Sam, the dad, brings the girls and, with massive long hugs, tells them their adventure begins here at Virgin checkin.

They are off to Hawaii.  Two girls, aged 12 and 15, with one grandmother and their American step-Grandpa.

A long-promised family trip of a lifetime.

We go through Virgin ticketing and security with plenty of time and find a comfy bench near our gate, and leaving Grandapa B with luggage. 

We just set out on our airport walk when, immediately, we meet the other farewell party - mother Lucy and cousin Rah with  little Violet, all coming to see the girls off on the big trip.  Lucy buys them toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches.

We kill time at the shops and with our devices until,  finally, the darling farewell party has to get on with their day, 

And thus we begin the serious travel business of waiting.  Hurry up and wait. Travel is either split-second running or interminable and stressful waiting.  And our flight is delayed. Waiting. 

Connection anxiety. 

Watching the departure boards...

Eventually we are off.

This is modern travel, girls. It's not like advertisements. 

Certainly not.

Sydney airport is a stress-out. Signage hell.
We have to change terminals. Where is the bloody bus to be found? Not easy at all. When we find the ugly bus stop, it is to see buses passing to other terminal destinations. Confusing and frustrating, the time is ticking.

We skip Duty Free and run, run, run to the gate, only to find a sea of other passengers spread out and

waiting. Our Hawaiin Airlines plane has been delayed.

Hurry up and wait. Again.

At least this is the min destination flight. We settle down in the crowd, kis seeimngly on the phone most of the time to their parents. 

Eventually, we are loaded into our Hawaiian Airbus - the four of us crammed into a central row. 

Crammed. 

It is tight. 

It also is early.

And the cabin is darkened.

We watch inflight movies and prepare for a long 10-hour night. They serve an odd picnic  box of a half chicken mash wrap and an apple. Meagre and unappetising in the extreme. We are hungry. Ugh. Not a good start, albeit big B asks for and devours a second serve.

Gradually, the flight becomes a nightmare.

 It is so dark and cramped and gradually Rosie stops smiling and becomes airsick.

 Sa has Stemetil. It helps a bit. 

We try to sleep. It is dark. 

We lean this way and that. Ro finally drops off lying across Sa's lap with Ru lying across Ro's back.

 By morning, Ro is vomiting and miserable. Hawaiian keeps the cabin dark and serves a nasty breakfast of egg, sausage, and something. Ru wisely refuses it. Ro is pale and wan but, oh, so brave.

We land at Honolulu,
so grateful to be down….but then we have to thunder down endless corridors  to  begin the next wait, queuing for US immigration.

 B is able to take us through the US queue which is marginally shorter. It is still a long wait, especially for a sick chick. But we have a lovely border-security officer, friendly, welcoming and explaining that fingerprint taking is really to impede the forgery of passports. Rosie fascinated that while we all had photos and fingerprints, she did not because of her age.  She did not have to remove her shoes in Sydney, either.

Loaded with baggage, now we have to find transport. Another hunt, Another wait. Ro is white and very wan. 

Hilton Hawaiian Village has a monumental lobby queue. 

Fortunately, also Daniel liaising with the crowd, seeing they were in the right lines. Sa waits and waits with B and the girls minding the luggage…then she has the brainwave to approach Daniel and explain that, since we have a sick child, perhaps could we shorten the wait.
He whips Sa to the front of the Hilton Honors queue where receptionist Rowel takes charge, liaising some urgency on the room preparation. Room not due to be ready for hours of course. But he sticks with it very kindly and we get the green light.Sa tips him but can't find Daniel -  and the fam is so desperate to be in the room.

 Rainbow Tower, 20th floor, two balconies, lovely Waikiki view.  We set up the sofa bed for our exhausted sick chick. The room is spacious but furniture is spare and odd things are missing, including water and glasses. Amenities have been scaled right back, A sense of covid frugality. 

Even fragile Ro is too curious to stay put after a rest.
We three travel-worn Harrises hit the wonderful ABC general store for necessities  for the room and the night...even water, for heaven's sake. Stocked up, we then choose the poolside burger place for much-needed refreshments - a MaiTai for Sa, a whisky for B, burgers, chips... Ru is now beginning to feel queasy. And Ro improving. Hmm. Perhaps this is not motion sickness at all.The girls  have a tunmy bug. Ru manages to drink a banana smoothie which does not taste remotely of banana.

As the light goes down the girls head for the much-needed comfort of bed.

The olds sit on the balcony to enjoy the fabulous view from our great, big Rainbow Tower room.

Beach below, lights playing with activity, span of coast, far lights of high hotels....and,if one sits outside, the sound of the Waikiki sea.

We are here.

Ruby is now sick. Vomited through the night, Rosie has picked up. Stemetil now for Ru. She is not interested in breakfast.

B, Ro and Sa go down to the lagoon room. Tables are arrayed on a broad balcony overlooking the gentle lagoon and its rim of palm trees.

Breakfast, for which we have pre-paid the adults, is a disaster. The harriedhostess is hostile. Immediatley taking a dislike to us, especially when we say we are pre-paid. We have to wait for a table.There is a huge fuss among
the staff about our pre-payment. “Package”?  A number of tables are empty. We recognise that the waiting game for tables is all about staff. They are desperately short staffed. They are hustling madly. After a while, a supervisor in a mask comes along to finesse and jolly us, the staff seeming to have discovered that we are indeed pre-pad and entitled. The menu is monstrous…huge rich serves which come with about 12 small baked and fried  potatoes. I mean, how many potatoes can one eat?

