Sunday, December 09, 2007
Our Trip Home
Warning: this post contains profanity.
Good morning. We woke up to rain here in Ohio. Is it following us? At this point we don't mind. Our heads hit the pillow last night and we were out. I woke up at 10am, thought to myself, "We got to get up," and rolled over and went back to sleep until 11:10am. We could've slept all day but pushed ourselves to get up knowing we need to be able to sleep tonight. I'm in the process of uploading pictures to our Flickr account, so be on the lookout. I know ya'll are just dying to hear our story about coming home, eh? Probably not, but here it is.
To start, our checkout was at 11am. We could've left our suitcases at the hotel but all they do is leave them in the lobby with a big net over them. So we debated to leave them or take them in the car and take a chance with having our car broken into. According to everything you read, car break-ins are huge there and they recommend taking everything with you when you leave your car. With that being said we took our luggage with us and hit the road to try to find something to do.
Since we had no hotel room we had to be careful what we did so we didn't get all funky. We were wearing the clothes we'd be wearing the entire day into our trip home later that evening. We went to Leonards for Malasadas (awesome Portugese donuts that can be cinnamon sugar, or filled with items such as custard to chocolate). They are well known on Oahu for awesome puffy malasadas and they didn't let us down. I'm glad we didn't go there earlier in the weeks because we would've found ourselves there every morning if that had been the case.
After that we went up to the North Shore for the last time. Matsumoto's was open so I got my "official" shave ice. They didn't let us down either. I got the cotton candy flavored with ice cream on the bottom. Yum. After that it was only about noon so we headed back down Kam Highway and ended up at Pearlridge Mall. Grabbed a quick bite to eat and then we were at a loss of what to do. Having that last day is almost like a waste but any flights out to the mainland are at night so no matter what day you leave, you have the same problem.
We decided to head to Pearl Harbor for the last time. We didn't spend much time there and didn't let the car out of our site. Break-ins are HUGE there since they don't allow you to take anything to the Arizona Memorial that would provide concealment. No purses, bags, large camera bags, fanny packs....nothing. So people leave them in the car. Prime target for robbers. They do have a bike patrol for security but break-ins are still on the rise. What we stopped to see was the Healing Field. Very moving. They have different Healing Fields for different occasions but this was to commemorate those lost at Pearl Harbor. Each flag had a purple ribbon attached to the full-sized flag with the person's name, service, and where they were the day of the attack. It was only fitting that we saw it on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
At that point it was 2pm and we had no idea what to do. We didn't want to waste gas by driving. We debated whether to drop the car off but didn't, thank God (I'll explain later). We ended up at the Ala Moana Center for a bit (mall), took a jaunt past downtown Honolulu and Waikiki again and by the time we were back at the Airport it was 6pm (our flight left at 11:55pm). We thought we'd be able to check in and just chill at a restaurant and read or something. Not so. We dropped the car off and showed up at the airport to find a ghost town. Everything's closed and you can't get in. To start, you have to pass through USDA agriculture inspection. You kind of do this upon arrival too, but only have to submit a form. Going into Hawaii you can't take any "foreign" foods, fruits, etc that could damage their environment. Things like peaches, apricots, are totally out of the question. On the way back you have to have your bags x-rayed to make sure you're not taking any agriculture out of Hawaii. The USDA inspection site didn't even open until 7pm so we sat and waited. Before evening being inspected we found out from another US Airways passenger that we wouldn't be able to check our bags in until 8:30pm. Say what? This was a total surprise to us. I just wish that had notified us when we arrived in Hawaii that that's the case. And in none of my travel books was it ever noted. Not only that but it was also a surprise to those around us including those that have been to Hawaii multiple times previously. Thank God we didn't take our car back any earlier. Some others weren't so lucky...some had arrived as early as 2:30 in the afternoon. Just like us there was nothing for them to do and they had to check out of their hotels. In addition, some parking at hotels charge a crazy charge for every 1/2 hour after you're "checked out" Come to find out one of our fellow passengers tried to contact US Air's customer service. To start he had to find a person and the highest ranking US Air employee was at baggage claim (remember the airport is basically closed....I guess this explains why it was a ghost town we arrived in Hawaii, it doesn't "open" until night) and he wouldn't give the customer service number. He ended up getting a phone number some how and called US Air to find that their customer service hours are 9-5 central time M-F and closed on the weekends. So basically you're screwed if you have a problem after hours, if you're in Hawaii since you're pacific time and fly at night, or on the weekends. Somehow we got hold of an actual person on the other end of the line just by staying on the phone, but of course they couldn't do anything.
