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Around the World (1987)

a travel blog by shoshtrvls



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Day 1

Honolulu, United States

The trip beings. Our plane leaves LAX at 9:45 but Barbara doesn't arrive until minutes before take-off. We arrive safely in Honolulu where we are met by Norm, Barbara's mother's boyfriend. He takes to the condominium where we are staying -- its called the Governor Cleghorn and, while not particularly nice, it is within two blocks of Waikiki Beach. So, after dropping off our bags, we head for the beach for an hour. Waikiki is a real trip -- thin, tanned bodies checking out all the other thin, tanned bodies. Definitely not my kind of place. Anyway, after an hour or so, we went back to the condo, showered and changed, and walked to the Waikiki Shell.

It was opening night for the season and Uncle Martin had a table reserved right up front. The evening started with wine and hobnobbing with the creme de la creme of Honolulu society. Then came a wonderful catered dinner, Hollywood Bowl style. The music was "big band" by the Del Courtney Orchestra. It was quite enjoyable -- a nice way to start the trip (although I might have drunk a bit too much wine). Uncle Martin drove us home and we made arrangements for dinner the following evening.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 1, 1987 from Honolulu, United States
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Day 2

Kailua, United States

After breakfast, Barbara and I rented scooters and drove up the coast to Kailua Beach. We had wanted to go further, but it was slow going and gas looked to be a problem. The scenery was beautiful -- we passed many nice little bays and coves along the way although the road was sometimes narrow and cars would pass at a rapid speed, honking all the way. Kailua itself was an okay beach, certainly not the prettiest we passed, but very local (except for the windsurfing lessons) and fairly quiet -- we stayed there a few hours.

We took the inland route back -- hwy 61 -- which winds its way through the mountains. Even more dangerous than 72 but worth it -- the scenery was classic Hawaii, very lush and tropical. We took a side road to Pali lookout, also very pretty. We finally got back to Waikiki (after almost ending up on the freeway) and took well-needed showers and made arrangements to go scuba diving and sailing the following day.

(The balance of this post has been rejected by the spam filter!@!)

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 2, 1987 from Kailua, United States
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Day 2 (continued)

Honolulu, United States

Dinner was around 8 at the Outrigger Canoe Club with Uncle Martin, Aunt Janet, Scott and Stacey. We sat at a table at the edge of the water with a view of the entire bay. Surprisingly, Scott and Stacey did not seem like complete brats (nice even) although Aunt Janet still seemed a real JAP. We talked about scooters (Scott has one too) and Uncle Martin offered the services of his Hong Kong and Beijing offices to help us plan our China trip.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 2, 1987 from Honolulu, United States
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Day 3

Honolulu, United States

Our day began with scuba diving at a place called Magic Island on the south side of Oahu not far from Waikiki. There were four of us all together, the other couple were in the air force and on their way back to the states from Guam or something.

Our instructor was Pete Coogan, a really great guy who was very patient and very good. The water was kind of murky and there wasn't a lot to see, mostly tiny fish and some coral, but it was fun. Barbara, for all her certification and training, ran out of air first. The swim in took a while - we were out a lot further than I thought and the tides were fairly strong. It was definitely a good workout.

From there it was another shower, lunch and a walk around Waikiki. We got our shots for the continuing journey and then a two hour catamaran ride at sunset -- relaxing, pretty view, etc. For dinner we took Norm to Monteray Bay Canners (!). The food was okay but he enjoyed it and that was what mattered.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 3, 1987 from Honolulu, United States
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Day 4

Honolulu, United States

A quick walk around Waikiki and we were off to the airport. The entire day was spent on the plane.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 4, 1987 from Honolulu, United States
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Day 5

Tokyo, Japan

Basically, just more traveling, although we did have a two-hour refueling stop in Tokyo, just enough time to go through customs and get our passports stamped. We did have some trouble getting back in as our boarding passes were not of the usual variety. But we got back on the plane in plenty of time and continued on to Hong Kong.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 5, 1987 from Tokyo, Japan
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Day 5 (cont.)

Kowloon, Hong Kong

After arrival, we promptly got our bags, passed through customs, checked into our hotel (The New World), showered and fell asleep. (new hotel, tiny rooms).

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 5, 1987 from Kowloon, Hong Kong
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Day 6

Kowloon, Hong Kong

Up early, our first stop was to CTS and CAAC making travel arrangements to China. The process was simple but it did seem to take an awfully long time -- we weren't done until noon. Then, a fair amount of time was spent in a camera shop while Barbara replaced the one she left at home. We then had lunch next door at a Chinese restaurant populated by Hong Kong businessmen -- much time was spent watching how others ate and copying them.

From there we walked along the Harbor to the Star Ferry which we took to Hong Kong Island.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 6, 1987 from Kowloon, Hong Kong
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Day 6 (cont.)

Hong Kong (historical), Hong Kong

A good part of the afternoon here was wasted trying to get to a hotel that Barbara wanted to stay at upon her return from China. After endless walking and getting nowhere, we finally gon on a bus and found the hotel. Barbara made reservations and, running out of time, we grabbed a cab to the Victoria Peak tram. The tram ride up was really very pretty, as was the view from the top. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to explore and hurried back to Kowloon because we had booked a Hong Kong tour/dinner cruise for that evening. Interestingly, on the Star Ferry back we ran into a Hong Kong teenager who had sat next to us on the plane over.

permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 6, 1987 from Hong Kong (historical), Hong Kong
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Day 6 (cont.)

Kowloon, Hong Kong

The evening tour was kind of hokey but a good view of Kowloon -- the neon signs and shops, the public housing and the few real homes for the wealthy. From there it was onto the bot, even more touristy (and empty) but it was a good view of the bay and Aberdeen. We missed our ride back to the hotel but the walk was short and pleasant.



permalink written by  shoshtrvls on August 6, 1987 from Kowloon, Hong Kong
from the travel blog: Around the World (1987)
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Welcome to my travels. On this site you'll find recent trips and some very old trips. You'll note that for some trips I wrote very detailed reports (at least in the beginning), for others, I didn't even take notes of where I was on what dates. Nevertheless, I've done my best to document, to...

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