A quick trip report for a quick trip - HNL
I'll save you some time, Migflanker: I bought a liter of water for about $.90 at a Kmart.
So, I had a conference in Las Vegas for work. Usually that would have me working Monday-Thursday, but this year I had sessions all day Sunday as well, flying in late Saturday. Since I was putting in well over my 40 hours Sunday-Thursday, not to mention giving up my Saturday night to travel for work, my boss graciously let me take that Friday off without using vacation time or unpaid time off. The joys of working a salary position and having a boss who feels he owes you a favor or two.
Anyway, so I had a very rare 3-day weekend with no busy holiday season. So, what's a guy to do? Travel some more, of course! Something relaxing, since LAS was tiring enough as it is. Mexico was full, nonstop preferred when possible... how about HNL? Lots of flights, and super open this time of year. We jumped on it. Since the nonstop DEN-HNL was a bit full, we took the early flight to SFO so we could get to HNL by about 1:00. The day before, I noticed there was a capacity 62 seats in F, 310 in Y. Whaa? That's not a configuration of... any planes, really. Certainly not the 777 on the schedule. I checked the seat map on our reservations system, and it was too big to display the traditional way. Hmm. The only plane that does that is the... wait... 12+50+310 = 747 configuration! Turns out, they made an upgauge for maintenance! Plenty of seats, and maybe a chance for an upgrade!
Or not. We made it to SFO just fine, and while we had an empty seat in economy plus next to us, there were way too many people on that upgrade list to get a seat in F or C. Oh well. I spent a good portion of the flight in the back of the plane where there was an open row with a working power outlet. Turns out, I can fit across 3 seats pretty well when I'm not concerned about kicking someone sitting next to me! Certainly better than the 777 where even a raised armrest sticks out too much to stay on your seat laying across. Anyway, that turned out to be a nice catnap.
After landing, I had to explore the 747 really quick. It's my favorite plane, and I've only been on one twice - neither time being on UA. An old interior to be sure, but I just love its size, its shape... everything. Too big to fly, but it doesn't know any better.
Anyway, we arrived and I picked up a rental car, then met a dispatcher I know with HA for lunch. Big Kahuna's Pizza is awesome for their killer kahlua pork sandwich (kahlua meaning "smoked" not Kahlua :) ). Not surprisingly, he's a total aviation geek. Conveniently, he was thrilled to give me his listing credentials in case I wanted to look up loads to take HA home.
After that, we headed to our hotel in the Waikiki area (Hyatt Place). Spent some time at the beach, and a little time wandering around. Rooftop terrace across the street from the shore? Let's get a cocktail! And it turned out to be Happy hour, cooool. Dinner was at a place called Lulu's. Good atmosphere, food was decent but nothing to write home about. Since it was our bedtime back home, we decided to turn in for the night.
The next morning was our first morning in HNL in quite some time. Usually I've gone for little day trips. So we were able to do two things I really enjoy about HNL only available in the morning: the swap meet, and McDonalds breakfast. Don't laugh, they have a very local menu: in my case, I had eggs, rice, and a few slices each of spam and portuguese sausage. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it! The swap meet in the Aloha Stadium parking lot is also great for some cheap souvenirs and such, and also a good place to meet up with one of my wife's college friends who moved to the island. My wife got a couple dresses, and we got some li hing mui (dried prune) powder. Again, don't knock it 'til you've tried it, it's awesome on pineapple. Or as the very passionate guy at the booth said, it's da bomb! By the way, I learned from previous experience: don't bother with getting coconut here, even ready to eat. You can do great things with coconut, but eating it as-is isn't really one of them.
After the swap meet, we had lunch with my wife's friend at Loco Moco drive inn (near Valkenburgh St, if you want the exact location). I had been thinking of this place before without knowing the name, since I had been there when my cousin's family lived in the area (Navy) but wasn't sure if it was really convenient for the friend-in-law. She suggested a place on Valkenburgh (one of the few streets I know in HNL) and what do you know, it turned out to be the same place! Highly recommend for some authentic, cheap, everyday/casual Hawaiian food.
