RAYMO’S RAMBLINGS – HAWAIIAN ADVENTURE
HAWAIIAN ADVENTURE
We had an interesting day on the island of Oahu during our vacation/wedding in Hawaii. It was an adventure. It started at 6am in the morning when we were to be on a street corner outside our hotel on Waikiki beach to catch our coach bus to take us on a tour of Honolulu, then up the northern coast to the Polynesian Cultural Center.
The Polynesian Cultural Center is like a theme park and is Hawaii’s #1 visitor attraction, with villages and exhibits representing the island cultures of Hawaii, Fiji, Samoa, and Tahiti.
We really enjoyed the ride up the coast to get to the Polynesian Cultural Center because our tour bus took us by a number of sites where movies were made, we saw the mountains and valleys where Jurassic Park was filmed. A favorite movie of mine, First Date with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler the café on the ocean where most of the movie was filmed. Not to mention President Obama’s home, and where Obama and Bruno Mars went to high school.
After a full day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which included an amazing luau we were tired. It was time to get on the bus to go back to our hotel in Honolulu. It was about 9:30pm when we boarded our coach bus, the bus was full. Roxie’s sister Becky was with us, Roxie and Becky sat together and I sat behind them. The bus took off for our hour and half drive back to our hotel.
About halfway down the highway, our bus died alongside the road. It just quit. The bus driver got it pulled over to the side of the road before it stopped. My first reaction was that he ran out of gas. The bus driver tried over and over again to start the bus but It would not start. That’s when the fun started!
With no air conditioner running it started to get warm quick with a full load of people on the bus. People were trying to figure out how to open the windows. Then another bus from an another company pulled alongside us. The bus driver from that bus climbed aboard our bus and made an announcement. “I have room for fourteen people”
Well, of course mostly everyone jumped out of there seat to get off. We were just about close to the cutoff since we were sitting up front. Roxie and her sister Becky stood up to hurry off the bus. I stayed seated behind them. My wife looked at me and said “Get up!” I responded “No you go ahead I’ll wait” Her response was “Get Up, you’re coming with us!!”
I said “Women and children first”. She said “This isn’t the Titanic…get up!!!!
So I stood up and got in the aisle, embarrassed that I was one of only a few men standing to get off. One young man in a hurry to get off started climbing over the seats to be one of the first fourteen off the bus. Unfortunately, we didn’t make the cut and had to return to our seats. When I sat down I crouched low still embarrassed that I tried to get off the bus ahead of women and children.
Another empty bus finally arrived and we all boarded that bus and made it back to Honolulu around midnight. Fun day, but tiring day. Roxie still shakes her head at me when we talk about that bus breaking down. Good for laughs.
