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hawaii trip: nov 26 - dec 4, 2009
** backdated ** It's actually January 19, 2010 right now, but if I don't back date this entry, I'll never find it later.
Mom has always wanted to go to Hawaii and this year she decided to make it a family trip. I'll be honest and say that I wasn't all that keen to go -- sun & sand? Not really things I enjoy. But, overall, I did have a good time, mostly due to all the tours we went on (didn't have time to get bored) and the shopping (I do love shopping).
I wrote the below on my NIT810 during the trip, so tenses might be a bit weird. I'm not editing it too much except typos and correcting information.
Thursday, November 26
Actually haven't slept at all since getting up Wednesday morning (when I saw Boondock Saints and did some final packing things). I decided that since we had to leave for the airport at 3:30am, it didn't make sense to go to bed. After I finished packing late Wednesday, I caught up on DVRed TV (V, Castle, Ghost Hunters Academy [which gets worse every week]).
Showered, dressed and set to go by 3am. Crazy. Shao looked really sad as we were rushing to go. I'm sure she knew we were all leaving her. She followed us closely as we put stuff in the car. Poor puppy!
Decided to use the Park, Ride & Fly, so I left my car there. I'm a little scared to read the disclaimer on the back of the ticket that reads, "not responsible for stress damage to windshield." Uh... what are you doing, stacking cars on top of each other?!
I've never had a more confusing check-in in my life. My mom had checked in online, but for whatever reason my brother got flagged so he had to check-in in person. So we waited in line, spoke to a very confused ticket agent, and then had to go through one of those computerized kiosks again anyway. I am not at all sure how online check-in saves time.
Had overly expensive breakfast in Albany Airport and was able to post a ramble-y review of Boondock Saints II. No flight delays, so we left on time and actually arrived at Chicago O'Hare early. Flight went pretty quick as I was passed out for most of it.
Long wait for connecting flight. Wandered Concourse B, but there isn't anything exciting. Had lunch at Quiznos, which was also overpriced as it's in an airport. Finally boarded flight to Honolulu and though the flight was supposedly full, we lucked out and had a bit of room with the empty seat in our row.
I slept for most of the beginning of the 9 hour flight, but then ended up watching the Rifftrax of Twilight (pretty funny) and 5 episodes of H2O season 3 before the battery in my Sansa Fuze died.
I brought my Yotsuba figure along with the intention of taking silly photos of her with things on the trip. However, I'm not sure if I can take photos in the airport or on the plane because TSA is so touchy I don't even want to ask. Oh well.
With 2 more hours to go, I think I might reread the Vampire Diaries as a refresher to see how much they changed on the show.
Finally landed in Honolulu, though was a little concerned with the turbulence and the shaky landing. I was worried the pilot wanted to reenact Oceanic flight 815.
Got on the shuttle and checked into the Hawaii Prince Hotel. It was sort of weird to see so many Japanese people around.
After mom & bro unpacked some of their things, we headed out for a walk around the area. Got breakfast for the next day and some snack foods from an ABC Store. I snapped a lot of photos.
It was time to find dinner and mom wanted to check out the hotel buffet. At $41 a person, I thought it was crazy expensive. Thankfully, they were full and we didn't have a reservation. We ended up going to a local Chinese buffet for dinner, which was actually really good.
Back to the hotel room for sleep. Getting up early tomorrow to go with a tour to see a waterfall.
Friday, November 27
Up at 6am and showered and dressed. Had a blueberry muffin for breakfast. Took a walk in front of the pier while waiting for our tour bus to arrive. Mom and I were going on the Oahu Spirit Tour.
Our tour guide was a funny and knowledgeable local named Uncle Joe. He took us all around the area and I honestly have no idea where all we went because I can't remember the names. We took a walk in the woods behind Koana golf course, which was muddy and slippery. Saw the falls where the chiefs listened to stories. Saw Queen Liliuokalani's palace. Saw the Halona Blowhole and the lighthouse in 50 First Dates. Stopped by Sandy Beach. Had lunch at L&L Drive-In. Stopped at Health Bar on the way back. The owner's dog plays Vincent on Lost. Good times.
Got back to the hotel about 2:30pm and had some time to rest before mom, my brother, his friend Sheena, and I headed to the Paradise Cove Luau. Sheena drove us (a zebra dove tried to catch a ride). Again, the roads were pretty empty.
Wasn't sure what to expect, but once we went through the gates, we claimed table space and then wandered around to watch the various activities going on. I tried their poi, which are light, but spin well. Bought a pair. I bought some tiny Tiki keychains. Took lots of photos. Dinner was a buffet. The roasted pork was really good. After dinner entertainment was cool. Took lots of pictures and some video. Some jerk off was mocking me when i took a picture of my plate. Listen, toolbox, do I tell you how to enjoy your vacation? I didn't think so.
Pretty wiped out for the day. Tomorrow will be more hiking and possibly a wade to a nearby island? Uhm, not sure I'll be into that.
