Living the HI Life

The much-anticipated Hawaii trip was finally here! I’ve been promising my friends since the day I left that I would return, and two years later it was finally time to do it. I’m not exactly sure what made it the right time, but regardless it was time to go! From there I turned to my go to travel buddy Erin, after an interesting adventure in Arizona for the NCAA Basketball tournaments, we had basically established ourselves at the spontaneous travelers that could do Hawaii right.

Planning the trip was a trip in itself, we knew Oahu was on the books but tried to add something new and split the time with a few days in Maui. We found a random website PandaOnline.com which seemed to have the best deals, and because it had panda in the title I was sold. The only mistake was trying to book the trip during my thirty minute break at work when the operator at the company was clearly running on Hawaii time and there was no way anything was getting done in that amount of time.

Eventually it was finally time for us to go!! We flew into Maui first, got our rental car (doubling the price we paid for it with the damn underage fees) and made it to our hotel. After checking in, dropping off our stuff, and back to reception so they could help us find a place to eat we were quickly informed about the best and “cheapest” luau on the island, no alcohol though, but it is BYO, and a place with great plate lunch. He also made sure he mentioned the liquor store right behind with the cheapest alcohol in town… something tells me we were giving off a certain vibe. But we decided to check it out anyway. Only one scoff by the cashier commenting that we “just got here??”, but we were quickly beyond that, and headed back to the hotel to check out the beach. Unfortunately gail force winds made the beach more like the Sahara desert in a sand storm, but we were kept entertained by the curious man in swim trunks with a g-string protruding over top. We had many theories why this was happening but to this day we will never know why!

Erin and I didn’t make a big splash the first night and just fell asleep watching movies, but early the next morning we headed out to Lahaina for our stand up paddle board lesson. Embarrassingly enough we knew of the surf shop through the “hit” series Living Lahaina on MTV, “fully aired on MTV in Canada” according to Erin. After reminiscing on almost every sport requiring balance that I have tried and failed, I actually ended up being not too bad at the thing. After a few wipeouts it was really easy, and we even ended up surfing on the boards for a while. Our instructor was really friendly and even ended up hanging out with us for a bit afterward, but had to run to meet the baby mama, ohhh island life. Erin and I spent the next few hours wandering around Lahaina, and then eventually met up with our friend Adam who just started a management job at the Hayatt on Maui. With Adam we experienced taco Tuesday Hawaii style, doesn’t quite hold a candle to San Diego, but it was all we had that Tuesday night, and we wanted our taco fix.

On Wednesday we woke up nice and early for a jeep tour of the road to Hana we had booked. We were picked up at our hotel by a bright yellow jeep and a feisty tour guide. Our guide Arnold was one of those awkwardly inappropriate old men who would make way too many creepy comments but it somehow was never threatening. We started off the day driving through the valley where they were burning off the sugar cane so they could harvest, this created the wonderful smell of baby poo which made for an interesting beginning of the trip. The road to Hana is a windy rainforest road that makes something like 500 turns and crosses dozens of small one lane bridges, many of which were made long outside of this century. We stopped to admire a few beaches and to buy some delicious banana bread within the first hours, and Arnold gave us some of these coconut chips which he had bought along the road, Erin and I fell in love with these and she even ended up buying copious amounts once we found the stand.

The road to Hana has many opportunities along the way to pull over and take mini hikes and see waterfalls. At the first waterfall we stopped at, Erin and I didn’t waste much time swimming around in the pool before we decided to jump off the top of it. The hike up to the top was a little muddy and we were both our of breath once we reached the top, more because of the fact that we were so anxious about the jump rather than it being a hard trek. After a little hesitation at the top and trying to determine the right spot to jump, a small crowd had formed and the cameras were out. We both screamed on the way down but were happy we did it, now we were ready for the rest of the falls and excited to see what else we could jump off of! Unfortunately we didn’t get the opportunity because the pit stop at the falls nicknamed seven sacred pools was closed for swimming because the current was so strong, but we did have fun at the waterfall with the Hawaiian name for swirling winds, appropriately named because the inlet it was in was definitely windy. Erin and tried our hardest to fight the wind at the current and make it under the water but we failed horribly. We did however get some of the ahwapui (sp?) plants, the stuff that Paul Mitchell makes his conditioner out of and washed our hair with the goo that comes out of the flowers. That day we actually told more about flowers and plants than I would ever care to remember, but it was cool at the time to learn a lot of little facts.

By this time in the day we had basically thrown caution out the window, and Arnold let Erin and I sit up on the back of the seat and hold on as we cruised around the turns. Highly illegal we were only pulled over once and that officer was nice and let us go with a warning, which we quickly ignored and were back up on the seat for the rest of the trip. We stopped and had lunch in one of the only restaurants in Hana, more waterfalls and views, a black sand beach, and then hit the backside of the island. This was mostly an unpaved road that traveled through the side of the island with the most recent volcanic activity so it was much more dry, completely the opposite of the rainforest we had just come from. Eventually we made it back to the hotel after a long day but since it was our last night on Maui we knew we had to do it big.

Well we tried to do it big, at least the bottle we bought the first day was finally put into use. We were staying in a town that was mostly residential but we had driven through and knew there would be something to do if we just walked. The only thing we knew about was mapquested at an hours walk away but we headed out anyway just to see what we might find. After about a 30 minute walk of darkness and random cat calls we found what looked like a promising bar. The rest of the night consisted of making odd local friends who were shocked to see anyone who didn’t live on the island at all in the bar and a raging game of shuffle board. The rest of the night was slightly eventful in that we made some new friends/admirers/stalkers but it was quite fun despite the lameness of the bar.

