San Francisco to Honolulu

            I got to the TSA Pre-check line and noticed that there were 20 people in that line at security, and there were only 4 people in the other security line used by the lower-class unwashed people.  The guy behind me also noticed, and we talked and laughed about that.   The TSA folks also noticed and quickly opened a second lane for us superior beings who were being made to wait like common humanity!

            The SFO airport is nice, but their WiFi is weak.   I could not get a strong enough signal on my phone, tablet, or laptop.    DEN airport is much better at that.

            OK, don’t airlines have movie screens anymore.  My United flights had no drop down screens or seat back videos.   What’s the deal, United!  I guess that is why they are doing this beta test of their United App to show movies and TV shows.  I ‘m sure they will   charge a fortune for that when they bring official on line.   I see that Internet access cost $10 for the flight from DEN to SFO, and now they want $15 plus taxes for the 5 hour flight from SFO to HNL.  I didn’t buy it, and I spent my time reading through old emails from the past few days and also reading Killing Patton while listening to tunes on my iPod.

            My seat was 39J which I paid a lot extra for.   It was next to a door, so there was a lot of room to stretch out until they put a beverage cart in front of me.   There was only one seat next to me, and it was occupied by an older Korean guy who was not friendly and would not even look at me.   He had the aisle, and I was next to the window, however, there is no window in that row, so I had not views leaving SFO or coming into HNL.  Damn!    Again, no movie screens.   I tried the United app again and found that I could watch movie previews with no problems on my tablet and laptop, but I could not watch a movie because of the screen freezes.   The Korean guy next to me watched a Korean movie on his Apple laptop with no problem.  I ordered the tapas snack box that had exotic cheeses, crackers, almonds, and chocolate covered pomegranates.   It went well with my Jim Beam and Sprite, and I pretended that I was having Hawaii food instead of Greek food.    

The flight was 30 minutes late taking off because of paperwork, but we arrived 5 minutes early.  It was a slow process getting the full flight of 300 people off the 777.   We then had to trudge from the United terminal and walk in the 88 degree weather to the main terminal.   Oh, it was humid.   I didn’t see signs for the car rental, but then I noticed people walking across the front street over to the rental car parking lot.    I got my Toyota Corolla and headed to Waikiki.   My phone GPS told me to take Nimitz Highway instead of H1 this time of day, so I drove those slow six miles near the waterfront and tried to recall what used to be there.   Some parts look better, and some parts look worse.   I started to see some of the homeless drifters in their little tents in the small parks near the water.  I saw the Irish Pub that is supposed to be the best cigar bar in town, and I need to get back over there.   There are a lot of new high rises going up with a construction mess closing lanes and merging traffic.   I started to see hordes of tourists in shorts wandering the streets and coming out of the ABC stores.   I finally got to the hotel and had to drive by it as the road was blocked at the entrance.   I had to drive around the blocks and come back and had to end up stopping traffic myself to get into the entrance that was blocked now by hordes of tourists.  

            This Hilton is not on Kalakawu but on the street behind it and behind the Catholic Church that I used to go to on Sunday nights.   That church is all fenced and locked off now with some derelicts sitting around it.  I guess they only open up for Mass.   This Hilton is by the Hyatt and Marriott.   Those hotels look a little newer and nicer.   I see that this Hilton used to be called the Prince Kuhio Hotel.   The lobby was OK.   It cost $25 to valet park my car per night.   I paid $10 to upgrade my room to the 36^th floor with a view of the Ali Wai canal, golf course, and mountains.   It is a nice view, and I read the newspaper on my windy balcony while watching the clouds move  in over the mountains.   They even threw in a nice rainbow over the mountains for me, so that might be a good omen from the Hawaiian gods.

            I walked over to the main Waikiki Beach and thought it was rather humid here.   There were some hula ladies on the beach, but they were just standing around and not dancing.   I took the mandatory tourist photo of Duke Kamama and noticed the Internet TV camera that has that real time video of the beach that I can look at when back in DEN.

            I went back to the Hilton for the evening free cocktails for the Gold and Diamond members.   They had meatballs, sweet potatoes fries, and chips, and sodas.   They had a small sign advertising beers for $6 but there were none to be seen and no bar tender and no bar.   So much for that cocktail hour. 

I did like reading the Honolulu Observer Newspaper.  They sure have a lot of news in that paper.   There were some articles about what to do with the derelicts all over the area; the unemployment rate is now down to only 4 percent.   It was interesting to read that despite the recent hurricane, Oahu has had a steady 86% occupancy rate which is capacity, but they are still increasing hotel profits because hotels keep raising rates every year.  However, there are problems on the big island of Hawaii where there is only 68% occupancy, and even Maui is having declining occupancy in the low 70s.   There is also a problem with the inter-island airfares being too high and discouraging people from getting off Oahu.    The tourist bureau has a new president who is expected to increase tourist business on those islands that are hurting and to get tourists of overcrowded Honolulu.

            After an evening walk in the dark around the neighborhood while smoking a cigar, I went back into the Hilton and sat in the lobby near the bar.  My Jameson’s Irish Whisky was only $9.   That’s a good deal compared to Vegas where some bars charge $14.   I sat and went through emails and webpages on my tablet while listening to a young Asian woman sing with a guy on guitar and a percussion guy banging on a box and shaking some beads.   They were relaxing.  Some young families had little boys who were running around and dancing to the music and talking to the singers which was cute. 

            I went back out for a small mint cigar.   It was finally cool and a little breezy.  It was only 9pm, but it was 11pm SFO time and midnight DEN time.   So, I went to bed in Hawaii for the first time in 25 years.