Day 7 & 8

After recovering from our previous evening we went to Paradise Cove to see a Luau. I had gone previously and remembered it to be very nice and cultural. It was ok but obviously over the years they had commercialized it a lot and it wasn’t the same at all. At least our ticket included free drinks which we made to most of and topped up from the night before.
After a well earned sleep we spent the day at Waikeli factory outlets. Oops, more credit card damage. After returning from the factory outlets we decided to go to the Ala Maona shopping centre and continue with our shopping. We did purchase another suitcase each to bring our stuff back home. While getting ready for dinner we both mentioned that we had nothing to wear again…even after all the shopping, lol. As we had a hard day shopping we went back to the Italian restaurant for our favourite pasta.

Day 5 & 6

As we baked ourselves the following day some serious shopping time was performed. Great shoes, handbags, dresses, tops, make up, jackets, perfume, sunglasses, etc were purchased. To restore our energy from shopping protein was on the menu for dinner that night.
The RIMPAC Pacific Rim (International Military Games) are on at the moment in Honolulu and it’s where countries from around the world compete against one another in simulated war game activities out in the sea. We know this because we met many of them. The island is full of military of all sorts and they sure know how to drink and party. We went to a place called Rum Fire which is right on the beach to watch the sunset and started drinking at 4 to make the most of happy hour. 13 Mai Tai’s were had in 2 hours and many other drinks followed by free drinks from our Marine friends. One marine was Korean and was nic named immediately by Rachael as ‘China’ which he couldn’t understand why but regardless he continued to pay for drinks for his Australian friends and we could not refuse such an offer. We also met 2 guys who are like Maverick and Goose in Top Gun and saw some great photos of their planes on their iphones. These guys were names ‘Snott’ and ‘Blue’, we did get the story behind their call sign names but that’s another story. In the morning one of us had wished they had said no to all those drinks and spent the day in bed.

Day 3 & 4

We spent the day in the amazing sun, well someone did. By mid afternoon Rachael got tired of the sun and had to go shopping because Ala Moana was calling her, while l stayed. She had to take a look at what was around and came back with some purchases as you would expect.
The next day we spent all day in the sun and Rachael bought a kids size floating tube from the ABC store (general store that sells everything) and the women at the counter questioned her. “Is this for you?” and Rachael says “yes” and the women goes “It no fit you. This for kids.” It took a while but Rachael managed to convince her that it was ok and she didn’t need a bigger tube and was able to purchase it. As soon as we got back to the hotel the 1st thing she did was blow up the tube and try it on for size. Perfect it fits. She felt like walking across the road and showing the women that it did fit.
I managed to also get myself in the tube and nearly drowned. As some might know l cannot swim at all and the tube did not help. I had it around me when a wave decided to take me to shore and l could not get up as the waves kept on crashing me down on the shore. I was in front of many people being thrown around with this pink tube around me and spinning on my back. I look over to Rachael who’s in the water killing herself from laughter and unable to help me in any way. She tried to pretend that she didn’t know me. I eventually got myself up and l could have been mistaken for one of the Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles with my moves but instead off to the showers to get rid of the sand which was everywhere.

Day 1 & 2 Honolulu

When we arrived we relaxed and booked our spa treatments. We went to dinner at Dukes that night and got to bed early.We woke the next morning and headed over to the spa for our treatments. We had very relaxing massages, facials and also got to use the sauna and steam room. The spa was out of action so we managed to get another day pass to come back again. After a very relaxing morning we emerged mid afternoon to pay and leave where we had the shock of our lives and nearly needed to apply for another mortgage. I questioned the lady as she said $318 and tax, so l thought it was on top of and didn’t realise that it was included in that amount. Rachael was consistent with $444. Not realising that we couldn’t go in the sun because we were oiled up and would burn to a crisp we did some minor shopping and booked dinner at an Italian restaurant which l loved from last time l was here. I had sworn to Rachael that they made the best Spaghetti Marinara l had ever had and we had to go. Dinner was great and Rachael agreed that it was really nice and that we must come back before we leave.

NY - Chicago - Honolulu

Early morning start to get to airport and hoping somehow we get upgraded, at least for the Chicago to Honolulu leg which was 9 hours. At the airport we got a really nice lady who checked our baggage in all the way to Honolulu and also moved us on an earlier flight in case we missed the connecting flight in Chicago. So we asked to be upgraded and she said nothing and her boss was standing next to her the whole time telling us how much he loves Australia and etc, etc. She flashes our tickets to us and says ladies l got you these and we couldn’t really see what the ticket said. She was very excited and popped them in a sleeve and passed them over to us. So we say our goodbyes and thank them, go around the corner high five each other look at the tickets and nothing. She was able to print our boarding passes and that was it. Our excitement quickly died and off we went to the lounge to drown our sorrows.
Because we moved flights to Chicago it meant we had to sit right at the back which was painful but not as painful as being stuck on a 9 hours flight where our seats didn’t recline. On our flight our captain also told us that the left engine was having some issues and we would need to sit on the tarmac while the engineers did a drive by to check it out. Well Rachael was beside herself and the lady sitting next to her also supported during takeoff and landing which was very nice. Even though you had to buy your own food and the chairs didn’t recline the flight itself was good.
Aloha and Welcome to Honolulu where we got laid at the airport. The lady on the plane got picked up by her husband who passed on her 2 lays she got onto us and wished us all the best and hoped the lays brought us some luck.

NYC-WDC-NYC

Part 1

Our trip to the capital was HOT and long!!! We took the train...3.5hrs and the train was freezing in comparison to the outside air temp! Apparently the aircon was stuck on -5. We started early and as we had been out the night before (and I had perhaps had one too many margaritas) was feeling ordinary to begin with. Ali was sick as a dog and slept all the way..

