Guten Morgen, welcome to Munich

Welll, here we are.  We made it in one piece, on time and with our luggage. Winning all around.

Having arrived early this morning (Tuesday), we checked in early too and made the most of the included breakfast to try and beat the jetlag monster. The melatonin supplement coupled with getting some sunshine certainly helped. We worked it out that we hadn't breathed fresh air in over a day, since leaving Brisbane....airport terminals don't count as we were locked away in transit. Back tracking a bit, Clyde enjoyed all the big stuff that Changi brings... like the food ornaments!

The sleep on the SIN-MUC sector was average but better than expected.  SQ scored 5 stars on the dunx-a-grumpy-old-bastard-scale. 

Oh yes, Munich..Off exploring we did.... taking a look at some fancy-pants clocks, old statues, more clocks, more old crap (not really crap, just old), some more clocks and another clock or two.

The Glockenspiel was some impressive clockwork and engineering.  It was good to see that all of the clocks were in sync.  No bloody wonder why the Germans are always on time.

 

The jousting drew some international 'oh-umm-arrrrhs' from the crowd, and Clyde.

No clocks were harmed during the mechanical jousting demonstration within the clocktower.

And some other clock action, and a touch of Munich's Got Talent.

 

We also stumbled across a tribute to Sadie the cleaning lady. 

We also had the slightest feeling that this was a bike lane. Out the way silly lady in the comfy shoes!!

 

Anyyhoo - it is now 7.23pm here. This nana as still not slept and it is time to wake up the other younger Nana up.  I'm surprised the snoring hasn't resulted in auto-wakeup.

It has been a busy day, the rental car has been collected, with a little bit of an upgrade happening. Hello Mercedes Benz.

Tomorrow we hit the road bound for Innsbruck via a little disney-like castle.

See you tomorrow from Austria!

Singapore Girl, A Great Way To Fly...

Here we are 34013ft above the ocean, 1hr51min to run to SIN.

The view was rather lovely...

...until we were interrupted by a rather sneaky commotion at row 36. Oh, it was for us. Some cheeky monkey told the crew that we were celebrating something and the lovely crew came to wish us all the best!

We had only just been saying how the service from the time we checked in to inflight had been flawless. This just topped it off.

What a wonderful way to start this adventure.

Thank you Singapore Girls!! You really are the best way to fly!

Heeeee's Baaaaaack

Clyde got wind of a trip and magically made it to the airport. 

ChapOt10.... let's get outta here!

It's time for another adventure abroad.  It has been a while since the last break, it's been a big year for both of us and Clyde has been pesting us to take him away again.  

One sleep to go...

Last Day in Heaven.

It has been a few days since Clyde caused trouble.

Yesterday we took Mustang Sally for a spin around Oahu.  Ryan did all of the driving. I was not feeling 100% so we called it a short day. Damn sleeping in aircon draft!

After an early night it was last minute shopping, a trot around Waikiki with the 'proper camera', a big lunch at Hard Rock Cafe which is one of our regular haunts around the globe.

A lunch this size saves on dinner, right??!

Bags have been depressingly packed as the sun sets on another wicked vacation. This was last night...

 Oh and Happy Fathers Day to Lyle and Tim - we are bringing a little bit of Hawaii back for you.

We were given a hot tip (thanks Starchie) to get our Vodka here. Indeedeee yes... Belvedere (that's the top notch rocket fuel in Vodkaland) for only $25.... So there is just enough room in the bags for that.

After lunch it was time to hit the sand (there right now writing this). Clyde is the only one not peeling. We woke up this morning pretty sure the sleep fairies had dumped a box of cornflakes in the bed!

Clyde did enjoy the beach and is not looking forward to going home. Not sure why :))

Back a bit later, time to float around the beach on the haemorrhoid cushion / floatation device...

We may just head to the 'local' for a farewell drink as Honolulu has been rather dry.

Escape from Waikiki...

So, Honolulu we misjudged you. Once beyond the stranglehold of the tourist mecca, Hono is just lovely. Ryan opted out of driving today - he can be the pilot tomorrow.

But we did need therapy. This involved freeway driving in our grubby girl Mustang Sally.

