It’s amazing what a shower, a good night’s sleep, some
coffee and some exercise will do for your outlook. The area where I was staying was definitely
built-up and congested but the vegetation was beautiful. A few anthurium and hibiscus were blooming
and I saw birds I didn’t recognize. With
no agenda, I headed down Kalakua Avenue, a main shopping street. I didn’t get all the way to the beach but it
was a nice walk. The array of designer shops was dizzying- Rolex, Cartier, Bottega Veneta, Oliver Peeples, Jimmy
Choo.. and on and on. I’m guessing it
was for Asian tourists, who are known for their extensive shopping trips
abroad.
I returned to the hotel, finished packing, checked out and
had a nice lunch before the shuttle to the airport arrived. I’d checked in on-line the night before and
paid the checked-bag fee ($25- I was grateful I was checking only one) but the
check-in kiosk, after finding my record and displaying “Please wait”… for way
too long, I had to get in the “Expedited Baggage line. Fortunately that line and the TSA line
weren’t too bad and we were soon headed to Kona.
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| Lava fields on the approach. |
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| Lots of manual effort here; the stairway had to be pushed into place by two workers. Here, one is cranking it up to the right level. |
Kona appeared less-developed although the Uber driver did point out Costco and Wal-Mart on the way in from the airport. I had a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant near my hotel and was up early the next morning for a day tour of the island.
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