Monday
Monday was my travel day. It started really early since I had a 7:40 flight. Four and a half hours later I was in Phoenix. After a short layover I jumped on a six and a half hour flight to Kona, on the big island. After a much more interesting layover (in an outdoor airport) I had a quick 40 minute flight to Honolulu. Sue and I were scheduled to arrive at the same time, but her flight was diverted back to LA after having technical issues, so she was delayed by several hours. After traveling for 16 hours and not eating properly I decided that I couldn’t wait at the airport for her. I called a shuttle and hoped that the hotel would let me check-in on good faith since my name wasn’t on the reservation. Thank goodness they let me. I’d landed around 4:30 local time, so by the time I got to the hotel it was dinnertime. The hotel was connected to the Ala Moana Shopping Center, the largest open-air shopping center in the world, so I walked over to the food court for dinner before coming back to the room and crashing. I wanted so badly to be awake when Sue arrived (estimated to be around 8:00) but I just couldn’t do it. I tried everything—I opened the patio door for fresh air, turned on the lights and the television—but nothing could keep me awake. She arrived and was full of energy. I tried to be alert and social for a while since I was so excited to see her, but eventually I gave in and went to sleep.
Tuesday
And don’t get me started on the mud. It was gross. On the upside, we walked through a really cool bamboo forest before making it to a 150-foot waterfall. I had to take three shots of it just to show its height. At the bottom was a really neat pool, it looked like something from a movie. We made the hike back to the trailhead and rehydrated with water and an icee while waiting for a cab to take us back to the hotel.
By the time we got back it was time for Sue’s first conference session, so she changed and went to work—and I went to the pool. When I’d had enough sun I went back to our room to look through photos from the hike. When Sue returned, we talked about what we wanted to do over the next several days. We both got a kick out of the conversation because we’re both planners, but neither of us had planned anything! Since this was state #40 for Suzanne, she wanted to be sure to take a photo at the state capitol.
We looked it up and determined that it was about a two-mile walk, so we put on our walking shoes and headed west to explore. She was not at all impressed with the building, but I thought it was really neat, definitely unique. I found out later that it was modeled to resemble a volcano, but I would have described it as more modern/space looking. You really have to see it to believe it. Like many other things in Hawaii, the entire center of the building was open-air, so we were able to walk in and take photos. By the time we got there, took photos, and wandered a bit we were starving, so we went out in search of food. We came across a place called Asahi Grill where I had their famous fried rice (with an egg, cooked any way you like it (!) on top. It was interesting. Sue got a spicy seafood dish and loved it, too. We made the walk back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
Wednesday
The tour started with a drive through along the beaches of Waikiki and the main shopping/dining district. The guide pointed out historical facts and trivia—including a statue of the first man to introduce surfing to the rest of the world. Our first official stop was at the Diamond Head lookout where we stopped to take photos. Next, we drove through Kahala and stopped at Hanauma Bay. There are no words for how gorgeous this bay is. The water turns from blue to teal to emerald, to bright green. From the overlook you can see the coral reefs and dozens of snorkelers. I absolutely want to snorkel here next time I visit. I took pictures from every angle before returning to the bus.
We continued on to the Halona Blowhole, another amazing site where I took dozens of gorgeous pictures. Unfortunately I didn’t get many of a hidden beach there because Nicki Minaj was filming a video on it, but I knew I’d be back, so I wasn’t worried. Next, our guide drove us through Sandy Beach. He told us that this is the beach where beginner surfers come. The beach is short, and the waves are a good size and frequent right off the shore, so you don’t have to paddle much and you can get in several runs without a lot of swimming and waiting. The next stop was Makapuu Point, which boasts more incredible views in addition to a lighthouse. 
When we stopped there were two kite surfers—one with the traditional kite-looking equipment, and another that looked more like a narrow parachute. It looked scary but fun. We continued around the top of the island and arrived at Walmanalo Bay Beach Park—the most amazing beach I’d seen yet. At 5.5 miles, this beach is the longest stretch of sandy shoreline beach on O’ahu. I took a lot of pictures here, too. The color of the water was mesmerizing. I made me want to swim in it, which is saying a lot. On my next trip I’d definitely like to swim here or at Sandy Beach—and I even saw a mongoose on the way back to the bus. The next stop on the tour was the Pali Lookout. The view was incredible, though after seeing all of the beaches, this wasn’t as impressive as it would be in another place.