And just a little bit of shopping.... All necessary of course. 

Time to hit the laundry. It must be the obligatory nap time too. Very busy multitasking!

More later.

Well Hi There Honolulu.

OK, so up until now the vacation has been very VERY relaxing.  Hawaiian Airlines was awesome.  They do treat staff travellers very well.  Even the TSA lady was a bit chatty too.

Then Honolulu happened!

It took close to an hour and a half from the time we landed to the time we managed to get away with our rental car.  A stark contrast with how things were in Maui and how organised Alamo were there.

We waited for about half an hour, they didn't give a crap. It seems having a booking doesnt really count for anything. It was 36 degrees outside where we waited, we kinda sorta didnt give a crap either - just over it and wanted to get this leg of the trip underway.  We had booked a Mustang and got a Camiro.  Loaded her up with our luggage, worked out how the car all worked and finally a helpful Alamo lady appeared to tell us that the convertible roof was stuffed.  So we unpacked, and finally a Mustang was made available.  A car that appears to have vomit on the dash, dog hair... and quite frankly looked like a dirty pile of shit.

At this stage we just wanted to get on the road - and by now it was peak out traffic.  At least the calmness from Maui paid off... and we just rolled with it.

Waikiki is crazy.  We plan to get outta here tomorrow and venture around places that have limited tourists and hustle and bustle.

Waikiki beach itself is stunning though, and just like I remember from 25 years ago.  It could still be mistaken as being an outter suburb of Tokyo.

We ended up settling for the usual Thursday fare... the queue for Cheesecake Factory was 45 minutes.

Time for sleep and another day of randomness tomorrow.

And already contemplating our next vacation to Maui.

Maui Day Out...Mother Nature at her finest.

Our last full day saw us trying to keep out of the sun thanks to the lingering sunburn.  So we decided to take Ruby for a drive up around the northern coast of the island.  There were some winding narrow roads along the way, but well worth it. 

Some great views of the neighbouring island Molokai too...

Ryan did a great job of getting us there, and we decided to stop a few times just to admire the natural environment.  We could not have been farthest from our usual reality if we had tried.

The aim was to see the Nakalele Blowhole. There were many warning signs when we were climbing down from the carpark, so we kept a safe distance.

Quite a hike to get back up the hills too...

On the way back we checked out the town of Kapalua, it is always good to see how the locals live.

We managed to enjoy the beach for one last time...at 5pm so there was limited risk of sunburn.

Maui was a great way to recharge and relax, we are going to miss the place when we leave.

Next stop Honolulu.

Altitude Sickness, Motion Sickness & SUNBURN

Well here we are back at the resort. As usual we completely f..ked ourselves up when on vacation.

Today's Plans:

Get in Ruby the Jeep and head up  through the Haleakala National Park, and check out the crater atop the volcano at 10000ft.

Today's Actual Activities:

Ruby took us as far as 8500ft and we turned her around and headed back.  Poor Ryan had his sinus' playing up (this usually happens when on a jet, not a mountain.... actually this is the first mountain that we have climbed / driven up).

The winding roads for the last part, coupled with the thin oxygen levels plus the effects of yesterday's sunburn (yes we look like an old Virgin Blue jet, just without the wingtips) took its toll on the youngin'.  Yes Mums,  we had SPF30 on, hats, shade, the bloody works, but once you are in the water the sun gets nasty. Lesson learned.  Tomorrow's beach visit with be in a full wetsuit with armour plating.

Anyhoo, we were so close to the summit but it was the right decision to head back down, with the patient strewn across the back seat we made it to a more comfy level.

After a good feed at Denny's, such a classy restaurant, but one of our faves, and a trip to the Walgreens Pharmacy (that also sells vodka) Ryan is feeling much better.  Vodka and Solarcaine does wonders, or it could be the full strength Sudafed that the Pharmacist issued to Ryan.

That's really about it.  Clyde enjoyed the view from half way up.

The road was windy -  the GPS looked like some infant had a spaz attack with a crayon.

Ok, where's the vodka as I need to peel Ryan off the ceiling.

God knows what tomorrow will bring....our last day in Maui.

