Hawai`i 2009: Day 1

Our flight this morning was at 8:05, an hour earlier than we normally fly out from Seattle. So we awoke at 4:30am, finished packing and called a taxi to arrive at 6:00. It was a pleasant morning in Seattle, and the cab driver got us to Sea-Tac in about twenty minutes. Then came the long wait for boarding pass and baggage check. Hawaiian Airlines has a new baggage policy: $15 for ALL checked bags. This means people have to quickly get out a debit or credit card and the customer service specialist must take extra time to swipe the card and print the statement. Something to be aware of next time you fly Hawaiian - get there early!

We were fine, and as always, Hawaiian beat its expected time and got us to Honolulu just before 11am local time. Very little turbulence along the way.

After grabbing our bags and hailing a cab, we were off to the hotel which ended up being nicer than it looked on the internet.



We even got upgraded to a slightly nicer corner room when we asked for one King instead of two Queens. The hotel had a nice pool area on the 10th floor, where we sat and had our first mai tai in the islands.

View from our room:




Then we tredged on exploring by walking up to `Iolani Palace for the audio self-guided tour. It is the only royal palace on US Soil. It was designed by King David Kalakaua in the 1880s, the most extravagant of the Hawaiian monarchs. It was his passion to put the Kingdom of Hawai`i on the map as a nation of prestige, sophistication and pride. The interior has been restored, and parts of the palace are roped off for preservation purposes. It is a stunning site. Perhaps the most powerful room is also the most solemn: the upstairs bedroom where Queen Liliu`okalani was imprisoned by the American businessman who overthrew the Hawaiian Government and de-throned her in 1893.





The walk there was a little long, especially in 88 degree weather, so we opted for taking TheBus back to our hotel. TheBus is $2 per person and seems to run all the time -- and it has air conditioning!

Once we were back in the Waikiki area, it was dinner at Cheeseburger Waikiki followed by an early slumber as we acclimated to the time difference.