Category: Hawaii (2005)

This morning, I woke up to make sure I caught my 7:45am taxi to the airport. Despite having my alarm set, my mind won’t fully rest unless I continually get up and check and make sure what time it is. So, I didn’t have the greatest sleep. After I packed up, I headed downstairs to check out. There, was Carrie, who was also going to be brought to the airport by the manager, Mark. Mark then realised that I was on the same flight to Sydney as Carrie, so he offered to take both of us. We got to the airport, checked in, and saw that our flight had been delayed about an hour and a half. We were there at 8:15am and we weren’t going to fly until 12:30pm! Good thing she was there, cause we had a great time chatting and having fun in the airport. We got some breakfast, shopped, then got some lunch with our free vouchers. We then got on our long flight home to Sydney.

After take off, we saw great views of Honolulu from the air. I then got settled and ready to watch the videos when I leaned back my chair, only to hear the gruff of this Australian bitter girl in her mid-twenties. Apparently she didn’t like that I used the reclining function that every passenger on the plane has. So, she made a scene and made her mother switch. Then after a movie, I got up, talked to Carrie a bit and sat down for my meal. After the meal, again I got my seat comfy for another movie, and this time when I leaned back, the girl punched my chair and started chewing me out saying I was crushing her mother. This is indeed untrue, as the mother was a petite little 50-something year old. She continued to say that she’s been on so many flights and that no one has ever leaned back their chair on them, and I should be courteous and do that too. I told her that I’m sure I’m not the only patron on the flight using the full function of my chair and that it was my perogative to gain the full comfort of my seat that I paid for. What I really wanted to tell her is if it was so bad, she should exchange with her mother, deal with it herself, and then fill out a comment card to Qantas airways complaining about the seat configurations. Perhaps with her complaint, that poor victim will sway Qantas to redesign the interiors of their Boeing 747-400’s to accomodate passengers that wish to use the reclining function. What ever happened to the joy of flying?

This morning, we all met at the Marriot to have one last feast together for our adventure in Kauai. My flight was the first to leave, so I had to gobble down my breakfast, make a quick goodbye, and get to the airport for my flight back to Honolulu. Fortunately, Donnie, one of the cousins, lives in Honolulu and offered to come pick me up and show me the island. So, I flew from Kauai to Honolulu and there he was to pick me up!

We had a great lunch together at the marina and went to the top of Alona Tower to view the city. We had a great time talking about the city, and he loves showing people around–so I was in luck! We drove all around the city down towards Diamond Head, passing the infamous Waikiki beaches. We also drove over to the Real World House which is on the line of such magnificent homes. We ended up driving into the crater of the volcano at diamond head to get an inside look at this dormant landscape. Next time, I will definitely do the hike up to the top! We then drove around more and found me a hostel located just a block away from Waikiki beach. It was perfect (which was a relief after some of the hostels I had looked at). I got a private room for my stuff and felt safe. We then went to the mall, and I did a skechers run and bought 3 pairs of shoes, as they are quite expensive in Australia. I went to Gap and Old Navy looking for some t-shirts, but didn’t really find anything I liked–so that was my shopping trip. I said goodbye to Donnie and then headed to walk along the beach. It was so great. I was thinking I should have stayed there longer cause of how lively it was! People were everywhere surfing, hanging out etc. It was the atmosphere that I thrive in, and I wanted to be there longer! The water was perfect temperature, and you could swim out so far and still be in shallow waters. The water was gorgeous and the landscape was really what I thought Hawai’i is to be like. I then found a place for dinner and wandered around after my meal taking in the scene. I love when it’s warm outside at night, it’s great. I also found a Coldstone’s Creamery and hooked myself up with a great ice cream. So all in all, my one day of Honolulu was an excellent teaser.

Today, I wanted to relax on the beach a bit as it was the last day in Kauai. Before that though, Mitch told me that Ryan was driving up to the Kilauea Light House up near Princeville, which is somewhere that I wanted to see. So we drove up there, and it was such an impressive site. The mountainous overhangs beside it with the water crashing high up into the air was fantastic. The Lighthouse was so cool looking and there were ducks wandering around the area grounds. There was an island right in front of the Lighthouse that had a Spouting Horn type of lava hole that would sound off and shoot water up like a geyser too! It was really a fun stop on my sights of Kauai. I was then dropped off at the condo and met up with Rebecca and others for lunch, and then spent the rest of the day on the beach, in the ocean, and in the pool. It was so nice and relaxing.

