Sunday, February 15, 2004
Chris' Hawaiian Adventures continues...
After landing in Honolulu and giving Gareth a shout to let him know I had made it safe and sound, I had to find out how I was going to get to the hotel. Checking my wallet, I realized I had a whopping seven dollars in U.S. cash. Of course, that meant I was a dollar short to hop on the shuttle bus that went to all of the major hotels.
As it turns out, bank machines are a rare breed in the U.S. I'm more used to seeing bank machines on every street corner and in every major building, but I found it nearly impossible to find a bank machine in the U.S. After searching in vain, I finally swallowed my pride and stopped to ask someone at the airport. She directed to me to the bank machine hiding in the room marked American Airlines (shouldn't it have been marked Bank Machine?), and after swiping my card and punching in my PIN, I determined that I was only able to take out twenty dollars of U.S. cash. That, along with the seven bucks in my wallet, would somehow have to do me until I arrived back in glorious Canada on Saturday.
To make a long story short, I hopped on the bus, paid my eight bucks for the ride and soon was outside the beautiful Sheraton Waikiki Hotel (right next to the Royal Hawaiian in all its pink-ish glory). With bags hovering under my eyes, I waltzed in and demanded my room, only to be told it wasn't ready yet. ...What? What kind of hotel doesn't have a room ready at 7:30 in the evening? Oh well. I had no choice but to wait. I was too tired to make a fuss. About ten minutes later, they called me over to hand me to key card to my room on the thirty-first (top) floor. Unfortunately, the room's balcony opens up onto the street and I can only look down the coastline and not directly out onto it. Still, I can't complain too much about the view.
Exhausted, I arrived at my home for the next three nights only to find I was too exhausted to sleep. Deciding I might as well take advantage of my insomnia, I hopped on the elevator and went down to the main level. Hanging a right toward the back of the hotel, I walked right out onto the patio bar and a Hawaiian rendition of Green Day's Basketcase. It turns out there was a two-man band doing covers of alt-rock tunes with a Hawaiian flare. Interesting stuff, for sure.
I took a stroll through the crowd of chaise lounges and listened to the band a bit before heading down to walk along the beach. This was my first big mistake (well, second if you include showing up in Hawaii broke). Watching the tide, I deemed myself smarter than Mother Nature and stood right at the edge of the tide, letting it just barely touch the soles of my brand new shoes (okay, that was another mistake -- never break in new shoes on a business trip). After the tide licked the soles a couple of times, Mother Nature played me for a fool and send the next wave up to my ankles. With wet feet and shoes now sprinkled with Hawaiian sand, I returned to my hotel room and attempted to dry my footwear out with the room's hair dryer. (Hey, it worked!)
Sleeping was still a chore, and the stress of traveling and my utter exhaustion made that first night an intolerable one. I'm pretty sure I only managed to get three hours of sleep or so. Not good, considering I had to get up the next morning at 6:00.
Next time, find out how my first full day in Honolulu went.
As it turns out, bank machines are a rare breed in the U.S. I'm more used to seeing bank machines on every street corner and in every major building, but I found it nearly impossible to find a bank machine in the U.S. After searching in vain, I finally swallowed my pride and stopped to ask someone at the airport. She directed to me to the bank machine hiding in the room marked American Airlines (shouldn't it have been marked Bank Machine?), and after swiping my card and punching in my PIN, I determined that I was only able to take out twenty dollars of U.S. cash. That, along with the seven bucks in my wallet, would somehow have to do me until I arrived back in glorious Canada on Saturday.
To make a long story short, I hopped on the bus, paid my eight bucks for the ride and soon was outside the beautiful Sheraton Waikiki Hotel (right next to the Royal Hawaiian in all its pink-ish glory). With bags hovering under my eyes, I waltzed in and demanded my room, only to be told it wasn't ready yet. ...What? What kind of hotel doesn't have a room ready at 7:30 in the evening? Oh well. I had no choice but to wait. I was too tired to make a fuss. About ten minutes later, they called me over to hand me to key card to my room on the thirty-first (top) floor. Unfortunately, the room's balcony opens up onto the street and I can only look down the coastline and not directly out onto it. Still, I can't complain too much about the view.
Exhausted, I arrived at my home for the next three nights only to find I was too exhausted to sleep. Deciding I might as well take advantage of my insomnia, I hopped on the elevator and went down to the main level. Hanging a right toward the back of the hotel, I walked right out onto the patio bar and a Hawaiian rendition of Green Day's Basketcase. It turns out there was a two-man band doing covers of alt-rock tunes with a Hawaiian flare. Interesting stuff, for sure.
I took a stroll through the crowd of chaise lounges and listened to the band a bit before heading down to walk along the beach. This was my first big mistake (well, second if you include showing up in Hawaii broke). Watching the tide, I deemed myself smarter than Mother Nature and stood right at the edge of the tide, letting it just barely touch the soles of my brand new shoes (okay, that was another mistake -- never break in new shoes on a business trip). After the tide licked the soles a couple of times, Mother Nature played me for a fool and send the next wave up to my ankles. With wet feet and shoes now sprinkled with Hawaiian sand, I returned to my hotel room and attempted to dry my footwear out with the room's hair dryer. (Hey, it worked!)
Sleeping was still a chore, and the stress of traveling and my utter exhaustion made that first night an intolerable one. I'm pretty sure I only managed to get three hours of sleep or so. Not good, considering I had to get up the next morning at 6:00.
Next time, find out how my first full day in Honolulu went.
// posted by Chris @ 12:29 PM 
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