Hawaii

Hawaii we go!

4th August to the 26th August 2024

Travelling from Milan to Los Angeles - 4th August 2024

It’s been a long time coming! This was a trip originally booked the summer of the first Covid breakout. We left today for Los Angeles, the first leg our voyage and we will be spending three days here just to adjust to the time zone and see a little bit of the City of Angels. The flight was long but we had a smooth stopover in London and landed right on time at lunchtime. The airport was a first experience in itself…it’s huge and completely chaotic! We made our way to the rental car satellite, about 3 miles away and then spent a half hour picking up our car as the lady behind the desk was not the fastest at anything. And for the first time ever when renting: we were asked what the relationship between the drivers was :-))). However, real challenge was how we were going to get all our luggage in one car: 6 people and 8 bags! The huge vehicle we booked had a short arse and here we discovered we could have either short or long arse! Funnily enough our tetris job was finally applied to the longer arsed car as we upgraded to an even bigger vehicle the size of a European van! We were now ready to go, but we needed to make our way to the terminals to pick up Lucia, the final member of the group. The ride in itself was not long, but going through the airport took a good half hour: 5 lanes of cars and chaos! But, finally, we were on our way to Venice Beach. Our home for the next 4 nights.

The Erwin Hotel is right on the beach in Venice. We checked in and went for a walk. We spent a little time on the sand watching the surfers, witnessed a fight with the police looking on and not intervening, and walked along in amazement sometimes, as to the diversity of the people we came across. All of this, whilst smelling weed everywhere :-). We did not know that weed was legal in California and we came across quite a few shops and people freely smoking joints. It had been a very long day for us as Los Angeles is 9 hours behind Milan time, so early dinner (early for us but not for an average American) was a must. Our waiter was good looking and kind…not a bad start…. We watched the sunset with our burgers and tacos, and tiredness finally started to show. As we made our way back, we came across a procession of bikes with all sorts of different lights and music. Apparently a Sunday ritual: a ride from Venice Beach to Santa Monica. Again, a very diverse set of people :-).

And that’s it! I couldn’t keep my eyes open when I got back to the room (and it was just 8.30 at night) and I literally collapsed into bed.

Los Angeles - 5th August 2024

Our new Emily!

As we are only going to be in Los Angeles for a short while, I thought it would be a good idea to get the highlights out of the way in one go. The best way to do that was to book a guide with a van: Emily! For those of you who have watched Emily in Paris, my title is a reference to that of course. For those who have not, I suggest watching it. Emily turned up right on time and off we went to the Hollywood Hills. We managed to get really close to what I guess is the most famous sign in the world. This very basic sign has quite a history behind it, the base of which is that it was an advertising gimmick for a property development! The sad ending though, is that it’s real success it’s due to the suicide of a promising actress ho threw herself off the H after being cut out of a movie she had been cast for. Poor Peggy! For a while it then became a place where other suicidal people came to meet their ‘poetic end’…even more terrible. These days it’s a photo opportunity for us tourists! We drove around the Hollywood hills looking at a very diverse set of homes: castle inspired building, cottages, modern homes…all sorts. A lot of people involved in movies tend to live in the Hollywood area, not just actors: producers, camera people, directors etc. Since Covid however, quite a few of the big name in Hollywood have moved to more remote locations so as to have more privacy. They are still in the county of Los Angeles, but given that 88 cities make up the county, they can sometimes be an hour and a half away from here. Still, and this is for my niece Olivia, we made it to the gate of Taylor Swift’s mansion. Unfortunately, she was not in! Our next stop was the walk of fame (stars on the pavement), the Chinese Theatre and the Dolby Theatre (where the Oscars are held). It was disconcerting to see that the Oscars are actually held in a shopping centre! It does get dressed up for the occasion, but it seems a little unusual. We also saw the house in the final scene of Pretty Woman when Richard Gere goes to ‘save’ his princess…and of course, we did a little shopping. And I won an Oscar myself. Presented not by the Academy, but by Ludovica and Ginevra :-).

Food choices and Rodeo Drive

By the time we were done with Hollywood and had taken a little drive through Beverly Hills, we were hungry. Where did teen girls want to go? in and Out burgers and Crumbl! We did both and managed a stop at Target too. In an Out was the busiest burger place I have ever seen. The burger experience was pretty good, the fries however, left a little to be desired. They only serve 4 things…three types of burgers and fries: hamburger, cheeseburger and a double double. We tried the full menu, some of the party twice over :-). The Crumbl experience was something of a tik tok inspired one. I have never seen more excited teens! You could smell the place a block away. The cookies? In fairness, not bad. A little sweet for my taste, but not bad. Target was a truly American experience: everything Americans do is bigger. Cereal boxes are twice the size of a European box as n example. But Target sells beauty, clothes etc. Everything in large quantity and size. As we had taken our time shopping, we had to make some tour choices and we decided that we would go to Santa Monica on our own and take a little more time in Rodeo Drive. We asked Emily to drop us off at the Beverly Wilshire (Pretty Woman’s Hotel) and after a quick look inside, walked up Rodeo Drive, the Montenapoleone of Los Angeles. Truly beautiful. We did learn a new thing: there is a shop here in Rodeo Drive, that is for members only. You have to be invited to be a member and generally you are a prominent person of some sort. Membership is in the region of 150k USD: Bijon. Truly did not know such a place existed….

And that was it for us an Emily. She drove us back to Venice Beach. She had been throughout an encyclopaedia of Los Angeles. And was truly prepared also on the real estate side as Fabrizio had insistently enquired as to prices of properties wherever we went :-).

But the day was not over…a quick shower and off we drove (ourselves) to Santa Monica Pier. A very very busy place! Lots of lights and people. The teens, me and Fabrizio went on the rollercoaster. It wasn’t too bad as scaryness goes, and Ginevra found 3 dollars on the floor. We left the teens at another unusual burger place: Smashers Burgers (I’ll let you look this one up), and we settled (it was the closest and the only one still open) on Bubba Shrimp for dinner (from the Forrest Gump movie). After navigating past a very rude lady with an ipad, we decide to eat at the bar as we liked the bartender: great with drinks and welcoming. And here, I could not stop myself: I have to confess to stealing a representative item of the place. Much to the dismay of Lucia who kept offering to buy for me. So for the record, it was just me! Buying it would have had a different flavour…

And that’s it folks! As they say in cartoons…

Los Angeles - 6th August 2024

Warner Brothers

Movie time! We set off this morning to pay our dues to the film industry. We booked a tour to the Warner Brothers studios. Home to TV series suchlike Friends, Big Bang Theory, Gilmore girls, the Office etc. And many many movies…. We did take quite a few pictures with Friends related things as the gang knows I love the series and they kindly obliged. It was amazing to see how versatile all the sets were. And even more amazing to see the size of the whole place. A huge construction department, prop department etc. The wizardry behind making a movie (or tv series) it’s quite something. Our tour guide was Ken, an ex cameraman. He of course made jokes as to Ken and Barbie (a movie that was shot here byte way). He was funny enough to make it all interesting and had quite a bit of insight. He was a bit of a name dropper as to who you could run into whilst walking around, but the reality was that we did not run into any celebrities :-). His top one was Lady Gaga, although Ryan Goslins was another one, during the shooting of the movie. Whilst waiting for a shuttle back to the carpark we managed to get some advice on food from the head of shuttling: Porto’s Bakery. Great place for a quick lunch if you are ever in the States (I believe it’s a chain with some sort of cuban origins). The girls did drop in on a nearby Target store (this is quickly becoming a favourite).