So first we had to wait for USDA agriculture, which was a total joke. They weren't even watching the screen as our bags passed through the machine. Not kidding. Then we waited at the check-in counter as every other airline checked in. And remember, the airport is all open air meaning we're "outside." Thankfully there's still a roof but that doesn't help humidity. There was only one US Air flight going out that night so we became quite close with our fellow travelers during the waiting time. There was one inparticular named Ross. He was the one that called customer service. The best description I can give is a cross between House and Jeff Foxworthy. He wasn't as arrogant as House but kept you rolling at all times. Just hilarious and he helped pass the time. During our wait time we found that we weren't the only ones that had a horrendous week of travel/weather. Anyone that had been here more than once stated that it was the worst week of weather they had ever seen. It actually made us feel better, allowing us all to vent and not feel as though we were crazy for feeling they way we did. The time finally arrived to check-in, yes! That's when the wonderful customer service of US Air continued. After sitting there for how many hours we had a woman come up to us saying that we had to move back that we were blocking people getting by the desk. Say what?! You've got to be kidding me. At no point was there a person that couldn't get by us. Whatever, we moved.
We checked in, had no problems with security and hung out with our new friends until our take-off. That's when we realized we got the "chosen seats" again. Yes, the same shitty seats that we had on the way there. They weren't so bad going there considering it was day time and we didn't need to sleep. But this time we wanted to sleep. The only way I can explain them is that you have no recline in them. They actually lean slightly forward. Add on top of that the people in front of you reclining in their seats, you have NO room. Here's a picture of David.
It's the best view I could get the situation. You cannot put a 12 inch ruler from your nose to the back of the seat in front of you. David's knees were hitting the back of the seat. They were the worst. We understand that someone has to sit there but come to find out when we were getting off the plane that there were 15 empty seats in the back that we could've been moved to. You've got to be shittin' me! And this time they didn't even acknowledge us getting the crappy seats. In addition the crew was quite rude and inconsiderate. Upon entering the plane there was no place above our seats for our carry on luggage. We were in row 7 and the closest overhead compartment was row 15. Instead of helping us get our luggage to there all we got was, "It can't go up here...you got to put it somewhere back there." I couldn't help but give her a "Oh no you didn't" look. We put our stuff there and returned to our seats. During the flight we found our "neighbor" was a gold member of US Air and got stuck in the same crappy seats as us. Oh heck nah. I'd be raising heck with the airline. She told us that she was getting up to stretch so we all got up to stretch and go to the restroom. She went first, then me, then David went into the lavatory. Immediately when he got into the lavatory the "fasten seat belts" light came on. And you bet that witch of a flight attendant came running to us saying, "You must get in your seats!" We tried to explain the situation that we were waiting for David but needless to say David didn't get to do his business. We got no sleep on the 7+ hour red eye flight and then when we were unloading we got to deal with the flight attendant again. We were patiently waiting for everyone to get off the flight so we could go back to get our carryons when here she comes and says, "What's going on? What are you waiting for?" David replied with a, "We're waiting to go get our frickin' luggage!" That's when a supervisor showed up on the plane and was talking to a fellow passenger saying, "Well, it looks like you two aren't in a hurry and are relaxed from a nice vacation." Basically trying to make us look bad. I've never wanted to get in someone's face so bad and say, "You have no idea!!!" Then when we were leaving the plane the witch attendant said to a fellow attendant, "We got a mean face...." David couldn't help but look her straight in the face and said, "fuck you." Yes, my husband cussed at a flight attendant. You didn't want to mess with us at that point. Horrible vacation, waited forever at the airport for your sucky service, only to be treated like total shit by your airline and have no sleep. Not happy.