A priori we have to go to Ala Moana Mall for US Sim cards.

Reluctantly, we leave poor Ru in the room with electrolyte drinks and as many temptations as we can array.  

Ro and B and Sa take the hot walk through the busy streets to the Mall. Ro doing well.

It is a vast, open-air mall with wings branching in all directions on several levels. It is anchored by the legendary great USdepartment stores - Macys, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales...

B sorts out US phone contracts for us with AT&T.

Ro and Sa go shopping.

 Ro is wide-eyed at these big, glitzy American shops. We rattle thru the bargain rack at Maceys and buy a few things. We look in on Nordstoms and Bloomingdales. missing Ruby madly. Sa finds a padded fashion designer backpack in the latter. More expensive than she wanted. The Aussie dollar is at 65 cents so prices are punishing.

People are surprised that we are Australian. Aussies still hold novelty value, it seems.

Bruce proudly escorts us to the massive food court where Rosie swoons at Cinnebon and pretzels. We buy her her first fresh hot pretzel with cheese dip. 

So many food chain names are familiar thanks to TV and social media. We plump for Panda Express, a reliably delicious Chinese chain and sit on high stools at a counter in the centre of the court.

Ru is glad to have us home but still in bed and feeling lousy.

She manages a trip to ABC store and the jeweller whence Sa is in quest of the olivine stone she cherishes. Roo still is not eating but Ro coaxes her to some watermelon.

They no longer do room service at the Hilton. Another sign of the post-covid times. It turns out Hawaii suffered very badly when tourism stopped. The streets were empty. Hotels closed down. The government provided handouts and people coped but many never wanted to return to work. There are "We are Hiring" signs absolutely everywhere. Those who are working are really stretched. Room service is just one more casualty.

There is still life in the day and there is more life in Ru.

"Let's hit the pool". We grab towels from the beach bar and flop onto chaizes. The afternoon sun is regenerative.  Sa and Ro have their first Hawaii swim. The pool is pleasant albeit busy with an international array of hotel guests and some pretty bizarre pool toys. S and B have their drinks on our balcony, that Waikiki view being a reward in itself.

So, Ru is still not into food but down to the beachside restaurant tables we others go for easy dinner. It is dark and sparkly. We are queued for a table and soon are allocated it.
The lights of our Rainbow Tower look down upon us. Feeling as if we are minus a limb without our Ru, we are given a nice table and order a very pleasant meal. Good service. We're weary. And we rejoin Ru in our great big room with a view. 

We had planned this as the Pearl Harbour excursion day but, since Ru missed the 2nd biggest outdoor mall in the world with its wealth of high-end American department stores, we decide to do a return trip to Ala Moana with her.
TikTok aficionado skips amazing American mall?  Totally not an option. 

Even flicking through coathangers on a US Clearance rack is a cultural must-not-miss.

Ru dodges breakfast, still not feeling foody. Sazi is feeling a bit off this morning, too but has a simple off-menu breakfast from Juanito who goes way over the top and then some, fussing over us in compensation for all things the staff had done wrong yesterday. On top of breakfast, he gives us takeaway coffee and a complimentary Hawaiian donut. Everyone is smiles.

B stays at the hotel reading and studying a la Bruce while the Harris gals pile into a taxi (not taking that hot walk) to let Dr Retail make then all feel good about life. And, here we are.

Sweets on steroids. It is huge. We go a bit mad. It is just so colourful and such fun. 

We laugh and rave with incredulity.

Lucy scores a candy windcheater the girls have swooned over.

 Lunchtime arrives and it is back to the Food Court where Ru is ready to eat, but wary. She circles the options and chooses fried chicken and chips of all things after sick tummy. Sa has gyuzo which are leaden and Ro has wanton soup which is nice. 

Then back to the stores....zeitgeist labels, wonderful CVS for makeup goodies and, of course,  into Victoria's Secret for all sorts of bling...Sazi takes to sitting on Mall benches.

That's what the old B does for hours and hours when girls go shopping.

Back at the Hilton Hawaiian Village,  we have time for a swim - and the girls are red hot to be ON Waikiki beach. 

A sea swim. Yes. Good idea.

Sa has never done this. So, we rent a beach umbrella and three sunbeds. It is not cheap. But it is the thing to have done

 Sa and Ro hit the water, feeling the strong pull of the tide. There are a lot of people there and a ridiculous number of water toys. Ru lounges on her sunbed. This is the life. We summon B to bring us drinks. 

Before dinner, we make another olivine stop for Sa . She is now deeply bonded with the jewellers. Perchance, they've never had another customer so much in love with this not precious island stone.

We are given a beautiful table at the Verandah Restaurant for our last night in Honolulu.



The tapers are lit along the beach and the light fades into soft sunset amethysts and ambers through the palm trees.  It's  lovely.  Sa has gone native again and has seared tuna salad.  We succumb to the temptation of dessert and share a delicious sweet treat - in what is to become our naughty ritual for the rest of our trip.

Back in our room, new purchases find their way into the luggage. Packing. One of the downsides of travelling.