Saturday, November 28
Got up later than the previous days and was planning on going to Diamond Head with my brother and his friend, but we didn't since she had to battle fleas in a place she was house sitting. Instead, we took a walk down to Waikiki Beach and then the various shopping centers in the area, like the Royal Hawaiian Center and the Waikiki Shopping Plaza. Got a few trinkets and a solid perfume set from the L'Occitane shop in the Duty Free Galleria because that's the only place I've been able to find it.
Had lunch at Cheeseburger Boardwalk. Waiter was a little anxious and screwed up drink orders. Meh. Burgers were okay. Chili cheese fries are tasty. It was kind of funny to see that the sugar and wipe packets were from NY.
Got back to the hotel at 3:30pm and ended up falling asleep. Woke up a lot in the middle of the night, but pretty much stayed asleep.
Sunday, November 29
Woke up at 6:00am. Dressed and ready to catch the 7:30am shuttle to the flea market at Aloha Stadium. So much stuff to see! Bought lots of trinkets. Found a few stands with Tokidoki knockoffs - they were either weird styles, too expensive, or both. Finally found one stand with good styles and good prices, so I bought two! Walked around for hours; everything started to look the same. Got the shuttle back to the hotel at 3:30pm.
Back at the hotel, mom & I stopped and talked to one of the trip package experts about taking a trip to the big island to see the volcanoes. We went back to the room to talk to my brother, who we'd left in the room, but he'd disappeared somewhere. He didn't leave a note and he wasn't answering the phone or texts. It was kind of frustrating. And by kind of, I mean a lot. The agent was only going to be there until 5pm, and we ended up not booking (we needed his ID and mom wouldn't book without him). Instead we got the hotel shuttle to the International Marketplace area.
All the stuff in the shops really start to look the same after a while. I did stop in a Stupid Store to look at the David & Goliath stuff, which was all fun but pricey. Had dinner at Kawami Ramen, which was pretty tasty. There was a weird white guy there who'd already finished his dinner and was nursing a beer while staring at everyone eating. It was really weird and creepy.
After dinner I decided to get a bubble tea, but I didn't realize they made it from powder and it was kind of gross. Biggest food regret in a long while.
Walked around a bit more before mom & I headed back to the hotel. My brother was back with no real explanation of where he'd gone and was super crank when I told him he should have told us he'd gone out. Of course.
Tomorrow, we're going to Pearl Harbor.
Monday, November 30
Up at 4:30am. Got a bagel and yogurt from the cafe in the hotel lobby. The mini bus for the tour arrived at 7:00am. Once we picked up the other passengers, we headed to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorial.
At Pearl Harbor, I got commemorative dog tags and a challenge coin. Walked through the museum area and then watched a video about the attack. We got on a small Navy boat to the USS Arizona memorial and had a look at all the wreckage. Took photos. Headed back on the boat and continued the tour of the island.
I don't want to sound disrespectful or "you deserve it" because of all the people who died (and that is definitely awful and tragic), but it kind of sounds like the US set itself up for a big huge fail. First, they avoided involvement in WWII because the US hadn't been attacked and they didn't feel it was their problem (yet). Then, whoever was in command at Pearl Harbor had all the planes landed mid-field wing to wing with no ammunition. Finally, when the guy in the radio tower reported the Japanese squadron flying in, he was told to ignore it. Uh huh.
Anyway, our guide took us on a circle tour of Oahu. We stopped at the Dole Plantation, Crouching Lion Inn, Banzai Beach, Sunset beach, Hanauma Bay, and a number of other places. Also drove by some Lost filming locations (didn't stop) and stopped at a Macadamia nut place.
My camera finally killed the batteries after 990 photos. Really nice battery life on this thing.
When we got back to the hotel, mom booked us on a tour trip to see the volcanoes on the big island for Thursday. Pretty expensive, but I guess it should be worth it.
After a short rest, we headed to the Ala Moana shopping center to walk around. I bought a bunch of blind box toys at Animation Addict. Had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., which was actually pretty good. Kept walking after dinner. Disney was having a toy sale and I got a small stuffed Perry the Platypus and Hawaii shirt Stitch. Stopped in the Foodmart where mom wanted to buy some tea and found a Beard Papa's inside. Bought some for snackings!
Watching some TV. Planning on not doing much tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 1
Woken up at 4am by texts concerning the dog from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
smashedrecords. Called her to address some questions and went back to sleep. Mom had gotten up to walk to Ala Moana beach. Finally got up about 9am and got a sandwich from the cafe in the lobby. Also asked about taking the bus to Toys N Joys.
When mom got back from the beach, got my brother up and we headed for the bus stop. It was kind of a long way and I got a little baffled by the route the bus took. It all worked out, though, and we made it to Toys N Joys.