Skateboarding the foggy way

We drove back to Venice Beach and realised that fog had enveloped the entire coastline. A very strange sight. It did dissipate in about an hour as the sun won over and as we watched the local skateboarders doing their thing on the beach. Expertise was varied, but some of them were pretty awesome. Fabrizio did hint he’d like to try, but I fear that at our age, it’s just a way of getting hurt :-). Regardless of the outcome of their routines, they were also very good at falling in a way so as to not hurt themselves.

Ludovica had booked the top of the hotel for a drink before dinner. The aperitivo on the rooftop of the Hotel was amazing. The views, the place itself really lends itself for a very scenic drink. Of course we have two US minors (I mean under 21 so only underage in the US) but they managed to pass themselves off, just about, as older guests. As for dinner, I had booked a place in Malibu, so that we could see a little bit of that part of the world too: Duke’s. It is apparently very popular with the locals. We ate late by American standards, so between that and the fact that it was a Tuesday, it was pretty quiet. However, food was ok, the waiter very patient with us and even ended up buying us dessert. All in all not a bad experience.

Tomorrow it’s a big long day: Universal studios! Adios!

Los Angeles - 7th August 2024

Universal Studios day!

An early start for a great day! We spent the day at Universal Studios!!! Many years ago i went with my sister and nephews to Universal at Orlando and absoutely loved it. The 3D/4D rides were awesome! And its Californian version was just as good. However, if I had to pick a top experience for the day, it would actually be the Waterworld show. It was like being on the set of an actual movie, right down to a plane crash landing on the water and a fuel tank exploding! Second best (a close race with Transformers) was the Harry Potter ride. The Mummy comes in third/fourth although Jurassic Park was great also (in a different way): the Mummy was an indoor rollercoaster in the dark and Jurassic a wet water ride :-).

The day had started off with a guy at the entrance attempting to upsell us the VIP package: 2,100$ for the group! That gives you a lounge and food and Express pass for the rides basically. But I came from a previous experience were I discovered the benefits of the Single Rider lane!!!! With the exception of a rollercoaster with no single rider lane that turned out not to be worth the wait (we waited 45 minutes in line), it was a free way of making the most of our day. Ludovica tried to keep it a secret by sushing us whenever we referenced the line in the hope of keeping this little secret to ourselves.

The only ride we didn’t think much of was the one with the longest wait time: Mario Kart. At one point the standard line had a 2 and a half hour wait. Honestly, unless you are one of the people we came across (adults by the way) dressed up as Mario, not worth it! The only other dresser ups were Harry Potter fans. Now and again you would come across people with capes, although the most common sight was children with wands attempting magic :-).

A great day was had by all!

We drove back and made a little stopover to pick up an Amazon delivery from a 7/11 (the efficiency of Prime always amazes me) but we were soon back at the hotel so as to pack for our flight tomorrow. We will finally leave for Hawaii!

Dinner was had on the rooftop of the hotel which I cannot recommend enough (not so much the food, but the place). Overall, I am really pleased with the choice of location and Hotel. I had spent weeks worrying and changing my mind over and over. We loved the Erwin.

It’s an early start tomorrow, so, goodnight!

Maui - 8th August 2024

Finally Hawaii!

Mamma mia! 5am wake up call! I was fairly apprehensive about not being able to check in online. I was not sure about the reason as the flight appeared on the app but would not let me add bags or check in. So, I wanted to get to the airport and be sure we were actually leaving! Once we got there there was indeed a little problem (our first hick up of the holiday). Although the booking was on the system, it appears that because of a glitch American Airlines had not charged the card (I will need to double check that when I get back of course). Naturally, Paypal was not working (when things go wrong everything goes wrong) so I could not check anything. The lady behind the counter did her best to help so we managed to avoid penalties on the second bag (we had 8 bags to check in and there are 6 of us), and I paid (or paid again we don’t know) for the flight. Passing security was an experience in itself. We managed to bypass the first bit of the line by simply taking an elevator…the whole process was bizarre…I have been to less evolved countries who are a little more organised. After experiencing the efficiency with which the personnel at Universal deal with everything (from parking to gate entry etc), it seemed a little anachronistic.

But…we are on the plane as I write, on our way to Maui, our first stop in Hawaii. The itinerary (there is no right or wrong way of doing this) it’s designed to provide a gradual build up to Las Vegas. Let’s hope it works for everyone!

We are staying at the Sheraton in Ka’anapali. It is right on a beach and cliff where snorkelling is great and tyrtles are plentiful. As the sun sets, there is a ritual by which a torch is brought to the top of the cliff and a man dives off.

We have an easy afternoon of checking in and relaxing/swimming/snorkeling…who knows. Here’s hoping that picking up the car is a little less intensive than in Los Angeles!!!

Aloha everyone

So, four years after originally planning to come, we are here! Aloha! We picked up our car fairly swiftly (the lady behind the counter had never checked in someone with a Monegasque licence) and within an hour we were at the resort that will house us for the next 4 days. The place is not top shabby…it will do :-). She did also tell me that Maui has been invaded by Italians!

Lunch was had (practically on the beach) and we then spent the afternoon on the beach with the girls jumping off the cliff next to the hotel (black rock), had a little apero in the beach bar and ended up having dinner in the lobby of the hotel as we could not find anything better in the hotel. But wait! Here at the Sheraton, there is a tradition: a local young man climbs on the black rock at sunset with a torch and then, after bowing to the sun, he dives in the sea.

I am finding it extremely difficult to stay awake past 10pm. I guess I am still adjusting to the time zone…and we do have an early start tomorrow…so goodnight!

