Getting to the plane in New York was a bit hairy, but we made it to the gate just as they were starting to board. We enjoyed our experience with Hawaiian Airlines due to the extra leg room for Bill (who is 6’2″) and because they fed us actual food for lunch and fresh fruit as a snack. Flying hawaiian is like flying used to be, except better!

We arrived in Oahu at about 3:30 and went straight to the Honolulu Airport Hotel. On the way, we met a family from Australia with two small girls. They had been visiting his family in NY and VT and were heading home. We easily started up a conversation with them about surfing, outrigger paddling and standup paddle boarding. They were really sweet and even gave us their contact info so that we could call them when we’re in Sydney. The guy even gave us a book that he wrote and I’m looking forward to checking it out.

Wearing my NY winter clothing, I expected to be severely overheated upon our arrival but we were pleasantly surprised by 72 degrees and low humidity. We grabbed some dinner in the hotel restaurant because we were too tired to venture any further than that. The food was good but I started to really fade out by the end of the meal. I crashed at about 6:30 and only knew it was new year’s by the sound of fireworks at midnight.

So we are five hours difference in time here. This means that it is 4:27am here, we are wide awake and ready to eat breakfast but the restaurant in the hotel doesn’t open for another hour and a half! Time changes are always a little jarring to the system but we’ll get over it soon enough.

I’m looking forward to seeing the sun and greenery here today. We have a few hours to explore Oahu before our flight early this afternoon to Kauai. Maybe we’ll find a botanical garden to take in. Can’t wait to see some birds!

A Happy and Healthy New Year to all.