Leaving Sydney was easy – wandered over to the gate, even managed to be the first two people on the place. Not that it really matters, I mean, it’s not going to take off until everyone’s onboard. And even though it was Jetstar, it was still nice the “turn left” on boarding and head for their three rows of “Business class” seating. Alright maybe I’m going overboard with the inverted commas, but it’s not very business-class-like. However, neither is the price. You get what you pay for and I think overall it’s good value.

Instead of a fancy lie-flat seat, you get a nice wide leather chair that can recline a bit, with a small screen in the seat back in front. Also a little amenities kit, and the loan of a little pillow and a blanket – which was nice, as the place was quite cold (which I like).

Also on the flight free of charge right nearby was a 12 month old with a good strong loud voice, and the ability to use it. But, to be fair, babies are gonna baby, and this one didn’t cause much bother. Especially once I put in my earplugs. And wore my noise-cancelling headphones.

There were drinks served as soon as we sat down – the staff were excellent, really good service all throughout the flight. Food was included – thought by the time they got all the way back to us in Row 3 my first choice wasn’t available, but my second choice of salmon was nice and tasty, served with an unhappy salad, slice of bread, and a little cake. Perry had a little lamb shank and a salad that looked slightly more cheerful.

The flight was really smooth, only a few mildly bumpy bits. Sleep arrived every now and then really didn’t get that much, but of course any is better than nothing.

Eventually it was time for breakfast, a little omelette, made from some of the finest and most flexible yellow rubber, served with some mushroom gravy and tasty roast potato chunks, plus more bread and a delicious muffin.

OK OK I know it’s kinda the done thing to poke fun at Jetstar but the food was included in the price (sorry economy passengers!) and it wasn’t bad food, just kinda normal airline food, I guess. Kept us fed for the whole time we were in the air so probably time to stop whining about it and move on, and time to tack on another note about how good the Jetstar cabin crew were.

Seconds after we got off the plane, there were airport staff around saying ALoha and wishing us a good morning — this is at about quarter to 6 in the morning so full credit to these people for being able to be so cheery and early-o-clock in the morning – what a nice way to feel welcome.

After passing immigration we waited a while for the bags, then waited a bit for our transport to the hotel. I think it’s four times now I’ve been here so it was funny how so much was familiar, but how some of it’s still a bit jarring at first. People driving on the wrong side of the road! All the cars look one size bigger than they need to be! People are walking on the wrong side of the footpath. Er, I mean sidewalk. Anyway wasn’t long before we were checked into to our hotel, a little after 7 in the morning. Comfy room with a good view, it’ll do very nicely for a few days.

The only sensible thing to do then was a bit of a nanna-nap to catch up on all the sleep we didn’t get on the plane. There’s only a 4 (well, 20 I guess) hour time difference. The fun part of that is of course we left Sydney on the Saturday afternoon, and arrived super early on the morning of the same Saturday – so by the end of I guess we’ll have had a Saturday that’s like 40 hours long or something… which could help explain why we’re a bit tired.

We went out and grabbed some lunch at a food court, where suddenly paying 13 US Dollars for a tasty poke bowl becomes 28 Australian dollars when you add in a tip and a can of drink. The exchange rate is not our friend right now, but hey, what can you do.

The weather is awesome – around 26 degrees and sunny, good thing our first stop (after lunch) was the local Ross store for discount goods, in my case, a cap. We took a bit of walk around the main drag, then back to the hotel. As always, the ABC Stores are everywhere, a convenience store every 10 metres it feels like, selling what feels like crazy-cheap alcoholic drinks. ($5 for a vodka/mango seltzer!) but I settled on the much more exciting zero-calorie lemonade, because I’m wild and crazy like that.

They also had this, which I’d take back home for someone in particular if only I could:

Dinner was in one of many small food courts that seem to dot the place nowadays – but it was good stuff, a burger and a flatbread/pizza.

While walking around earlier in the day Perry had found a place offering ‘Ice Dogs’ – I’m not talking freshly chilled chihuahuas, but rather, ice cream in a hot dog bun. That sure sounded weird, so of course after dinner we had to try it. Well, it ended up being like dinner and a show. The poor person that served us was probably dreading that anyone would order an ice dog as it soon became clear that they had never seen one before in their life, never mind trying to make one. But, in a spectacular triumph of the human will with the odds completely stacked against them, eventually, two ice dogs were produced. As weird is it may sound, it actually worked! Creamy soft serve with some fruit chunks and a bit of condensed to finish it off. Nice!

Well I think that’s enough for one day, I’ve just hit the wall, and it’s only 8:30pm… needed a 5 minute sneaky nap just so I could get this last bit written and done.

Tomorrow, it’s the Honolulu Half Marathon. Now, I know you may find it very surprising that this year, because of reasons, I will not be competing. 🙂 However it seems to be starting around 4:30am, and we’re not that far away from the starting point, so just in case out day starts at 4:30 whether we like it or not, sounds like an early night would be a good idea. So that’s it for our 40-or-so-hour April 12, goodnight!