Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip to Hawai'i (2010)--Day 1
4/18/2010
About These Pictures
These pics were shot using two cameras added to my "stable" since our last trip; a Nikon D90 digital SLR and a Canon Powershot S90, a beautiful P/S camera capable of taking excellent pictures, especially in low-light conditions due to its fast f/2.0 lens. Two lenses were used on the D90; my 18-200mm telephoto lens, and a 50mm f/1.4 lens, which works quite well in low-light conditions, such as at the Ha-Breath Of Life show at the Polynesian Cultural Center where flash photography is not allowed. A Hoya Super Circular Polarizer was used on some pics. I had brought a graduated filter along but chose to not use it during this trip. This is a new filter for me, and I still need to practice with it before I'm comfortable using it in situations where this filter will help.
As always, clicking on a picture will bring up a larger version of that picture.
Restaurants
We visited 22 restaurants during our stay. Our statistical review of those places is here.
Prologue
Our seventh trip to Maui included eight nights on Oahu and fourteen nights on Maui. Oahu was the first island we visited (getting that island out of the way! More on why I wrote that later) We had company on the Oahu portion of this vacation in the form of Patty's cousin and her husband. It was interesting watching them as they were "Hawai`i virgins" and seeing how they reacted to being exposed to the state for the first time. It has been fourteen years since our first trip to Hawai`i, and sometimes it is hard to recall what our notions were of the islands before arriving for the first time--what we expected and we hoped to experience.
Some of the things about Oahu which brought the WOW out in them were a bit of a surprise to me. Not that we've become jaded on the Aloha State--far from it--but some of the things we've seen over and over again don't have the same impact they first had. It's rather like living in Duluth. I don't realize what a treasure this area is until someone else experiences it and verbalizes what they are seeing. I see Lake Superior every day, see the hills every day, see the forested areas a lot, so I expect to see these things. These things don't fill me with the same appreciation others find. Best parallel I can come up with, I guess.
Getting There--Hello Oahu!
If you want to get to Oahu from Minnesota, you have to endure one very long flight or two shorter flights which are still long. In this case, we were on a non-stop flight from Minneapolis to Honolulu and got to fly on an Airbus 330. That individual screen on the back of the seat in front of you certainly helps time go by faster, with many movie offerings, games to play, flight tracking, etc. But still, eight and a half hours is eight and a half hours. It's a long damn flight.
In contrast to last year's Duluth-Maui disaster, the flights were uneventful. We arrived in Honolulu just a few minutes behind schedule and the lady from Lei Greetings was waiting for us. I had purchased these leis in advance of our trip and it turned out to be a $25 (each) waste of money. They were unscented!
Having picked up our checked luggage, we headed to the off-site Alamo rental building where we waited for a half-hour for the type of car we had reserved to be available. I think the problem with the delay here is due to Alamo downsizing their fleet (a result of the economic downturn); they were quite short in the category we had rented (Compact) and were offering upgrades to a number of people. We declined an upgrade to a Jeep, and later accepting an upgrade to a Chevy Impala. Sometimes, in my eyes, an upgrade is a downgrade, as in this case. Why take a bigger car with worse mileage? But it was all they had and we were tired of waiting.
Light sprinkles accompanied us on our way to Waikiki. Arriving on a Sunday meant there was considerably less traffic on the H-1 heading to Waikiki; usually our Monday arrival had meant a somewhat slow, grueling drive from the airport.
Check-in at the Park Shore was simple as it had been in the past and we were soon in our room checking things out.
The happy couple arriving at Honolulu Airport
Park Shore Hotel
Let's get this rant out of the way first, shall we? When a hotel advertises on their website that a toaster is included in your room, you have every right to expect a toaster in your room. When I realized, a few hours after our check-in, that this wasn't the case, a phone call to the front desk resolved nothing. The desk clerk basically said that, no, toasters weren't included in their Diamond Head suites. My suggestion that they take misleading and false information off their website fell on deaf or indifferent ears. Note that as of seven months following our trip, this misinformation still existed on the Park Shore website!
That being said, there was little else to dislike about the room. They do have a slight issue with enforcing their no smoking policy, but I understand how difficult this can be to enforce. Perhaps requiring residents to sign a form with monetary consequences for not following the policy would help, as the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort had done. Failing that, they just make other hotels which enforce this policy seem more attractive in comparison, such as the Queen Kapiolani Hotel a block up Kapahulu Avenue.
On the plus side, their Diamond Head suites are outstanding. Located between the 14th and 18th floor, all feature outstanding views of Diamond Head, Kapiolani Park and Sans Souci beach. They are also high enough that traffic noise on Kalakaua and Kapahulu Avenues is not a problem. At least it wasn't a problem for us, and I'm a fairly light sleeper. There is a separate seating area with a couch (which can fold out into a second bed) and a very large flat-screen TV (although the channel selection and the reception were a bit lacking). The small kitchenette area includes a sink, microwave, coffee pot and a mini-fridge. There is sufficient closet space--two closets, actually-- and lots of dresser drawer space to store various items. Likewise, the bathroom is sufficiently appointed. The king size bed is super comfortable. In general, the room is a very acceptable size in contrast to other rooms in this hotel which can feel extremely cramped.
A couple minor quibbles; the AC unit just above the entryway leaks at times. Phone calls are $1, the in-room safe is $4/day. Parking is $20/day! In any other area of Hawaii, this would be a major rip-off. Here on Waikiki, it's average. Still, it's a pain in the buns to pay this amount and it should make anybody think twice before renting a car. Besides, a rental car on Oahu is a luxury considering the coverage which The Bus provides. While having a rental car affords you the freedom to drive anywhere on the island, The Bus is an acceptable alternative for those who don't want to pay the car rental and parking rates.
After checking in and unpacking most of our stuff, we were off with our guests to the new Safeway on Kapahulu to purchase some essentials. By the time we'd finished shopping, we were pretty bonked and it was lights out by 9 p.m.
Our room at the Park Shore
View from our lanai
Previous: 10/24/2009--HDR Photography
Index of Blog Pages
last updated november 13, 2021
|