Day of Delirium #98 - Spending the day with TrueBldTwilight

"We forgot a bag!"

I could not understand what my Mom was talking about. We had our two carry-ons and our two suitcases were under the bus in storage. What bag?

It took about 10 minutes of arguing when she finally says, "The bag with the winter items and all your souvenirs!" Light bulb goes on and I panic. We NEVER take an extra bag and when we had to pick things up at the pier they don't keep all your luggage together so we just forgot the extra small bag we had. I was horrified. As soon as we arrived at the airport, we told Ur of our issue and he said he could call and see what he could find out and call us back. That was all we could at that moment.

We walked into the airport and we decided to call Norwegian Cruise Lines and here was our first run into an issue with them. It was Saturday and their customer service group is not open on the weekend! If you call the boat, you no longer exist because it was check out day on the boat and the Emergency line doesn't work any more. If you call reservations, they tell you to call customer service! They were shocked when I told them they were closed. What do we do?

Well, you cheer because you have great friends like TrueBloodTwilight/Suzie and her husband who offered to take us back to the pier to find our lost bag. I could have cried, they were so wonderful and that is exactly what we did. As I walked through the pier,  I had to cross through the line of people waiting to board and I just kept telling them they were going to love the trip.

I arrived at someone who could help me and these amazing people spent 30 minutes chasing down our bag - the ONLY bag that was forgotten out of the 100's of bags that were from our ship. They finally found it and the bus company had it at their office (Ur also called during this time and regretfully told me he could not find the bag - we were lucky that the pier people could help). All we had to do was call the bus company when we were back at the airport and they would drive it over to us. I was so relieved and so happy.

Then it was off to the car with the good news and to start our day with Suzie and her husband. First thing was to go and eat lunch. We chose the mall and a Red Robin type place that had lots of food I could eat. It was very good and it was nice to get to know Suzie and her husband while we ate.

 
Then we tried to find Hawaiian themed socks at Macy's for my best friend and you know what? Hawaiians don't wear socks, so they don't exist! LOL

We spent the day literally driving around Oahu. We learned all about the island from the local's point of view through Suzie and her husband and it was wonderful. I do love that you can drive all the way around the island in a day and see soooo many different things. We saw gorgeous beaches, we saw greenery that reminded me of Pennsylvania, we saw poor parts, we saw rich parts, we saw it all and I loved it.

We even got to see a turtle on the beach! I was in awe as I have never seen anything like it.

We stopped at the Dole Plantation

but only had 15 minutes as they were closing but it was fun to see the signs (hi Twikiwi50!):

and shop in the gift shop for awhile.

Then we stopped at the new site for the Disney Hawaiian Resort and wow will it be beautiful.

Then it was time to head back to the airport. I wanted to cry. Not only did I now want the trip to end or to leave Hawaii but I was having such a wonderful time with Suzie and her husband that I just did not want to leave them. I loved hearing their tales of Hawaiian life and seeing Hawaii through their eyes. I can't wait to go back and I highly recommend the TrueBldTwilight Tour Group of Hawaii if you are ever in town ;)

Thank you Suzie for your hospitality and friendship. Thank you to your husband for driving all over and for spending his day with us. If you are ever in Pennsylvania, I hope you will let me return the favor.

And then it was time to fly home. We even saw the boat from the plane just before I fell asleep.

Once back home, we had one more funny. Remember that lost bag! Well we called for it back at the airport and they brought it right over. But when it came off the luggage carousel on Philadelphia this is what was on it...

LOL, the bag didn't want to leave Hawaii either ;)

So that's it. That is my trip to Hawaii. I hope you enjoyed reading the posts as much as I enjoyed putting them together. It was wonderful to relive the trip. I can't wait to go back, which will happen in 2015 with my hubby for our 15th wedding anniversary. If anyone ever needs any information on this cruise, please let me know and I will do my best to help.

Aloha!

Day of Delirium #97 - Pearl Harbor

And then we were back in port at Oahu.

