Time has come today...

I traveled to O'ahu as part of the James Madison High School Class of 1960 tour group.  As soon as I stepped foot on the bus shuttling us to the airport, one of the organizers told me and another passenger around my age that we needed to be at work paying for their Social Security.  They cracked jokes about us "youngsters" practically the whole trip.  They were most definitely a lively bunch of seniors.  Some of them drank like they were reliving their college days.  There were several nights when I went up to my room before 9pm, while they stayed up late socializing in the lobby.  Many of us seemed to have trouble sleeping & trying to adjust to the 5-hour time difference.  I was in bed by 9:30 some nights & and woke up between 4 & 5 am most days, except for one day when I slept until 6:30am.

I explored the area around our hotel in those early morning hours when the streets were dark, but filled with many other pedestrians who must have also had trouble sleeping.  During my first morning walk, I met 2 surfers waiting on the sun to come up to begin their day at the beach.  They reminded me of "Jay and Silent Bob".  "Jay" was very friendly and greeted everyone who walked along the sidewalk.  He said his goal was to boost the positive energy around him by being positive himself.  His goal that morning was to get "Silent Bob" on his bus.  That sounded familiar, so I asked him if he had read, "The Energy Bus".  He said he had read the book and felt it was important to raise the energy of those around him even though the passersby generally ignored his enthusiastic greetings.

On another sleepless morning, I strapped on my running shoes and jogged around a well-lit military park followed by a dip in the hotel pool.  I was the only person in the pool at 5 o'clock in the morning.  I floated on an intertube and marvelled at the bright stars above.  The stars were bigger and brighter in Hawaii than I've ever seen in Texas.

One thing that I know for sure is that the tourism industry thrives on suckers who pay high prices for hotels, flights, excursions, etc.  If you're willing to pay $100 for dinner, then they are not going to tell you it only costs $10.  Our hotel and many others had agents inside selling different tourist packages like snorkeling, bus tours, dinner cruises, luaus, etc.  During our exploration of the area, we saw a small window offering the same packages that were being sold at the hotel for less than half the cost.  The shop sold snacks and computer usage, as well as the tourist packages advertised in the window, but the primary commodity of that shop seemed to be tar & nicotene in the form of cigarettes.  I stepped into the small shop that was no bigger than my Honda Civic to inquire about a tour of the island, also called the "circle island tour".  Our small group of 7 paid $38 each for the day long bus tour of the island of O'ahu versus $84 that was being charged elsewhere.  That tour encompassed many sites where the bulk of my pictures were taken. :-(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsBwBct0_5U