The store is full of awesome. I think I spent an hour going through the same shelves a couple times. They had a lot of mecha Revoltechs and I spotted the Asuka & Rei Microman figures. It took a couple lookthroughs before I found the Summer Vacation Yotsuba I wanted. Meanwhile, I'd picked up a Saber Lily Nendoroid as well as a few blindbox toys. Spent way too much money, but the Revoltech & Nendoroid were 20% off. Sweet. The store was staffed by two dorky Japanese kids. I'd so hang out there if I lived here.
We got back on the bus and decided to head back to the Ala Moana Shopping Center for lunch. In the food court, I ended up getting a cheeseburger at Cheeseburger Factory and a Jamba Juice. After lunch, we passed by the Lush store on the way out. Didn't stop... was afraid of what I'd find.
Watched an episode of iCarly before mom & I walked to Ala Moana beach to watch the sunset. I took a lot of photos.
Back at room again, I wanted to go to sleep, but we all went out for dinner instead. After the usual irritating deliberation, we ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings. Had a crazy long wait because we ended up there on $0.60 wing night. I just had a garden salad.
Came back to the room and had a shower and got ready for bed. Tomorrow should be another chill day.
Wednesday, December 2
Didn't get up in time to go to the beach with mom. Ended up sleeping until 9:30am. Was sort of crank about the day and just wanted to be alone for the day.
Ran downstairs and got a bagel with butter. Ate. Felt better. My brother was going to go out with his friend Sheena for lunch. Mom and I decided to go to Duke Marketplace.
Caught the hotel shuttle to to Kuhio Beach Park stop. Walked around looking for Duke Market and ended up in a shop where I bought a small raku pot. Passed the Red Dirt store, whose factory Mike Rowe visited. They even had a Mike Rowe Dirty Jobs shirt. Uberpricy, though, so I didn't even think of buying one.
Found Duke Market on, of all places, Duke Lane. Most of it was stuff I've seen before. There was a HerStyle ceramic hair styler stand, though, and the guy totally roped me in to having my hair done. I've seen the thing before (or maybe something really similar?) but I didn't think it would curl my hair. (It did, but the guy claimed it would stay in two days - 5 hours later it was pretty loose.) Mom managed to talk the guy down to $90 from $190 for an overstocked pink one.
Stopped at Jamba Juice and had a PB & Jamba bowl. Pretty tasty and a great lunch.
On the way back to the shuttle stop, I spotted a Japanese cosmetic store. They had a huge selection of novelty mints, a full range of OPI nail colors, and other things. I ended up getting some mint tins, a Zoya nail color (Prue), an Ellie base coat, and three eye shimmers.
After a stop back at the hotel, mom and I headed to Ala Moana beach to watch the sunset again. I found a shell and some coral on the beach. Once it got dark, we went to the Ala Moana Shopping center for dinner. Got food at the Chinatown Express, which was actually pretty good. Stopped at the Lush store afterward, but was kind of disappointed to find that I hated the smell of all the soaps and all the shampoo bars. Lame.
Oh, last stop was in a RadioShack where I found a decent lens cleaning cloth. The salesman there suggested I check Ritz, which I did but they didn't have one I wanted, so I ended up back at RadioShack.
Came back to the hotel and took a shower. Was going to pack a little, but just gathered things for the volcano tour tomorrow and am going to bed. Gotta get up at 4:30am tomorrow. Yikes.
Thursday December 3
Another 4:00am morning involving getting ready to go and breakfast from the cafe in the lobby. The shuttle bus was a bit early, but we made it. Got to the airport with an hour before the flight after several stops to pick up others in our group.
Our flight to Hilo on the Big Island was delayed, and that pretty much set the tone for the whole trip. My mom was.. mom and my brother was crankypants. We ended up leaving an hour late. The flight to Hilo is only 45 minutes.
Once we landed, we all gathered outside baggage claim and met with our tour guide, Jarrett. He was a chill and friendly driver for the duration of our tour.
The first stop we made in Hilo was Banyan Lane, where many celebrities have planted banyan trees. I got photos of a few but missed cool ones like Amelia Earhart and Cecil B. DeMille as we drove by too quick. Rainbow Falls was the next stop, then a view of the Kilauea Crater.
We got out for a walk through Thurston's lava tube. I superwish I had a monopod for photos in the tube. The area is a rainforest and I guess they shot some of Jurassic Park there. Jarrett also said they just finished shooting the new Predator movie there.
For lunch, we stopped by a country club which is part of the national park. They had us all sit together at large tables - probably so regulars had a place to sit at smaller tables. The Australians in our group sat with us, so at least that made the lame place with lame, but expensive food better. I got a chicken salad which was salad greens with a scoop of chicken salad mush on top. Weird and not when I was expecting. Their plantation tea is also just unsweetened ice tea with a shot of pineapple juice.
Mom was allergic to something in her mahi mahi dish and as we arrived at the Kilauea Caldera, her face and neck got all red. I took some photos as there wasn't anything I could do about it and it wasn't that bad. I asked my brother to take some photos with mom's camera for her, but he was all crank and told me to take them - because he didn't know how to use a camera. Right. He finally did take a few.
