Uhh…WHAT?! Before I go through the day let’s address something I Just heard on the TV right now – and yes, that is how we got the title of today’s blog. Those exact words were the conclusion of an Amazon ad that started with “Imagine you have a UTI….at 30,000 feet”. I mean, there are small targets markets to choose to advertise to, but really?? The point of the ad was “well now you can talk directly to an Amazon doctor even when you’re 30,000 feet in the air”. Well I guess as far as an an ad goes it works – because it got me talking about it. Geez, they’re not backward in coming forward when it comes to ads on the telly!

Anyway. Here’s a photo of a boat I saw this morning, consider it a palette-cleanser.

Today was The Hapalua – Hawaii’s half marathon. Surprising as this may be, I somehow was unable to sign up in time and, sadly, was therefore not able to take part. A dreadful shame I’m sure we all agree. Lol.

We only knew it was on as there was a notice in the lift just letting us know that the event starts at about 4:30am, not very far away, and it’s going to be quite noisy. Two of those three things were true – it wasn’t that noisy. I could hear a bit of the announcer doing a bunch of very enthusiastic announcing / hyping up the crowd. Full credit to him for going full racing-commentator mode at 4:30 – it’s the kind of job I’m sure most mere mortals couldn’t take on at that hour. I woke up once or twice but not enough to motivate me to actually go to the balcony and see what was unfolding. But you can be pretty sure it was a lot of people going for a run, which let’s face it you’ve probably seen before.

When we ventured out for breakfast there were still quite a few marathoners walking around. I was thinking – “you can still walk? After that? You legends!”

So instead of a 21km run we opted for a much shorter walk to a Shaved Ice / Açai place for breakfast. They even had one of those very rare devices around these parts – an espresso machine! Mind you this was a machine that was only giving you a cappuccino if you forked out $6.95 USD for it, which at the moment is approximately $1000 Australian, give or take? 🙂 Whatever, all worth it for semi-decent cup, maybe a 7 on the iScott Coffee Scale at a pinch. The açai bowls were delicious to eat, and perhaps even more delicious to look at – beautifully presented with their abundance of fruit and a pretty flower to top it off.

Post-breakfast we took a wander along Waikiki and down the little pier that juts out into the ocean a bit, with a nice canopy on top.

It was then we experienced a most un-Waikiki phenomenon – a bit of rain. For all of, oh, 30 seconds or so, no biggie. It was so insignificant let’s see if I go back and delete this sentence if I bother to revisit this entry before pressing Publish 🙂

Next, I wanted to pop over to the Ala Moana shipping centre (or center, I guess!)

As luck would have it we happened to be standing right near a ‘trolley stop’ when we made this decision – so we bought tickets for the ‘Pink Line’ trolley and before too long, it arrived and whisked us away. Ok so by trolley I mean basically ‘a bus in drag’ – but still, it’s cute for the tourists. And we’re tourists, so, a-trolleying we went.

After a few stops we arrived so I guess it was time for me to be right off me trolley, …. and there before us was Ala Moana. The 9th biggest mall in the USA, if anyone’s counting. Or maybe that was the case when it was built in 1959. Was I fully paying attention to the driver as he was commentating? You be the judge! 🙂 The good news is that Cinnabon is still there, and every bit as delicious as it was 12 years ago. I guess waiting that long between snacks successfully makes it a ‘sometimes food’, right?

We took a look through good old Ross Dress for Less, and wandered around ‘til we ended up in Macy’s, whereupon I bought myself a pair of shoes and what would probably be the same price in Australia anyway, but hey sometimes you just need shoes. And just like I blogged about many years ago, Macy’s still looks just like Myers. Or rather, I guess Myers ripped off Macys’ look many years ago!

I thought I’d be able to take a ‘now and then’ Ala Moana photo from one of the pics I took back in 1992. (Here’s a note for the young folks… back in 1992, photos were expensive – you could only take 36 or so at a time on a roll of film, and then you couldn’t see what you took until you had to pay someone to process the film and get each photo printed off… and it was only after that happened that you knew if it turned out how you expected or not. If you were really lucky, all this could be done in about an hour but it was more common to wait for like a week. So if your photo wasn’t how you wanted … bad luck if you wanted to go back and have another try!). Suffice to say things are much better these days regarding taking pictures 🙂

Anyway – where was I? Ala Moana, trying to get a before-and-after shot. Of course, it’s not just photography that has changed since the 90s, Ala Moana has too. The sculpture I’d taken a photo of, in all of its mid-century metal glory, has been removed, re-homed, and re-concreted. I’m grateful it’s still there at all, but alas no chance of a shot-for-shot remake of where it was. Here’s a rough approximation anyway.

It was good to see that the koi ponds were still there as well.

It wasn’t so much ‘shop til you drop’ but ‘shop til you can’t ignore the exchange rate any longer’. So much so that we even said no to the Cat Cafe they had there, as it would have been nearly $75 AUD for half an hour with the kitties. But, taking photos through the window was free, so I got to work …

After that we were back on the ‘trolley’ and back home to Waikiki.

For dinner we followed a tried and tested Hawaiian tourist tradition and tried our luck at The Cheesecake Factory. A restaurant with a ridiculous number of dinner options followed by a ridiculous number of cheesecake options to follow. And ridiculous portion sizes so you don’t have room for cheesecake anyway. We were pretty lucky (ok, not all luck, because we went for a super early dinner around 5:30), because we only had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated, which is pretty good for that place.

Just like last time we went 12 years ago, there was way too much choice and way too much food. But hey what a good problem to have. Starting with a Yuzu Drop and a Coconut Mojito, we had delicious Pretzel Bites with a cheddar fondue, followed by a Smokehouse Burger (for me) and a plate of delicious mushroomy Chicked Madeira (for Perry), washed down with delicious cold refreshing Coconut Limeade. Despite working in what must be an incredibly hectic and high pressure environment our server was all smiles, really helpful, and totally earned her generous tip. We finished off by realising there was no way we could fit in any cheesecake … which is exactly why we ordered some to take away back to the hotel.

Now I’m in the middle of a Cheesecake Factory food coma, that’s about it for today. Absolutely zero plans for tomorrow, and sometimes, when you’re on holiday, that’s exactly how it should be.