Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 27/5/07

Woke up at 8 this morning, rather surprisingly. Had brekkie and then went shopping for lunch and tea. Bought some more seafood as Hilo has some nice stuff on offer. Back to the hotel to cook the food and then checkout.

Pick-up truck

Huge banyan tree

Old Hilo buildings - Hilo isn't well known for modern architecture

Every town has a Palace Theatre


Headed off for a scenic drive along the coast, overlooking the bay, followed by a visit to the Rainbow Falls before heading back to the Japanese garden near our hotel to have lunch. Yu-Jin saw some boys catching fish and wanted to join them. We encouraged him to talk to them and see if he could borrow a net. The boys were friendly and he had great fun with them. He caught six fish and they had crabs and what looked like a baby barracuda.

Rainbow Falls

Another banyan tree

The banyan trees grow strangely

Japanese Garden in Hilo

Kids fishing


Following lunch we headed to the petrol station where I had difficulty using the credit card and then replacing the nozzle when I had finished. Three different octanes are efed from the same hose and nozzle. That's different. We did 256 miles on US8.176 gallons. Petrol was US$3.409/US gallon. If you wanted the Full Service it cost US$0.50/US gallon extra. Bugger that. Short drive to the airport. Miky's carry-on luggage was searched by security, probably because of the food in it.

In the waiting lounge we sat next to a couple who had had their 1pm flight delayed and were "bumped", therefore they couldn't get a flight until 5pm. There was a passenger on their earlier flight who had a 5:30 wedding to attend in Honolulu who was going to miss the wedding. Bummer.

None of us were seated together. Yu-Jin was in row 21, Miky in row 19 and I was in row 10. At least it gives Yu-Jin the opportunity to talk to someone else and make him a little more responsible for himself. Heading to Maui (Kahalui airport) via Honolulu.

Just my luck. I'm sitting up near the front so that I could disembark quickly and our plane was the one ongoing to Maui so I didn't even have to get off. Still had to wait for all disembarking passengers before I could change seats. Bummer.

Miky and I were seated together for the second flight. Taxied out to the runway then the pilot did the pre-flight checks and an electrical fault was detected with the flight computer. Therefore, we had to turn back to the terminal. When we stopped Miky wanted me to get an apple from her carry-on luggage. I wanted to wait until the seat belt sign was switched off and so she chucked a spaz, again. She dropped the bag on my head. This woman has no patience. And as soon as she stood up the seat belt sign went off so she wouldn't have had to wait any longer anyway.

The electrical problem meant that one of the black boxes has to be replaced, facilitating a 20-25 minutes delay. Some people on this flight were due to take a later flight but boarded this earlier one and were contemplating changing planes. They were a little dismayed to hear that the other plane was delayed and we were still due to leave earlier than it. The flight crew announced that you were welcome to leave the plane but had to take your carry-on luggage with you but that the plane would leave without you if you didn't re-board in time. It made me wonder what they would do about the luggage in the hold if this was the case, what with terrorists and the like.

Hawaiian Airlines, known for having the best on-time record, is in disarray. Service is still not as poor as Jetstar though which left a worse aftertaste. We haven't had much luck with Hawaiian Airlines yet but it was a good idea to pre-book all of our inter-island flights. This is supposed to be the low season but the flights have been full, in general. Hotels are busy too. Last night, whilst waiting to return the torches to the front desk, I heard the receptionist say that only one room, an ocean view kitchenette, was available at the price of US$154.

Yesterday arvo I had to ring five hotels in Maui and only three of them had rooms - $135, $165 and $195. Hawaii is busy.

Observations -
Not a lot of people indicate to change lanes.
Nearly everybody drives about 10 mph above the speed limit.
People have no qualms about talking on their mobiles whilst driving.
Helmets on bikes and motorbikes are not compulsory and I've only seen one girl wearing a helmet whilst riding her bike.
Not a lot of rain so far on our trip. A little bit fell on the drive down the mountain last night and a bit whilst driving around today.
Local calls from a pay phone cost 50 cents but inter-island calls cost 25 cents for the first minute and then US$4 for four minutes, if you wish to continue, no part payments of $4 accepted.

Was disappointed to learn, as we were leaving, that we were entitled to a complimentary Aloha Breakfast during our stay at Hilo Seaside Hotel Uncle Billy's. Having a kitchenette we made our own meals. Having someone else make breakfast would have been appreciated.

Quite a few Aussies on the trip to Maui. Uneventful flight. Picked up a silver Dodge Caliber from Dollar Car Rental. This car rental mob provided me with their version of a pre-inspection report on dents, paint nicks, etc which I had to sign. Then I carried out my own inspection and the first thing to note was that somebody had been smoking inside.

I asked for, and was given, directions for Best Western Pioneer Inn in Lahaina. Drove to Lahaina, went down the local strip where walking is almost as fast as driving. Didn't find the Best Western Pioneer Inn and so stopped to look at a map. Miky asked some guy on the street for directions. He pointed it out and it was about one block from where we had turned initially. No parking was available and the lady had told me that there was lots of parking available when I had booked. Went inside, after asking for directions as the hotel part wasn't too obvious, and there was no reservation under my name. It was then that I discovered I had driven to the wrong hotel. We were booked for the Makai Inn. Stupid me. A feeling of horror ran through my body as it had taken about 45 minutes to get here, it was late, and my missus would be very annoyed if that was the case.

It turns out that the Makai Inn was only 10 minutes away. The directions given included, "Half a block past the Cannery Mall." Now, half a block, in my book at least, does not equate to half a mile. Found it ok. The we did some shopping as we were worried about the Memorial Day holiday which was due the next day.

No tv at the inn. No smoking or loud noise allowed either. Could be interesting. I'm so glad that the hotel, after our 45 minutes drive, wasn't located back in Kahalui. That would have been more than a little interesting.