Scuba Jim
Contributor
Thursday 01 May 2003
Up and at 'em the next morning, we took the shuttle bus to the airport, and leapt upon our plane to Honolulu. I say leapt, we first had the pleasure of security at LAX, so lucky we checked in 36 hours before departure, or we might not have got on the plane. By jingo, has Continental improved?! We all got our own TV in economy class! Hasnt the US of A caught up with the rest of the airline industry well? Only taken them 10 years to catch up with Singapore Airlines, but never mind! So, we flew across to Honolulu and checked into the Best Western Plaza Hotel near the airport. Nice to have a flyover and underpass right outside your bedroom window!!! Ian, meanwhile, was still running around like a headless chicken, and so we decided to find the nearest watering hole (have you noticed a theme running through this trip?) and proceeded to Big Dave's Sports Bar. My, what nice places Sports Bars are. I am sure they will catch on in England!
Having returned from Big Dave's at whatever time it was, we proceeded to the hotel bar, and Ian went to phone DHL to see what was going on. He then returned to the bar with an even sorer head than before. It transpired that when he tried to get through to DHL on the phone he got an answer machine and slammed the phone down and started shouting at the hotel reception staff. As if it was their fault he had left his camera at home and DHL wasn't open! Jim to the rescue - sitting him quietly with a beer in the bar, I phoned DHL to find that if he had waited 5 more seconds Ian would have found out that there were various options to chose from, including tracking a package, option 3, if I recall. Option 3 it was then, and we found out that Ian's camera had not only left England, it was on a plane to Hawaii from New York as we spoke! Ian could sleep easy that night.
Friday 02 May 2003
The next day, I made my first corporate decision of the trip, as I was the leader. I sent Ian to the DHL office, which was luckily just round the corner, to wait for his blasted video camera to come in. The reason? Because we were off to Pearl Harbour and the last thing we wanted was Ian groaning and moaning about whether his camera may or may not have arrived.
So off we went to Pearl Harbour. If you are going to Bikini Atoll Pearl Harbour is an excellent place to visit before hand.
Firstly, this is where WW2 came home to roost for the Americans, whereas Bikini could, in some ways be seen as the culmination of the war if you look at it from a merely ship sinking point of view (does that make sense?!)
Secondly, there is a submarine there called the Bowfin that is the sister ship of the Apogon at Bikini; while you cannot get inside the Apogon, you can the Bowfin, so it is nice to get a perspective of how grim it must have been in a WW2 sub. Why anyone would consciously choose to go and work in one beats me.
USS Bowfin
Thirdly, there is the Missouri, the Iowa class battleship, moored just seaward of the Arizona Memorial. She is worthy of seeing for 3 reasons - because she is the same length as the Saratoga, has the same calibre main guns as the Nagato (16-inch) and because she is a cool looking ship! It must be said that when it comes to warships, the Yanks make the best looking ships!
USS Missouri
You will note, however, that even in times of war it appears that it is important for US naval personal to be able to catch a cool drink. Seems to rather spoil the view, don't you think?
Keep cool in the heat of battle!
Missouri was, as you of crouse all know, the location of the signing of the Japnese surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945, so it is particularly fitting that she is moored at Pearl Harbour. And do you know which other battleship was also lying in Tokyo Bay at the same time? Nagato...
There is also a good museum by the Bowfin full of stuff about US naval history, Pearl Harbour etc, plus some guns and even a Kaiten (a Japanese midget sub - that's a small sub not a sub for midgets!)
After Pearl Harbour it was time for some nosh and grog, so we proceeded to another sports bar, a finer and far more salubrious establishment than Big Dave's, it must be said. Attempting to get drunk on American beer is hard, as it's not that strong, so feeling bloated yet sober, we waddled back to the hotel with a feeling of trepidation. We found Ian completely off his trolley - was he drunk with happiness because his camera had arrived, or drunk with misery as it was currently at the DHL office in Ulan Bator? Yippee! It had arrived! Stop moaning now, Ian, and get a life!
A few more beers at the hotel bar were a sure fire cure for jet lag, so we all slept well pickled that night.
Saturday 03 May, 2003
A leisurely morning followed by a lunchtime check in for our flight to Guam and then on to Truk. My mate Mark, who works in Haiti and was joining us for the Truk leg of the journey, had flown over from Houston on the same plane, and we met in the departure lounge and sat next to each other on the flight. Again, a nice new 767 with your own TV, but it would appear that Gordon Bethune, Chairman of Continental Airlines and who appeared at the start of every safety briefing video, must have had some profiling done of Continental Airline's passengers and come to the conclusion that they were all either 4 ft tall or, if taller, had no legs. There is nothing like sitting on an 8 hour flight with your knees up round your earlobes, trying to watch a video on the TV in the seat back in front of you which is so angled when the person in the seat in front of you has it all the way back that you can't actually see the TV. Ah, joy of joys!
At some point during the flight we crossed the International Dateline. As we felt that this was similar to crossing the Equator we decided to throw Ian's video camera out of the window. He was so distraught we threw him after it. So we arrived in Guam on
Sunday 04 May 2003
Changing planes in Guam we then took the evening flight to Truk. As we touched down in Truk the sky was sullen and not a star could be seen peaking through the clouds. Oh bugger.
Still, we were in Truk, and the adventure was just beginning.
FIRST LEG:
Distance: 4435 miles
Air Time: 9hr 30m
Accumulated distance: 9877 miles
Accumulated Air Time: 20hr 45m
Next Installment of our Grande Trippe: I like Truking!