Maui - 9th August 2024

Molokini

We are snorkelling a vulcanic cone half submerged off the coast of Maui this morning. We are all very excited! The girls have been very good throughout with timekeeping, and today was no different. At 6.30 on the dot they were ready to go. We needed to drive to Ma’alea harbour to board the catamaran who would take us to the snorkelling spot. It’s really more about the location than what you see. The crew were, of course, kind and helpful. So far, pretty much everyone that we have had to deal with in Hawaii, is smiling and nice. Maybe they are just happy to be here, in this little corner of paradise. If you ever come out here, you will understand what I mean. It’s a very different vibe from anywhere I have been. During the 50 minute ride to the crater, we had breakfast and instructions on what to do and what NOT to do. Ginevra and Fabrizio will be trying snuba: a lighter version of scuba as the oxygen tanks actually stay floating on top of you and you have a long tube that allows to go much deeper than you would by simply snorkelling. The water was super clear (as advertised on all tour descriptions). The fish variety was not overwhelming, but there were a lot of them: yellow, black, black with yellow fins, long and this etc (I have of course no idea as to the names). The sea urchins were huge. And there was something equivalent to a stella marina: a red pencil star. Our first test of using the gopro under water was pretty awesome. After this first stop, we changed snorkelling spot and went to look for turtles. And we found them! Green turtles were an endangered species, but because of the work being done to protect them, they are now ok. I managed to follow one around for a little way and took some video footage. The water in this area was not as clear as in the crater however.

And that was it for the snorkelling. As we made our way back, they served us lunch and drinks. The wind picked up a lot once we got into the bay (much like in the morning when we set off). We got sprayed a little but it was not at all uncomfortable. They also took the sails up despite the strong winds. All in all a great morning.

Exploring ramdomly…

Once back in the car we decided to go and look at Wailea, the luxury resort area south of Maui. We found no real town in itself, but a couple fo shopping districts. So we stopped instead at a supermarket to see what it looks like in this american set up. Well, the answer is that all in is bigger packs! Everything is family size.

Once we got back, we spent some time on the beach. Hard not to. And as sun down approached, the girls went for a last chance at a dive as the torch bearer started his run to the Black Rock and we sat with a drink watching the nightly ritual at the bar :-). Ginevra did tell us that the rock in the dark was full of tiny black crabs and she had to wave them away to be able yo climb…yuk!

We had dinner at the Whaler’s village. A shopping area in the middle of a timeshare complex not far from the Hotel. It’s a really nice place to walk around, pick up some memories to take home. But, like all things in this part of the world, it all shuts early! And by 9pm everything was shutting down. Dinner at Leilani’s was decent, but we did feel that they felt we were midnight eaters (at 9pm), because after 9.30 or so, there was a little more hustle to their making sure we left as soon as possible :-).

That’s it for the day! We have a day of ‘do as you like’..no appointments, no schedules…ah no wait: the girls have decided to try sunrise yoga at 7am (luckily it’s a little after sunrise) and some of us will be up early!

Maui - 10th August 2024

Relax…take it easy….

An unplanned day! With the exception of Yoga at 7am. We could have finally slept in, but me, the girls and Lucia got up early for Yoga. Chiara was very good, and the woman next to Ginevra a real pro, but we managed to survive. The rest of the day had no particular direction and we let it take us wherever. We all met up for breakfast, but only after I challenged Ginevra to a giant chess game. I am not a very good player, but she doesn’t know how to play. Regardless, by the time we finished, we had an audience.

We then spent the rest of the morning on the beach and I managed a little jump from the black rock. It’s not really my thing, but I got talked into it. Ginevra on the other hand, has become a pro at the jumps from the highest point. Later, we took a walk to the Whaler’s village and a couple of my co-vacanzieri went paragliding. My one and only paragliding experience was in Panama 23 years ago. Loved it, but I would not repeat it. My fear of heights has not got better with age :-). The rest of us walked around the shops and did a little shopping.

The real highlight of the day was the Lu’au at the Old Lahaina. I did’t have great expectations as I thought it might turn out to be very touristy. It was touristy, but it did have something of what Hawaii was like back in the days. And we enjoyed the show, the food, and the general kindness of some local people. It did help that the young Hawaiians did look pretty well built. Complimenti alle mamme degli Hawaiani!

I’ll take a little de-tour from the holiday and talk about the vibe. It’s almost easy to see why people move here. You can breath happiness…people are truly relaxed, but not lazy relaxed, like in some other countries in the world. On average they all have enough to live well and they are genuinely content. We haven’t seen the extreme poverty that you see in places like the Caribbean for example. It’s a pretty unique place all in all.

Maui - 11th August 2024

The road to Hana

The road to Hana is a must do on any Hawaiian guide book. And so, as we are not shy, we did it! It is a long driving day (about 10 hours through winding roads), and so we decided to leave it to the professionals and we let someone else drive us around: Koby! It didn’t start off particularly well. I got a call at 6.30am to say: let’s organise the trip and do you mind driving an hour so I don’t have to? But, he was a decent enough guy. I hated the way he drove but, honestly, given the number of turns, maybe, it would not have been better with anyone else…we will never know! My personal favourite was our first stop: a beach. It looked very normal. But it was not. We stood around a little while, until Koby turned up and said he had a surprise. He then pointed to the rocks on the beach. But guess what…they were not rocks, they were big green turtles (the local variety). But everyone had a different favourite: Ginevra’s was jumping off a waterfall of course. For some of the others was the black sand beach just past Hana. The one thing we all agreed on was that our uncle Jim’s chicken meal was the worst meal we have had so far on our holiday. Swimming from the beach was impossible as the surf was aggressive. But Fabrizio, Tarzan (Koby’s nickname) and Ginevra spent about an hour fighting against the waves. The only thing I am sure of is that I had sand absolutely everywhere! And that changing in the car was not my finest moment. The drive back was painful…we had to re-run through the same journey backwards with only one look out spot. The vegetation out here is very different from the west side where we are staying. Very lush and tropical. Although apparently there are no snakes or monkeys. I did initially sit in the back but, with Koby’s driving, I started to feel queezy…it was 2 and a half hours of turns…Fabrizio kindly gave up his sit in the front. And I felt so much better that I had a little nap. Once back at the car we drove back to the Hotel.

…last rites…

When we got back, the group split: our jumper went off for the last few jumps from the black rock, i had a quick swim and drove Lucia to Mass, and the last two went off shopping. We all met up for dinner at the Whaler’s Village at Monkeypod. Our waiter there was (or thought he was) a bit of a joker. Dinner was great…I can definitely recommend the place.

And we finally got to the bottom of an issue that has been bugging us for the last couple of days: the damage to the roof of the rental car! We got video footage from the security cameras, and the damage was there when we arrived! We had supposed that someone may have been using the car without permission. But, as always, reality was much simpler: we had picked up the car with the damage and had not realised it! Oh well, we now have video footage of our arrival at the resort.

We leave tomorrow for Kauai, so I’m off to bed. Can’t wait. So far so good.

Kauai - 12th and 13th August 2024

Moving day!