Back at the bus, I asked the driver if he would stop at Volcano House (Mark Twain had stayed there, apparently) so we could get my mom something from the shop there. He was very kind in announcing that it would be a restroom and water stop before we headed to the last two stops. They didn't have Benedryl or regular Sudafed, but they did have a cold & allergy combo that would do in a pinch. I'd asked my brother to go with my mom to make sure she got the right stuff as I had to use the restroom, but of course I come back and he hadn't been paying attention.
Mom was doing better when we got to the black sand beach. The driver had told us before that is was bad luck to take lava rock from the national park, but the black sand beach was okay. I ended up with a few tiny pieces and a handful of black sand. As we were walking out to the beach, Jarrett came to tell us that we wouldn't be able to go to the main attraction and see the lava flows - they'd just shut the area down an hour ago due to the wind blowing the toxic fumes from the volcano in our direction. The smoke is very poisonous and has killed people, so while disappointed, I was okay with not dying.
Ended up just walking on the beach and taking a lot of photos. My brother gave up and sat on a rock complaining that his feet hurt. My mom had wandered off saying that she didn't believe the smoke was toxic (because she grew up on Taiwan and there wasn't toxic smoke there - as if an extinct and active volcano are the same thing *rollseyes*) and she was going to walk all the way over there. Well, first I knew she wasn't going to make it that far and second, uh, I knew she wasn't going to make it that far. When I looked up, she was already heading back. I took some photos of Yotsuba while waiting.
Headed back to the parking area to get food. We had extra time at Black Sand Beach since we couldn't go to the lava area. Our driver handed us a flashlight and said we could go back out and see the glowing lava eruptions. So, after getting some ice cream (chocolate macadamia nut), mom and I headed back out. Jon stayed to wait for his food.
Back on the shore, you could see the very faint glow of the volcano. I tried to shoot some long exposure pictures, but I didn't have a monopod to keep the camera still. I managed to shoot one, but it's super-blurry and all you can see is a tiny red glow.
Mom & I made it back to the parking lot just as people were getting back on the bus. My brother, of course, was nowhere on the bus, so I went looking for him by the food stand. He was sitting there, still leisurely eating. I told him we were leaving and he just said, "okay?" and continued his sloth-like movements. I asked him if he even noticed people were getting on the bus and he said no, because he had his back to it. Like that was a big giant duh. Pretty much he thinks people should just wait for him. When I told him to move it, he actually said, "what is your problem?"
We headed back to Hilo International Airport (which has no international flight). Totally the smallest airport I've seen. Half of it's open to the outside. Our plane was only 20 minutes late this time. When we arrived back at Waikiki, we were met by Zack, the tallest person I've seen so far on this trip. He was nice and got everyone back to their hotels.
Back in our hotel, I took a shower to wash off the ick of the day and worked on packing my stuff away. I tried to distribute weight properly and keep my checked bag under 50lbs. I basically only added one small personal item to go with a packed backpack I don't mind tossing in an overhead bin. Didn't get to bed until after midnight.
Friday, December 4
Got up and dressed. Mom and I went out for one more walk around Ala Moana Beach park. Lots of surfers out in the morning. Found some shells and coral to keep. Got a heat rash. Awesome. Apparently me plus sun really does equal a bad reaction.
Went back to the hotel to cool down and finish packing. My brother was already up and taking the world's longest shower. Telling him there are two people waiting actually makes him go slower, I think.
All packed up and checked out. Got a sandwich for lunch and just waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport. While waiting, decided to also have a plate of pineapple. Fresh and tasty!
Shuttle arrived and got us to the airport pretty quickly. Though, that might be because I fell asleep. Sat in the airport for an hour. Thankfully, our plane was on time. Feeling argh and already downed 4 ibuprophen today.
Our captain is... Captain Morgan. There were some chuckles. The flight back to Chicago is going to be shorter, thankfully - 8 hours instead of the 9 to get to Honolulu.
Arrived Chicago about half an hour early. Still have 3 hours before we even board the flight back to Albany. It's like 5:00am here and there isn't a lot open to eat.
Finally boarded the flight. There was a screaming toddler in our gate area that did end up on the flight. The attendant actually ended up moving people around to clear the area around the kid. So glad he wasn't screaming on the flight. It was definitely "you won't let me have that" crying and if it continued, he should have gotten a punch to the face.
Park, Ride & Fly got us back to our car. Drove home and it was only about 12:30pm. I unpacked all my stuff, did two loads of laundry, packed for my trip to D.C., and then caught up on a ton of TV.
More Photos:
I took about 1000 photos. You can see most of them in my gallery.
