After getting under 2 hours of sleep last night, we woke up today before 4:00 am so that we could get to the airport 3 hours before our 8:15 flight. We were told we had to do because it was an international flight. However, when we got to the Honolulu airport, it wasn’t even open yet. There were probably not more than 10 other people around, and no one was telling us what was going on. We stood there for a while and finally found out that we had to get in a line, which had 2 people in it at the time, to check in for our flight. By 5:30 the airport had gotten a lot busier and we checked our bags and got through security. The flight wasn’t for another few hours, so we went to Starbucks for breakfast. Their blueberry bagels were terrible, but not much else was open at that hour. The Honolulu airport had a lot of open spaces and most openings to the outside didn’t have windows. We sat in some chairs overlooking a runway, watching as the sky turned from dark to light. When it got closer to 8:00, we made our way to the gate and boarded the plane. Aside from the fact that it was damn near 11 hours long, the flight wasn’t too bad. They served breakfast and lunch and also came around with the beverage cart a few times. I watched Juno, did some reading, watched a few Office episodes on my ipod, and slept for a little after Steph tried to get me to OD on Dramamine. With the time changes, we ended up losing a day in the process of flying. Once we landed, we had to go through customs, which took forever. They only had 1 lane open for most of the time, and there were a lot of people waiting in line. We were near the end because our suitcases were some of the last to come out. We then took the shuttle to the hotel and checked in. It was pretty strange to actually see and experience driving on the left side of the road. I had seen it on TV and in movies and stuff, but to actually be in a car doing it was a really odd feeling. That will definitely take some getting used to. It’s also different when trying to cross the street, because you have to look in the opposite direction from what you are accustomed to. We were unsure whether or not to tip the shuttle driver, so we immediately went inside to ask at the front desk. The woman gave us a look like we were crazy, and a man behind the counter laughed and told us that tipping does not occur here, only in the States. It was strange to be the foreigner. This hotel obviously wasn’t as nice as the one in Hawaii, but it was alright. We settled into the room and got ready for dinner. This was the first time on the trip we needed to bring out our plug adapters in order to use our electronics from home. For dinner, we were going to take a walk down the road to an area that supposedly had a lot of restaurants, but unfortunately it started pouring rain as we were getting ready to go, so we decided against it. The hotel had two restaurants in it. The menu at the first one was ridiculously expensive. Some of the items on the menu included $10 soup and a $55 seafood buffet. I realize that the Australian dollar is worth less than the US Dollar, but not by too much. The prices were still unnecessarily high. The other restaurant was supposed to be more casual, and we decided to eat at that one. I think it was at dinner that Steph and I both realized that we truly were in a foreign country and didn’t have much clue what we were doing. We stood near the entrance for a few minutes before realizing that no one would be coming to seat us. Approaching the bar, we said we were here to eat, and the bartender gave us a menu and said to find a seat. While the food here was still expensive, it did have some items that were a little more reasonably priced. The $10 soup remained on the menu, however. Wanting to try some local flavor, we asked the bartender what kind of Australian beer he would recommend. Not really sure what he said to us, I ordered one kind and Steph ordered another. He asked us what type of glass we wanted, and he had to use his hands to describe them, because we had never heard of either. Honestly, though, we could understand him for the most part, but there certainly were times where we were left wondering if the words he had spoken were really English. Despite the fact that I’m sure he had already figured it out, I felt compelled to tell him that we had just arrived from the States. Steph was a little upset that she wasn’t carded when we ordered our drinks, but with the drinking age being 18 here, I doubt either of us will be carded very often. Another interesting thing we noticed was that whenever we said “Thanks,” the Australian person would respond with “No worries” or “That’s ok.” Cricket was on TV, and neither of us had any clue what was going on. We have a lot to learn about this place. I ordered some teriyaki steak sandwich and Steph got a chicken stir fry. The sandwich was good, a little oversauced, though. Steph’s meal was so spicy that she thought her stomach was on fire and couldn’t very eat much. We got another round of beer, I asked for something else to try and Steph got the same thing as before. We could not figure out what they were called, and luckily mine came in a bottle so we could see the name for future reference. At the end of the meal, our plates had been cleared, and we were sitting there with our nearly empty beers for at least 10 minutes. No one came over with the check or even asked if we wanted it. We didn’t know what to do, so we finally decided to just go over to the bar and tell the guy we were ready to leave. He walked over to the computer and just told me the price of the meal, without giving me an actual paper check with a breakdown of the costs or anything. Again, it was pretty sweet not to have to tip. We went back upstairs, packed up some of our stuff, and went to bed.
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