And we’re off to a new island: Kauai. I was able to check in online this time (we had issues with American Airlines on the Maui flight) but we did go to the airport a little earlier than we would for a domestic flight, just in case…and to have time for Starbucks! As it turns out, bag drop off was swift, but the security queue was looooooong. And the locals very strict. Someone turned up late for his flight, and tried to be let through. The lady managing the queue said he should have arrived at the airport as instructed two hours before his flight, and if he didn’t get to the gate on time and missed it, it would be his own fault. She did not let him through… But, on the other hand, we had enough time for our Starbucks and off we flew to Lihue!

Our two night accomodation on the island is a motel looking hotel: Kauai Shores. The vibe of the employees is a little different from Maui. The valet had difficulty actually getting off his arse to park the car, let alone help us with luggage :-). There was also a mix up with the rooms and Fabrizio and Naglaa were actually initially given keys to a room occupied by someone else. And there is very little flexibility or common sense. The rules dictate that when you ask for a table for lunch, all participants are present…whether the place is full or empty. In this case, the restaurant was empty, but we had to sit around until everyone came back from dropping off luggage to their rooms to be able to sit at a table and have lunch. But all of this is small stuff. Food was good and, as we discovered later that evening, the bar is great. The bartender Veronica is a machine! Dinner was another highlight: teppanyaki. The place was a couple of minutes from the hotel and it was a bit of a change from our usual meals. The chef gave us a bit of a fire show and food was plentiful. And we met an Iranian couple that was sharing the table with us. They moved to Kauai 15 years ago and they were retired. They loved living here and much preferred it to the bustling Honolulu. The husband hardly spoke at all but Ludovica in particular had quite a chat with her table neighbour. We ended up having a very late dinner by island standards. Everything shuts at 9pm, but we managed to drag it out to 10.30pm. Quite a result!

One of the most amazing days so far…

What an amazing day it promised to be! We had an helicopter tour to be able to see Waimea Canyon, the Jurassic falls and Napali coast. When we got there, we were offered to do the tour doors off. That was not my initial preference of course, but the girls and everyone else seemed up for it! Three people were also chosen as volunteers for the outside seats (not me!). And so, off we went to the heliport in a little golf cart. We were only allowed one device each, so we distributed phones/cameras and gopro to try and get the best out of the ride. I was a little (more than a little) terrified to start off with, but it was the most amazing thing we have done so far. Adam (the pilot) made sure we flew as close as he could to everything and we were lucky enough to see a double rainbow (although Ludovica believes that the helicopter has lights underneath that produce the images :-) ). Truly awesome!!!!

The rest of the day was going to be beachy. We drove to Hanalei Bay and had lunch in a little market place with different food trucks before checking in with a surf school. Fabrizio and Ginevra had surf lessons as I floated around them videoing. The other three you ask? Asleep on the beach all afternoon! Kudos to the surfers though. Although Ginevra initially took a few goes before being able to stand on the board, she was soon up and running (or surfing). And of course Fabrizio too. I think he actually managed to stand on the board at the first go. But the important thing was that fun was had by all.

Dinner? We decided to eat back at our hotel beach restaurant and bought a s’more’s kit before getting back. The true adventure today was actually getting a table. As always, common sense was not part of the hosts make up. There were 4 small tables available on the outside. We needed to push together two tables to be able to sit together. However, outside tables cannot be pushed together (another odd rule). So we asked to sit 3 per table on two tables next to each other and they insisted on having two different servers tend to us and forbade putting it all on one bill. Truly odd people here… so we ate on our two separate tables. I decided to be brave and I had pizza for the first time since leaving Monaco. It was not at all bad.

And tomorrow is another day and another Island. We leave in the afternoon for Big Island. No rush in getting up for once!

Kauai to Big Island - 14th August 2024

Easy does it…

We took things easy this morning as we had an afternoon flight to Big Island, but, as we weren’t able to check in online, it was decided we would allow plenty of time and we would go to the airport straight after lunch. That meant that if we wanted to do anything, we would have had to get up early. The choice was clear: after an action packed day yesterday, we had a lazy day. We slept in late, checked out and had one last lunch at the Lava restaurant. All in, this more pedestrian motel-looking resort, was great. It had a real Hawaii beach vibe. The place was clean, food great and drinks super. And there was always live music in the evening. The only odd elements were the staff: the valet just lounged around and NEVER helped with the bags and the ladies behind the counter were, on average, confused and useless mostly (although always polite and kind). The hosts sitting us down at the Lava club reached the heights of idiocy nearly every time. We’ll still think back to this place with fondness.

The check in went seamlessly after all. No idea why it didn’t work online. And there was no real queue at security. That meant a couple of hours not doing very much. But, luckily, there was a Starbucks for the girls, some shopping for us and lots of massaging chairs (me, Ginevra and Ludovica tried a little massaging). After a very short flight we landed in the strangest airport yet: luggage was practically sitting out on the pavement :-). And the airport code is KOA…like my niece Olivia’s dog when she was little. He has since left us to chase rabbits up in the sky. We have become efficient in the picking up of rental cars: I go ahead with the shuttle to the rental place as the rest of the crew picks up the luggage. The result is that I don’t wait long to sort out formalities, and, by the time my team arrives, we are all ready to go. Today was no different.

Location, location, location!

The new location is not beachy, but the resort is really awesome. And it faces the ocean perfectly for a sunset. It’s also on one of three spots on Big Island where you are likely to see Mantas feeding on plancton at night. In fact, as we were having dinner, quite a few boats pulled into the bay with lights on to attract these beautiful creatures. There was also some live music in the background. As it turned out it was Gio Conti playing! He introduced himself as we were trying to find a smoking spot for Naglaa. Gio would not let us go. He pretty much told us everything about his life: he’s from New Jersey, he has a married daughter with three kids, italian heritage from other Montecatini Terme and Benevento. He loves Italy and he’s looking for someone to go with him…any takers out there? We managed to walk off eventually and took a look at the viewing platform set up for the Mantas at the Hotel. It also overlooks all the boats snorkelling for the Mantas. However, no luck. From the Hotel’s platform we could not see any. We then went looking for Ginevra who had wanted to take a late night swim in the hotel’s swimming pool (an awesome pool with a fun looking slide). And there she was, doing headstands in the water with her father :-).

We have a pretty full day planned for tomorrow. But I won’t spoil the surprise.

Big Island - 15th August 2024

Ferragosto di fuoco!