Twitter Posts:
I forgot to switch my location in Twitter, so all of my tweets are marked 5 hours ahead (NY time) of what it really was in Hawaii. Oops. Includes twitpics.
days: nov 26 | nov 27 | nov 28 | nov 29 | nov 30 | dec 1 | dec 2 | dec 3 | dec 4
Mom has always wanted to go to Hawaii and this year she decided to make it a family trip. I'll be honest and say that I wasn't all that keen to go -- sun & sand? Not really things I enjoy. But, overall, I did have a good time, mostly due to all the tours we went on (didn't have time to get bored) and the shopping (I do love shopping).
I wrote the below on my NIT810 during the trip, so tenses might be a bit weird. I'm not editing it too much except typos and correcting information.
Thursday, November 26
Actually haven't slept at all since getting up Wednesday morning (when I saw Boondock Saints and did some final packing things). I decided that since we had to leave for the airport at 3:30am, it didn't make sense to go to bed. After I finished packing late Wednesday, I caught up on DVRed TV (V, Castle, Ghost Hunters Academy [which gets worse every week]).
Showered, dressed and set to go by 3am. Crazy. Shao looked really sad as we were rushing to go. I'm sure she knew we were all leaving her. She followed us closely as we put stuff in the car. Poor puppy!
Decided to use the Park, Ride & Fly, so I left my car there. I'm a little scared to read the disclaimer on the back of the ticket that reads, "not responsible for stress damage to windshield." Uh... what are you doing, stacking cars on top of each other?!
I've never had a more confusing check-in in my life. My mom had checked in online, but for whatever reason my brother got flagged so he had to check-in in person. So we waited in line, spoke to a very confused ticket agent, and then had to go through one of those computerized kiosks again anyway. I am not at all sure how online check-in saves time.
Had overly expensive breakfast in Albany Airport and was able to post a ramble-y review of Boondock Saints II. No flight delays, so we left on time and actually arrived at Chicago O'Hare early. Flight went pretty quick as I was passed out for most of it.
Long wait for connecting flight. Wandered Concourse B, but there isn't anything exciting. Had lunch at Quiznos, which was also overpriced as it's in an airport. Finally boarded flight to Honolulu and though the flight was supposedly full, we lucked out and had a bit of room with the empty seat in our row.
I slept for most of the beginning of the 9 hour flight, but then ended up watching the Rifftrax of Twilight (pretty funny) and 5 episodes of H2O season 3 before the battery in my Sansa Fuze died.
I brought my Yotsuba figure along with the intention of taking silly photos of her with things on the trip. However, I'm not sure if I can take photos in the airport or on the plane because TSA is so touchy I don't even want to ask. Oh well.
With 2 more hours to go, I think I might reread the Vampire Diaries as a refresher to see how much they changed on the show.
Finally landed in Honolulu, though was a little concerned with the turbulence and the shaky landing. I was worried the pilot wanted to reenact Oceanic flight 815.
Got on the shuttle and checked into the Hawaii Prince Hotel. It was sort of weird to see so many Japanese people around.
After mom & bro unpacked some of their things, we headed out for a walk around the area. Got breakfast for the next day and some snack foods from an ABC Store. I snapped a lot of photos.
It was time to find dinner and mom wanted to check out the hotel buffet. At $41 a person, I thought it was crazy expensive. Thankfully, they were full and we didn't have a reservation. We ended up going to a local Chinese buffet for dinner, which was actually really good.
Back to the hotel room for sleep. Getting up early tomorrow to go with a tour to see a waterfall.
Friday, November 27
Up at 6am and showered and dressed. Had a blueberry muffin for breakfast. Took a walk in front of the pier while waiting for our tour bus to arrive. Mom and I were going on the Oahu Spirit Tour.
Our tour guide was a funny and knowledgeable local named Uncle Joe. He took us all around the area and I honestly have no idea where all we went because I can't remember the names. We took a walk in the woods behind Koana golf course, which was muddy and slippery. Saw the falls where the chiefs listened to stories. Saw Queen Liliuokalani's palace. Saw the Halona Blowhole and the lighthouse in 50 First Dates. Stopped by Sandy Beach. Had lunch at L&L Drive-In. Stopped at Health Bar on the way back. The owner's dog plays Vincent on Lost. Good times.
Got back to the hotel about 2:30pm and had some time to rest before mom, my brother, his friend Sheena, and I headed to the Paradise Cove Luau. Sheena drove us (a zebra dove tried to catch a ride). Again, the roads were pretty empty.
Wasn't sure what to expect, but once we went through the gates, we claimed table space and then wandered around to watch the various activities going on. I tried their poi, which are light, but spin well. Bought a pair. I bought some tiny Tiki keychains. Took lots of photos. Dinner was a buffet. The roasted pork was really good. After dinner entertainment was cool. Took lots of pictures and some video. Some jerk off was mocking me when i took a picture of my plate. Listen, toolbox, do I tell you how to enjoy your vacation? I didn't think so.
Pretty wiped out for the day. Tomorrow will be more hiking and possibly a wade to a nearby island? Uhm, not sure I'll be into that.
