Pearl Harbor

Friday 19^th September 2014

It was our day to visit Pearl Harbor and I had booked an excursion (prior to leaving home) that would take us on a city tour and visit Pearl Harbor on a Double Decker Bus.

Our stop to meet the bus was less than a five minute walk from our hotel but of course I was to be there early, it meant we were too early and out in the sun, so inside we headed towards the shops where we found what we had been looking for. But as we weren’t allowed to take bags into the movie or over to the memorial site of Arizona, we asked them if we could put it on hold, till we returned after our excursion. Our request was granted and it was placed away to the side.

Once back out at the stop, we didn’t have much longer to wait. The guide hopped out and called me by my given name, as he was unsure of how to pronounce our last name.

So up we climbed to the top floor and chose our seats, silly me chose the left side which was away from the coastline, but also fortunate as we didn’t need to duck, duck, duck as much as those seated on the right side of the bus.

Duck, Duck, Duck was the call by our guide Jason to warn us that we needed to duck our heads in order not to receive injuries from the trees alongside the road. We headed out of Waikiki towards the coastline and around the base of Diamond Head and during the narration by Jason other landmarks were pointed out to us, and the history relayed in a fun and informative way.

It was a beautiful warm day and being up top on a double decker bus we had a natural form of Air Conditioning. Which liked to grab hold of my cap and fling it into the back of the bus, fortunately for me was caught by a gentleman a few rows back both times. I decided not to risk it a third time and secured it to my wrist, hence my red face by the end of the tour.

We made our way to Pearl Harbor and after some instructions from Jason on where we had to be and by what time he left us to decide how to fill that time in, restroom, food or shopping and not necessarily in that order.

Our tickets for the film were for 12.30, but we were to meet Jason at 12.20 up near the entrance to the theatre. We walked into the theatre and made our way to the second row from the front at the end, as I did not want to step over anyone already seated.

It was a moving and sombre experience watching the film and then to follow it up with a visit to the Arizona memorial. At times I find it hard to comprehend why there are some ______ fill in the blank (as I don’t know what to call them) feel the need or want to destroy things that do not belong to them. After our brief visit we were then to be back at our bus by 2.30pm, on our way out, I stopped by the gift shop and purchased some postcards & a book.

Mum admitted afterwards that she was not overly interested before going to Pearl Harbor and that she was only tagging along with me, but was so glad that she had come.

We got back to the bus and were waiting for a while for two young girls who Jason went to find.

We eventually returned to Waikiki and the shop that was holding the items mum wanted to purchase.