Honolulu, Hawaii, United StatesSeeing we had to check out by 11am we enjoyed our last leisurely breakfast packed our bags and finalised our account. The Bellman was very helpful and arranged a shuttle to take us to Pearl Harbour seeing it was a Sunday and the buses run at different times to Mon-Fri schedules plus the bus would take about an hour or so to get there.
Met a lovely Canadian honeymoon couple from Winnipeg (going to Maui) and exchanged info about buying cars and places to see while travelling across Canada.
The shuttle driver was a wealth on info loves golf and lived in Sydney many years ago. Arranged with him to be picked up at 2.45pm to be in time to have a shower before going to the airport at 6.15pm.
The weather was great not too hot as hurricane Flossie was getting close to Hawaii and keeping the weather cool.
As we had been to Pearl Harbour before in 2011 to see the Arizona we missed seeing the USS Bowfin submarine and the battleship USS Missouri. We were so glad that you get headsets for the tours so you can go at your own pace. I tell you what I couldn't survive in those crammed conditions and there were more men who lost their lives in peace than in the war on submarines.
It was fascinating with how much equipment and torpedo's were in those submarines Richard took some photos.
To see the Missouri (known as the Mighty Mo) you needed to catch a shuttle to take you over to Fords Island Navel Base which is shared with the Air Force. The audio phone was great you followed the arrows keyed in the number for the description of that part of the battleship. You start and finish the tour on the deck where the Japanese signed the surrender papers (they are on the original table protected by glass.
We got a lot of exercise going from one end of the battleship to the other 270.4m and over four decks (63.9m height). Can you imagine sleeping 4 to 5 high I couldn't the sailors rotated sleeping, as one came off duty the other woke and went on duty.
The day flew so quickly before we knew it, it was time to collect our bags (you are only allowed to take camera's and money purse with you on the Pearl Harbour Historic site) and board our shuttle back to Outrigger Luana Hotel. If we come back to Waikiki we will go to see the Pacific Aviation Museum.
Had our last coffee in Waikiki, showered, changed confirmed our shuttle to the Airport to be picked up at 6.15pm.
Thank heavens there was a lovely lady and gentleman at the Airport to do our tickets and Frequent Flyer. American Airlines are the same as Virgin you pay for your baggage $25.00 and buy your food etc on the plane. Our seat allocation we had to do at the Boarding Gate very weird. I asked for window seats and she said we could have ones with leg room if we wanted to seat where the exit door is and take the responsiblity of vacating plane if there is an accident. Don't do this as the seats do not recline for sleeping.
Time to kill had a coffee then later a chinese dinner. Boarded the plane at 8.05pm for take off at 8.45pm.
2025-05-22