Up and at 'em the next morning, we took the shuttle bus to the airport, and leapt upon our plane to Honolulu. I say leapt, we first had the pleasure of security at LAX, so lucky we checked in 36 hours before departure, or we might not have got on the plane. By jingo, has Continental improved?! We all got our own TV in economy class! Hasnt the US of A caught up with the rest of the airline industry well? Only taken them 10 years to catch up with Singapore Airlines, but never mind! So, we flew across to Honolulu and checked into the Best Western Plaza Hotel near the airport. Nice to have a flyover and underpass right outside your bedroom window!!! Ian, meanwhile, was still running around like a headless chicken, and so we decided to find the nearest watering hole (have you noticed a theme running through this trip?) and proceeded to Big Dave's Sports Bar. My, what nice places Sports Bars are. I am sure they will catch on in England!
Having returned from Big Dave's at whatever time it was, we proceeded to the hotel bar, and Ian went to phone DHL to see what was going on. He then returned to the bar with an even sorer head than before. It transpired that when he tried to get through to DHL on the phone he got an answer machine and slammed the phone down and started shouting at the hotel reception staff. As if it was their fault he had left his camera at home and DHL wasn't open! Jim to the rescue - sitting him quietly with a beer in the bar, I phoned DHL to find that if he had waited 5 more seconds Ian would have found out that there were various options to chose from, including tracking a package, option 3, if I recall. Option 3 it was then, and we found out that Ian's camera had not only left England, it was on a plane to Hawaii from New York as we spoke! Ian could sleep easy that night.
Friday 02 May 2003
The next day, I made my first corporate decision of the trip, as I was the leader. I sent Ian to the DHL office, which was luckily just round the corner, to wait for his blasted video camera to come in. The reason? Because we were off to Pearl Harbour and the last thing we wanted was Ian groaning and moaning about whether his camera may or may not have arrived.
So off we went to Pearl Harbour. If you are going to Bikini Atoll Pearl Harbour is an excellent place to visit before hand.
Firstly, this is where WW2 came home to roost for the Americans, whereas Bikini could, in some ways be seen as the culmination of the war if you look at it from a merely ship sinking point of view (does that make sense?!)
Secondly, there is a submarine there called the Bowfin that is the sister ship of the Apogon at Bikini; while you cannot get inside the Apogon, you can the Bowfin, so it is nice to get a perspective of how grim it must have been in a WW2 sub. Why anyone would consciously choose to go and work in one beats me.
USS Bowfin
Thirdly, there is the Missouri, the Iowa class battleship, moored just seaward of the Arizona Memorial. She is worthy of seeing for 3 reasons - because she is the same length as the Saratoga, has the same calibre main guns as the Nagato (16-inch) and because she is a cool looking ship! It must be said that when it comes to warships, the Yanks make the best looking ships!
USS Missouri
You will note, however, that even in times of war it appears that it is important for US naval personal to be able to catch a cool drink. Seems to rather spoil the view, don't you think?
Keep cool in the heat of battle!
Missouri was, as you of crouse all know, the location of the signing of the Japnese surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945, so it is particularly fitting that she is moored at Pearl Harbour. And do you know which other battleship was also lying in Tokyo Bay at the same time? Nagato...
There is also a good museum by the Bowfin full of stuff about US naval history, Pearl Harbour etc, plus some guns and even a Kaiten (a Japanese midget sub - that's a small sub not a sub for midgets!)
After Pearl Harbour it was time for some nosh and grog, so we proceeded to another sports bar, a finer and far more salubrious establishment than Big Dave's, it must be said. Attempting to get drunk on American beer is hard, as it's not that strong, so feeling bloated yet sober, we waddled back to the hotel with a feeling of trepidation. We found Ian completely off his trolley - was he drunk with happiness because his camera had arrived, or drunk with misery as it was currently at the DHL office in Ulan Bator? Yippee! It had arrived! Stop moaning now, Ian, and get a life!
A few more beers at the hotel bar were a sure fire cure for jet lag, so we all slept well pickled that night.
Saturday 03 May, 2003
A leisurely morning followed by a lunchtime check in for our flight to Guam and then on to Truk. My mate Mark, who works in Haiti and was joining us for the Truk leg of the journey, had flown over from Houston on the same plane, and we met in the departure lounge and sat next to each other on the flight. Again, a nice new 767 with your own TV, but it would appear that Gordon Bethune, Chairman of Continental Airlines and who appeared at the start of every safety briefing video, must have had some profiling done of Continental Airline's passengers and come to the conclusion that they were all either 4 ft tall or, if taller, had no legs. There is nothing like sitting on an 8 hour flight with your knees up round your earlobes, trying to watch a video on the TV in the seat back in front of you which is so angled when the person in the seat in front of you has it all the way back that you can't actually see the TV. Ah, joy of joys!
At some point during the flight we crossed the International Dateline. As we felt that this was similar to crossing the Equator we decided to throw Ian's video camera out of the window. He was so distraught we threw him after it. So we arrived in Guam on
Sunday 04 May 2003
Changing planes in Guam we then took the evening flight to Truk. As we touched down in Truk the sky was sullen and not a star could be seen peaking through the clouds. Oh bugger.
Still, we were in Truk, and the adventure was just beginning.
FIRST LEG:
Distance: 4435 miles
Air Time: 9hr 30m
Accumulated distance: 9877 miles
Accumulated Air Time: 20hr 45m
Next Installment of our Grande Trippe: I like Truking!
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