If You Wanna Be Where The People Are, Come To Honolulu During Spring Break

​"Hail Mary" 
by Patti Liszkay
Available on Amazon
https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​

​If You Wanna Be Where The People Are, Come To Honolulu During Spring Break

      Once again the islands, or rather, one island in particular, called to my mate Tom and me.

      And so early in the morning on Saturday, March 23, we boarded a flight from Columbus, Ohio, and twelve hours later we arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii.

      Our plane was quite full, and many of the passengers appeared to be parents and grandparents with children of all ages. Still, after we deplaned I didn't remember the baggage claim area being as wall-to-wall packed upon previous arrivals in Honolulu as it was this time.

        "Is it just me," I asked Tom as we attempted to jockey for a spot near the baggage carousel, "or does it seem like there's a whole lot more people here than usual?"
           "Yeah, it does," said Tom. "Is that one of our suitcases coming round?" 
           "I think so but I can't get anywhere near it, can you?"
           "We'll just wait 'til it comes around again," said Tom. "This must be  Spring Break." 
              "On steroids,"  said I. "And there goes our other suitcase."                 
           After we finally managed to collect our luggage we headed to the airport Budget Rent-a-Car where the line was almost to the door, which, I suppose, stood to reason, since  everyone who picked up their luggage now had to to pick up their rental car. 
          But as it turned out the line moved fast, and everyone seemed in good spirits while we waited our turns. I expect this was because we were all about to begin our Hawaii vacations, and the desk workers were friendly and welcoming in the Hawaiian way. So it was all good.   
              Soon enough we arrived at our hotel, the Hale Koa in Waikiki,    

​...where we joined the rest of the afternoon check-ins in the open-air lobby,

...which we found considerably more populated this year than when we've come to the Hale Koa in years past. ​

      Our room was on the fifth floor,   ​

...with views of the mountains,

...the sea.

...and the city.

     By the time we settled in it was dinner time, and so we headed down to Happy's, 

​...the popular on-post short-order eatery near the beach,

...where the food is always good, the portions huge, and the patio seating delightful,

...and, thankfully, not to crowded at the moment we arrived.

      We settled on the very tasty Saturday night special, pork and cabbage.  

      After dinner we walked to the beach and arrived just in time to join the the other beach goers who were there watching the sunset,

     Then we found ourselves a spot among the confluence of strollers along the  beach,

...with beautiful Diamond Head in the foreground.

     Then, though we were tired out from our trip, we couldn't resist walking just a little ways into downtown Waikiki, not to the main thoroughfare, Kalakaua Street, but only as far as Lewers Street, one of the side streets,

...which was nonetheless full of people of all ages.

       But in truth, we didn't mind the crowds; for all these people out enjoying this lovely Honolulu night filled the night with life and good energy. And if there were more people in Hawaii over this Spring Break than we'd ever seen before, we took it as a sign that times were perhaps getting better, that more people than ever now had the means to travel with their families to one of the loveliest, friendliest places on the planet,

...which we were  happy to share.