go up to the North Shore of the island where it is much quieter for the next couple of nights. We got up in the morning and packed and went to check out, but then they told us at reception that we weren't supposed to take big bags on the buses. The hostel was supposed to do a pick up but, when I rang they only did it every few days. We thought it wasn't worth the hassle going so we booked the rest of our nights back in Waikiki and decided we would just go up for the day. As it was too late to be worthwhile going then we went to the A la Moana centre in Honolulu for the morning. The centre is a huge shopping mall and you could spend all day looking around, although alot of the shops were designer so we couldn't afford much! Justin bought a couple of things, but I didn't, and then we went back to the beach for the afternoon. We went to an American Diner that night as I thought I had to try one, and had the biggest burger I'd ever seen. We went for a walk around the shops afterwards too, as they are all open quite late, and I caught up to Justin by making a couple of purchases myself.

As we hadn't gone the day before, the next morning we got up early and went to the Nroth Shore for the day. We had to get a bus into town, and then another one up North, and it took about 2 and a half hours altogether. It was worth it though as is was lovely up there. There were loads of beaches to choose from, but we went to one called Sunset Beach. It was so quiet compared to Waikiki, and all the beaches were stunning. It wasn't as hot either as there was a nice breeze the whole time to cool us down. We spent all day up there on the beach and walking around the place, then boarded the bus for the long journey back. We had probably spent too much time in the sun though as we were both a bit red. As we didn't want to get any redder or peel we had a day off the sunbathing the next day. We had a lie in and late start as we were both tired from all the early mornings we had been having, and then went to the cinema in the afternoon. We watched the new Batman film which was really good then headed back to have a McDonalds for dinner. We went out for some drinks that night as we didn't want to leave it until our last night as we have to get up early to catch our flight home. We found a really nice bar where we could sit outside and have some cocktails.

As I'm writing this it is our last day in Hawaii, and the last full day of our trip where we won't be on a plane! I can't belive the time has come to go home, and we are both excited to see everyone and sad to leave. We are going for breakfast now then off to the beach for our last day of sunsine. We are going out for dinner tonight and then have to leave to catch our flight to LA at about 4 in the morning. After that it's another 11 hour flight to London - and then we will be home! This is obviously my last blog entry, which is very sad and I might go off an have a cry later. We have both had an amazing nine months though and seen and experienced so many amazing things! If only we could do it all again......!