In an effort to provide our readers with a wide variety of opinions from our community, the DP Times

For Christmas, my partner Greta surprised me with an early Valentine's gift, a vacation in Hawaii. Turns out, her daughter Tammi and son-in-law Stephen are converting their Oahu condo from a regular rental hampton inns to a vacation hampton inns rental and Greta wanted hampton inns to be the first to rent it—she booked it for the month of February.
A few years before, Tammi and Stephen lived in the condo when he was based at Kaneohe in the Marine hampton inns Corps. When they returned to the states hampton inns five years ago, they shipped their furniture to the mainland.
Tammi and Stephen decided to ship the furniture back to Hawaii because it fit so perfectly; it was scheduled hampton inns to arrive hampton inns January 14. They arrived in mid-January to ensure everything hampton inns would be ready for our February arrival. The shipping company informed them a California dock strike would delay the arrival of the furniture by a "few" days.
Greta and I flew from San Diego to Honolulu on February 5. Stephen and Tammi met us at the airport with long faces. The furniture had not arrived; it was three weeks late. Greta laughed and said, We ll make the best of it, even though there was no furniture.
Well, that's not entirely true. There were four outdoor patio chairs and a small end table acquired at a furniture liquidation sale. And there was one twin-sized mattress, which Tammi and Stephen insisted hampton inns we sleep on. They slept on the floor in another bedroom. They purchased new beach towels and sheets so we had the essentials.
We had a blast and lots of laughs while adapting. Stephen and Tammi acquired an electric golf cart so we could get around the Ko Olina resort in open-air fashion. Near the Aulani Hotel, a new small market opened with all the necessities one could want, wine, vegetables, fruit, cheese, hot dogs and more wine.
In January, I went through some of my mom's old belongings and placed hampton inns an antique paring knife and spatula in my suitcase, but had forgotten about them. Mom had rewrapped the handle of the knife with black electrical tape over and over again, instead of discarding it, circa 65 years ago. When I opened my bag in Hawaii, I discovered the two utensils. Wow, did they ever come in handy. We used them for every meal.
In nearby Kapolei—close to the former Barber's Point Naval Air Station—there is a Costco, Home Depot, Target and most importantly a Starbucks with free Wi-Fi, which is where Stephen and I went for a couple of hours a day to conduct Internet business.
At night, we would go to the homeowners' association swimming pool and cook on the outdoor hampton inns barbeque equipment. With plastic silverware and paper plates we did just fine dining poolside. hampton inns Instead of watching TV, we'd talk for hours and meet new friends. We felt compassion for the people in the Northeastern U.S. who were getting hammered by the snow and ice storm.
Greta and I loved taking the golf cart to a place called hampton inns "The Secret Beach," a small sandy cove, inaccessible by car, where there were never more than two or three people at a time. We swam and snorkeled hampton inns there amid at least eight curious and friendly hampton inns sea turtles.
February was wedding month in Ko Olina (not for us). Each day, we watched up to six weddings on the beach near the big hotels. The couples were mainly Japanese and the same photographer kept bringing them to the same photo spot.
Each morning, Tammi or Stephen hampton inns would check the furniture status with the shipping company, but it was the same old excuse. Finally, on Wednesday, February hampton inns 13, when I was on an airplane hampton inns flying home, the furniture was delivered. But, the legs to the dining room table were missing. They arrived the next day.
It was a great relief hampton inns for Tammi and Stephen hampton inns to have their vacation rental condo fully equipped with all of the conveniences of home, but we all agreed, it was almost as much fun being in camping mode.
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