The next morning we had an early flight with a connection… why anyone would book a connection through the Hawaiian Islands is still beyond me but we did. However when the first flight was completely cancelled we had a fun early morning finding a new way to Oahu. The nice lady on the phone suggested the ferry. Now anyone who lives in Hawaii or traveled around it can tell you that such a thing in no way exists, but the lady at the front desk of the hotel got a good laugh when we asked her about it. In the end we got a couple extra hours of sleep and didn’t loose too much money on the flight switch, but most importantly we made it to Oahu.

Right off the plane Erin and I had a mission, well we had many missions that week but this was the first we decided to tackle. Spanish rolls at the Pilipino bakery were a must and we had it in the GPS as soon as we exited the airport. Just as delicious as we remembered! From there we made it to the hotel just in time to see Kahwai get drafted and then napped, still nursing our bodies from the long night before. Not to fail we made it out that night to meet up with Katey our good friend who is working an internship working with dolphins on Oahu and living in Waikiki. We found the most amazing Sushi place on Yelp! which was reservation only, but it was cheap and it was BYOB! Erin and I picked up two bottles of a delicious pineapple wine at the ABC store, which was dangerously delicious.

That night Katey told us she had some extra dolphin encounter passes she had and gratefully offered them to Erin and me. We literally couldn’t believe our ears and the fact that we were going to be swimming with dolphins that week! The next day Erin and I woke to spend a few hours on the beach before driving to where Katey works for our swim. The place was absolutely gorgeous with lagoons of dolphins! After receiving our life vests and some sweet goggles we got in the water and got to pet, “train”, and learn about a few different dolphins. After our main session was up they let Katey take us and she did her first session with guests, a.k.a. us. Erin and I were impressed and jealous that Katey gets the opportunity to do this every day and develop relationships with these animals.

Not to waste any more time, after our experience we swooped over to the Pearl Harbor neighborhood, which excitingly I was able to navigate (kind of), and hit up the Korean BBQ place with the meat juhn Erin and I had been craving for the past two years. Just as delicious as we had remembered and we scarfed down every bite. Back in Waikiki after a food coma nap we headed out on the town. Given we were both only twenty the last time we were there, it was nice to have a fake ID free evening. Ironically the first bar we ended up at was a country bar called Nashville, which actually turned out to be really fun (making it to the bar after avoiding our favorite Play Bar at all costs). Erin spent some time on the black jack table (super random) then we started scoping out the dance floor. At Nashvilles we met up with an old friend John who was transferred to Hawaii the same time I moved there for the internship two years ago and we’ve been friends ever since. Some more bar hopping and late night drinks on the beach night one out in Waikiki was very successful.

The next morning John and his friends got us onto base and I had a nostalgic morning eating breakfast at my favorite McDonalds on the planet and swooping by the Hale Ali’i my old home! Katey, Erin, and I then headed over to the Aloha Stadium for the swap meet. Here we spent some money like we do best and had some of the best pineapple I’ve ever had, next to Ugandan pineapple of course (refer to my Africa blog if you want to hear me discuss pineapple further). After the swap meet we headed to Manoa falls for a short hike. That soon turned into a four-hour hike through the mud when we decided to explore what we thought was a small extension path. We hiked through bamboo forests and countless switchbacks occasionally running onto other hikers most of who didn’t make it to the end so the whole time we were left wondering how long this trail really was! Unfortunately none of us brought a phone or camera so there isn’t any documentation of this adventure, but it was actually very freeing at the time. The feeling of disconnect we had from the rest of the world was surreal. The view from the top was amazing and we were thankful we had pushed through and completed the challenge. By the time we were down the mountain and sufficiently covered in mud we rinsed off with a hose the best we could drove back to Waikiki and marched into Cheeseburger In Paradise looking a little messy but we had definitely worked up an appetite and didn’t care one bit. After many attempts to make it out that night we eventually gave into the fatigue and stayed in.

Start of our last full day we embarked on an island tour. Crepes in Kailua, and a visit to Erin’s favorite spot where she left her tooth many years ago started the day, and then we headed to the beach. After a successful paddle boarding session earlier in the week we were eager to try it again. At the beach we failed to find a rental shop so we started to walk. After being stopped by a crazy man in a truck (super legit I promise) we rented the one paddle board he had from him. This time the boarding wasn’t so easy thanks to some lovely winds and huge waves. It was actually just comical. At one point Erin and I tried to both get on the board at the same time, which made for some laughs. After giving up on the waves we headed over to the still water near by and had a very successful two man stand up paddle boarding session. After boarding we headed over to Haleiwa for some shopping and lunch at the shrimp trucks.

Finishing off that night and our last day we finally met up with Chasen for some drinks at Dixie Grill. We had a few laughs when our server who was probably under the influence of something claimed they didn’t have chicken strips they only had chicken fries. When we asked what chicken fries were he calmly stated that it was a platter of chicken strips and French fries…. After a giant mug of beer we successfully convinced Chasen to go out with us in Waikiki. It was a Sunday night at this point but Waikiki was still surprisingly dead. We had fun though finding some new local type spots, using the sketchiest bathroom in history located in the alley behind the bar, and learning about the hooker tree. Apparently if you sit by this tree you can guarantee being approached by a hooker. Ending the night it was sad having to say goodbye to Chasen but I always have the intention to go back to Hawaii so I know I will see him again soon.

Our flight out the next day was in the afternoon so we couldn’t resist a stop by Nandings one last time before we left the islands. Just as delicious as always and it was a good way to say goodbye. Can’t wait to go back!