Hawaii Day 1 - You mean you DON'T have to spend 6 hours inside LAX?

16 Nov 2017
Kris' parents invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them in Hawaii this  year. So we're headed back to Kauai for a redeaux. They have a beautiful timeshare in Princeville and were able to secure a two bedroom unit. Tropical sun and surf and no one has to wash Thanksgiving dishes? How could anyone say no!

Thursday was a travel day. We left the house at half past 6 and finally landed in Lihue at 9:10pm local time. Ugh. Fortunately, first class seats and long layover at LAX that allowed us to leave the airport for lunch made the trip easier.

For lunch we headed to Fishing with Dynamite in Manhattan Beach. A tiny little fish joint just off the ocean. We particularly loved the beer battered cod and the fish tacos. The bottle of sparkling rose was pretty nifty as well! After lunch, we strolled around the shopping district and then walked around the pier. Much better than hanging out in the vast majority of airport lounges, even if they do have free booze.

If you read thru the Japan section of the blog (or have travelled w/me) you may know of my predilection for travelling with carry-on baggage only. This would seem to complicate leaving the airport to go to a tiny restaurant and then out for a stroll. However, it turns out that there are still luggage storage options at or near many large airports. We took a Lyft from the airport to LAX 24/7 Lockers and were able to securely lock up our stuff for several hours for a nominal fee. They even had an on-site staff person (the owner, perhaps?) who helped us pick out a locker size and walked us through the rental procedure.

When we arrived in Lihue, we picked up the rental car (A huge thank you to the Hertz Gold program that has your car waiting for you on arrival. I would have cried if we had to stand in the HUGE line of people waiting to get their cars.) and drove a couple of miles off site to a small, local hotel for the evening.

We were surprised on arrival to learn that we were somehow behind a cruise ship. The thrum of those huge diesel engines is amazing! Fortunately, we were so tired we didn't notice them for long and I think they shut them off part of the way through the night.

Tomorrow, Waimea Canyon and meeting up with the 'rents!