After that, the wife and I went to Ko'olina. Neat to see, and very picturesque. But parking is a pain to find, so we didn't stay long. Next stop: Haleiwa. Matsumoto's shave ice (not shaved ice!) is super touristy, but well worth the line (which actually moves quite fast). Great value, too. For reference, a shave ice is a lot like a snow cone, but all the things I hate about snow cones are fixed in shave ice. Rather than getting the syrup running off the crunchy ice, the ice is ground really fine and absorbs the syrup, which is very generously given. Tip: if you're going to go, get it with azuki beans, sweetened condensed milk, and if you'd like, ice cream. The first two are so unique, and work really well together. While I was there, I also picked up a bottle of okolehao, a Hawaiian moonshine, to supplement my exotic liquor collection. So far I've got that, Panamanian seco, Cuban rum (don't ask :) ), Turkish Raki, Norwegian Akvavit, and just to fill that last space, Hendricks gin (hey, it's easy to find, but it's also Scottish!)
After our shave ice, we went along the coast on most of the island until we hit highway H3. This time, we didn't really stop, but you certainly can. Some nice beaches, including one where sea turtles tend to hand out. Also lots of shrimp trucks and the Polynesian Cultural Center (you'll need to dedicate lots of time to that one, I've been there once as a kid). Once you get to H3, you can take it back to Honolulu on a very scenic drive - with all the tunnels and raised highways, you feel like you're almost driving through a jungle. Oh, and it's got one of the few Hawaiian speed limits with a number beginning with "6" instead of "5" or even "4".
From there, we were at the awkward time where there wasn't enough time to do anything new, but too much time to go to the airport. We went to Long's Drugs (a rebranded CVS) to get some supplies for my cousin who lived on Oahu for a while, plus some obligatory chocolate covered macadamia nuts for us.
After packing up the moonshine by wrapping it in a couple beach towels and dropping that in a backpack, we went to the airport, checked that "bag" and killed some time at the club. I had a few passes in my wallet for this kind of occasion, and honestly it wasn't worth it. No showers, which would have been great after a long day, and it was overall like the rest of Oahu: built up several decades ago, and probably great at the time, but hasn't really been updated and now just feels kind of run down. I hate to say it, but... let's just pretend it's for another airline instead of my own. By the way, in accordance with my employer's social media policy, I work for United and am not representing my company in any way.
Anyway, eventually it was time to go to the gate for the usual song and dance. As we came to expect watching loads the club, there was one seat for both of us. My wife wasn't allowed to sit on my lap. Most of the plane had boarded, but there were still a few MIA. Figuring we had nothing to lose by trying for the nonstop home (there was a flight to SFO 30 minutes later, also a 747) we stuck around. By flight closing time, there was still one guy left. They pulled him off the flight, cleared us both, and off we went! I was so happy, I didn't even bother giving my wife the puppy dog eyes for the one aisle seat, and took the middle seat a couple rows back.
Normally on these HNL redeyes, I wake up a few times over the ocean, and a few more times over land. This plane had AVOD, so I was able to see exactly where I was waking up each time. Fell asleep after takeoff, woke up halfway across the ocean. Not bad, but the more I sleep at first, the harder it is to go back to sleep. Fell asleep again, and saw lights outside the window. Land! Awesome! Must be flying over SFO, since that's where our flight path was taking us. Checked the map. Nope! We were all the way to SLC! I was so excited, I couldn't get back to sleep. But that's totally fine, we were practically home!
Got home, picked up our backpack from baggage claim, and reached inside to do the wet test. It passed! Had a few sips tonight, and the stuff is pretty smooth all things considered, but at 100 proof VERY strong. I'll have to see what kind of mixers I can come up with!
