Sooo Honolulu! - how ever much I WANT this to be an exciting blog, I just can't give it to you!
I arrived in Honolulu, 2 days before Sam & at the time, Hurricane Ana was still in full swing - it bucketed down for the full 48 hours & man o man the gale was a blowin' - honestly, I couldn't see two feet in front of me let alone see how pretty she is!

The best I could do was drag the huge hotel umbrella (too big for my tiny hands!) out of the hotel & across the road (battling against the storm) for a cheap nasty Macca's breaky each day & to make sure our wine supply was umm 'liquid'
 
By the time Sam arrived the storms had cleared & the humidity had come on back & I managed to take Sam to a real restaurant breakfast where other people were & we could see like beach & shit ..it was lovely but hot & I really don't like that much! LOL 

We made a pact - we would do as much as we could without stressing, exhausting or pushing ourselves - after 5 1/2 weeks away, Hawaii would be relaxation week - no pressure, no plans, no expectations...and it was fantastic!

The first couple of days after Sam arrived really were spent catching up on sleep - we constantly planned delicious dinners in gorgeous locations but both carked it at 7:00pm & awoke about 4:30am wondering what happened! - we were simply exhausted but managed a coupla days at the Ala Moana shopping centre & we are proud of it!

Last night we made it to the beautiful Sunset Bar in the hotel for a couple of last ditch cocktails - this is a private adults only, man made beach on the 2st floor roof of the hotel - complete with pool - it's exclusive & divine! - after 2 really strong cocktails we headed to the pool side bar for a relaxed meal . There were a few tears from us both - tears of gratitude, of wonder & amazement that here we were, on our last night, so very happy to be together & reminiscing the past weeks.

That's about it really. We are home now, just arrived at the Park Royal hotel @ Melbourne airport & sipping on the divine 'over proof spiced rum' I picked up at Honolulu airport for 20 bux! room service has arrived so um like....bugger off now will ya...the 4 of us need a couple hours of just 'us' time to take it all in - that's Sam, Me & my 2 enormous cankles...(ouch!) :)
BTW I have thoroughly loves writing the blog & plan to keep it up - so please subscribe if you wanna stay in the loop. Love to you all & thanks so much for coming on this amazing adventure with us!
xoxoxo Sandie


Aloha. I make it to Honolulu after 6 hours of flying, half of which I dozed but plane was very cold & if I wanted a blanket I needed to buy one . WTF Hawaiian Airlines!! But my shuttle rep was at the gate to meet me & I get to the hotel without any fuss & our driver Travis started the journey with a song in Hawaiian & played the ukulele. Aloha! It's humid but the effects of Hurricane Ana have finally passed & the rain has stopped. The hotel is beautiful, we have sea views that overlook the marina & VERY happy we chose to be away from the centre of Waikiki which would have had a view of neighboring hotels only & be very noisy. Still close enough to walk there along the boardwalk & there are many shuttle bus options. Our room is large & the beds very comfy so I look forward to many hours of catch up sleep & sleep we do. First two nights I’m here & we asleep by 7pm & forget about dinner. Would have been 10pm Vegas time so body still adjusting maybe. Or just catching up on the many many hours I’ve missed but that’s what this final leg of our journey is for. Relaxing with no commitments to be anywhere or do anything.

Okay so I want to shop! I now have a great fondness for Macy’s & have visited them in nearly every city . They have great prices & the staff will generally offer us double the discount we get for being visitors in most departments. So we spent 6 hours at Ala Moana Centre on Wednesday for the last shopping effort before the final packing of the cases, yes I now have two! And I fall asleep early again but had a big lunch so not fussed I missed dinner for the third time.

And for the record I am now sick of living out of a suitcase & looking forward to putting the entire contents through a proper washing machine, twice!

Our last night we enjoy cocktails by the Sunrise Pool & watch the most amazing sunset before heading downstairs to dinner. Feeling sad this journey is over & shed a tear or three as I remember just how much has happened over the past 6 weeks. AND how much I feel things have shifted and changed for me personally, so I almost feel like I’m going back to an unknown life at this point & I’m excited!

So as a quick recap of the past 6 .5 weeks –

I am eating bananas again. I’ve started drinking iced tea & Starbucks do a particularly refreshing one. Delta Airlines are a great airline so don’t be put off by Tripadvisor or anyone else. We took 4 flights with them & they were on time every time, staff were great & we couldn’t fault them at all. Okay so you pay for your bags when you check in (same for all of them) & most of the time you pay on board for drinks or food but as a budget airline you expect that & their fare prices are cheap. I loved New York very much & will be back again very soon, this won’t be a shocker for any of you! The Affinia Shelburne in Murray Hill was the best hotel of our whole trip. Rooms were large by NYC standards (what we used to in a hotel room), location perfect & the staff amazing. That’s all the staff, everyone we came in contact with has the same high standards of customer service & nothing was any trouble any time. We’re all doing rave reviews of Tripadvisor it was that good . I now constantly crave the edamame (soy) bean which we’ve eaten a lot this trip & they serve them in the pods, steamed or boiled with salt. Yummo & off to the markets I go in search of. Very happy I got to see the bears in Alaska, was a highlight for me. I love Macy’s, Sandie thinks I have an addiction. Vancouver is my number two fav city on the planet & apart from all the gorgeous men we kept encountering, it’s just a beautiful place with beautiful people & has a real charm & love to offer. Made all the better by the Williamsons & their extended family of kids, friends & family who made us feel very welcome. Geez I miss you all so much it hurts!  

So all good things must come to an end. But I now feel that’s to allow the changes to settle in to be able to start the next good thing.

Much love,

Sammy xxxoooxxx

PS – the holiday Gods smile on us right to the very end . Our flight to SYD from Honolulu was late but there were 102 of us on board needing to catch the flight onto MEL so Qantas had a transfer bus waiting for us as we cleared Customs to take us to the domestic terminal so we’d get there on time. I’m sure this is standard practice but it takes the stress out of it after a long haul trip. So we stumble on board & the lovely gentleman attendant says "heading home girls?"  Yes we say, fast as you can please! I love being home to the Aussie humour, the yanks would have just given us a weird look. After looking at my reflection, I have the dragged thru a bush backwards thing going on so he probably was equally amused. So on board the domestic flight & we’re served dinner which we weren’t expecting & they also give us free rein on the drinks cart. We find out they two flight attendants down, it’s a big flight so there’s no time to worry about asking for $$ for our yummy wine. Even so they were very efficient in serving, very friendly (love Qantas) & being cheeky paid off with our fav guy smuggling two more little bottles of wine to us. Topped off with Lindor ball chocs which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in cattle class before it was a fun & quick flight. We check into the airport hotel in MEL tired but content & I run a bath & soak for about 40mins which was heavenly. So good to be home (almost).