Days 1 and 2

Third time writing this. Maybe it's time for a new tablet. :-(

The first two days of our trip were a bit of a blur.

Up and out the door by 7AM. Drop Tiggin at "daycare" at 7:15AM. Met brother Gord at Mom and Dad's at 8:15AM.

It was so nice to get shuttled to the airport so efficiently ... thanks, Gord!

Through self check-in and security, and to the gate before 9AM.

Met Catharine, Chris, and Dane there at the gate. Kate works with Catharine, and we knew they just happened to be on the same flight and "practically" the same hotel as us. Chris is her husband who does IT work at Pacific Christian, and Dane is there (about) 16-year-old son.

The flight lifted off 10 minutes late (9:55AM) and lost another 10 minutes due to a headwind. Not bad for a 6 hour flight.

When we arrived, there was no sign of our shuttle OR Peggy and Wade. After 10-15 minutes, I called the shuttle ... and they showed up 2 minutes later. We looked around for Peggy and Wade for a few minutes, but gave up and moved on.

* Normally, I would have made every effort to connect with travel mates, but
- initially, they thought they would arrive 30 minutes ahead of us, and they were going to get the bus without us
- a day or so before the flight, we noticed we were due to arrive within 10 minutes of each other, so we decided to try to share the shuttle
- we had Peggy's number, but no SIM card that we were willing and ready to use

Now, I had bought a SIM card on our way to Peru, specifically for traveling, but hadn't used it yet. Later that night, I went to activate it, but found that I had to unlock my phone first, which can take 1 to 3 days. I took the first step on Wednesday night, and finished it on Thursday night.

*** Our "travel" phone number, for talk and text, is 209-774-7621 ***

We moved into our room at the Ilikai. Nice place! You can feel the history. I get glimpses (around the hotel) that remind me of the original Hawaii 5-0, and others (of the harbor we look out at) that remind me of Gilligan's Island (part of the opening credits).

We were just heading down 1 floor to Peggy and Wade's room when we met them in the hall! They were glad we didn't wait for them as they were just as confused at the airport, so they just hopped on the bus.

The bus system on Oahu is fantastic, BTW. (We haven't used it ourselves yet, but we plan to in the next day or two.) It goes everywhere on the Island, and for just $2.50!

We had a brief walk around Hilton's Lagoon, and stopped for dinner at Tropics (http://www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com/dining/tropics-bar-and-grill) ... a restaurant on the ground floor of the Hilton. Peggy and Wade each had a beer and shared a burger. Kate and I each had a special drink (Banana Daquiri and Diamond Ice) and shared an appy sampler (ahi poke ... Hawaiian sushi) and a pizza (chicken mushroom). On our way back, we picked up rum, Pina Colada mix, and ice, and socialized at their place.

Day 2 ... was entirely taken up with the Polynesian Cultural Center. I picked up some groceries across the street at the ABC, and we had breakfast. The PCC bus picked us up out front of our hotel at 8:05AM. By 8:45, we had picked up a full busload and we headed up the Island. Our driver, Ehele (he asked us to call him Henry), was a hoot. He didn't stop talking from the time he picked us up, until the time he dropped us off at the PCC at nearly 1:30PM. Our only disappointment about the trip up was that the stops were very brief. Our visit to the "Dole Plantation" was less than 20 minutes, so we barely got a glimpse.

There were no disappointments about the PCC. Lots of food and shopping options on your way in and your way out. Lots to see inside: 6 "countries", a 14-minute IMAX show, a Canoe Show, a fantastic luau, and an even more fantastic evening show. We only got a chance to see 4 of the 6 countries, but our ticket entitles us to return over the next week or two to see the remaining areas. I would recommend this tour to ANYONE.

Thankfully, Henry didn't talk on the way back, except for that first and last few minutes.

We did (nearly) the whole thing with Catharine/Chris/Dane. When we met them at the bus in the morning, they told us how they complained about the smoky smell in their room, and so got moved to the 5th floor of our building. It sounds like a nice upgrade for them!

When we got back, we had heard from Oahu Diving that our dive may get postponed due to weather. They hadn't gone out for 3 days, and tomorrow wasn't looking good either. I wrote back to say we were good with postponing. It would actually be nice to have more than a half-day breather.