12-27-2008, 12:20 PM
We were there. We were just exiting our taxi at the Blaisdell Concert Hall....anticipating Howie Mandel's stand up comedy show that we had bought tickets for three months ago and which was our sole reason for this trip. Suddenly the city went dark on us. The cab driver had heard on his radio that it was island wide. We decided to let the cab go and wait outside the venue to see if the lights came back on and if the show would go on. The TV cameras from the local news stations were all of a sudden filming. But, at about 7:10pm (for a 7:30pm show) one of the theater employees came out and made the announcement on the front steps that the show was cancelled. (Really hope we can get our $$ back.)
At that point we saw a bus approaching the front of the hall...so we ran for it and jumped on. We had no idea how much the bus would cost, or where it was going...or where we had to get off. Of course, we did not have the correct change ($2.00 each) and the driver was getting a little impatient with our questions. At that point, a very nice young man paid our fares....we tried to give him some cash...but he would not hear of it. The aloha spirit kicked in big time here.
Traffic was a nightmare....no street lights were working. On some corners you could see the blue lights flashing where the police cars were helping at the intersections. But, mostly it was a free for all. Funny thing was that we did not experience a single drop of rain all evening. Just a bit of lightening.
The problem on the bus was that it was all SO dark outside, that no one knew where their stops were or where to get off. Even the local Oahu riders were unsure. It became a total group effort to figure out where everyone wanted to get off.
Once we were off the bus in the area of our hotel, it was eerie to see everyone walking around with their cell phones with that little blue glow coming from the display. Also, all of the hotels were giving out light or glow sticks....Waikiki looked very different. It was hard to cross the streets.....no street lights working. And, since this outage happened before 7pm, almost everyone had not eaten dinner yet. We all went to bed hungry last night!! Couldn't even get a beer. Of course, even the ABC stores had to close!! Probably going to be a baby boom on Oahu nine months from now. This morning once the power returned, every restaurant that was serving breakfast had lines out the door and around the block. Folks were hungry.
This was not the fun trip we had hoped for....but it was definitely an experience to remember.
At that point we saw a bus approaching the front of the hall...so we ran for it and jumped on. We had no idea how much the bus would cost, or where it was going...or where we had to get off. Of course, we did not have the correct change ($2.00 each) and the driver was getting a little impatient with our questions. At that point, a very nice young man paid our fares....we tried to give him some cash...but he would not hear of it. The aloha spirit kicked in big time here.
Traffic was a nightmare....no street lights were working. On some corners you could see the blue lights flashing where the police cars were helping at the intersections. But, mostly it was a free for all. Funny thing was that we did not experience a single drop of rain all evening. Just a bit of lightening.
The problem on the bus was that it was all SO dark outside, that no one knew where their stops were or where to get off. Even the local Oahu riders were unsure. It became a total group effort to figure out where everyone wanted to get off.
Once we were off the bus in the area of our hotel, it was eerie to see everyone walking around with their cell phones with that little blue glow coming from the display. Also, all of the hotels were giving out light or glow sticks....Waikiki looked very different. It was hard to cross the streets.....no street lights working. And, since this outage happened before 7pm, almost everyone had not eaten dinner yet. We all went to bed hungry last night!! Couldn't even get a beer. Of course, even the ABC stores had to close!! Probably going to be a baby boom on Oahu nine months from now. This morning once the power returned, every restaurant that was serving breakfast had lines out the door and around the block. Folks were hungry.
This was not the fun trip we had hoped for....but it was definitely an experience to remember.