David grabbed a quick bite to eat in Phoenix. I was so pissed I couldn't think about eating. That's when I realized the person in Honolulu never gave our Charlotte to Cleveland connecting tickets. We had our 1st and 2nd leg tickets but not the 3rd. I had to go to the desk and get that taken care of. It wasn't a problem. But at that point I wasn't surprised at US Air's mess up. Our second flight was much better. It's amazing how much room we had being in normal seats. You know that those 1st seats were tight when we were rejoicing for the amount of room we got in a normal seat. We ended up not having a person in the seat next to us, which allowed us to stretch out a bit. The customer service was no better, as we had another unfriendly flight attendant. We put our carryons above, as we usually do only to have her come and yell, "Who's luggage is this? Who's luggage is this?" We said it was ours and she said, "It can't go that way, it must be moved. I guess how we had it, it wouldn't fit or something. Kind of funny because it fit in the last plane which was the exact same model. Whatever. We got up and moved it ourselves. I'm kind of surprised about that. Any other airline they would tell us it couldn't go there but then would move it themselves. Even with budget airlines like USA 3000. Not with these 2 crews. They wouldn't touch it and expected you to do it all. I went in and out of sleep on the 4 hour flight. Note to self: never fly with US Airways again and if you're in a B757 don't get Row 7 D, E, or F, or Row 8 A, B, C.
We arrived in Charlotte. It was our first ever stop there. It's a very nice airport. Clean and up to date. Even better, they had a huge pump bottle of Listerine and mints in the restrooms. Definitely something that was needed after not having been able to brush our teeth. The last leg from Charlotte to Cleveland went fast and the crew was great. Why couldn't we have had that crew on any of our other long flights? They were funny, enjoyable, and helpful. They were US Air but called Mesa. Probably contracted or something. And even better, we got into Cleveland 15 minutes early and our luggage was immediately available. Ah, home sweet home. I've never wanted to get down on my hands and knees and kiss the ground in Cleveland. Cleveland, for God's sake. I didn't care. We were home.
When we got home mom and dad helped us unpack and get settled. Then when we went up to bed we found St. Nick came while we were gone! Yay! Thanks St. Nick!! I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. I was out. It was the best night's sleep ever.
Just wanted to thank the 'rents for all of their help...from watching the pups, checking on the cats, cleaning up any messes, taking in the mail, shoveling our snow, and taking us to and from the airport. We appreciate it so much. Thank you!
Good morning. We woke up to rain here in Ohio. Is it following us? At this point we don't mind. Our heads hit the pillow last night and we were out. I woke up at 10am, thought to myself, "We got to get up," and rolled over and went back to sleep until 11:10am. We could've slept all day but pushed ourselves to get up knowing we need to be able to sleep tonight. I'm in the process of uploading pictures to our Flickr account, so be on the lookout. I know ya'll are just dying to hear our story about coming home, eh? Probably not, but here it is.
To start, our checkout was at 11am. We could've left our suitcases at the hotel but all they do is leave them in the lobby with a big net over them. So we debated to leave them or take them in the car and take a chance with having our car broken into. According to everything you read, car break-ins are huge there and they recommend taking everything with you when you leave your car. With that being said we took our luggage with us and hit the road to try to find something to do.
Since we had no hotel room we had to be careful what we did so we didn't get all funky. We were wearing the clothes we'd be wearing the entire day into our trip home later that evening. We went to Leonards for Malasadas (awesome Portugese donuts that can be cinnamon sugar, or filled with items such as custard to chocolate). They are well known on Oahu for awesome puffy malasadas and they didn't let us down. I'm glad we didn't go there earlier in the weeks because we would've found ourselves there every morning if that had been the case.
After that we went up to the North Shore for the last time. Matsumoto's was open so I got my "official" shave ice. They didn't let us down either. I got the cotton candy flavored with ice cream on the bottom. Yum. After that it was only about noon so we headed back down Kam Highway and ended up at Pearlridge Mall. Grabbed a quick bite to eat and then we were at a loss of what to do. Having that last day is almost like a waste but any flights out to the mainland are at night so no matter what day you leave, you have the same problem.
