An unexpected detour to Hawaii!

I was flying back to the states from a trip to the Philippines and I was connecting in Narita Airport in Japan. As soon as I get to check-in for my connecting flight in Japan, I noticed the gate agents asking for volunteers since the flight was oversold. I quickly seized the opportunity and threw my name in the hat. After a few minutes, they approached me and told me that I was getting rebooked to a later flight that day, all in First Class but there was one problem. I had a 12-hour layover in Hawaii. I had to contain myself from my excitement as I’ve never been to Hawaii and just told the lady that I will take it. Having previously never flown a First Class long-haul product, I was blown away by everything. The lie-flat beds, food and service were just exceptional. The only thing that I regret was that I slept for most of the flight and didn’t get to experience it as much as I wanted to.

We arrive in Honolulu early in the morning and I proceeded to take the bus to Waikiki beach. I grabbed something to eat and walked around the beach when I saw ads for a submarine ride. I checked with the person taking reservations and they even gave out discounts for military members. After 30 minutes, we boarded the sub. The whole thing was a pretty cool experience. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.