My Parents also decided to park the car rather than just dropping me off and we all went into the airport.
After the self check-in at the New Zealand Air Machine didn't quite work as hoped because of the US immigration requirements as my flight today was going to finish on the beautiful island of Oahu.
A friendly New Zealand Air guy helped and checked me all way through to Hawaii.
A last goodbye with coffee and Muffins together with my parents at the airport and after hugs and good wishes I was on my own again.
New Zealand Air is famous for it's unusual safety videos and in this case it was a Hobbit Version. (to be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOw44VFNk8Y )
I was lucky to have gotten a window seat because the weather, even on the south Island had greatly improved and I was able to spot many places that we had visited from 30000 ft on the way to Auckland.
The right side window offered views of places like Kaikoura, Picton and the peak of Mt Ruapehu. It was very nice to let the holiday pass by and remember bits and pieces this way.
Wellington and most of the North island (aside from Mt Ruapehu of course) was covered by clouds but we arrived on time in Auckland where I had to find my way to the international terminal to catch the Air Fiji Flight to Nadi and on from there to Honolulu.
Walking off the plane in Nadi (Fiji) I felt immediately the heat and humidity of this tropical island.
Back in the terminal building the feeling of paradise was emphesized by a tropical band playing to welcome mainly the honeymooners but also the transit passengers. This and the big sign saying "Fiji - Wecome to paradise" made me regret a little that I had not more time here than the 1 hour layover.
It's a very basic airport with low ceilings but work is going on everywhere at the moment and I can image that the terminal will be looking very nice in a couple of months when it welcomes more and more guests who want to explore this little patch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Just a couple of minutes (no more than 45) I spent on the soil of Fiji and then found myself back in the next plane.
What the old plane with in terms of facilities lacked ( no individual entertainment system and old looking seats) the extremly friendly crew of Fiji Air more than compensated. I was asked multiple times if I wanted to have more beer or some other drink, a snack or anything else.
Maybe one of the most caring flight crew I have ever experienced.
And because I could not understand anything with the complementary headphones nor see anything on the common, tiny TV screen 4 or 5 rows in front of me, I decided to write my blog.
We flew through the night and finally arrived at the same day but much earlier than when we left at Honolulu Airport.
It was 2 am now. 9 hours before I left this morning from Auckland... This was going to be a long day.
We must have been the last or first flight to arrive, no one was there, none of the kiosks were open, just a few shuttles and taxis were waiting to pick up passangers... But my Dollar Rental Car place didn't open until 6 am.
So I rested a little on benches outside the terminal building as it was much more comfortable outside than in the air conditioned luggage claim area.
After I got bored of this and not finding a place to get a coffee I walked around the departure area and noticed that I was not alone.
Although my fellow travellers were more likley bums or extremly rough backpackers by the looks of it.
After a while I found a vending machine and used my 1 USD bill to get a Mountain dew. That kept me going for a while until at 5 finally the first Dollar Car Rental bus came by and brought me to the pick up area.
My car was booked from 8 am as I was going to return it at 8 as well.
I didn't want to have to return it earlier nor did I want to pay an extra day, so I waited another 2 hours until I was allowed to pick it up. Those two hours I spent at the only open place... a 24hour McDonalds .... welcome to America! Well, it had coffee and wifi - all good.
Then I finally took possession of my lovely, silver Mustang Convertible.
The sun came up at the horizon and I quickly found the local rock station and saved it on button 1.
Off we were on Highway H1 out of Honolulu and headed north to my Hostel.
It wasn't that easy to find the way out of the labyrinth of one way streets and over and underpasses of the airport but eventually I was pushed up by 306 little ponies on my rear axle towards the green hills of Oahu's North shore.
At this point I wasn't quite adventurous enough to open the roof yet... I saved that for when the roads were a bit quieter.
As my hostel was on the circular road going all around the island (Kamehameha Hwy) it was no problem finding the right place.
It was only 8:30 or so now and I was already tired.
My bed was not ready yet, although I booked for the night before today and told them I would arrive very early ( I had to book a minimum of five nights at this hostel for some reason).
Payment was only in cash, so I walked down to the petrol station to get some and wanted to return and move into my bed.
Along the way I spotted a gap in the trees and the beach and the enormous waves of the Pacific ocean.
A few surfers were already out there and riding them...
I decided to lie down in the sand, watch the sun rise further and enjoy the spectacle of the surfers chasing the perfect wave for an hour or two.
When I had enough of that I picked up the money from the petrol station ATM, payed my room and had a nap.
I was up more then 24 hours already and it was only 10 am.
At 2 pm I woke up and sort of came to my senses again... the shower and a shave helped.
Now it was time to properly use my new toy.
I asked the people at the hostel for a good place for some food, sat down in my mustang, opend the roof and rolled off the court yard and along Kamehameha Hwy and the coast.
It was great... but I felt a bit sad, I had to enjoy all of this on my own. After travelling the last two months mainly with friends (Basti in Vietnam, Karsten and Lulu in Australia and my Parents in NZ) I was all alone again... it is really true what they say:
shared fun is double the fun
I had to drain my sadness with the sandwich that was suggested by Bernie, the owner of the Hostel, so I had a look out for the little trailer along the road that he described.
I soon found it and was surprised to find a sandwich costing 12 $.
But it was worth it, it was big sandwich with the freshest, organic ingredients. A couple of cm stacked turkey breast and it even came with a hand drawn smile and my name on the box.
It was really good and I wanted to tell this to the guy who made it so I went back to him after finishing the sandwich with a view on the sea and found him hanging out behind his caravan smoking up a joint with his mate.
He was all cool about this and said that this was normal in Hawaii.
Since I was still a bit down because I was far away from home and Yuni and no one else around I could share the pleasure of being in Hawaii with, I just drove my "make me happy car" up and down the coast a bit until the sun began to set over the great vastness of the Pacific Ocean.
Back at the hostel I went out to the beach to catch the last bit of sunset just across the street (100m from the hostel) with two guys from Australia (Matt and Brody).
The evening of this loooong day was spent in good ole Backpacker tradition, by sharing beers and stories with room mates out on the porch of the hostel.
One of them was working in the navy and was doing network administration there, so this was pretty cool and we had a few things to talk about.
At 11 I was knackered and needed to go to bed. Luckily I made a good choice with this hostel as it is certainly a quiet, place with a great atmosphere and not a southeast asian party hostel.
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