We decided to head to Pearl Harbor for the last time. We didn't spend much time there and didn't let the car out of our site. Break-ins are HUGE there since they don't allow you to take anything to the Arizona Memorial that would provide concealment. No purses, bags, large camera bags, fanny packs....nothing. So people leave them in the car. Prime target for robbers. They do have a bike patrol for security but break-ins are still on the rise. What we stopped to see was the Healing Field. Very moving. They have different Healing Fields for different occasions but this was to commemorate those lost at Pearl Harbor. Each flag had a purple ribbon attached to the full-sized flag with the person's name, service, and where they were the day of the attack. It was only fitting that we saw it on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
At that point it was 2pm and we had no idea what to do. We didn't want to waste gas by driving. We debated whether to drop the car off but didn't, thank God (I'll explain later). We ended up at the Ala Moana Center for a bit (mall), took a jaunt past downtown Honolulu and Waikiki again and by the time we were back at the Airport it was 6pm (our flight left at 11:55pm). We thought we'd be able to check in and just chill at a restaurant and read or something. Not so. We dropped the car off and showed up at the airport to find a ghost town. Everything's closed and you can't get in. To start, you have to pass through USDA agriculture inspection. You kind of do this upon arrival too, but only have to submit a form. Going into Hawaii you can't take any "foreign" foods, fruits, etc that could damage their environment. Things like peaches, apricots, are totally out of the question. On the way back you have to have your bags x-rayed to make sure you're not taking any agriculture out of Hawaii. The USDA inspection site didn't even open until 7pm so we sat and waited. Before evening being inspected we found out from another US Airways passenger that we wouldn't be able to check our bags in until 8:30pm. Say what? This was a total surprise to us. I just wish that had notified us when we arrived in Hawaii that that's the case. And in none of my travel books was it ever noted. Not only that but it was also a surprise to those around us including those that have been to Hawaii multiple times previously. Thank God we didn't take our car back any earlier. Some others weren't so lucky...some had arrived as early as 2:30 in the afternoon. Just like us there was nothing for them to do and they had to check out of their hotels. In addition, some parking at hotels charge a crazy charge for every 1/2 hour after you're "checked out" Come to find out one of our fellow passengers tried to contact US Air's customer service. To start he had to find a person and the highest ranking US Air employee was at baggage claim (remember the airport is basically closed....I guess this explains why it was a ghost town we arrived in Hawaii, it doesn't "open" until night) and he wouldn't give the customer service number. He ended up getting a phone number some how and called US Air to find that their customer service hours are 9-5 central time M-F and closed on the weekends. So basically you're screwed if you have a problem after hours, if you're in Hawaii since you're pacific time and fly at night, or on the weekends. Somehow we got hold of an actual person on the other end of the line just by staying on the phone, but of course they couldn't do anything.
So first we had to wait for USDA agriculture, which was a total joke. They weren't even watching the screen as our bags passed through the machine. Not kidding. Then we waited at the check-in counter as every other airline checked in. And remember, the airport is all open air meaning we're "outside." Thankfully there's still a roof but that doesn't help humidity. There was only one US Air flight going out that night so we became quite close with our fellow travelers during the waiting time. There was one inparticular named Ross. He was the one that called customer service. The best description I can give is a cross between House and Jeff Foxworthy. He wasn't as arrogant as House but kept you rolling at all times. Just hilarious and he helped pass the time. During our wait time we found that we weren't the only ones that had a horrendous week of travel/weather. Anyone that had been here more than once stated that it was the worst week of weather they had ever seen. It actually made us feel better, allowing us all to vent and not feel as though we were crazy for feeling they way we did. The time finally arrived to check-in, yes! That's when the wonderful customer service of US Air continued. After sitting there for how many hours we had a woman come up to us saying that we had to move back that we were blocking people getting by the desk. Say what?! You've got to be kidding me. At no point was there a person that couldn't get by us. Whatever, we moved.
We checked in, had no problems with security and hung out with our new friends until our take-off. That's when we realized we got the "chosen seats" again. Yes, the same shitty seats that we had on the way there. They weren't so bad going there considering it was day time and we didn't need to sleep. But this time we wanted to sleep. The only way I can explain them is that you have no recline in them. They actually lean slightly forward. Add on top of that the people in front of you reclining in their seats, you have NO room. Here's a picture of David.
