Seated in a middle row on a 747 jet, I wondered how in heaven’s name, this “movie theater” was gong to get off the ground. If you have flown in a 747, you know how huge they are. Two aisles coming through from the front to the back of the plane, one on each side of the middle rows and four seats on each side extending to the windows.
From the O’Hare airport we took off smoothly into that Chicago sky on a very cold nine degree morning in January 1971 on a direct flight to Honolulu, Hawaii for a 16 day tour of four islands. There were 15 or 16 in my tour group. Perfect!!! We had all met in the airport terminal after coming in from our home airports.
As we are approaching the Island of Oahu, right there on the coast we see the beautiful pink ROYAL HAWAIIAN HOTEL where we will be staying our first week.
On landing at the Honolulu airport, we were each greeted by an adorable Hawaiian girl who placed a pretty lei of fresh flowers around our shoulders and a photographer took our picture.
Being a widow, I had been a bit dubious about going alone, but soon made friends with a delightful lady from Tallahassee, Florida who had come without a companion. Actually this tour kept us all together for meals and sight seeing, so I never felt alone.
All the large bushes of exotic flowers were magnificent! I was so amazed seeing such large plants of poinsettia in bloom! Hawaiian time added five hours to our day so we had a lovely long evening in beautiful eighty three degree sunny Honolulu!
Since this was a deluxe tour, our hotel rooms looked right out onto the beach, and we were taken to sight see and restaurants in limousines unless they were close enough to walk. We always did everything as a group, which made it quite nice for those of us who came alone.
See me eating poi! Have you ever tasted poi? I had heard it tasted like wallpaper paste, but I didn’t think it had any taste at all. We were at a ‘Luau”where they served authentic Hawaiian delicacies. It was a most delightful experience.
Our excursion to the WWII memorial in Pearl Harbor was educational, but very sad. That is where many service men and women were killed during the surprise attack.
On the island of Kauai, we came into the Lehue airport. Here we board an excursion boat, cruise up the Wailua River to the HAWAIIAN WEDDING CAVE where couples from all over the world come to be married. The cave is in the FERN GROTTO, a very beautiful garden area.
I should also tell you, since our rooms were always facing the ocean, the sound of those Pacific waves rushing up on the sandy beach, lulled me to sleep every night. It was liked I had died and went to heaven!!!
Maui was such a beautifully green island! That is where we did the helicopter ride going through the valley up close along the lush green mountain side. In that glass bubble helicopter I felt like I could just reach out and touch the little bushes growing there. The plane held only four people counting the pilot so it took several flights to take each of our group.
We dined one night at a top level high rise restaurant with glass windows all around that gave us a spectacular view of the city lights.
As we are coming out of the restaurant, there sits a young artist who said to me, “I’ll do your portrait for twenty five dollars.” I ask him how long it would take. He said, “Fifteen or twenty minutes.” Each of my group gave their smiling approval to wait. It was a charcoal.
This is what that young man did in less than twenty minutes!!!
One more island to go, the big island of Hawaii where we landed at the Kona Coast. While we were on tour to the Volcano Hawaiian National Park, a ‘water spout’ blew ashore right next to our hotel and leveled everything in its path. Whew!!! Our hotel wasn’t hit but we lost electricity and took candles to our rooms.
This is where several of our group enjoyed visiting in the lounge with the movie star Lee Marvin. He and his lady friend were staying at the same hotel we were. This was a quaintly unique all ground level hotel. It had kept the native Hawaiian atmosphere alive. I relished in the flavor!
We went by limousines across the island to Hilo on the east coast of the big island of Hawaii. I was so bushed by then, I have no memory of anything except getting on that 747 and cruising over the Pacific Ocean, staying high above the Rocky Mountains, the central plains and back to the Chicago O’Hare airport.
But let me assure you, it was far more BEAUTIFUL and SPECIAL than anything I have told you in this little story…………………………………………………
FRF ♥