 
Our last excursion was to go to Pearl Harbor. This is a must see if you go to Hawaii.

This post seems very appropriate to post on the weekend of the 10th anniversary of 9-11-2001.


We went to our meeting place for the excursion and saw lots of people with their luggage already. Apparently it is NOT a rule to put your luggage out the night before. I will definitely note this for 2015.

So we headed out to get our luggage on the pier and then headed to the bus for our excursion.
We met our driver, Ur, and he was very kind and very knowledgeable about Oahu.
What I didn't expect was that we would also have a small tour of the island of Oahu. I thought we were just heading to Pearl Harbor. So that was a bonus.

We stopped by King Kamehameha's home and statue and it was quite stunning.

Then Ur asked us to be in a group picture. It seemed odd but we lined up and he took a picture or 10.

We all got back on the bus and headed to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. It was so serene and so beautiful. I only wish we had time to get off the bus and look around a little. Ur told us some personal stories about Pearl Harbor and people he knew that were buried here and it was quite moving.

Then we were off to Pearl Harbor. We arrived and Ur gave us our tickets and lots of rules. But not the rules you would think - he told us where to go, where to meet, how long to spend doing things and where to sit in the theater. This again seemed very odd but we didn't know any better.

Mom and I headed in and immediately I was overcome with emotion. I couldn't help but think/picture what had happened here. It was a gorgeous day just like ours when planes came and dropped bombs. I can't imagine the terror and yet here I was on this sacred ground.

 
We walked around as much as we could and did half of one of the museums before we had to get in line for the movie and the boat ride to the Arizona. The movie was quite moving and many people were crying - including me.

We moved outside to get on the boats to the Arizona Memorial and the winds picked up and then it showered. Somehow it seemed appropriate. Like it was washing away all that we knew preparing us for the reverence that was needed to step on the memorial.

As soon as we reached the dock, the rain stopped and the sun came out in a blaze of glory. The flag over the memorial blew straight out and the colors against the blue sky brought tears to my eyes again.

 
We quietly walked along the memorial and at the end there is the list of all those who died on the Arizona. As with any memorial that lists all the dead, it is overwhelming to see all the names in one spot. Then I spotted my last name and tears flowed freely. As far as I know it is no relation but it certainly brought the memorial closer to home for me.

We walked back and watched people throw leis and flowers into the water as a remembrance and there were many tears.

Once back on the Pearl Harbor proper side, Ur directed us to the one memorial circle - for what do you think? Another group picture. As much as I was in awe of this place I could not help but be annoyed now as this was taking away precious time from our excursion, in fact Mom and I never finished the museums and never got to the gift shop. I am most sad that I was not able to get the 70th anniversary commemorative coin 2011 for my husband while I was there. He collects special coins like this and I know he would have greatly appreciated this one.

There is no doubt Pearl Harbor remains on my list of to dos since I didn't really get to experience the entire place. I very highly recommend Pearl Harbor as a stop in Hawaii but make sure you leave time to wander around and see it all. I think they did a great job of making the visitor feel that they are a part of the history and at times like you are there (the countdown movie in the first museum is incredible).

Pearl Harbor made me think seriously about my life and how lucky I am to have what I do.

I am forever grateful to every person who ever gave anything to fight for my freedom. 

Thank you!

So we were back on the bus and heading to the airport next, when Mom turns and says "We forgot a bag."


Next up: Spending the day with truebldtwilight/HonoluluGirl/Suzie!

Day of Delirium #96 - Last Night on the Ship

So when I got back from my horseback riding excursion I found my Mom enjoying sitting on our balcony eating her lunch. I took a nice long shower and then joined her.

We just sat and relaxed while waiting for the ship to leave our last stop. We couldn't believe our time in Hawaii was already coming to a close.

The saddest part of the whole day was that we had to pack already. On the ship they have you put out your luggage before midnight for them to take it to the pier and you pick it up there. I did not like this idea because if meant keeping out toiletries and pjs, etc and it was very confusing actually. But we did it.