We arrived in the capital to searing heat, like so hot it was impossible to be in the sun for more than 2 minutes without burning to a crisp!

Our tour guide, who shall remain nameless, told us upon arrival that we should just get the hop on hop off bus - some tour guide. So we all got on the bus, and went to sit on the top deck. Big mistake, 42 degrees is not a good temperature to sit on a hop on hop off top deck. Needless to say we promptly hopped off 2 stops later for lunch...

After refreshments we headed for the Arlington cemetery. We wanted to see where JFK was resting, as morbid as thought sounds. We stayed on the lower deck of the bus this time to avoid heat stroke and enjoyed our trip to Virginia. As we approached the cemetery we noticed some ominous black clouds forming to our right. Ali and I voted not to get off the bus, but were overruled by our tour guide who is still remaining nameless as he didn’t fly halfway around the world to miss JFK's grave. Morbid bastard. So we hopped off..

The clouds got darker and the wind started picking up, us 3 girls all chorused "its going to piss down" the tour guide assures us that it will pass and in fact miss us as it was going the other way. He was wrong. The moment we stepped out of the visitors centre it pissed down. We had no choice but to make a run for the bus shelter 15 meters in front. By the time we got there we were drenched. The rain was so heavy we could see nothing, and it lasted forever. The 1000 scouts that were at the cemetery all got wet, as did most others. During our wait we started hearing sirens and other sounds usually associated with natural disasters. I was a little worried.

We finally made our way up to JFK's grave site - which really moved me, literally. But that’s another story.  Arlington cemetery is actually very beautiful and we visited all the dead Kennedys. No pun intended.

We then hopped back on our bus and headed for the monument where I photographed some suspicious behavior - I was very FBI/ASIO like, I’m sure the secret service  will want the pictures at some stage-  and then we went to the white house  - not as big as imagined and the security was ridiculous. The Obama's must have been in residence.

We then headed back to union station for our return trip. We hurriedly decided to eat something and headed to Johnny Rockets. After scoffing some crap food our tour guide realized that his new camera was missing. After accusing us all of having it, he realized that indeed it was gone. Luckily he was insured with Allianz.

We then headed upstairs to see what platform our train was leaving from - and promptly realized they all said - delayed. It was 7pm at this point and we were over it, we had boarded the train that morning in NYC at 8am. We asked staff what was wrong. That small storm we had had knocked out all power and signals between DC and Baltimore - great, although they were working hard to restore things. At that stage they anticipated a 2 hour delay. So we decided to jump back in a cab and look for the lost camera.

We clearly did not find the lost camera. I even asked the white house security guard, he came at me with a metal detector/baton thing and I almost asked him to search me. He was cute...

So back to the station we go. We decide to have a drink and wait out the delay. As we sat there we sent our tour guide back to get an update on the status of our train - disaster!!! All cancelled!!! We were stranded in the murder capital of America!!!!

After a frantic text to my travel guru Sharon - we went to look for a hotel! The only thing we could get was the Hilton garden inn - sounds nice doesn’t it. It wasn’t, it was AWFUL!!! But we had no choice we were stranded with a million other people.

After an awful night’s sleep we put back on our sweaty filthy clothes and headed for the station praying for a train. To our relief the service was back in order and we were on our way back to the big apple - this time wearing our Washington DC hoodies we had purchased to ward off hypothermia!

Time for our last day in the Big Apple

Part 2

After a short rest we decided that before doing any last shopping we had to send all the crap we didn’t want to carry home, so we packed up and went to the post office. You would think it would be a simple process - no way in hell. 1.5 hours later Zana and I left not certain that my 17.5 lb and her 12 lb would ever make it to Australia, despite the @$120 each we paid!!!

We then headed to Soho to meet up with our mates and do some last minute damage to our credit cards!!

That night we went to Tao for dinner with our NYC posse. We had a great last night and none of us wanted it to end, but alas we had an early flight. Farewell NY we will be back!!!

Day 7 - MoMA

The Museum was another place we could go with our City Passes we purchased early on and we were very glad we went. The photography, paintings and architecture displays were really good. We saw paintings from Van Gogh, Picasso, Andy Warhol and Matisse.

Like always we managed to get some great shopping done in the MoMA design store and we weren't too sure how we get some of it home but we planned to post things home anyway so we decided that we could add these purchases to those boxes.

After the Museum we headed down to 5th Avenue again for some more shopping and site seeing. I managed to get the royal treatment at Victorias Secret and it was the best bra shopping experience of my life. They measured me up and l thought l had to go around 3 floor of underwear looking for my size and picking things out to try on, nope. Into the change room l go that’s as big as my bathroom and the lady give me 2 boxes of bra's with every single style in my size. You simply try on and hang up the ones you want. Very great experience.

That night we went to a Mexican restaurant in Downtown where the only way you can get in was via people who know people. So a friend of a friend of a friend got us a booking for the 6.30pm seating and when Rachael and I arrived we felt very over dressed. The place was a Taco stand and we thought this cannot be it as it was meant to be underground. We go around the corner to another area and the guy tells us to go to the Taco stand and speak to a lady dressed in black near the door. So we go to her and tell her about our booking and she speaks into a secret squirrel headset and tells us to follow the path downstairs. We go down 2 sets of stairs and around, through a kitchen, turn left and there is this amazing bar and restaurant right at the bottom of some place. We were not allowed to take photos in there cause it's meant to be a secret so not much to show. The food was really nice but as most people would know spicy food does not agree with me and within 20 minutes l was in barn like toilets throwing up. We had to hold back on the Margarita as well as we had a 6am start in the morning for Washington DC but we still managed to sneak about 3 or so in.