When I got back to the hotel Sue was back from her conference so we walked over to the Ala Moana Shopping Center for a quick dinner and a little shopping. We had Mexican and chatted until the mall closed, missing the opportunity to shop, but happy to be able to catch up.
Sue’s friend Sid (a volleyball friend who recently relocated from Los Angeles to Honolulu) called, so we went to meet him at Shore Bird Beach Bar on Waikiki. He got a great table on the beach overlooking the ocean. Even after dark, one of the nearby hotels has bright lighting that goes out into the ocean, so you can see the deep teal color, and when you get closer to it you can see straight to the bottom, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We had a few drinks, including my first Mai Thai (!) while they caught up and we discussed plans for Friday night. The three of us walked along the beach for a bit before Sue and I walked back to Honolulu to the hotel. We tried to watch a movie but fell asleep.
Thursday
This morning I woke up and had another lazy morning while Sue was in her morning session. She came back around 10 and we walked over to the Ala Moana Shopping Center to wander. She stopped for a pedicure, then we picked up lunch and took it back to the hotel. We ate down by the pool and laid out for about an hour until her afternoon session. While there we decided that we should rent a car (a convertible!) the next day and explore more of the island. I booked it from the pool, but luckily double-checked the rental location when I got back to my computer to find that we’d been booked for a location more than 25 miles away. I was able to call and adjust the reservation for a closer location.
I spent some time relaxing on the patio and listening to music before showering and preparing for the luau shuttle that was scheduled to pick us up at 4:00. 
The bus was a lot of fun; we got a great guide (Cousin K) with a huge personality. As we approached the luau destination he taught us about luau etiquette, which included receiving the lei. He asked for a volunteer, a “wahine” (woman), who was single and over the age of 18. Turns out Sue and I were the only two qualified (yeah, Hawaii is a couples place apparently). So, those of you who know me know that I was not going to volunteer to get up in front of a bus of 50 strangers. So Sue and I did rock/paper/scissors (which everyone thought was hilarious). I choose paper—as Sue sees my paper her rock slowly turned into scissors. Of course she denies cheating and says her hand got stuck, but I definitely don’t believe her. Anyway, I’m completely flushed now since everyone is watching us, so I call her a cheater and push her up to the front of the bus. 
Cousin K demonstrates how to accept the lei and stresses that although it looks like a kiss on the cheek afterwards, it’s actually cheek-to-cheek contact. Then, he demonstrates the “hang loose” hand signal and tells us about how annoying it is when tourists do it wrong, so we had that covered. He tells us that the performers and natives know this signal, so if we want to take a photo or talk to them, just do the hand signal. He also tells us that we have three drink tickets, and though the cups are small, there’s a cup available in the gift shop that they’ll fill for the same cost, essentially doubling our ticket value. Now we’re ready for the luau.
When we arrive at the luau Randy and Jess (Sue’s roommate’s friends) are already there and have a great table so we joined them. Soon after our arrival there’s a ceremony where the performers (including Cousin K) pull the pig that’s been roasting underground since 6:00 am from the ground and present it to us. After that dinner is served (buffet style) and we feast while singers and dancers perform. There were a variety of acts from fashion to dancing to singing, but my favorite was the fire dancer at the end.
We got back to the hotel late, and because we were getting up early for the rental car we decided to go to sleep.
Friday
We got a late start this morning. We’d planned to pick up rental car at 7, but slept in and got lost trying to find the rental location—we ended up getting a couple miles of walking in before surrendering to a cab. We stopped for a quick breakfast at a coffee shop and got on the road close to 9.
The car we chose was a red convertible Mitsubishi Eclipse. We immediately put the top down and got on the road. I have to note here that Hawaii has great radio. We listened to an amazing reggae station for most of the day. I used Shazam to tag some songs that I particularly loved, bought them on iTunes, and have been listening to them non-stop since. Perfect theme music for the trip, and sure to be that type of music that takes you right back to those great memories.