We were set for a little bit of a change to our ‘normal’ Ferragosto. The plan for today was to visit both the green and the black beach ad do a little Manta viewing. The green is one of only four in the world. It gets its colouring from olivina. You would think the peculiarity would be the colour, but you would be wrong. It’s how you get there. i had read on various blogs, that you could either walk it (about 5km in 35 degrees and no specific path each way) or you could hitch a ride with one of the local illegal pickups. I like to think we didn’t do it because we would not have had the time, but truth be told, I would not do it even if we did. There was no timetable to these trucks of course, but I ad read about dangerous Dan. Instead, when we got there, we had uncle Turtle and his jungle daughter giving us a ride. They were just setting off so we didn’t really have time to think, but, two things we did realise as we made our way to the beach: ours was the pickup in the worst condition but it was the only one where you could seat. When I say seat, i mean some not nailed down wooden slats of course, kept still by our own weight and some wood blocks nailed to the frame and doors of the truck were kept closed by string :-). The terrain would have ben impossible on a rental car. Uncle Turtle did get us to the beach and even attempted a commentary. However, he was in the cab and we were in the back, so we got little of what he told us. The beach itself is not bright green but has more of a military green feel to it (he later took us to a spot with bright green crystals though). The little cove was in a beautiful setting and te Chiacchiera family all took to the water with enthusiasm. I saved myself for the black sand. I knew I’d be able to rinse off salt at the other beach :-). After saying our goodbyes and handing over 20$ to uncle Turtle, we set off, but we got stuck a little down the road because of a wildfire. The police closed off traffic because the fire was spreading due to the wind and the road itself was engulfed with smoke on both sides. The policeman told me ‘we’re figuring things out’ as a punk lady and her off-road bike looked on towards the very bright flames. Luckily, our emergency situation did not last long. They released us and we drove through the smoke towards Punalu’u. The black beach was very black (I don’t think the photos do it justice) but as it was easy to reach it was fuller of tourists of course. And there were turtles…two of them…doing nothing as usual. One thing we have found is that they are majestic when in water swimming around, but they are just ‘spiaggiate’ and lazy looking when out. Me and Ginevra did take a swim here, next to an asian boy who was wearing three kinds of floating devices (a little over the top).

Manta and tacos

Our next stop was Manta ray snorkelling. We were doing this night time snorkel because there are three spots on this island where Manta rays go to feed and by putting floating boards with lights on in the water, they can activate plancton which in turns brings the giant Manta around. And when I say giant I mean giant. The wing span goes from 8 to 15 feet (2 to 5 metres for us europeans). There’s no guarantee as to them turning up, but last night they did. And we saw 7 or 8 different ones cavorting around us and getting really close up. We were in the water about 40/45 minutes and towards the end I for one was feeling the cold. But it was truly worth the trip. This and the helicopter ride in Kauai are the most amazing experiences so far if taken individually. The Manta diving guys were very good as they had also explained a little about the mantas before we got in the water. Ah…I forgot…we saw dolphins when we pulled out of the harbour, and they swam in the front of the boat for a while, just playing around. Amazing!

We went to pick up Lucia (we had abandoned her for this little segment as night swimming in the ocean is not her thing) outside of Walmart (she had treats for the girls) and headed to Ocean Sports and Grill. One of the few places open late in the area. Here in Hawaii in general, eating after 8.30pm is the true challenge! It was tacos Thursday so we mostly had…tacos! Not bad overall. There was a Karaoke machine, but after 10pm in a bar in Hawaii, you have to be over 21 to sing! This is the weirdest restriction we have come across so far…

And that’s it…a very long day and a very different Ferragosto for us!

Big Island - 16th August 2024

Volcano time!

We moved to a different climate today! We had a relaxing day around the pool today and tried out the water slide. I am happy to report that all members of the team had at least one go at it and some of us a lot more than once! But that was it for Kona. We loaded the car after lunch, and set off for Volcano Park and our new home for one night only: Volcano House! Aside from a wrong turn at the very end (google needs a little updating), there were no exciting events along the way today. It was only when we got off the car that we realised the true difference in location: much much colder! We have spent the last couple of weeks with temperatures in the 28-35 degrees range, but here we were at more like 15 to 20. That hasn’t stopped the hotel from using air conditioning throughout of course, although they still had a fireplace with a fire going in the main lobby! What a very ‘ungreen’ thing to do. We proceeded to check in this very old Hotel (the only one inside Volcano Park) and decided to have a drink before our dinner as 7pm does feel a little early for food. My attempting to order drinks at the bar confirmed yet again how careful they all are about selling alcohol to minors (minors here is under 21). The guy behind the bar would not let me order 4 alcoholic beverages without having the people drinking them present! A little over the top I think… In any case we ended up switching our restaurant booking at the rim for a meal at uncle George’s (the equivalent of an english pub). As we sat down around 8, the place was starting to empty out, and by the time we finished we were on our own. It’s a very odd experience to see that everyone had gone off to bed by 9pm. It was a bit of a struggle to entice the girls to at least have a game of burraco so as to not go to bed with the chickens! Me and Ginevra won!!! …and off to bed we went (we dragged it out to 10.30pm at least).

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the park and maybe have a little walk around in Hilo before jetting off in the evening to Honolulu. Oahu is the last island we will visit in Hawaii. ‘Till tomorrow…

Big Island to Honolulu - 17th August 2024

Volcano time

We woke up to a beautiful view of the Kilauera Caldera with a rainbow popping out. When we arrived last night we were just surrounded by fog. And we had breakfast crater view…nice! The odd by very kind person at reception explained to me a couple of things about the Volcano Park so that we could make the most of the few hours we had to visit before we would finally make our way to Hilo’s airport and fly off to our final island: Oahu. We set off to the visitors centre where a local ranger talked about the latest eruption and how people with rental cars feel that they can drive absolutely anywhere, even when it is not advisable. And how they would not do that with their own car. Next was the Lava tube (easy enough) and we finished off with a short hike to the floor of the Kilauea Iki Crater. With the heat, walking all the way down into the crater and more so, all the way back in the heat, it was very much a sweaty affair. But the views were amazing. There was a third trail we wanted to take, but, alas, the road was shut off and we all silently thanked the gods of road closures :-). And that was it for us and volcanoes…

Ah, I almost forgot. Last night I called the Hotel in Kona as Naglaa thought she had left something of hers in the drawers of her room. As it turned out, there were things left in the room, but they were not hers. Fabrizio, who swears he did not put any clothes away in drawers, had left 4 or 5 clothing items there. One of these items was for sure his Hawaiian shirt that he had used for a previous party…not something you’d really miss. On the other hand, he was a little sad to have also left behind his purple bermudas :-). No biggie… we are leaving our mark on Big Island by leaving clothes behind!

After we’d picked up our luggage from Volcano House, we drove down to Hilo for a little walk around, lunch and then, the airport. We were lucky enough to catch an earlier flight than planned and we landed in Honolulu in late afternoon.

Finally Honolulu!

