Hello there blavel! I wrote this entry a few days ago but forgot to post. We've now moved on to Osaka, but in the meantime: here's an entry written in Honolulu for you:
I'm currently in Hawaii- resting my feet! It's so gorgeous here that it's hard to waste time hanging out in the room- but oh, my feet!
Anyway! Fun times here! The trips over were difficult thanks to motion sickness (one 9 hour flight plus one 8 hour flight, plus bus/car trips to from airports with motion sickness = not fun) which meant I couldn't watch/look at/read anything. Thankfully that's our only back-to-back trip, so I should be ok for the remainder. We flew Jetstar for the first leg of the trip (aus - japan)... that was fine, although the lack of food for those of us who hadn't paid in advance was a little concerning. Our second round of flights (JAL) was much more comfortable (although, for 3 times the price, one would hope that it would be!). The food was quite delicious on JAL, too.
Honolulu is quite fantastic. It's a really awesome holiday venue; gorgeous beaches, great weather and lots of beautiful scenery. Everything is relatively cheap (as per all of the US). There's a mixture of food to explore; Hawaii is a big holiday destination for the Japanese, and there's a lot of Asian influence in the food available; Japanese steakhouses, sushi and the odd chinese and thai store. There's also the more typical 'american' food available (which is SO bad for you, but holy delicious!): ribs, wings, burgers and other salty, greasy deliciousness.
---- ok, so that was where I left off at the time of typing the above. Let me add a little more in retrospect:
It's easy to see why people choose Oahu as a honeymoon destination; there's just the right amount of things to do and plenty of cocktails to drink (although, curiously, beyond Waikiki itself there's few beachside bars/restaurants, despite the gorgeous beaches on the north coast). It's a laid-back, easily accessible (particularly if you speak English) and fairly high-end destination- it's free of the difficulties that you might face in other south pacific destinations (eg. Vanuatu, where the place is not really all that built-up, transport/communication/shopping is a little haphazard, etc), so for travellers who aren't so adventurous (or would prefer a relaxing holiday rather than an adventure!), it's probably a perfect destination.
Upon reflection, we probably could have squeezed in a visit to one of the other islands in Hawaii (even with the 3 day conference); we were in Hawaii 7 nights in total, and we'd done most of the major tourist things (checked out the rest of the island, visited the dole plantation, went to Hanauma Bay, climbed Diamond Head etc) after about 3 days. We ended up spending a day shopping, which could have easily been spent on one of the other islands if we'd realised we'd have spare time and planned accordingly. Having the extra time was nice though, and made for a relaxing working holiday.
Next update: Osaka! We're currently here, and again- my feet hurt! This time not due to long walks on the beach or hikes, but rather, to my attempts to conquer the malls which seem to stretch on forever. Our touristy exploration has been limited (Nick is rather sick thanks to the flu, so I have stuck to making my way through the shops- a little concerned about how we are going to get all of my purchases home on jetstar... uh oh!), but we shall check out the Umeda sky building this evening, and head to Osaka castle tomorrow morning, before taking a trip up to Koyasan for the night to be spent in the buddhist guest house... shall be fun!
