On the 6th November, we did our usual buffet breakfast, and then checked out of the Mauna Kea to return our rental Ford Mustang convertible at the airport. Morven had built up the confidence to drive on the right hand side of the road, so she did some driving.  She looked hot driving a convertible, which did not help my cause for protesting against us buying a convertible at home.

The disadvantages of the convertible were that whatever the weather is, your hair gets messed up.  You pretty much always need sunscreen if you have fair skin like us.  It is often either too breezy and cold, or too hot in the direct sun.  Most of the time, we ended up driving with the hood on so that we didn’t melt from the heat and humidity or fry from UV rays.

The airport and short flight was nothing worth blogging about, except for it was officially from here on that Tom had not organised any transport.  There were no economy hire cars available at Honolulu airport with the company we had used to date, so we either had to go for a luxury convertible (considerably more expensive, and high risk of sunburn) or walk to another car rental.  We did the ‘walk of stingyness’ and found another car rental place, but it also did not have any economy cars left.  Reluctantly, we hired another luxury convertible.  Advice for people planning trips to Hawaii – book your rental cars in advance!

After a few minor hiccups navigating on six lane roads whilst driving on what is the wrong side of the road to what we’re familiar with, we got to the Trump International Hotel in Honolulu.  We were welcome with all the bells and whistles of a newly built five star hotel, and then offered some complimentary drinks whilst they desperately tried to work out what they had done with our room that they had double booked, but had already taken all of our money in advance for.  We were told they would be a few minutes sorting it out.

Half an hour later, we went to see what was happening, and they told us that our room was just being cleaned now, and that it wouldn’t be long.  We made a concious decision to wait until we checked in before going to dinner, and enjoyed this sunset from an area near the cocktail bar, looking over Waikiki Beach.  (Actually, I think Waikiki Beach might start slightly to the left of where this photo was taken).

Hours after we arrived, after the above sunset, we were told our room was now ready, and that they had upgraded us to a corner suite.  We went to the room, to find the door open ajar and the room half way through being cleaned, but with no cleaners in sight.  We patiently and politely enquired again as to what was going on, and were told they had no idea.  They apologised, and asked us to bring our bags and belongings back down to the check-in area.  They kept our bags whilst we went out for dinner.  We were (Tom in particular was because he chose the hotel) becoming frustrated, because the last three hours could have been spent walking around Honolulu, or walking along Waikiki Beach.  Later that evening, our compensation was two strawberries coated in chocolate, and a $10 sparkling wine, which we didn’t want to drink because we were trying to cut back on alcohol and wanting to get up early each day. It was quite an impressive suite to have been upgraded to, so just like the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island, it was marginally worth the hassle of having to wait for.

We did enjoy our eventual walk on Waikiki Beach and through the shopping strip, and all was well, although it had seemed like such a long day considering all we had done was shifted islands, swapped cars, and swapped hotels. Tom had only but a taste to come of the amount of walking around in and out of shops there was to come.

More honeymoon blogging to come!