Saturday, November 28
Got up later than the previous days and was planning on going to Diamond Head with my brother and his friend, but we didn't since she had to battle fleas in a place she was house sitting. Instead, we took a walk down to Waikiki Beach and then the various shopping centers in the area, like the Royal Hawaiian Center and the Waikiki Shopping Plaza. Got a few trinkets and a solid perfume set from the L'Occitane shop in the Duty Free Galleria because that's the only place I've been able to find it.
Had lunch at Cheeseburger Boardwalk. Waiter was a little anxious and screwed up drink orders. Meh. Burgers were okay. Chili cheese fries are tasty. It was kind of funny to see that the sugar and wipe packets were from NY.
Got back to the hotel at 3:30pm and ended up falling asleep. Woke up a lot in the middle of the night, but pretty much stayed asleep.
Sunday, November 29
Woke up at 6:00am. Dressed and ready to catch the 7:30am shuttle to the flea market at Aloha Stadium. So much stuff to see! Bought lots of trinkets. Found a few stands with Tokidoki knockoffs - they were either weird styles, too expensive, or both. Finally found one stand with good styles and good prices, so I bought two! Walked around for hours; everything started to look the same. Got the shuttle back to the hotel at 3:30pm.
Back at the hotel, mom & I stopped and talked to one of the trip package experts about taking a trip to the big island to see the volcanoes. We went back to the room to talk to my brother, who we'd left in the room, but he'd disappeared somewhere. He didn't leave a note and he wasn't answering the phone or texts. It was kind of frustrating. And by kind of, I mean a lot. The agent was only going to be there until 5pm, and we ended up not booking (we needed his ID and mom wouldn't book without him). Instead we got the hotel shuttle to the International Marketplace area.
All the stuff in the shops really start to look the same after a while. I did stop in a Stupid Store to look at the David & Goliath stuff, which was all fun but pricey. Had dinner at Kawami Ramen, which was pretty tasty. There was a weird white guy there who'd already finished his dinner and was nursing a beer while staring at everyone eating. It was really weird and creepy.
After dinner I decided to get a bubble tea, but I didn't realize they made it from powder and it was kind of gross. Biggest food regret in a long while.
Walked around a bit more before mom & I headed back to the hotel. My brother was back with no real explanation of where he'd gone and was super crank when I told him he should have told us he'd gone out. Of course.
Tomorrow, we're going to Pearl Harbor.
Monday, November 30
Up at 4:30am. Got a bagel and yogurt from the cafe in the hotel lobby. The mini bus for the tour arrived at 7:00am. Once we picked up the other passengers, we headed to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorial.
At Pearl Harbor, I got commemorative dog tags and a challenge coin. Walked through the museum area and then watched a video about the attack. We got on a small Navy boat to the USS Arizona memorial and had a look at all the wreckage. Took photos. Headed back on the boat and continued the tour of the island.
I don't want to sound disrespectful or "you deserve it" because of all the people who died (and that is definitely awful and tragic), but it kind of sounds like the US set itself up for a big huge fail. First, they avoided involvement in WWII because the US hadn't been attacked and they didn't feel it was their problem (yet). Then, whoever was in command at Pearl Harbor had all the planes landed mid-field wing to wing with no ammunition. Finally, when the guy in the radio tower reported the Japanese squadron flying in, he was told to ignore it. Uh huh.
Anyway, our guide took us on a circle tour of Oahu. We stopped at the Dole Plantation, Crouching Lion Inn, Banzai Beach, Sunset beach, Hanauma Bay, and a number of other places. Also drove by some Lost filming locations (didn't stop) and stopped at a Macadamia nut place.
My camera finally killed the batteries after 990 photos. Really nice battery life on this thing.
When we got back to the hotel, mom booked us on a tour trip to see the volcanoes on the big island for Thursday. Pretty expensive, but I guess it should be worth it.
After a short rest, we headed to the Ala Moana shopping center to walk around. I bought a bunch of blind box toys at Animation Addict. Had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., which was actually pretty good. Kept walking after dinner. Disney was having a toy sale and I got a small stuffed Perry the Platypus and Hawaii shirt Stitch. Stopped in the Foodmart where mom wanted to buy some tea and found a Beard Papa's inside. Bought some for snackings!
Watching some TV. Planning on not doing much tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 1
Woken up at 4am by texts concerning the dog from
smashedrecords. Called her to address some questions and went back to sleep. Mom had gotten up to walk to Ala Moana beach. Finally got up about 9am and got a sandwich from the cafe in the lobby. Also asked about taking the bus to Toys N Joys.When mom got back from the beach, got my brother up and we headed for the bus stop. It was kind of a long way and I got a little baffled by the route the bus took. It all worked out, though, and we made it to Toys N Joys.