Honolulu… it’s been a long time coming. First of all, it’s a very different feel as you land. The skyscrapers in the Waikiki area made it look more like Miami or New York than Hawaii. We picked up our Suburban (the last rental on this holiday) and drove to our accomodation for the next 5 days. The hotel is very modern, but the rooms are the smallest on this holiday. But, all in all, a great position next to a busy shopping/restaurant area, and a few steps from the beach. We popped over to the beach before dinner to see if anything was going on, but there didn’t seem to be much of it close to our hotel. It might just be a tidal situation, but we will find out tomorrow. Off we went to try and find Yard House, one of the few places open late for dinner (the girls joined us a little late as they were making themselves look pretty as you can see from the picture of Ginevra’s pigtails). A lot of the other places shut between 8.30pm and 9pm like in the rest of Hawaii. Yard House have the largest selection of draft beer in the world and we had an aperitivo at the bar as we waited for our table (how could they run out of passion fruit!). The barman was no Veronica for sure (the lady from Kauai Shores who made amazing cocktails). Dinner on the other hand, was pretty good…for American standards of course.

Tomorrow our Oahu time truly begins, so, goodnight!

Waikiki - 18th August 2024

Beach time

Waikiki day! We spent the day on one of the most iconic beaches in the world. We were not alone :-). In contrast to everywhere else we have been, it was Rimini-like. It was truly amazing to see how many people were surfing (or attempting to surf). But to go back to the beginning, after a visit to the bakery of the hotel (the nearest Starbucks only served drinks), we walked with the would be surfers (three this morning) to the surf school just off the beach, to meet with their instructor. He seemed very relaxed about it all. When we turned up 15 minutes early, he just said: ah you are early. He the proceeded to go back to sit on the couch until it was time to start… Let’s now fast forward to the beach. The non surfers (me included) rented sun loungers and an umbrella as we looked on what looked like a pretty hard day for would be surfers. The waves were not helping and the only decent spots where they were, they were occupied by surf competitors (this week is Duke’s birthday and they have some sort of mega competition). Some of them were olympic surfers so it was a pretty good show. The only downside was having the commentator coming through loudspeakers for 5 hours uninterrupted! After our learners were finished with the lesson (the guy at Kauai was a much better instructor), they rented boards for the rest of the afternoon to try and practice. Let’s just say that the waves continued not to play ball… You may be wondering who Duke is. As life would have it, we’d had dinner in one of the restaurants of the chain that carries his name in Malibu. But there is at least one Duke’s on every Hawaiian island. Duke Kahanamoku, who was born in 1890, was a Hawaiian surfer and swimmer who won three Olympic gold medals for the United States and who for several years was considered the greatest freestyle swimmer in the world. He’s very much a celebrity around these parts as he was born near Waikiki. We’ve come across more than one statue of him…

From the beach, all we had to contend with was the tide coming in (we started off in third row but finished that we almost ended up in the sea ourselves spun loungers and all). And we were kept amused by the variety of people around us. It’s not so much the origins that leave you perplexed, but what they transform themselves into! But, the most ridiculous thing was an asian family who had brought all sorts of floating devices and who were completely covered so as to avoid any contact with the sun. Actually no…the funniest was a delegation of, again, asians, who turned up in Hawaiian shirts and slippers from their hotel rooms (and I mean the ones you are given for your room).

Walking back to the hotel was also an experience as I got scared to death by a street performer pretending to be a bush and jumping up at me…and there was a bride at the Moana Surfer (I believe the oldest hotel in Waikiki). The second bride of the day actually, as we had seen one at breakfast.

Dinner on the other hand, was a very easy affair. We decided to make a dream of the girls come true and we went to Raising Canes. No it’s not a Michelin starred restaurant…it serves fried chicken fingers! After trying out a little Hawaiian ice cream (just me…banana flavoured) and nutella crepes, we were off to bed.

We are snorkelling with sharks tomorrow and have a 4.30am wake up call…

Oahu - 19th August 2024

Jaws!

It was a very early start! At 4.50am the troops were ready to go. We set off for the North Shore were we finally would get to see sharks. Nothing too dangerous as we would be in a cage. It’s funny how that worked out: for once it was humans being caged with the animals roaming free. Luckily, we run into a Starbucks very close to the harbour. A little breakfast was useful for the fun to come. I can’t really describe what the toilets I got changed in looked like…disgusting covers it. They were being used by the various homeless people hanging around the place. It was the first time ever that we’d found restrooms in that state. Here in Hawaii public facilities are generally in a good state with plenty of toilet paper (just how I like them!). But let’s go back to the experience… The cage on the back of the boat looked a little scary. But the time came and we set off. There were 9 of us jumping in the water: our group would go first, followed by two couples who seemed to suffer from sea sickness (the sea was a little wobbly). We were a little concerned about the whole thing, but once we were in we really had an amazing time. The two couples went from bad to worse. By the time they all got in the cage, 3 of them were not feeling well and as with us, the cage did move around a lot and they did look a little terrified. Their experience finished very quickly. As we navigated back to the shore they left some of their breakfast for the fish to be had…but the funniest thing was yet to come: they got in the car, turned the engine on and sat there hunched over looking as if they were in a trance. Just before we left I looked in and got an I’m ok from the driver…not a great start to the day for them!

On the other hand, we had half a plan or the day and we drove to Waimea Beach Park, known for cliff jumping. We had to wait around a good 20 minutes for a chap to give up his parking spot as he changed his baby and then fed her sitting in the car. But we were in no rush. When we finally got to the beach, Ginevra did two jumps from what turned out to be the highest rcliff one so far (very high up). And the team caught up with some sleep… truth be said, the weather up in the north shore was not great. Still warm, but with the odd drizzly shower.

Our next stop was going to be the top surf beach on the island (for serious surfers), but there were no waves to surf and therefore no surfers! So, the next objective was to find food. And food we found a little further down the road and a couple of us had garlic shrimps (a speciality of this part of the island). As I lay in bed now, I can still taste the garlic :-).

Forte dei Marmi Hawaiian style

After lunch, we made our way to the final stop for the day: Lanikai beach. The residential area around the beach is very posh. We saw some beautiful houses right on the beach, but the whole place was somewhere you’d want to call home. And the beach was awesome. So we vegged out for the afternoon. And Ginevra ran across Shelley the turtle whilst swimming (that’s what she named the turtle). And me? Well I saw some interesting animals on the beach: a guy with a metal detector that first did a little look around in the water followed by the beach (he found nothing but looked decidedly odd), and a lady with a lot of tattoos, including one of a pair of camperos boots.

