Sleep did not come easy last night. The air conditioning unit was a bit noisy when it came on and turned itself off with a beeping noise, a feature that defies logic. The air was also quite stale and when we did finally drift fleetingly to sleep, screaming children woke us up soon after. It really wasn’t a great experience and it will go in Nicole’s review. She’s a Hilton Honors Diamond member you see. We got breakfast at Starbuck’s down the street. We walked along Waikiki beach all the way until we got to Liliuokalani Park near the Honolulu Zoo.
Compared to previous visits, the clientele seemed to be markedly older. Given that the prices of hotels seem to have gone up exponentially, I suppose that makes sense. They’re the only ones who can afford it. There are no longer any L&L Hawaiian BBQ joints or 7-11s in Waikiki, which is kind of absurd. No Hawaiian plate lunch or spam musubi unless you cross the Ala Wai Canal or hop on the H-1 to another part of the island. The tourists have officially cut off Waikiki from reality. You can, however, buy a Coach bag or other luxury item — the obvious souvenir for a trip to the Hawaiian islands.
I am perhaps being a bit too harsh on Waikiki. After all, it has morphed into this monster because tourists have indicated through their wallets a preference for certain things and a rejection of others. That’s why there are no L&Ls, but there is a Cheesecake Factory. For what it’s worth, the tourists did seem to be enjoying themselves whether out walking or frolicking at the beach mid-morning. We, Bricole, have witnessed Oahu and Waikiki at different stages of its growth and are simply salty creatures mourning the loss of cheap eats and familiarity. I will say this —- there seemed to be fewer homeless than I remember. Despite all the changes to the retail and restaurant scene, one thing that has shockingly never changed is my old apartment building. It defies all logic.
We checked out around 1pm to take a Lyft to the airport. Thirty minutes later, we were through security at Daniel K. Inouye International. The flight was supposed to depart at 315pm, but was delayed more than an hour due to a late connecting flight from Washington Dulles. We had plenty of time to kill in the Honolulu airport’s aging terminal. We got some Quizno’s for a late lunch/early dinner because despite this flight being blocked for eight hours, the United app indicated that only snacks would be available for purchase. After all, it is a “domestic” flight. We loitered outside for some fresh air (the best feature of HNL airport) while we awaited boarding.
Today’s flight on a Boeing 777-300ER (United’s largest aircraft) had just shy of fifty standby passengers. We were situated about halfway down on this list. The computer eventually cleared every single standby, and Bricole found ourselves in the middle seats of a middle section — not exactly ideal for a long flight, but at least we were together. We were still waiting for passengers from Dulles who eventually trickled in. Long day for them. 10h45 minute flight to HNL from Dulles after being delayed two hours for deicing. Then another seven hours to Guam. My seatmate told me that he’s then continuing on to the Philippines after arriving in Guam. Madness.
Unexpectedly, the flight attendants did come around to serve us a meal. That was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, the unusual or absent flavors of the tofu-infused cold Asian pasta salad kind of let us down right after the excitement over a meal. It was a real emotional roller coaster and a real killjoy for the tastebuds. A few hours into our flight, we crossed the international dateline. February 1st became February 2nd. I saw a passenger at HNL wearing a t-shirt that simply said, “Today is February 1st.” Let’s hope he wasn’t on the Guam flight, because it would have been a shame to wait all year to wear that and have 24 hours robbed from you in the blink of an eye.
Despite departing over an hour late, we arrived fairly close to on-time because we had some unusually favorable winds. We may have been in Row 50, but we cruised by everyone else waiting for their bags and through some sort of passport control without the use of passports. I had to generate a Traveler Declaration/QR code to show to the agent, and while I knew it was a “domestic” flight, I couldn’t help but reach for my passport as well. Nicole’s phone charged her $10 for Verizon Travelpass, something it does when we leave the country. Furthermore, I did some research and Guam has its own Olympic team. Based on that criteria, I am going to count Guam as a new country.
After a short taxi ride to the Hilton Guam Resort, we were given a box of 13 chocolate covered macadamia nuts and upgraded to an ocean view room thanks to Nicole’s Hilton Honors Diamond status. It was quite dark out, but not actually that late if you disregard the fact that it is now tomorrow night. First impressions of Guam are . . .confusion. We drove by a Home Depot, a K-Mart, a Tony Romo’s, and John F. Kennedy High School on the way to the Hilton, but sandwiched in between those places were various store fronts whose signs were in Korean or Japanese. Where are we? Guam apparently. Look at a map. It’s really far over there. Tomorrow we are listed for a flight to Palau that departs at 7pm. The Hilton staff generously are giving us a 4pm checkout time, so we will have all day to chill in Guam. Only time will tell how many of the 13 chocolate covered macadamia nuts will remain.
passports & pepto bismol 