Diary Entries From 2 April to 6 April 1982 – The End of The Trip
The USA Travel Diary series starts HERE.
Friday 2nd April
Place: San Francisco
Weather: cloudy and sprinkling
Got up at 6 am can you believe that! Caught the bus to San Francisco downtown. We had to get to Fisherman’s Wharf which became quite involved. It took us three buses to finally get to Pier 39.
We bought our tickets for Alcatraz Island. It was a five minute boat trip. Luckily it wasn’t longer as the water was extremely rough.
We had a very interesting and fun tour, what a creepy place. We took lots of photos.
When we returned from Alcatraz we walked around the shops and stalls on Pier 39. Then we had lunch. We did the last of our souvenir shopping then headed for home.
We had to walk quite a distance to find our bus stop and man did we get drenched and blown to bits. Our bus took one and a half hours to get home. We had dinner then played gin rummy with Stan until midnight. I won.
Date: 2/4/02–3/4/82
Place: San Francisco
Weather: sprinkling sometimes
Saturday 3rd April
We stayed in all day due to the rain. Stan and Wilma went out we were stuck in with Wilma’s mum, she’s crazy. Toni and I played charades all night.
Date: 4/4/82
Place: San Francisco
Weather: finally sunny
Sunday 4th April
José picked us up about noon. We drove up to the hills and had a beautiful view of the city. We drove down Lombard Street “The Crooked Street” which was quite an experience. Then we took photos of the Golden Gate Bridge from four different angles.
We drove across the bridge to Sausalito which is a very ritzy suburb. We had lunch at Zak’s, a bar and grill overlooking the bay. We stayed there for a few hours listening to the band and feeding the pigeons. Then we made our way home through the very heavy traffic.
Date: 5/4/82–6/4/82
Place: San Francisco – Honolulu
Weather: wet – humid
Sunday 5th April
We slept late then packed. We played a game of cards with Stan and Wilma then left for the airport. We flew out at 9 pm.
Tuesday 6th April
We arrived in Honolulu at about 1 am. I was decked out in winter clothes and the temperature was 80° F and humid. Man was I sweating.
We booked Waikiki Surf Hotel. We didn’t sleep well, the fire alarm went off three times and we were on a main street. Noise no one sleeps in this place.
We booked an all day tour which was terrific. We went to the Polynesian Culture Centre on the opposite side of the island. Continued on Side Trips.
Note from GM in 2023: The rest of the Honolulu experience is in the “Side Trips” section of the diary. You can read it HERE. And the return flights are described HERE.
A Note from Greg
Tucked away in the “Memos” section of the diary in Trenna’s writing, dated 11 January 1982, is the following:
"Some days I feel I need love so bad, That I hate everyone who already has it. Could this mean I don't deserve it? God, I hope not!"
Itinerary
There s an “Itinerary” section in the diary. Trenna’s entries appear below, but as there was so little planning involved in the trip she either did it as she travelled or filled it in afterwards.
22/10/81 New York
7/11/81 Washington DC
15/11/81 Oceanview, Virginia
20/11/81 New York
28/11/81 Boston, Massachusetts
8/12/81 Niagara Falls, Canada
10/12/81 Sania, Ontario, Canada
15/12/81 New York
31/12/81 Orlando, Florida
5/1/82 Daytona Beach, Florida
8/1/82 Orlando, Florida
12/1/82 Daytona Beach, Florida
22/1/82 New York
2/2/82 Chicago, Illinois
9/2/82 Memphis, Tennessee
11/2/82 New Orleans, Louisiana
16/2/82 Dallas, Texas
21/2/82 Los Angeles, California
12/3/82 Las Vegas, Nevada
14/3/82 Los Angeles, California
29/3/82 San Francisco
5/4/82 Honolulu, Hawaii
Gifts
In the “Memo” section Trenna has listed gifts to relatives and friends:
Nancy, ‘View from a broad’ windcheater, Elvis ashtray
Colin BBB Jar T-shirt
Barbie windcheater
José windcheater
Jim T-shirt
Alan T-shirt
Becky windcheater
Brett space stuff, Donald
Nat Goofy
Libby Mickey
Cathy Minnie
Helen stamps, Pooh Bear
Sue and Neil gun key ring, bullshit repellent windcheater
Jan Mickey Mouse
Colin and Linda boot key ring, hand towel
Hotels
In the “Hotels Stopped At” section”
21/10/81 At Air India’s expense. Delfis Bols Des Roches.
17 Rue Berlioz 91240 Saint Michelle, Sur Orge France
7/11–9/11/81 Ramada Inn – Central
1430 Rhode Island Avenue NW Washington DC 20005. $42 per night
9/11/81–15/11/81 Americana Motel
1400 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia 22202, Washington DC. $38 per night
15/11/81–20/11/81 Twin Sails Motel
Oceanview Avenue, Oceanview, Norfolk, Virginia. $31 per night
28/11/81–29/11/81 The Ramada Inn
1234 Soldiers Field Road, Boston 02135, Massachusetts. $60 per night
8/12/81–10/12/81. Pan O Rama Motel
6365 Buchanan Avenue, Niagara Falls, Ontario. $28.50 per night Canadian
31/12/81–3/1/82 Ramada Inn South West
2950 Reedy Creek Boulevard, Kissimmee 32741, Florida $55 per night
5/1/82–8/1/82 and 12/1/82–22/1/82 The Islander Motel
1233 N. Atlantic Avenue, Daytona Beach 32018, Florida. $12 per night
8/1/82–12/1/82 Days Inn
2500 33rd Street, Orlando 32805, Florida. $33 per night
9/2/02–11/2/82 Days Inn
1533 Brooks Road, Memphis, Tennessee 38116. $30 per night
11/2/82–16/2/82 Howard Johnson’s ‘East‘
4200 Old Gentilli Road, New Orleans, Louisiana 70126. $48 per night
16/2/82–21/2/82 Days Inn
110 West Airport Freeway, Irving, Dallas 75062, Texas. $34 per night
12/3/82–14/3/82 Motel 6
Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada. $20 per night
5/4/82–7/4/82 Waikiki Surf Hotel
2200 Kūhiō Avenue, Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu. $31 per night
Epilogue
Thank you for reading The USA Travel Diaries series. When I met Trenna I hadn’t been to the USA but was quite interested. She had loved the trip and wanted to take me there and show me around. We talked about it for years.
We didn’t get to go until 2013, and then, it didn’t all go according to plan….
Of course, there will be a series of posts about that particular trip, but not quite yet.
One reply on “The USA Trip Diary – Part 9”
Thanks Greg for sharing these trip notes. That was 6 months of one hell of an adventure. Glad you both travelled together to the US in later years.