Getting up at 5 am was more painful than ever, I guess last nights tough packing just wore me out :) I don't know why have hotels not thought of a packing service - so that they pack the suitcases for you :) ? Anyways, got up, showered, ate as much breakfast as possible as there was gonna be lots of food left behind and headed to the airport. Our first flight from Kahului to Honolulu went 5 minutes apart, me flying NW and others going on United. It was a short flight, just about 30 minutes in air. Once at the airport we rented a car and headed straight to Pearl Harbor.
As Pearl Harbor is still an active military base then the security is quite intense there - no bags or purses or camera bags are allowed in the area, had to check all that into luggage check. First stop was the movie theater where they gave an overview of what happened in Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December, year 1941 and why it all happened. From the theater we were taken to the memorial of Battleship Arizona across the bay. Memorial was built on top of the sunken ship called Arizona and it lay in the middle of the water, we went there by ferry. This was a bit depressing to say the least, we were instructed to keep our voices low as many lives were lost and they still lay beneath the surface.
Once back from the boat ride we wondered around in the museum. Now the museum was quite good, it was well documented and organized, had lots of detailed information and photo material as well as scale models of the ships and plans of attack routes. From the museum we decided to go to Battleship Missouri - we were taken there by shuttle as it was all the way on Ford Island where the base is situated. Now the battleship was enormous. I wonder how many marines actually got lost in there during their first weeks on the ship :)
Once we were done at the ship, it was after 3 and we were all dying of hunger by then. It was decided to head to Honolulu city center to find some nice place to eat. We ended up having one of the nicest meals yet by an enormous shopping center right next to Waikiki beach. After dinner we took a quick detour and walked to the beach for a bit. Then back tot he airport where we had good 4 hours to kill.
I liked it here in Hawaii a lot. loved it! It seems so entirely different from the rest of the US that it is even hard to believe it is part of this big country. History of Hawaii is so rich, the culture goes back centuries, they have their own native language, nature is gorgeous, people are friendly and most enjoyable of all - everybody is so relaxed and happy, hang loos' :) It is a wonderful place to be. Although I have to mention that it is a bit on a pricier side as a lot of it built up on tourism.
This was definitely one of the best holidays I've had. Mostly thanks to a great Spranget family. At the airport the inevitable had to take place - saying goodbyes. It is difficult to say farewell to people dear to you. Sometimes I wonder how have I gotten so lucky to have so many such special people in my life. And it is definitely amazing to reconnect with people who you were once inseparable from. I hope the future is good to me and I can keep in close contact with all those dear people even 30 years from now. I will do everything in my power to make it happen.
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