Today we went to the Big Island – the one a lot of ppl. call Hawaii. We landed at the Kona Airport – a small airport where you have to walk down the stairs from the plane – old and cosy. We then (after a few “where are we going”) picked up our rental car (of course the lady talked us in to upgrading it) – a Ford Explorer. For Kim this was a bus, but she’s a great driver and took us safely across the island.
Our first stop for the day was breakfast at Lava Java at Kailua-Kona. The food was ok, but the best was the chai tea ice latte that JO eventually got! I could drink it all day! Not too sweet – not too spicey, just – perfect! The place had live music – great view and cute sparrows that was right on top of you when you left your table or dropped some food 
We then drove on the Kona side of the island. If you’ve ever been to the Canary Island, Lanzarote, you’d recognize the scenery. Ppl. also found white stones and wrote their names or small notes on the black lava stones. I found it messy – like litter so I wouldn’t stop and do that. From the Kona side we turned towards the Hilo side – which is so green – almost like a jungle! In Hilo we had lunch and slow service – they didn’t at all deserve the tip we gave them – I blame them for almost losing our flight.
Kim then took us to the Akaka Falls – so pretty – lush with leaves and flowers and of course a waterfall – and we had some rain which is common in Hilo.
From Hilo we drove to see the lava flow, but we were told that there was nothing to see as the lava had made a crust – even at night there was nothing. The fun thing though was that when Kim stepped up to take a picture her alarm went off on her phone – she had set the alarm to “time to go to the airport – it’s a 2.5 hr ride from here”, but the alarm was one of those old-time sounds, so ppl around us were worried that they sounded the alarm for another lava outbreak! We all got a good laugh!
Well – the alarm went off and we had to head for the airport. It was a long and boring ride – and it turned out to be a bit longer than expected as ppl. drove slowly – we managed to fill gas, return the car, ask the driver to wait for us so he could take us to the airport – the into the line asking the security guy if we had enough time – which he told us we had. Well – by the time we were all throughy the security – with my shoes in my hand (and managed to run to the toilet and then to the queue) there were only a few ppl. left boarding the plane. So – if you’re in Hilo – plan for a bit more time
Thanks again Kim for driving us around in your “bus” – the island is now one of the “been there done that” – and if I was asked to go back I’d say no. I found it too quiet and a bit boring. Yeah, Oahu might be a bit more touristy, but you can chose to go away from Waikiki and get silence – on the Big Island – it was quiet all over except for the place we had breakfast. I guess we’ll visit Maui next time we’re here
