Aloha! First Impressions

For the first time in all of Terri's travels, she talked me into going on a trip with her. A week in Waikiki? How could I resist?

Over the next several days, I'm going to try to describe the experience, and hopefully convince Terri to add her own point of view. We've done a lot, and I'm starting this from the Sheraton Waikiki, connected to the internet from the hotel's hotspot, maybe 50 yards from he Pacific Ocean.

I'll start today with the very first impressions when we arrived at the hotel. There are no doors. You walk in to the lobby area from the front without passing through a door. The sculpture of the sea turtles and the round aquarium are striking on there own, but the open design is the first thing that struck me as unique. Once you go through the lobby, you can go straight back to the pool area, again without passing through a door. There is a sidewalk along the water directly in front of the hotel, but just a few yards to either direction is beach. There are breakers directly in front, and the different shades of blue looking further out is breathtaking. Diamondhead lies to the left, and not far away.

Back to the open building...just inland from the hotel is the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. It too, is open to the elements, with no doors to block entrance except those of the individual stores. That seems to be a trait shared by most of the malls and shopping centers here, at least in the immediate area. It's a welcome air of openess.

Before I close for the day, I have to mention the bike racks. These things appear to be very sturdy, but their unique feature is that they are shaped like bikes. They are very frequent, wit a lot of the tourists renting bikes, and many of the locals using them to get around. More on the bikes later...

Tom