It's the best view I could get the situation. You cannot put a 12 inch ruler from your nose to the back of the seat in front of you. David's knees were hitting the back of the seat. They were the worst. We understand that someone has to sit there but come to find out when we were getting off the plane that there were 15 empty seats in the back that we could've been moved to. You've got to be shittin' me! And this time they didn't even acknowledge us getting the crappy seats. In addition the crew was quite rude and inconsiderate. Upon entering the plane there was no place above our seats for our carry on luggage. We were in row 7 and the closest overhead compartment was row 15. Instead of helping us get our luggage to there all we got was, "It can't go up here...you got to put it somewhere back there." I couldn't help but give her a "Oh no you didn't" look. We put our stuff there and returned to our seats. During the flight we found our "neighbor" was a gold member of US Air and got stuck in the same crappy seats as us. Oh heck nah. I'd be raising heck with the airline. She told us that she was getting up to stretch so we all got up to stretch and go to the restroom. She went first, then me, then David went into the lavatory. Immediately when he got into the lavatory the "fasten seat belts" light came on. And you bet that witch of a flight attendant came running to us saying, "You must get in your seats!" We tried to explain the situation that we were waiting for David but needless to say David didn't get to do his business. We got no sleep on the 7+ hour red eye flight and then when we were unloading we got to deal with the flight attendant again. We were patiently waiting for everyone to get off the flight so we could go back to get our carryons when here she comes and says, "What's going on? What are you waiting for?" David replied with a, "We're waiting to go get our frickin' luggage!" That's when a supervisor showed up on the plane and was talking to a fellow passenger saying, "Well, it looks like you two aren't in a hurry and are relaxed from a nice vacation." Basically trying to make us look bad. I've never wanted to get in someone's face so bad and say, "You have no idea!!!" Then when we were leaving the plane the witch attendant said to a fellow attendant, "We got a mean face...." David couldn't help but look her straight in the face and said, "fuck you." Yes, my husband cussed at a flight attendant. You didn't want to mess with us at that point. Horrible vacation, waited forever at the airport for your sucky service, only to be treated like total shit by your airline and have no sleep. Not happy.
David grabbed a quick bite to eat in Phoenix. I was so pissed I couldn't think about eating. That's when I realized the person in Honolulu never gave our Charlotte to Cleveland connecting tickets. We had our 1st and 2nd leg tickets but not the 3rd. I had to go to the desk and get that taken care of. It wasn't a problem. But at that point I wasn't surprised at US Air's mess up. Our second flight was much better. It's amazing how much room we had being in normal seats. You know that those 1st seats were tight when we were rejoicing for the amount of room we got in a normal seat. We ended up not having a person in the seat next to us, which allowed us to stretch out a bit. The customer service was no better, as we had another unfriendly flight attendant. We put our carryons above, as we usually do only to have her come and yell, "Who's luggage is this? Who's luggage is this?" We said it was ours and she said, "It can't go that way, it must be moved. I guess how we had it, it wouldn't fit or something. Kind of funny because it fit in the last plane which was the exact same model. Whatever. We got up and moved it ourselves. I'm kind of surprised about that. Any other airline they would tell us it couldn't go there but then would move it themselves. Even with budget airlines like USA 3000. Not with these 2 crews. They wouldn't touch it and expected you to do it all. I went in and out of sleep on the 4 hour flight. Note to self: never fly with US Airways again and if you're in a B757 don't get Row 7 D, E, or F, or Row 8 A, B, C.
We arrived in Charlotte. It was our first ever stop there. It's a very nice airport. Clean and up to date. Even better, they had a huge pump bottle of Listerine and mints in the restrooms. Definitely something that was needed after not having been able to brush our teeth. The last leg from Charlotte to Cleveland went fast and the crew was great. Why couldn't we have had that crew on any of our other long flights? They were funny, enjoyable, and helpful. They were US Air but called Mesa. Probably contracted or something. And even better, we got into Cleveland 15 minutes early and our luggage was immediately available. Ah, home sweet home. I've never wanted to get down on my hands and knees and kiss the ground in Cleveland. Cleveland, for God's sake. I didn't care. We were home.
When we got home mom and dad helped us unpack and get settled. Then when we went up to bed we found St. Nick came while we were gone! Yay! Thanks St. Nick!! I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. I was out. It was the best night's sleep ever.
Just wanted to thank the 'rents for all of their help...from watching the pups, checking on the cats, cleaning up any messes, taking in the mail, shoveling our snow, and taking us to and from the airport. We appreciate it so much. Thank you!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Safe And Sound
We're home safe and sound. Everything's unpacked, luggage is stowed away (probably for awhile), pictures our on the computer (they'll be uploaded tomorrow), and wash has been started. We shouldn't be tired considering we should be on Hawaii time...6pm, not 11pm which is here. But having had basically no sleep on the trip home we're exhausted. As with everything having to do with the trip, there's a story for our trip home. It's too long and too deep to write tonight. Time for a hot bath and a comfy warm bed with thick clean sheets. 'Til tomorrow...
