Those of you who think you think you have spotted an error in my pages (well, they're probably full of them, but that's not the point), it is in fact correct. We did leave Auckland on the evening of Monday 5 February and arrive in Honolulu in the morning of Monday 5 February. The international date line meant that we jumped back to the beginning of the previous day and all those hours we lost each time we travelled west had been given back to us. Confused, well so were we.

We were not exactly welcomed to America with open arms. There were an horrendous number of questions, including "Are you a member of any subversive or communist organisations?" We were tempted to say "Nyet Comrade", but customs officials don't like smart-arses and would probably have bought us down a peg or two. Luckily our passports weren't stamped at Moscow! They were, however, stamped in Thailand and as soon as they caught sight of that, we were given even more of a hard time. Mike even got dragged off to a small room with a couple of very butch customs officers for a very thorough search, although, fortunately, they didn't put their gloves on. It was a good job we didn't crack that communist joke.

My comrade and I had pre-booked into one of those traditional YHA hostels with duties, a daytime lock-out and lights off at eleven (after when anyone caught out would get ten years' hard duties). We quickly decided to check out and find a more liberal hostel.

We loved Honolulu, it was exactly as you would have expected it to be with loads going on and everyone having a great time (despite the efforts of the YHA Gestapo). We started each day at a restaurant where you could eat as much as you like for about $4. They made a loss that week! After three or four plate-fulls we felt ill, but were stuffed for the day.

Most days, we slobbed on the beach, topping up our tans for what would be the last time in ages and wishing we hadn't eaten so much. We went to Pearl Harbour for one day. As we were too tight to go on an official tour for $22 we went there by bus for $1.20 and then discovered that most of what there was to see was free. Capitalist pigs! This included a trip out to a memorial that is built over the USS Arizona, on which several hundred people died when it was bombed by the Japanese. There was plenty to look at on land as well and it was a day well spent!

We’d met two guys from Cleveland, Ohio at the YHA hostel who had a car and they offered to take us round the island for one of the days. The car was a convertible, which was a great way to drive round Hawaii, until, that is, it started to rain. It was a typical tropical downpour and it started when we were on the Freeway so we couldn’t stop and put the roof up. We were drenched, much to the amusement of everyone else!

The nightlife in Honolulu was excellent, however, most of the pubs (sorry, bars) only served some piss-coloured water called Budweiser. We drank vodka instead, which brought back memories of the motherland, so we sang songs about the workers' struggle against capitalist imperialism. Well no, it didn't, but it was a nice idea.