Yes we are definately coming back.  On the DunxIsAGrumpyTraveller Scale this is 6 stars out of 5.

Hello...SPF30000 please!

Just... Hello, oh ok Aloha! 

We will be lodging a formal complaint, in triplicate, regarding the view and we hold Sheraton Maui personally responsible for the VERY HOT sand...

This is all that we have managed to achieve today. The Brand New Heavies in  Ryan's ears, and surprise surprise Fleetwood Mac in mine (Seven Wonders...very appropriate)

A beach with wifi... Only in America!

Happy Labor Day Hawaii!

Driving Miss Ruby

At OGG airport we picked up our wheels. Things are done a little differently here, we signed the paperwork and headed to the carpark where the Alamo chap just told us to pick a car from the Jeep line. There was black, grey, black, more grey - then an excited squeal.... We found a red one.

Ryan drove first to where we are staying in Kaanapali. He done good :) . The hired GPS and navigator in the right hand seat also ensured things stayed on track. Not too much barking orders, I mean guidance and directions. Well done Ryan!! Pleased that he was smiling...

My medication worked a treat too...

We will post photos of "Ruby" soon... Her roof comes off, just have to work that out.

Time to get into it....

Very difficult decisions today, breaky done, now what?!

A whole lotta nuffin!  Out it is sorted for the day. Will check back in later.

In transit...

So here we are. The ukelele moosac in the gate is just perfect. Not a worry in the world right now, that is subject to change at short notice but not likely at the moment.

The service with HA is again just awesome... Hope that trend continues. 

From stepping off our international flight, doing all of the government formalities such as finger printing and retina scans, to making our way to the interisland terminal took all of 30 minutes. And time for Starbucks!

Clyde has been enjoying the vintage Hawaiian Airlines memorabilia around the terminal which itself is a little vintage, gotta love retro!!

Well, our baby Boeing has arrived. On our way very shortly! 

See you soon Maui... and our first time driving on the other side of the road. Fingers crossed the jetlag monster doesn't bite just yet!!

Good Morning And Welcome to HONOLULU!

So here we are, dinner done, half assed attempted at sleep (with the assistance of a little something from the doctor), a couple of TV shows watched on the iPad together, breaky done and now it is time to prepare for landng.

So Hawaiian Airlines....5 Stars on the DunxAGrumpyTraveller Scale.  As you would expect the staff have been very welcoming and attentive, the food was good - just what you expect for a plane ride, the retro-fitted Boeing 767-300ER was a comfy ride and we had a centre block of 3 seats between us.  

At check-in we noticed other standby VA staff travellers in front of us. They were given economy boarding passes right away and trotted off through immigration. We had our turn, check in was the same until we were ushered to see the check-in boss.  She politely explained that unfortunately Business Class was full but then gave us some very nice seats with some extra room.  Can't ask for better than that really.  It was just nice to be treated like a human when on staff travel. Bags are tagged all the way through to OGG (Kahului, Maui).  OGG - there is a story about that designator code, and we can go into that later.  Some very humble Hawaiian Airlines history, anyhoo will leave that for another post.

With a few minutes to go until they spool them big motors down for our glide into Honolulu its best to sign off and get ready for the transit, another plane ride on a little Boeing 717 (it's a kinda DC-9 with a facelift - geez these HA folks like flying vintage)....and the lovely folks at US Immigration and we cannot forget the TSA security folks.  I hear that we may have some rain ahead.

Welcome to America.

Are we there yet!?

No Clyde, we haven't even left yet!

Here we go again...

It's time for a vacation, last night we were in the company of Lady Gaga at Olympic Park Sydney. 

Awesome concert put on by Mother Monster and a great way to crack the daily grind and kick the holiday off. Yep a whole lotta bubbles, lights and thumping music!

Clyde is a bit excited for the trip too, with a quick 9hr B767 flight in front of him and then time to relax in Hawaii.

I did wake up a little dazed after the concert and when I answered the phone in the bathroom I got a nasty spray from someone. Anyhow....

After the obligatory Sydney selfies we are now off to the airport for a quick flight to BNE to connect with our HNL flight.

Ciao for now...