Travel Days - Celebrity Eclipse Honolulu to Vancouver Land Cruise Trip - May 5-6, 2023

A trip we had been planning for and waiting for had finally arrived.  We were headed to Honolulu, Hawaii and after some time in the islands would be cruising back to Vancouver on the Celebrity Eclipse.

We picked up a rental car at the Birmingham airport during our lunch hour, finished our work day, and then headed to Atlanta.  Traffic was better than we had expected with only a few slowdowns.  Our rental was a Kia Optima FE.  She had some miles on her and was at the end of her life as a rental car.

After getting gas, we checked into our hotel, dropped off our luggage and went to return the rental car.  The rental return process went so smoothly and in minutes, we were taking the escalator up to the SkyTrain.  

We arrived just before Paul's Mom made it to baggage claim, helped her get her luggage, and then had dinner in the atrium of the airport at TGIFridays.  After dinner, we took the SkyTrain back to our hotel.  

Our hotel was right next to the stop for the train.

We stayed at the Springhill Suites Atlanta Airport Getaway which couldn't have been a better location for what we needed.  Just steps from the entrance was the elevators to take us to the SkyTrain.

The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast in our hotel and then took the SkyTrain back to the airport to catch our nonstop flight to Honolulu.  Our flight took off on-time, arrived early, and was uneventful.  I had special ordered a vegan meal to make sure I received dairy free food I could actually eat and the food was quite good.

A root vegetable chili, grain salad, bread with vegan "butter", and fruit!

Hawaii is quite a long ways around the globe from Atlanta - It was just over a 9 hour flight.

A second light meal of a veggie sandwich and orange (Paul had pizza)

Diamond Head
(this blog started with a photo from the summit of Diamond head taken a few days into our trip)

When we arrived in Honolulu we picked up our rental car at the Alamo that was reserved as part of our hotel package at the Courtyard Waikiki Beach.  The Honolulu airport is fairly small and a lot of it seemed open air.  

Women's restroom at the airport

Our rental car was a Subaru Impreza hatchback.

After checking into our hotel and leaving our rental car with the valet, we set out on foot to explore a little bit of Waikiki.  We found some shrimp for dinner at the Waikiki Food Hall and then continued on to walk the beach.  

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Banan Waikiki Beach Shack located on Surf Alley, to try a dairy-free dessert that was delicious.

Here are a few photos of our hotel room and the view from our balcony.

We ended the day catching glimpses of the sunset and a Pacific Ocean view at what felt like midnight to us.