The Sister Trip to Hawaii - Installment II (The Arrival)

Waikiki

South Carolina to Hawaii - quite a lengthy flight!  I think Sis and I hit the "Wall" about eight hours into it.  Sis made an bad selection for lunch, that was her wall, and is the preface for the unfortunate choices we made after our feet hit the soil of Oahu.

The morning following our arrival as we were enjoying  managing to eat our complimentary breakfasts (one of us still queasy) we discovered that we were a captive audience for the tour guides, who employed the tactics of used car salesmen. They bombarded us with entertainment options that had to be confirmed immediately because the events (according to them) were practically filled to capacity.  Foggy, jet lagged brains began selecting events for the extent of the stay, the rest is history.

The first (and most annoying) excursion was to  Maui Divers, a jewelry emporium.  This was a bad choice from the get go but it seemed harmless, and was a short jaunt from our hotel. The brochure said two hours for the tour - in our jet lagged lapse of judgment we opted for a quick "Two Hour Tour" then back to the hotel for much R & R.

We knew we were in trouble as soon as we entered.  Each one of us, all forty or so of us, had a sales person who obviously was appointed to follow us (just in case we had any questions).  If we had been stupid we would have been flattered by the attention.  "Don't you like this?  Don't you want to buy this??  Incessant sales pressure.  One important tip, if you are ever in a situation like this, don't make eye contact! We had been had!  Our personal spaces were being invaded and that is just plain rude, this doesn't sit well with Southern Belles or Gents.

The mental image etched into my brain for all time is my ankle tightly held by a M D sales person, dragging behind me as I make my way to the exit door.  Five stars for persistence.


This is the surreal stuff movies are made of - the "Two Hour Tour" had morphed into the longest day.

Hours later we were able to manage our escape.  The cost of our exodus, a seventy-two inch strand of real honest to goodness fresh water pearls for twenty dollars - the memory of this hilarious waste of a day in paradise - priceless!

The Sister Trip to Hawaii - Installment l

Banyan Tree - Oahu

2001 was a very well traveled year for me.  A trip to Italy and a trip to Hawaii.  I accompanied my sister with a group of realtors to Oahu in May.  Many unusual incidents in Oahu.  One I will be blogging about in the near future. 

For my blog visual, I choose to begin with a tree, however, the story has nothing to do with this tree, it is a painting I have lost track of, a gallery that went south and I couldn't retrieve my work, probably, it happens.

I was thinking about 911 today and realized that this Hawaiian vacation was in 2001, four months before the horrific attack we endured.

My sister and I had befriended a young Brit who was traveling alone and staying in our hotel.  He shared many meals with us.  One evening we began talking about the random bombings in Great Britain.  We were curious, and asked him how could he live with the possibility of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, any day, any where in London?  His answer - It is something you learn to deal with because life goes on every day.  One story he shared with us was an evening in a local pub, the patrons realized that there was a package sitting at an unoccupied table  -  the pub was emptied in moments.

We were stunned by this story and extended our condolences.  I will never forget his response - You are such innocents, in time, this will be a normal way of living in your country (USA) also.  You are such innocents.

And we were, innocents, and we lost it four months later, September 11, 2001.