All in all not a bad day. But certainly tiring. Dinner was at our favourite local eatery: Yards House. Service still needs to improve, but the food is always up to scratch. ‘Till tomorrow…

Oahu - 20th August 2024

Pearl Harbour

We did a little culture to today. We visited the Pearl Harbour memorial. It’s easy to see how much more patriotic the Americans are, and here, it is even more evident. The soldier who invited us to think about why we were visiting, was very passionate as he talked about one of the survivors from that day, the 7th December 1941. He explained how this marine had finally met one of the Japanese pilots who had bombarded Pear Harbour in 1991, 50 years after the fact, at a commemoration event, and who had made his peace with him. Walking inside one of the submarines from back then was quite an experience: 80 men in cramped accomodation in very hot and humid conditions (and no showers)…ah I forgot. The beds were shared! Imagine having to take turns on a random bed after a month of no washing…

Sunset on the beach

It was back to the beach in Waikiki after that. It was a particularly hot day and the umbrella stand was sold out. We ended up eating lunch on a bench under a palm tree next to a homeless who was spitting at the pigeons… we had seen a few homeless people on the other islands (not many), but here there is definitely more if an issue. I guess it’s normal as it is more of a metropoli than anything we have seen since we left Los Angeles.

The surf competition was still going on (the 8 day event for Duke’s birthday) and Ginevra was keen to try surfing again, but it was windy and the conditions were a little rough for beginners. Nevertheless, I decided to join in and rented a board. What a bad idea…. I ended up paddling a lot for about half an hour to no avail so my board made its way back to the lady at the stand much sooner than the hour it was rented for :-). I should have just watched the pros do it of course…

I made my way back to our beach spot just in time to see Ludovica who was the heroine of the day. She intervened when one of the big sand carpets became detached from the pontoon in the water. The speaker encouraged the people on the beach to drag it out of the water, as it could become dangerous, as she attempted to do so on her own initially. But it was too heavy, big and wet for her of course, and after Naglaa and another chap intervened, more people eventually joined the effort, and managed to roll it up out of the waves that kept reclaiming it as they struggled. And what was I doing you ask? I looked on amazed and took a picture as I was worn out from the paddling and dragging around of the surf board :-).

We had a celebratory swim and I finally went back to tackling my Settimana Enigmistica. Today was also Lucia’s last day with us as she is going back a little earlier than us, so we let her decide where we would spend the evening. We ended up watching the sun go down on the beach (we had not done that yet) with thousands of other people, in and out of the water. There we still surfers out there. And guess what…two weeks after we had visiter Duke’s in Malibu, we went to Duke’s barefoot bar for drinks and food as we were: swimsuit and ciabatte. There was live music and the usual unhealthy food on the menu of course. But what I nice evening. The beach was truly alive.

And other than coming across some Harley Davidson riders on the walk back to the hotel, that was it for the day…

Waikiki - 21th August 2024

Farewell Hawaii…

Lucia left at 5am for the airport. And today was our last sunset on the beach of Waikiki. The girls spent the day at Pearl Harbour (they had missed out yesterday), and we spent it on the beach. We went to the right side for most of the day, where it was quiet, no loudspeakers for the surf competition. It was extremely hot but as we weren’t allowed to plant umbrellas close to the water, we went without and just went with towels on the sand. The sea was calm, the water clear…a little corner of paradise but with skyscrapers in the background. Eventually we’d had enough of frying our bodies and we sat with a cool drink under the shade with the sea view and a little breeze at one of the drink booths on the beach. A pity it didn’t have food or we might have stayed the whole day. Instead, we eventually found our way to the pool bar of the Outrigger close.

We did sunset and the last of the surf viewing at our ‘usual’ spot next to the loud speaking commentator, although today a softly spoken woman was in charge. The girls had made their way back from Pearl Harbour just in time for a last dip.

Our last meal was at Yard’s House (our most visited restaurant in the last 2 and a bit weeks). We’ve eaten a lot of poke nachos here!

And that’s it for Hawaii. We leave tomorrow at 3pm for Vegas.

Honolulu to Las Vegas - 22nd August 2024

Vegas baby!

Aside from a little shopping and breakfast, there was little more that we could do in Honolulu. We left just after lunch for our last stop before going home: Las Vegas! It’s roughly a 5 hour flight, but as we went forward 3 hours, we landed close to midnight. You know you are in Vegas straight off. How you ask? There are slot machines as you walk to where you pick up your luggage!

I had organised a little surprise for the girls and we got picked up by limousine. Surely it’s the only way to arrive at a hotel like the Bellagio :-)! The girls were jumping up and down, all excited. The driver was a little too professional (I mean a little too serious), but he was nice enough. The car did all the talking really. Driving down the strip at night with all the lights makes Vegas seem like a Luna Park. It was exciting for me to be going back after my last visit in 2010 for my 40th…I can only imagine what it must have been like for the two teens who had never been! They were grinning from ear to ear for the whole ride.

By the time we got checked in and got the luggage to our rooms was 1.30am 9.30pm Hawaiian time) and we were hungry. But this is Vegas baby! So we got some more unhealthy food from one of the 24 hours restaurants in the Bellagio. The hotel looks bigger than my last visit here…so many roulette/poker/black jack tables everywhere. And we all love the lights. The girls went up to their room after eating as they can do little because they are under 21. We did a little roulette initially to warm up for the days to come. However, the only game that had a positive return for us was poker! By this time it was 3am and we went off to bed…

Tomorrow I have the little inconvenience of having to change rooms as me and the girls ended up with rooms on a smoking floor and mine stinks of cigar. But other than that the view from our rooms is breathtaking.

A domani!

Las Vegas - 23rd August 2024

‘O’ what a day!

I had a troubled morning. I had been assigned a smoking room. Not only that. My room was a cigar smoker’s room. I slept maybe 4 hours and woke up feeling like I smelt of cigar. So I set about having my room changed (it was impossible to get it done the night before). I ended up having to speak to a manager and managed to change room at around midday. By which time, we went for lunch at the massive Bellagio buffet. Me and Ludovica attempted to try one of everything…but even we could not manage it. Disaster stroke on my return to the room. Someone had put a sanitising vapour machine in my newly changed room. The cleaner in the corridor explained that I could not go in as it was toxic. In fact, she said that they weren’t allowed to have a machine in a room that was occupied. And you know what was funny? My luggage was there for everyone to see at the entrance to the room (when I changed room I had quickly just dropped it off). I went off like a fury to reception and spoke to another manager. The long and short of my ranting and raving was that I got to change my room again (3 rooms in 12 hours is some sort of a record) and a 200$ credit. So, a challenging morning…

We wanted to show the girls the Venetian, so off we went. For an Italian, to see a replica of the canals and gondolas is quite funny. And here in Vegas they always do things on a grand scale. It was a very hot day, so, by the time we got back to the hotel, we decided we’ just rest, shower and then go to ‘O’. One of the many Cirque du Soleil shows, but a water based one. Unique to Vegas. And luckily we didn’t even have to move as it was at the Bellagio! The whole thing was awesome…the set up, the scenes, the costumes…truly amazing.