The second saddest part (in a funny way of course) was that when I asked my Mom what her favorite part of the trip was, she chose Friday the day she stayed on the ship and I went on an excursion. I teased her that she chose the one day she wasn't with me! But I understood what she meant and really did not take it personally, I might choose it as my favorite too ;)

The neatest thing that happened was as the ship turned to leave the port I noticed something. Does this look familiar to anyone? If you recall my GPS phone map... this is where Mom and I spent the day on Thursday in Kauai. I had no idea we were that close to the ship when we were there - that is how secluded it felt.

We then left to go to our Cruise Critic follow up meeting to be a part of a focus group that would provide our feedback on the cruise. The short version is that overall we all loved the cruise, the ship, the people and everything. The biggest complaint across the board was the lack of service in the paid dining rooms (Mom and I never ate there so it was not our complaint). The only thing I offered was creating laminated ingredient lists for all the food for each day (since it doesn't change) so when someone gets to a station they can just ask for the ingredients list and find out if it is gluten free, vegetarian, etc. They loved the idea and are going to turn it in to Corporate to see what can be done. I was very happy to hear that and I hope when I go on this cruise again in 2015 that it will have been implemented.

Then it was time to cruise past the Na Pali Coast and it was stunning. The ship has one of the crew narrate all about the coast and if we had just chosen a quieter place, we might have heard it all. But it was so beautiful and so very much Hawaii.

Made famous in Bali Hai.

See the rainbow?

Mom and I spend the night roaming the ship, picking out some pictures that the ship took and enjoying our last night. We ate one more time at the buffet and then hung out on the back deck enjoying the ocean.

Then one last sunset, put the suitcases out and get some much needed sleep.

Next up: Pearl Harbor

Day of Delirium #95 - Heaven on Earth - Day Two in Kauai

Today was the one day Mom and I went our separate ways on this trip. After spending 24/7 for the whole week, we chose to do different things on our last day on the cruise. Mom chose to sleep in, order room service and just relax on the boat. I chose to go on an excursion for horseback riding.

I am not even sure how to describe my excursion. Here are a few choice words: stupendous, phenomenal, life affirming, incredible, gorgeous, and exactly what I wanted from my Hawaiian vacation.

In case you don't know this about me, I love horses. I have loved horses since I can remember anything in my life. I don't get to ride very much but when the opportunity presents itself I try to take advantage. So when I saw this excursion, I knew I would be on it - even if it meant going without my Mom (there is no way she would ride).

I headed to the meeting area and it turned out there were 13 of us on the excursion - guesses on who the odd one out was?

I was immediately adopted by a woman who left her three kids to come on the cruise with her husband. She was feeling like being a Mom, so I let her. She was super sweet and I really enjoyed talking with her. I even accidentally ended up in her group for the ride - which I was very happy about as the group and the leader were much "better" than the other group and leader I found out later.

We all piled in the van and headed out for our 40 minute drive to the stables. It was a very nice drive and as we pulled into the stables I knew I made a great choice for my excursion. I was given a mare named Happa who I dubbed Happa, my Happy Hawaiian Horse. We were a great team and I was the only one who didn't lose their horse to the grasses for grazing at any point on the two hour ride. The leader basically told me that Happa likes to be talked to and she doesn't care if she loses the group. Well that works for me. I love to talk to my horses and I was more than happy to hang out in the back and just relax and enjoy the ride.

I want to point out that I cried many many times on this ride. The scenery was like nothing I have ever experienced anywhere. The peace and serenity of the ride was beyond belief. But the best part... the leader pretty much let us travel at our own pace and since I was last in line there were numerous times I was all by myself just riding my horse contemplating my life on earth.

With that said, I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Happy Dangrdafne on Happa, my Happy Hawaiian Horse

 Happy Trails Happa

Leave only hoof prints in your heart and on the Earth

Next up: Last night on the ship