The store is full of awesome. I think I spent an hour going through the same shelves a couple times. They had a lot of mecha Revoltechs and I spotted the Asuka & Rei Microman figures. It took a couple lookthroughs before I found the Summer Vacation Yotsuba I wanted. Meanwhile, I'd picked up a Saber Lily Nendoroid as well as a few blindbox toys. Spent way too much money, but the Revoltech & Nendoroid were 20% off. Sweet. The store was staffed by two dorky Japanese kids. I'd so hang out there if I lived here.
We got back on the bus and decided to head back to the Ala Moana Shopping Center for lunch. In the food court, I ended up getting a cheeseburger at Cheeseburger Factory and a Jamba Juice. After lunch, we passed by the Lush store on the way out. Didn't stop... was afraid of what I'd find.
Watched an episode of iCarly before mom & I walked to Ala Moana beach to watch the sunset. I took a lot of photos.
Back at room again, I wanted to go to sleep, but we all went out for dinner instead. After the usual irritating deliberation, we ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings. Had a crazy long wait because we ended up there on $0.60 wing night. I just had a garden salad.
Came back to the room and had a shower and got ready for bed. Tomorrow should be another chill day.
Wednesday, December 2
Didn't get up in time to go to the beach with mom. Ended up sleeping until 9:30am. Was sort of crank about the day and just wanted to be alone for the day.
Ran downstairs and got a bagel with butter. Ate. Felt better. My brother was going to go out with his friend Sheena for lunch. Mom and I decided to go to Duke Marketplace.
Caught the hotel shuttle to to Kuhio Beach Park stop. Walked around looking for Duke Market and ended up in a shop where I bought a small raku pot. Passed the Red Dirt store, whose factory Mike Rowe visited. They even had a Mike Rowe Dirty Jobs shirt. Uberpricy, though, so I didn't even think of buying one.
Found Duke Market on, of all places, Duke Lane. Most of it was stuff I've seen before. There was a HerStyle ceramic hair styler stand, though, and the guy totally roped me in to having my hair done. I've seen the thing before (or maybe something really similar?) but I didn't think it would curl my hair. (It did, but the guy claimed it would stay in two days - 5 hours later it was pretty loose.) Mom managed to talk the guy down to $90 from $190 for an overstocked pink one.
Stopped at Jamba Juice and had a PB & Jamba bowl. Pretty tasty and a great lunch.
On the way back to the shuttle stop, I spotted a Japanese cosmetic store. They had a huge selection of novelty mints, a full range of OPI nail colors, and other things. I ended up getting some mint tins, a Zoya nail color (Prue), an Ellie base coat, and three eye shimmers.
After a stop back at the hotel, mom and I headed to Ala Moana beach to watch the sunset again. I found a shell and some coral on the beach. Once it got dark, we went to the Ala Moana Shopping center for dinner. Got food at the Chinatown Express, which was actually pretty good. Stopped at the Lush store afterward, but was kind of disappointed to find that I hated the smell of all the soaps and all the shampoo bars. Lame.
Oh, last stop was in a RadioShack where I found a decent lens cleaning cloth. The salesman there suggested I check Ritz, which I did but they didn't have one I wanted, so I ended up back at RadioShack.
Came back to the hotel and took a shower. Was going to pack a little, but just gathered things for the volcano tour tomorrow and am going to bed. Gotta get up at 4:30am tomorrow. Yikes.
Thursday December 3
Another 4:00am morning involving getting ready to go and breakfast from the cafe in the lobby. The shuttle bus was a bit early, but we made it. Got to the airport with an hour before the flight after several stops to pick up others in our group.
Our flight to Hilo on the Big Island was delayed, and that pretty much set the tone for the whole trip. My mom was.. mom and my brother was crankypants. We ended up leaving an hour late. The flight to Hilo is only 45 minutes.
Once we landed, we all gathered outside baggage claim and met with our tour guide, Jarrett. He was a chill and friendly driver for the duration of our tour.
The first stop we made in Hilo was Banyan Lane, where many celebrities have planted banyan trees. I got photos of a few but missed cool ones like Amelia Earhart and Cecil B. DeMille as we drove by too quick. Rainbow Falls was the next stop, then a view of the Kilauea Crater.
We got out for a walk through Thurston's lava tube. I superwish I had a monopod for photos in the tube. The area is a rainforest and I guess they shot some of Jurassic Park there. Jarrett also said they just finished shooting the new Predator movie there.
For lunch, we stopped by a country club which is part of the national park. They had us all sit together at large tables - probably so regulars had a place to sit at smaller tables. The Australians in our group sat with us, so at least that made the lame place with lame, but expensive food better. I got a chicken salad which was salad greens with a scoop of chicken salad mush on top. Weird and not when I was expecting. Their plantation tea is also just unsweetened ice tea with a shot of pineapple juice.
Mom was allergic to something in her mahi mahi dish and as we arrived at the Kilauea Caldera, her face and neck got all red. I took some photos as there wasn't anything I could do about it and it wasn't that bad. I asked my brother to take some photos with mom's camera for her, but he was all crank and told me to take them - because he didn't know how to use a camera. Right. He finally did take a few.