After the show the girls went off to bed and us adults got down to a little gambling. My favourite is roulette and here at the Bellagio some of the wheels, as well as O and OO also have a B for Bellagio. Quite amusing. We did’t overdo it as we have an early start tomorrow. We are repeating a trip we did for my 40th birthday…can’t wait!

Las Vegas - 24th August 2024

Bar 10!

On the 17th May 2010, me and 10 friends took this exact same trip. It is rare that you get to repeat experiences that are far far away from your homeland. And this is one of those things, and I didn’t think I’d get to do again…but, we were on this side of the world and we wanted to show the girls (they were very young in 2010 and they didn’t come along) the Grand Canyon in a different way to the usual helicopter tour. We had a very early start but in the end we got to take the plane ride out to Bar 10 just the 5 of us, our own little private plane. It was one of the pilots’ birthday and he looked extremely young. I’m not good with small planes and helicopters and I prefer my pilots with experience :-). Nevertheless, the flight out was mostly smooth and we flew over the Hoover Dam and part of the Grand Canyon before landing on the short strip at the ranch. It is amazing how immense it is.

The ranch was exactly the same as we’d left it 14 years ago…they had added more wagons for people that want to stay overnight, and a picketball court. This is a working ranch so although they run rafting tours, horse riding tours and the quad experience that we will have, they also raise cows. No cows today though, as in the summer months they live about 50 miles from where we were. But let’s get back to our day: we drove the quads to exactly the same view point as previously. What I had no memory of was how long and rough the ride out on the quads was. The heat didn’t help I guess. By the time we got there and back we were worn out. But, the view of this scorch of the Canyon and the Colorado river was special…much like our previous visit. I can’t wait to compare the photos from back then to today’s! And luckily we all got to drive the quads as in the end they didn’t ask to see our driving licenses. And our guide was very young and fit: 22 years old! He had previously done some volunteering work in northern Chile and loved living in the middle of nowhere in general. To each its own I guess. But how is he going to ever find a cowgirl this way?

Lunch was one of the cows from the ranch (poor thing)…

Soon after lunch it was time to fly back. By then the wind had picked up and the ride was very very bumpy. I was green by the time we landed in Boulder city. I will digress a little here: Boulder city, like so many other US towns, is in the middle of nowhere, built in the desert. Surrounded by grey terrain. No plants, nothing…. It does make me glad I live in Europe! We got back in plenty of time to go to the Bellagio’s pool. We have not had a chance to visit it yet. Still looks amazing 14 years later. We lazed around and had a drink until closing time. Complete bliss. Soon enough we’ll be going back to our lives and this whole trip will be but a distant memory ahimè!

And where did we choose to have our last dinner in Vegas? At the same chain where we went at the start of the trip: In&Out burgers! Not bad, but it also made us discover a new part of Vegas that we had not seen yet. So, non tutti i mali vengon per nuocere!

We finished off the night in the same way as the previous: the girls went to bed and we took to the tables. We had fun, and this time we lost money. Fabrizio abandoned me and Naglaa at around midnight. We managed to stretch put our gambling until 2.30 in the morning. We lost but we did have fun. And we also came across the same Turkish chap that played on our table last night. However, the most interesting chap by far was an asian guy who turned up, ordered the croupier around and lost his money in about 2 minutes. He had a very annoying habit: he kept playing around noisily with his chips.

And that’s it. I expect we’ll spend tomorrow by the pool and we’ll catch our flight back to Europe late that same evening…it feels like it’s flown by.

Las Vegas to Milan - 25th August 2024

Pool day

This was our last day of the trip. We packed up (some quicker than others), had brunch at the world famous Bellagio buffet and then spent the rest of the day at the pool. Again a very hot day… and I attempted to tackle my settimana enigmistica again, but, it was easier to float in the warmish pool water. Me and Ginevra were asked to play ‘shark’ by a little boy as we were challenging each other in the pool (Ginevra said a half polite ‘no’). He was ‘sharking’ with his sister (or brother we weren’t too sure) and his very young dad. The kids’ grandmother was burping throughout the afternoon just behind our sun loungers. Very pleasant…

All very relaxing, but all ending way too soon. We had a 7pm pickup and other than a botched attempt at finding Crumbl Cookies to take home (they are closed on Sundays, we found ourselves at the airport fairly quickly. But not before the driver had attempted to take us to a place that sold marijuana products! He misunderstood what the cookies were. Proving that although Crumbl Cookies may be a phenomenon in the TikTok world, if you live outside that world, they are just any old random cookie place…

The airport was not as flash as you’d expect it to be, and the lounge will not end up in my top 10 lounges in ten world. But, we were soon in the air. And after a short and pleasant stopover in London, we landed in Milan. Our final destination.

La morale della storia

What a great trip it has been… I expected to maybe be disappointed by Hawaii after all the build up to them. But I loved the place. Some islands more than others of course. Maui ended up being a firm favourite with most of us. And we did some awesome things. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the helicopter ride at Kauai nor the giant mantas we swam with. The sharks so close around us was also pretty special. Even the Lu’au, one of the most touristic things you can do, was a great evening out. The spirit of the people in general was ‘patatone’ like (in Honolulu a little less so). We met several people who came on holiday and never left. There’s something that draws you here. It is probably to do with the history of the people here. After all Hawaiians were used to sharing and are so gentle and kind in general. And the youngsters are more into surfing than in TikToking. But some of the other favourites on the trip had nothing to do with Hawaii: Universal Studios in Los Angeles, the ‘O’ show at the Bellagio and the roulette tables. We may not have come out winners, but we had so much fun! And going back to the ranch in the Grand Canyon 14 years later, brought back many memories… although I had forgotten how hot and tiring the quad ride out to the lookout was! But, all good things come to an end (luckily also bad things though).

Things we have learned on the trip:

- Marijuana is legal for recreational use in California (and you can smell it everywhere in Venice Beach)

- Finding a legal spot to smoke a normal cigarette it’s nearly impossible (same problem in Hawaii)

- Don’t buy an express ticket, use the single rider lane at Universal

- Don’t eat too many burgers

- Never ask for a large size drink particularly on US mainland

- Ahi is yellowfin tuna (we had lots of it)

- Poke is an Hawaiian invention and the work means ‘to make cubes’

- Yes! They do put pineapple on pizza here (luckily in the UK this habit has ended)

- Surfing and fresh air makes for toned up young bodies

- If you are not 21 you will not get a cocktail (they checked ID every single time)

- Don’t count how many Mai Tais you drink, it will be lots

- Stay longer on the islands…

Yes, stay longer, and take it all in. We could have sat around looking at the world around us forever at times. Sometimes because it was funny weird, but sometimes because it was nice just to be.

A big thank you goes to my travel companions, especially for their enthusiasm even when they had to get up at 4.30am. THANK YOU for being part of these new memories we made together.

Signing off for now… a presto!

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