bonoriffic
Babyface
Warning for out of town fans!
I just returned today from a long vacation in Hawaii. I attempted to go to the University of Hawaii vs. Purdue football game held at the same venue U2 will be playing at. The stadium had around 44,000 fans, the largest turnout of the season but less than what is expected for U2.
The island, city, and stadium are not able to handle the amount of people that will be expected! Let me warn all of you now, if you are not a local read this carefully.
Avoid parking at all costs. The stadium can hold maybe 5000 cars, and even then a large percentage is for parking pass holders only. There are several alternate parking sites at a great distance from the stadium. You may learn about them if you are lucky, after our first 1.5 hour slow crawl to the stadium we were turned away and told by police to "park somewhere else". After following the next line of cars working our way to another entrance we were again turned away and given a pre-printed map of 3 locations with vague directions not useful from our current spot. After waiting in another traffic jam heading over a mile from the stadium we gave up.
If you are coming from Waikiki as most tourists are, consult thebus dot org website and find public transportation options. Find an express event bus if possible as normally scheduled routes do not use the highway. Leave by bus at least 3 hours before the concert begins.
Leave very early. I left 2.5 hours before the game start time from Waikiki and only began to glimpse the stadium as the kickoff was starting. If you insist on parking, arrive at the stadium a MINIMUM of 4 hours before the event.
Obtain highly detailed street maps of Honolulu. The majority of maps do not include the small one way side streets you will have to negotiate to find parking, all having very similar sounding names as the Hawaiian alphabet has limited characters.
Scope out your route and discover cheap parking options the day before. The police told us to "just find someplace to park" and that is what the locals do. Every fast food place, community center, high school, and side street will be used for parking.
Expect delays. Despite having almost perfect weather year round and zero reason for road decay, Oahu has some of the worst roads you will ever travel on and are always under repair. The main expressway H1 is a parking lot at various hours of the day as it can not handle basic city traffic and will be insane with tourists flooding in for U2. There will also be lingering crowds from the anniversary of Pearl Harbor as well as the marathon scheduled just after the concert.
Do not let something as stupid as parking cause your Hawaiian vacation to be ruined. Do not underestimate how awful the situation is there. Leave early. Also be aware that Honolulu is a dangerous city. Even a member of President Bush's security detail was brutally attacked in Waikiki just the other day. If you are late and pressed for time, it will be dark and you may pick the wrong place to park in desperation.
I just returned today from a long vacation in Hawaii. I attempted to go to the University of Hawaii vs. Purdue football game held at the same venue U2 will be playing at. The stadium had around 44,000 fans, the largest turnout of the season but less than what is expected for U2.
The island, city, and stadium are not able to handle the amount of people that will be expected! Let me warn all of you now, if you are not a local read this carefully.
Avoid parking at all costs. The stadium can hold maybe 5000 cars, and even then a large percentage is for parking pass holders only. There are several alternate parking sites at a great distance from the stadium. You may learn about them if you are lucky, after our first 1.5 hour slow crawl to the stadium we were turned away and told by police to "park somewhere else". After following the next line of cars working our way to another entrance we were again turned away and given a pre-printed map of 3 locations with vague directions not useful from our current spot. After waiting in another traffic jam heading over a mile from the stadium we gave up.
If you are coming from Waikiki as most tourists are, consult thebus dot org website and find public transportation options. Find an express event bus if possible as normally scheduled routes do not use the highway. Leave by bus at least 3 hours before the concert begins.
Leave very early. I left 2.5 hours before the game start time from Waikiki and only began to glimpse the stadium as the kickoff was starting. If you insist on parking, arrive at the stadium a MINIMUM of 4 hours before the event.
Obtain highly detailed street maps of Honolulu. The majority of maps do not include the small one way side streets you will have to negotiate to find parking, all having very similar sounding names as the Hawaiian alphabet has limited characters.
Scope out your route and discover cheap parking options the day before. The police told us to "just find someplace to park" and that is what the locals do. Every fast food place, community center, high school, and side street will be used for parking.
Expect delays. Despite having almost perfect weather year round and zero reason for road decay, Oahu has some of the worst roads you will ever travel on and are always under repair. The main expressway H1 is a parking lot at various hours of the day as it can not handle basic city traffic and will be insane with tourists flooding in for U2. There will also be lingering crowds from the anniversary of Pearl Harbor as well as the marathon scheduled just after the concert.
Do not let something as stupid as parking cause your Hawaiian vacation to be ruined. Do not underestimate how awful the situation is there. Leave early. Also be aware that Honolulu is a dangerous city. Even a member of President Bush's security detail was brutally attacked in Waikiki just the other day. If you are late and pressed for time, it will be dark and you may pick the wrong place to park in desperation.
