Oahu- Day One/ Lost Tour
We have actually had a fairly dramatic last few days, but I think that I will hold off and post my vacation entries in order.
We Island hopped to Oahu last Sunday morning, for a two night/three day sightseeing extravaganza. The trip to Oahu went very smoothly. At one point, we accidentally left our luggage unattended at the Maui airport. We freaked, but the airport people didn't seem to care. I think at LAX, the place would have been shut down...our luggage was just moved to the side, no big deal. Security is kind of loose here in the islands. This is not reassuring.
We arrived in Oahu around eleven and got our rental car without a problem. The drive to Waikiki only took about twenty minutes. Waikiki is a busy city, it reminded me of Vegas. We didn't really need a rental car, since so much was within walking distance of our hotel, the Ohana Beachcomber. The hotel was ok. It was in a fantastic location and all of the staff was super nice...but the room was just ok. I'll admit it, I am spoiled.
The hotel was located right next to the international market place, a very large outdoor mall. The international market place consisted primarily of trinket carts and pick a pearl carts. I got sucked into a pearl cart and picked an oyster that had a large black pearl. I proceeded to have it turned into a necklace. I spent close to a hundred and fifty and they threw in another oyster. This time I managed to pick twin pink pearls. I still have them and will probably turn them into earrings. We ate lunch at a place that had a bunch of noisy parrots.
Around one, we were picked up for our Hummer tour of movie/TV filming locations. The tour was small, us and one other couple and lasted five hours. The main focus of the tour was Lost filing sites, although among other things we saw locations for Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Fifty First Dates, Pearl Harbor, Karate Kid Two, Tears of the Sun, You Me and Dupree, Windtalkers, et...the list goes on. We got to walk on "the others" pier. The bulk of the tour took place at Kualoa Ranch. Here we got to run around on Hurley's Golf Course, walk in Godzilla foot prints and hide behind the same log that Sam Neill and the kids ducked behind in Jurassic Park. We also got the sit on the logs where Ana Lucia killed Goodwin and saw the spot where the season finale showdown took place..plus much more. The pictures turned out great and I will post them when I return home. We went off road a bunch in the ranch and saw a lot of cows. The ranch was absolutely gorgeous and it would have been a fantastic place to visit, even if it wasn't to see filming sites. Along with the movie stuff, we also got a lot of historical information about the area, all very interesting.
We returned to our hotel around six and went across the street to have dinner at the Hula Grill. Great fish and pretty ocean views. We walked around Waikiki and went shopping. Waikiki shopping is pretty boring, since most of the stores are within walking distance of our apartment in Pasadena. However, the place has great people watching. I was also amused at all of the Asian magazines and advertisements. Waikiki and Hawaii in general is very heavy with tourism from all of the countries in Asia, so a lot of stuff is geared towards them..this leads to some amusing ads and such. In some ways it felt being in a foreign country, yet so many similarities to home. I also found it odd that upscale stores ( Gucci, et) were right next to low end tourist traps. Everything was mixed right in.
We Island hopped to Oahu last Sunday morning, for a two night/three day sightseeing extravaganza. The trip to Oahu went very smoothly. At one point, we accidentally left our luggage unattended at the Maui airport. We freaked, but the airport people didn't seem to care. I think at LAX, the place would have been shut down...our luggage was just moved to the side, no big deal. Security is kind of loose here in the islands. This is not reassuring.
We arrived in Oahu around eleven and got our rental car without a problem. The drive to Waikiki only took about twenty minutes. Waikiki is a busy city, it reminded me of Vegas. We didn't really need a rental car, since so much was within walking distance of our hotel, the Ohana Beachcomber. The hotel was ok. It was in a fantastic location and all of the staff was super nice...but the room was just ok. I'll admit it, I am spoiled.
The hotel was located right next to the international market place, a very large outdoor mall. The international market place consisted primarily of trinket carts and pick a pearl carts. I got sucked into a pearl cart and picked an oyster that had a large black pearl. I proceeded to have it turned into a necklace. I spent close to a hundred and fifty and they threw in another oyster. This time I managed to pick twin pink pearls. I still have them and will probably turn them into earrings. We ate lunch at a place that had a bunch of noisy parrots.
Around one, we were picked up for our Hummer tour of movie/TV filming locations. The tour was small, us and one other couple and lasted five hours. The main focus of the tour was Lost filing sites, although among other things we saw locations for Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Fifty First Dates, Pearl Harbor, Karate Kid Two, Tears of the Sun, You Me and Dupree, Windtalkers, et...the list goes on. We got to walk on "the others" pier. The bulk of the tour took place at Kualoa Ranch. Here we got to run around on Hurley's Golf Course, walk in Godzilla foot prints and hide behind the same log that Sam Neill and the kids ducked behind in Jurassic Park. We also got the sit on the logs where Ana Lucia killed Goodwin and saw the spot where the season finale showdown took place..plus much more. The pictures turned out great and I will post them when I return home. We went off road a bunch in the ranch and saw a lot of cows. The ranch was absolutely gorgeous and it would have been a fantastic place to visit, even if it wasn't to see filming sites. Along with the movie stuff, we also got a lot of historical information about the area, all very interesting.
We returned to our hotel around six and went across the street to have dinner at the Hula Grill. Great fish and pretty ocean views. We walked around Waikiki and went shopping. Waikiki shopping is pretty boring, since most of the stores are within walking distance of our apartment in Pasadena. However, the place has great people watching. I was also amused at all of the Asian magazines and advertisements. Waikiki and Hawaii in general is very heavy with tourism from all of the countries in Asia, so a lot of stuff is geared towards them..this leads to some amusing ads and such. In some ways it felt being in a foreign country, yet so many similarities to home. I also found it odd that upscale stores ( Gucci, et) were right next to low end tourist traps. Everything was mixed right in.