We decided to do a quick circuit of the sights I’d seen on my tour, so we started at the overlook below Diamond Head. Then went to Hanauma Bay, the Halona Blowhole, Makapuu Point, and Sandy Beach. We got out of the car and hung out at Sandy Beach, picking up a lizard along the way. We tried to get it out of the car, but it kept hiding. We continued north along the windward coast stopping periodically for photos. By mid-day we arrived at the North Shore and made our way to Waimea Beach. It was awesome; we stayed a while and took a lot of pictures. By the time we we’d seen all we could see at Waimea we were starving so we went into historic Haleiwa and had lunch. Lunch was okay, the highlight was tasting a Kona Longboard Lager, a local brew. 
Afterward, we walked around the shops and had a “shave” ice before leaving heading back toward Honolulu.
On the way back to the city, we stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We decided not to do the touristy stuff after reading about it in the guidebook, but we wandered the grounds for a few minutes before getting back on the road. Upon returning to the car we realized that our lizard passenger was still with us, so we finally got him out of the car and made our way south back to Honolulu.
We got back downtown around 6, and had planned to go to the University of Hawaii volleyball game at 7, before checking out fireworks over Waikiki at 7:45. Turns out we were too rushed and missed the game, which was a bummer, but we got ready and made our way to the beach for fireworks anyway. Unfortunately we were running really close to the start time and they did the fireworks a little early, so we only got to see about a minute of them. We decided to wander down the beach a bit until we saw a beachfront restaurant/bar to stop in for dinner.
We found one called The Edge and had a bite before heading to meet Sid for the night. We took The Bus (its official title) to Chinatown and went to Bar 35. It was a really great atmosphere and I got to try another local beer. We decided to bar hop, but after Sid was disappointed in the turnout (it was the night before St. Patrick’s Day, and we expect that people were saving energy for the following night) we stopped for beer and took the bus back to Ala Moana to one of his friend’s houses. When we arrived there were a dozen students from all over the world, one of whom was playing acoustic guitar and singing. We sat and listened to the music and mingled for hours. What a great, diverse group of people! In addition to Hawaiian natives, we met students from India, Norway, Cuba, and Germany to name a few. Everyone was friendly and inviting, wanting to take us on hikes and adventures—too bad it was our last night. We ended up making the ½ mile walk back to our hotel around 3:30, probably not the best decision since we’d planned a sunrise hike to Diamond Head that morning, meaning a 5:30 wake up!
Saturday
We descended at a slower pace and took a couple pictures, but we had to gas up the rental and get it back by 8:30, so we didn’t dawdle.
Once the car was taken care of we stopped for breakfast and walked back to the hotel to shower, change, pack, and check out before heading to the Kewala Basin for parasailing. We left our luggage with the front desk and grabbed a cab. Since we were about twenty minutes early for the boat we wandered Ala Moana Beach Park for a few minutes, sitting in the sand and putting our toes in the water. Finally it was time for the boat. We went out to sea with 8 other parasailers, and it got ugly. The wind is intense this time of year and the ocean was really choppy. The captain joked with us about where to sit if you felt sick, teasing about being downwind from the rest of the passengers
—turns out it was much needed advice for four of us—including Sue. She was so excited about parasailing for the first time, but spent most of the boat ride (and even our parasailing trip) sick. I have to admit, I had some doubts about myself, too—particularly at the end of the ride, I only had a couple minutes of control left by the end of it. That aside, the views of Honolulu, Waikiki, and Diamond Head from the board and the parasail were phenomenal. Unreal. I took a camera up with us intending to snap a couple pictures, but it was so windy that I was actually nervous and focusing on trying not to be sick, so I didn’t take any good ones. 
I’d parasailed once before and it was nothing like this experience!
When we got back to land we sat down for a few minutes to ease our stomachs before walking back to the hotel. Once there we got our baggage, changed into dry, traveling clothes and caught the shuttle to the airport.
We were reluctant to say goodbye, so we sat outside (another open air airport!) and uploaded photos from each other’s cameras. We finally said our goodbyes and went through security.
When I decided to join Suzanne on this trip I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d never been anywhere like Hawaii and I wasn’t sure I’d like it. Turns out there aren’t even words for how much I love Hawaii. It’s so unique, and gorgeous, and relaxing, and friendly. No matter what you do there, it’s easy and you’re happy. Even when things didn’t work out the way we’d planned, we didn’t stress, we didn’t worry, we just went with the flow and everything worked out perfectly. I can’t wait to go back.
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