Middle-aged flash packers

Up at 5am as had to get to Kona airport for 8.30am and also sort out paperwork etc for the dent in the car.

We decided to go “over the top” i.e take the road that cuts across the island. It’s quicker but unfortunately hilllier than the other way, and Mildred the Tiny Nissan does not like inclines of any sort.

Another problem we became aware of is that Mildred needs the air conditioning on at all times to keep the windscreen clear – even when the temperature outside is almost 0 degrees. Luckily my fleece was to hand so I wrapped up.
We noticed a policeman who had pulled over and ticketed someone for speeding. To me, it seemed very petty. The speed limits are mind numbingly slow anyway and at 6.30am in the morning there was no-one else about. Obviously a jobs worth so we stuck rigidly to the speed limit, especially when he ended up behind us.
It was at that moment Mildred had a complete breakdown and the air conditioning stopped working. The windscreen immediately steamed up and We couldn’t see a thing. We slowed right down and I wound down the window and stuck my head out so I could see where we were going. It must have looked very strange. Luckily the policeman didn’t react and Mildred kicked into life again.
We knew when the policeman had turned off because the stream of traffic we had held up overtook us immediately.
Dropping Mildred off at the hire car company was a relief , definitely wouldn’t hire a Nissan Seera again.
We filled out the paperwork and got to the airport in plenty of time. The flight to Honolulu was only 40 minutes and felt ridiculously short. We arrived at the Aqua Palms without mishap.
To be honest I was not expecting to like Honolulu. I knew it was massively built up and a friend who’d been was very scathing about it. I had a little bit of a soft spot for it due to watching Hawaii five-o as a child but even then it was full of apartment blocks.
Well it’s still full of apartment blocks but it’s clean, safe and actually quite pleasing to the eye. Waikiki beach is lovely; white sand, blue sea. People have fun but it’s not oikish.
We had a wander along the beach then back along the streets. Wide, clean pavements, nice shops, lots of well tended parks. America with the brashness removed.
Cheaper than big island but still not cheap,we decided to eat dinner at the diner next door. It’s apparently been there 40 years and is typical of the old style eating house that used to be everywhere in Waikiki.
We were greeted by a very aged lady who led us shakily to our table. Our waitress was Carole who was lovely but had definitely been there for 40 years. We had a very pleasant, reasonably priced meal and the Mai Tais were great. The restaurant was packed with people coming and going constantly. Good to see an individual business doing well.

Looking forward to our extra day in Honolulu tomorrow.