“We are on our descent into Honolulu.” Christmas in Hawaii. For us two small town Newfoundlanders Christmas had always been spent in the cold with traditional Christmas trees, gifts and surrounded by family and friends. Hot weather, sand, beach, lighted palm trees and swimming in tropical waters was a far cry from anything we had ever been used to in Newfoundland.

We arrived at the Hilton Hawaiian Village late in the night, but there were line ups everywhere just the same as if it was the middle of the day. All the stores were still open as well as restaurants and bars. Children were still on the go long past their bedtime they would have had at home, and it was an entirely different hussle and bustle than what we were used to at Christmas time.

Our main reason for wanting to go to Hawaii was Pearl Harbour. My husband, being a WWII buff, wanted to see it as we had watched the movie on TV so many times. It was absolutely breathtaking actually being there and standing on the platform above the sunken Arizona. Seeing the oil still seeping to the surface after 68 years was quite eerie, and to see the names of all the people who lost their lives written on the Wall of Honour brought fiction to reality.

That night we went on a romantic dinner cruise. A stretch limo picked us up at the hotel and took us to the marina where we boarded the ship. We were taken to meet the Captain, then seated in the VIP section where we enjoyed a seven-course fine dining meal all the while sailing around the island of Oahu.

As a kid growing up in Newfoundland, we would watch “Voyage to the bottom of the Sea” on TV and see advertisements in the comic books to buy your own submarine kit and build it. I was always fascinated by these advertisements, so when one of the attractions was a submarine ride I had to go. We went down under Waikiki beach and, worse than a child, I was glued to the window absolutely fascinated by what I could see through that porthole . This was another childhood fantasy that became a reality to me on this trip. We also got our picture taken with our copy of Downhome so we could send it in to the magazine for everyone to see where it has been.

We took the Grand Island bus tour around the island. We saw the beach where Elvis made the movie “Blue Hawaii,” and Sunset Beach with its 30-foot waves where all the surfing competitions take place. We passed by Robin’s estate from the series “Magnum PI,” saw the hotel where “Dog the Bounty Hunter” has his office, and the 5-0 headquarters from Hawaii Five-O.

No trip to Hawaii would be complete without going to a luau, so off to Paradise Cove we went. We sampled many traditional foods, saw native dancers and even got to go on stage and learn how to hula dance. Upon our request, the luau’s Hawaiian Princess stopped and held our copy of Downhome and had her picture taken with us.

Kualoa Plantation was the next leg of our journey. Being from Newfoundland and both loving quading, we went on a quad ride up in the mountains and saw the filming site of the movie “Lost” and “Jurassic Park.” Just offshore from the plantation we saw “Gilligan’s Island” and were fascinated to learn that the marina we went on our dinner cruise from was the same one the “Minnow” departed from on the movie.

The next day we flew off to the “Big Island” to see the active volcano and take a tour around the island. We saw the smoke from the volcano and even got to walk through a Lava tube beneath the earth made many years before from the volcano erupting and spilling the hot lava down to the sea. We saw a beach that had nothing but black sand from the lava eruptions. One of the most amazing things we encountered was how the roads were constructed on top of actual lava flows from previous lava eruptions, and how the people live right on the edge of the volcano crater knowing that at any given moment it could erupt, destroying all they hold dear to them.

For us, this was a trip of a lifetime, very exciting and different, but our hearts were back home with the cold, snow, family, friends and Christmas in Newfoundland.
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