Back at the bus, I asked the driver if he would stop at Volcano House (Mark Twain had stayed there, apparently) so we could get my mom something from the shop there. He was very kind in announcing that it would be a restroom and water stop before we headed to the last two stops. They didn't have Benedryl or regular Sudafed, but they did have a cold & allergy combo that would do in a pinch. I'd asked my brother to go with my mom to make sure she got the right stuff as I had to use the restroom, but of course I come back and he hadn't been paying attention.
Mom was doing better when we got to the black sand beach. The driver had told us before that is was bad luck to take lava rock from the national park, but the black sand beach was okay. I ended up with a few tiny pieces and a handful of black sand. As we were walking out to the beach, Jarrett came to tell us that we wouldn't be able to go to the main attraction and see the lava flows - they'd just shut the area down an hour ago due to the wind blowing the toxic fumes from the volcano in our direction. The smoke is very poisonous and has killed people, so while disappointed, I was okay with not dying.
Ended up just walking on the beach and taking a lot of photos. My brother gave up and sat on a rock complaining that his feet hurt. My mom had wandered off saying that she didn't believe the smoke was toxic (because she grew up on Taiwan and there wasn't toxic smoke there - as if an extinct and active volcano are the same thing *rollseyes*) and she was going to walk all the way over there. Well, first I knew she wasn't going to make it that far and second, uh, I knew she wasn't going to make it that far. When I looked up, she was already heading back. I took some photos of Yotsuba while waiting.
Headed back to the parking area to get food. We had extra time at Black Sand Beach since we couldn't go to the lava area. Our driver handed us a flashlight and said we could go back out and see the glowing lava eruptions. So, after getting some ice cream (chocolate macadamia nut), mom and I headed back out. Jon stayed to wait for his food.
Back on the shore, you could see the very faint glow of the volcano. I tried to shoot some long exposure pictures, but I didn't have a monopod to keep the camera still. I managed to shoot one, but it's super-blurry and all you can see is a tiny red glow.
Mom & I made it back to the parking lot just as people were getting back on the bus. My brother, of course, was nowhere on the bus, so I went looking for him by the food stand. He was sitting there, still leisurely eating. I told him we were leaving and he just said, "okay?" and continued his sloth-like movements. I asked him if he even noticed people were getting on the bus and he said no, because he had his back to it. Like that was a big giant duh. Pretty much he thinks people should just wait for him. When I told him to move it, he actually said, "what is your problem?"
We headed back to Hilo International Airport (which has no international flight). Totally the smallest airport I've seen. Half of it's open to the outside. Our plane was only 20 minutes late this time. When we arrived back at Waikiki, we were met by Zack, the tallest person I've seen so far on this trip. He was nice and got everyone back to their hotels.
Back in our hotel, I took a shower to wash off the ick of the day and worked on packing my stuff away. I tried to distribute weight properly and keep my checked bag under 50lbs. I basically only added one small personal item to go with a packed backpack I don't mind tossing in an overhead bin. Didn't get to bed until after midnight.
Friday, December 4
Got up and dressed. Mom and I went out for one more walk around Ala Moana Beach park. Lots of surfers out in the morning. Found some shells and coral to keep. Got a heat rash. Awesome. Apparently me plus sun really does equal a bad reaction.
Went back to the hotel to cool down and finish packing. My brother was already up and taking the world's longest shower. Telling him there are two people waiting actually makes him go slower, I think.
All packed up and checked out. Got a sandwich for lunch and just waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport. While waiting, decided to also have a plate of pineapple. Fresh and tasty!
Shuttle arrived and got us to the airport pretty quickly. Though, that might be because I fell asleep. Sat in the airport for an hour. Thankfully, our plane was on time. Feeling argh and already downed 4 ibuprophen today.
Our captain is... Captain Morgan. There were some chuckles. The flight back to Chicago is going to be shorter, thankfully - 8 hours instead of the 9 to get to Honolulu.
Arrived Chicago about half an hour early. Still have 3 hours before we even board the flight back to Albany. It's like 5:00am here and there isn't a lot open to eat.
Finally boarded the flight. There was a screaming toddler in our gate area that did end up on the flight. The attendant actually ended up moving people around to clear the area around the kid. So glad he wasn't screaming on the flight. It was definitely "you won't let me have that" crying and if it continued, he should have gotten a punch to the face.
Park, Ride & Fly got us back to our car. Drove home and it was only about 12:30pm. I unpacked all my stuff, did two loads of laundry, packed for my trip to D.C., and then caught up on a ton of TV.
More Photos:
I took about 1000 photos. You can see most of them in my gallery.
Twitter Posts:
I forgot to switch my location in Twitter, so all of my tweets are marked 5 hours ahead (NY time) of what it really was in Hawaii. Oops. Includes twitpics.
days: nov 26 | nov 27 | nov 28 | nov 29 | nov 30 | dec 1 | dec 2 | dec 3 | dec 4