The Hawaiian islands are the perfect place to take a short, revitalising break. I hadn't been there since I visited 20 years ago to play water polo, so three girlfriends and I packed our swimsuits and sunblock and headed to the island of Oahu.
Our rather delayed flight saw us arrive at two in morning and wait around like lemmings on the edge of a cliff while US Customs took an hour and a half to process one plane-load.
It didn't really matter, as we immediately felt like we were on island time and slipped into blissful grins with pina colada drinking thoughts.
Our base on the island was to be the gorgeous Fantasy Island-style hotel the Moana Surfrider. A Westin resort, it is the oldest luxury hotel in Hawaii and sits right in the middle of Waikiki Beach. For our first full day in the sun, we stretched out on our hotel cabana chairs, making the most of the drinks service and having lots of swims with the resident giant turtles who live all year round along Waikiki Beach.
The food in Hawaii, like the rest of America, is never a small serve - so you either spend your week micromanaging your fried carb intake or just going with the flow and stuffing everything in. Which is what we did to start, enjoying every guilt-free mouthful of doughnut Two days on and we were craving slivers of raw fish with lettuce sprigs, so off to the fabulous Nobu for a micro dinner we went. Whoops - we took the "more is more" option yet again, sampling everything on the menu.
