Today, Steve and I decided to rent mopeds to scoot around Honolulu and explore past the city confines of Waikiki. The first place we went to was a very shabby looking shop run by a very pushy New Yorker type guy. When we were signing forms and such, it came to the insurance part, and fortunately, Steve is a lawyer, and actually reads the forms :) After he was reading through the forms, not only was the insurance part a little iffy (ie: you pay for insurance, and get coverage only after $3000 or something ridiculous like that–it’s a scooter!) but the guy kept pushing us to hurry up and sign–including the part where you’re supposed to mark the scratches/dents of the scooter. So Steve says, we’re not signing until we mark the damages, and the guy says, no sign first, and then you can come back in and mark the damages, it’s MY process. That made me nervous, and Steve says, it takes less than 2 minutes difference if we sign it before or after looking and marking the damages on the report, so that’s what we’re going to do. The guy is furious, rips up our contracts and says, listen, this is how I run my business, so why don’t you guys come back after you’ve run your own business so you understand what it’s like to have someone tell you the way to run their business. Perfectly, Steve says, well I’ve actually owned my own practice for 12 years, and I know to read thoroughly before signing :)
Sadly, that left us wondering where to find a legitimate place that wouldn’t try to take advantage of tourists, and we were directed to a place next to the hostel I stayed at the first time I was in Honolulu 2 years ago. A Japanese woman was running the place, so I got to speak in Japanese with her. Prices were better, and place seemed MUCH more legit, so we decided to take these. We hopped on and started to explore the eastern part of the island. We went through some really nice neighborhoods, then ended up going up over a small hill to a road that was much like the Pacific Coast Highway in California. We ended up stopping at some lookouts taking pictures, and then finding any beaches to take some time and hang out. The best one was ‘Sandy Beach’ which had great waves. After a while there, we continued on and found some other stop offs, but by the time we reached a far area, we thought it best to turn around and get closer to Waikiki so we can better time how long we have left with the scooters.
All in all we had a great time exploring on scooters, and it helped me decide that when I get back to San Francisco, I’m gonna get the scooter I’ve been wanting!
That evening, we went to meet Theo and Dave at Nobu for drinks, and then headed over to the Design Centre for appetizers.. which ended up being my dinner because I was absolutely starving. Dave & Theo lived in San Francisco before, so that’s how they knew Steve. After dinner we went to see their new condo, which was on the 23rd or so floor in this beautiful hires in Waikiki. It was really stunning. The views were gorgeous and I couldn’t imagine living in such a paradise.