[ivanmcp]

Life in London surely takes toll on its inhabitants. Constant rush to work, traffic jams, unfriendly people and so on. And I am one of London's residents. It is easy to loose yourself in this manic pace of life in a large city. At certain moment in time, one can suddenly rise above the clouds and ponder 'that' question: what is the purpose of life? Ahh yes, my purpose seemed to be same daily routine of work, little play and very little sleep. I got swallowed up by this regime, so much so that I did not go on a holiday in 13 years.
So decision was made in an instant - I am off to Hawaii for Christmas holiday. What better time to go than that. Cold, rain or even snow here with nothing else to do but watch festive television and eat volumes. Nooo, I need proper holiday, I convinced myself. So further investigation on the web resulted in purchase of flight tickets and accommodation to boot. Cool, and we were off....


This picture was taken by me from top of the Diamond Head which is the extinct volcano and houses US military base in its crater. It is open to visitors and is a must attraction as it offers an excellent 360 degrees views of Honolulu and surrounding area. Rainbow was a nice bonus .

Flight to Hawaii lasted around 19-20 hours flight time, plus two transfers at Chicago and Los Angeles lasting 2 hours each. We flew with United Airlines, who despite their financial troubles were nothing short of excellent service. 5 stars to them. In-flight movie from LA to Honolulu was none other then Blue Crush. I must say that I can't watch many movies while on a plane, but this one was fine as I saw the whole thing. This certainly helped time go by, and soon after first Hawaiian island became visible through haze and light clouds. We were now 2.500 miles away from nearest landmass, which is America. Honolulu is certainly an interesting sight from the air. We are talking about eleventh largest city in the USA! We are talking business district, Waikiki strip tightly housing high-rise hotels, 10-12 lane freeways, industrial estates, and hills and mountain sides covered in residences. This was something of a surprise, and did not fit the image I had in my head. Never mind I said, this is Hawaii, one of the most romantic and sought after holiday locations in the world.


Another view from the Diamond Head volcano. That rather large rock in the distance is yet another volcano, reminding everybody who the big daddy is.

My first 'feel' of Hawaii was when I walked out of the air conditioned airport building. As I stepped outside I was facing palm trees which were swaying in a warm and fragrant pacific air. Man, life can be beautiful. Here I was, I thought, escaped from wintery London, traveled half way round the world and got rewarded with this. Hawaiian sun, well worth it .


I took this snap at world famous Waimea Bay. Waves on this day were considered to be small and messy so only few bored surfers bothered to go out. I wasn't one of them!!!

to be continued...

[ivanmcp]

Transfer from the airport was smooth and relatively cheap. In addition, this bus ride can be used as a form of sightseeing, as it cris crosses Waikiki delivering its cargo of tired but excited tourists to their hotels. After 30 minutes of 'sightseeing', friendly Hawaiian shirt wearing driver unloaded our luggage in front of our hotel and wished us happy holidays to the tune of 1$ tip.


View from our hotel room. Waking up to this view takes some beating. Not to mention coffee and papers on the balcony.

Being in the midst of Hawaiian winter, 6 pm means nightfall. Subsequently, daylight arrives at 7am. Due to a severe jetlag, I woke up at 4 am on my first night away. Unable to sleep, I went on our room's balcony. "Winter" I thought, "what winter?” Mild breeze, warm air, clear sky and dark volcano shadows in a distance. Still unable to sleep, I decided to take a stroll to a Waikiki beach, which was a stone's throw away. T shirt, shorts and slippers and off I went. It must have been around 6 am in complete darkness, and beach was buzzing with local surfers. Even surf hire hut was open!!! I got talking to a female surfer. She was Honolulu resident and she explained to me that she goes surfing every morning before she has to go to work. After some further conversation, she jumped into the water and pedaled away into the night. I wandered how many surfers were out there in the lineup and why surf so early. I found the answer to the latter soon enough.


Statue of Duke Kahanamoku on the Waikiki beachfront. Me and Duke, heh. We go back long way...

Daylight brings out tourists in their thousands with large number trying to surf for a first time. And I thought Fistral beach in Newquay was crowded. But hey, if you can't beat them, join them. So I did just that. I hired a longboard that weigh a ton and cost $8 an hour . This weight was a direct result from years of ding repair, saturating foam with resin.


Have you seen Jurassic Park yet? Scenery looks familiar? Reason being is that JP was filmed in Hawaii. This is typical Hawaiian snapshot. Volcano sides covered by rain forest.

After reaching a promising peak I sat on a board and glanced towards the shore. It was hard to believe that all this was happening to me. How could this be? It is Christmas time. It should be cold and grey. But all I see is clear blue sea, white sandy beach, green palm trees, white hotels, green mountains and back to clear blue again - sky. All surfers around me were friendly and I could tell that they had same thoughts as me. Surf was small, slow but constant while creating long rides and bags of enjoyment. After good surf one tends to sleep well. And I did.


In part 3, I'll be visiting legendary North Shore of Oahu, home of world class breaks like Waimea, Pipeline and Sunset beach.

to be continued...