Today, I was finally feeling better, yet still wasn’t sure if I should exert the energy that the ziplining adventure that Rebecca and some others were doing, so I figured I’d go visit the Fern Grotto. Irma, the 87-year old lady who is Rebecca’s landlord and grandmother’s great friend, joined me. We took the boat up the Wailua River and disembarked, walking through luscious greenery. At the end of the walk is a cave like ampitheater where two Ukelele players played the Hawaiian wedding song. Apparently, it’s the site of the first marriage in Hawaii. We then took the boat back down the river, and Marianne came to pick us up. We then drove up to see the Wailua Falls. Got some cool pics and headed back down to meet everyone for dinner.

What poor luck! I continually just felt poorly through the past couple of days. I mainly just stayed in and tried to rest, but as I was starting to feel better, I wanted to make sure I was part of the Thanksgiving festivities–which is why we’re all here! Luckily I was getting my appetite back and was quite hungry for our buffet. The food was quite good and the best part was there was a fountain of chocolate for dipping strawberries in! Dinner was really nice with everyone together and it was great fun to be with everyone. I was just glad that I was able to participate! That night, I headed back to the condo to get to rest to ensure that I was feeling much better for the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately, the globetrotter came down feeling ill–mainly just achy pains and such–quite flu type symptoms. I headed out with Peter, Kara, Elenor, and Ryan to see the Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. After a windy drive up the mountain, we saw the clouds hovering above the canyon, and I desperately was hoping that it wouldn’t abstruct our view. My luck started running out as the canyon was completely filled with clouds and you couldn’t see past about 10 feet in front of you. We stopped for lunch and looked at a museum about the history of Kauai. It was interesting, but I just wasn’t feeling my best. We then headed back down the mountain and on our way home, I thought it would be good to stop by the Spouting Horn at Poipu since we were already over that way. We looked out at the horn, which is this lava hole that gets hit by the waves from the ocean underneath and spouts up with a hollow sound of a horn and spouts water like geyser. It was cool to see something like that since it’s completely natural. After the Spouting Horn, we headed back towards Lihue to go home, especially as I was starting to not feel well at all. I ate a little bit of dinner and headed straight to bed.

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday, as we headed straight for the beach, then to the pool, back to the beach, and repeated throughout the day. The ocean was great to swim in and we played in the waves. We then had a family dinner at the great sushi restaurant again–about 15 of us had a nice dinner. I went to the ABC store and found Hawaiian Host Macadamia nuts, so I bought a box to try them out. Apparently, I couldn’t control myself, and the box of 16 were completely devoured by the time we walked home. Oops. I’ll buy more :)

After my great Qantas flight which was somewhat empty, (I had the seat next to me free), I arrived in Honolulu pretty much feeling great. I had apparently gotten some sleep on the flight as I don’t remember much of it anyway. Once I arrived, I heard the perfect combination of the announcements in Japanese and English and I felt like it was going to be a great place for me. I then headed to the next gate to my innerisland flight to Kauai. After a short 35 minute flight, we landed in Lihue, Kauai and I headed out to the street to find Rebecca. I saw her from the back and ran up to her and hugged her surprising her! We then hopped in the car and drove shortly to the condo, and headed for the beach. There we saw Mitch, Laurie and the whole gang. There’s about 30 of Rebecca’s family here which is so fun, as I’ve spent a lot of time with them when I was living in the Bay Area.

After my arrival, we hung out on the beach for a while and got some sun, ate some good food, and chatted the whole day. It’s so great to be here and finally get caught up with Rebecca! We then met Pele and Iseah at the Duke Restaurant and hung out with them for the rest of the night. They were locals and showed us a fantastic sushi restaurant. We had a great time meeting them and learning more about what the locals do on this paradise island.

Tonight, I’m flying out of Sydney and heading for Honolulu, Hawai’i where I’ll hop on a small plane to the beautiful island of Kauai to meet Rebecca! This was one of the milestones that had been set earlier this year, with the idea of the year moving so quickly–hopping from SF to Chattanooga to Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires, all the way back and then to Sydney. Hawaii should be fantastic and seeing Rebecca will be so great! We have so many things to catch up on and seeing her family will be great fun. Stay tuned for the stories and adventures that are bound to unfold!