Day 12 - Hawaii - Oahu

We had to have an early start to drive the short distance from Volcano to Hilo airport where we dropped off the car and got a flight back to Honolulu. Once in Honolulu in was noticeable busier. We picked up our next car from Honolulu airport (a red ford focus with great air conditioning) and drove to Waikiki beach where our next hotel was. This is one of the most famous beaches in the world, and it is easy to see why. At one end of Waikiki is Pearl Harbour and at the other end is Diamond Head - a beautiful mountain. We checked in to our modern hotel right on the beach in Waikiki. We had a partial sea view from our room but when we complained that the internet wasn't working in our room we got a free upgrade to a room on the 25th floor with a full sea view. In the evenings we could see the sun set into the sea from our balcony. As soon as we got settled into our hotel we went exploring around Waikiki and soon found the beautiful markets and shops. I got a lei made by a woman in a market who looks at you and decides on the colours that suits you. She made me a beautiful pink and yellow one. We walked round the markets looking at all of the Hawaiian shirts, dresses and other Polynesian items for sale. We wandered around the beach area and shopping streets then got a recommendation for a restaurant that had over 250 beers on tap! They had a fantastic food selection with a lot of it being local sea food.