Rough Guide to ... Round the World trip
(Plays Big Pig - "Big Hotel", dons shades)
Hawaii - Most excellent. Very hot, though without the humidity that makes Miami sometimes a bit unbearable. Waikiki is pretty good, though
very touristy. North Shore is excellent and the rest of Oahu is definitely worth hiring a convertible Mustang for touring around. Pearl Harbour is quite moving.
The Big Island - loved the "wet" side, with Hilo and Volcano. Watching lava pouring into the sea is awesome, as is standing a couple of miles from an erupting volcano. Simply amazing to watch Geology on such a live scale. "Dry" side (Kona etc) is a bit touristy again. Mauna Kea was hugely interesting but the altitude is a bitch. (I was fine but the wife was affected by it.)
New Zealand - Only briefly in North Island. Auckland down near the harbour is dull. Drove to Rotorua. Apparently it is alright to charge a high price to visit some culturally significant naturally occuring phenomenon, if you are the indigenous people and not the invading European settlers. Fuck off, says I.
South Island - Loved it. Milford Sound/Te Anau is breathtaking. Wanted desperately to stay longer in Queenstown (although I suspect I would eventually snap at the surfeit of extreme dudes). Motor Lodges make it cheap to stay ($60-$120, depending) but basics like bread and milk are expensive. Developed addiction to Kool Fruits.
Hong Kong - Effing
brilliant. Manic, mind-blowing, crowded, vibrant but somehow it all
works. So, so organised. Walking around in 29o heat without sunblock, wondering where the blue sky on the postcards is (it is just haze, human induced one suspects).
Ngong Ping 360 cable car is an amazing journey and the monastery at the end of it is spectacular. The journey up the Peak, the Star Ferry, all the little nooks and crannies in Kowloon. The building light show is phenomenal. Expensive to stay, but cheap to eat in. Fell in love with the place.
Other stuff - airport security is a joke at times. How come the easiest immigration and exit was into China? Well, HK - but the US and UK should be bloody ashamed. I didn't even get a hello off the UK immigration people on the way back. Welcome home, indeed.
Chep Lap Kok airport is the best airport experience you could hope for - a full 747-400 of passengers arrive at 6.40am and we're through customs, immigration, baggage reclaim, shuttle bus and a 10 minute walk to the bus area and onto the bus for 7.30am.
T5 is nice and didn't lose our bags. A dire, dire lack of signage mind. It is very easy to see how all the chaos happened.
Air New Zealand are the best airline I've flown with. Ever. Knocks BA and AA into a cocked hat. BA have really gone downhill - our connecting flight was announced as delayed five minutes after we were due to depart and with a gate full of passengers. More than a few mutterings of "No shit, sherlock".
In contrast, the Air NZ flight from HK to Heathrow had been delayed in Auckland, when we checked in the desk had already rebooked us on a new flight and checked the bags through. The flight from LAX to Honolulu was with United and it gave a new meaning to "cattle class". Cramped, noisy, video screen was broken, film didn't work, headphone socket broken.
Would do it all again in a heartbeat.
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