Waikiki, HI

Tuesday 30th: Annabelle’ Birthday! Just a quick one for today. We had a 10am pick up for the Waikele shopping outlet where Mark and Tom both led the charge. We arrived back to the hotel at about 4.30 and Mark and Tom went down to the beach. Annabelle and Ali, not having enough shopping for the day, hit the shops along our main street. We gathered in our room again for the customary drink on our balcony and Skype call to Matt. We then walked up to the 5 star Halekulani Hotel to have a pre-dinner drink at the bar, ‘House Without a Key’, before dining at the hotel restaurant, ‘Orchids’. ‘Orchids’ is a restaurant of some note, featuring in all of the ‘must do’ lists for Waikiki. Well, not for us. We can’t comment on the food as we left early due to the extremely poor level of service from all of the staff we encountered. Something you would not expect from a restaurant of this alleged caliber. We ended up going to a nice Italian restaurant, ‘Taormina’, just along the lane form the Halekulani which was a much more satisfying experience. The food was great and the staff friendly and attentive. They even gave Annabelle a dessert gift for her birthday! The evening ended up being a late but enjoyable one.