The last day on Hawaii was uneventful, to be honest. We ate the breakfast we got the day before at the bakery, I caught up on the blog, and we waited for the tour guide to pull our bags for departure. There was a bit of milling around the lobby with the others while we waited.
We finally left Kona International Airport (KOA) at about 130 pm for the 4.5 hr flight to San Francisco, then after about a 1.5 hr layover we had another 4 hr flight to Pittsburgh. We arrived at about 630 am. I was all screwed up thanks to the International Date Line, Hawaii's non-observance of Daylight Savings Time, and the mainland's falling back an our on 11/1. I thought I'd sleep on the plane, but couldn't. Then I drove about 2.5 hrs home. I made sure to get plenty of coffee at Sheetz--so long ABC stores!
Which was my favorite island? The four we were on (Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii) were all beautiful and interesting in their own way. But I have to say it was Kauai I liked best. A lot of beaches, a friendly, laid-back (even more than the other islands) attitude, developed as well as rural areas, and no active volcanoes are all factors in my decision. If I ever get back to Hawaii (the state), I will have to visit Molokai and Lanai (and hopefully Niihau) to make sure Kauai is the best.
What did I think of the group tour? YMT is a great company. They took care of the luggage on every flight, the hotels were all clean and comfortable, and our tour guide (Kalili) did a lot of work to keep us happy and answered all of our questions. (He told me I had interesting questions. I told him that I knew that was tour guide politeness for weird.) The other people on the trip were very nice too. By the end of the two weeks, we made a few friends who I wouldn't mind travelling with again.
Now having said all that, I'm still not a big fan of guided tours. One reason I enjoyed the trip so much was because my dad and I didn't sign up for many of the group events. We actually used the tour group to get to the islands cheaply, and then rented a car on each island we stayed on. (We put over 1000 miles on the rental cars across the four islands.) When we did travel with the group on the bus--usually on the first day on each island--we saw a lot of things, but I could tell that it was geared toward having us spend money at each location we stopped at. And while I liked saying aloha and mahalo (thank you) to Hawaiians we met, I soon tired of responding ALOOOOO-HAA every time one of the bus drivers called that out.
Of course, it was great spending time with my dad--we've traveled to the UK this way and Ireland with my wife and kids--since we tend to have similar interests. As I was leaving he said, "We'll have to do this again." I agreed, but I told him there was no way that Fe would stay home while I go on another one! Ha ha.
Aloha.
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