I left the Big Island a little sooner than I had planned, and after a triumphant pass through security where nobody actually took anything from me, I was headed to Waikiki, the famous beachfront of Honolulu. There I lay for most of the afternoon and I enjoyed some hula dancing after sunset on the same beach. Lazy and chilled out.

The only full day I had on O'ahu I dedicated to visiting Pearl Harbor. It's a eye-opening and sobering place and the sunken USS Arizona really lets you reflect on the loss of life. I do have to hand it to the Japanese, though. They can really plan a crippling surprise attack when they want to, and the way they did it changed naval warfare forever. What surprised me was how vulnerable and complacent the American fleet was when the attack took place.

I spent the rest of the afternoon looking through the USS Bowfin - a World War II submarine. It was great to see everything up close an imagine the conditions down there. I also learnt that "hotdog and chips" is a far more disappointing meal in the US than the UK.

That was kind of it. I went back to the hostel and got ready to leave the next day. My ears still hurt and I wasn't feeling very sociable because of it, otherwise I would have sampled the Honolulu nightlife. I hope it gets better soon.