Friday, December 07, 2007
Last Day
Last day here in Hawaii. We don't leave until midnight local time though, so we have an entire day. With that being said we have to be careful at what we do since we won't have a hotel room to go back to if we get all nasty. They do offer a hospitality room so if worse came to worse, but still. As of now our plans are to "ride the loop" again, as we call it. We've done it 3 times before. Twice going up "Kam Highway" and around and the other up the windward side and around. I'm kind of bummed that we didn't get to to the leeward side but the day we were going to go the weather had been bad the night before and my understand was it was like a war zone over there. Thank you Cheryl Aloha for all of your advice and encouragement during this time. It definitely helped. We've passed the Puka Dogs several times in passing and I'm very interested. We're going to try to fit it in today but like I said, we're not exactly sure what the definitive plans are.
It's going to be a long flight home but I'm definitely excited to see our pups and kitties. Nana and PawPaw have them so spoiled they probably won't want to come home with us! Hopefully the next post will be from the comfort of our home.
It's going to be a long flight home but I'm definitely excited to see our pups and kitties. Nana and PawPaw have them so spoiled they probably won't want to come home with us! Hopefully the next post will be from the comfort of our home.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
The Sun Is Shining....For Now
Hello all! After my post this morning we went out and walked the streets. We then drove to downtown Honolulu to check out the Aloha Tower and Chinatown. We didn't stay long as there was very limited parking and weren't willing to fork over a ton of money for it either since my main plan was just to take pictures, not shop. After our jaunt we went back to our hotel to get in our swimsuits and crossed our fingers that the sun would stay out until we got to the beach. It's been playing a trick on us the entire time we've been here. The sun will be out, we'll get in our suits, and by the time we get to the beach the sun will be covered by massive clouds, it's VERY windy, and/or it's raining. We got to the beach and the sun was out and stayed out. Can I get a hallelujah?! So our afternoon was amazing.....what we had been waiting for. We got in the water for a bit (not all the way in). It was still kind of chilly but much better than the other day. The clouds started covering the sun more and more so we decided to head back to the hotel. In the process it started to pour rain so we took cover fast. Right now it's not looking too bad at the moment and we're heading out for dinner. Our plans for now are Da Big Kahuna. We shall see. Thank God for the sun today. Thank you. Thank you. I'm eternally grateful.
I Want Sleep
The marathon expo was ok. There weren't too many vendors and 50% of them targeted the Asian population. Why should I be surprised? We didn't spend as much time there as expected but I did get this little belt/pouch thing to wear while running. It's tiny but stretches to fit necessities. I don't see me using on normal day-to-day runs but will mostly use it for races when we don't have anyone with us to hold our stuff. Since it stretches it also keeps it's shape and stays tight to your body, not moving around and such. I'll have to let you know how it goes when I use it.
While venturing to the convention center we noticed a decent amount of debris on the streets of Waikiki from the storm the night before. We didn't think much of it and headed up to the North Shore yesterday. Bad idea. About halfway there we ran into a huge amount of traffic around a military based town. Upon passing through we found power line after powerline down. Not just the lines but the actual poles. HUGE trees were uprooted and thrown about. I've never witnessed anything like it before. There was no power including no traffic signals. Those were obviously some strong winds. All the power was out in the area. We decided to continue to the North Shore, unsure of what to expect when we arrived we found everything closed due to the weather and no power whatsoever. So much for our trip for shave ice. Instead of turning immediately around to head into the massive amount of traffic we just circled the island like the other day. We didn't find the rest of the island in too much better of shape. We were detoured down flooded roads to get around downed trees/powerlines. As usual we also ran into some rain.
After arriving back in town we decided to head out on a mission to find shave ice. In the meantime we also got our swimsuits on to "enjoy" the beach. It was windy as all get out but we tried to enjoy the few moments of no rain we could on the beach. While sitting there mother nature started to sputter and we rain back to the hotel. We ended up eating dinner at Chili's and then got some shave ice at the Food Pantry (grocery store). That's not exactly where I had hoped to get my shave ice but at least I can say that I had it while in Hawaii. We made it an early night and went back to the hotel room. Pretty Woman was on tv so we watched that. I was in and out of sleep and then finally was out at 10pm only to have both of us woken up by our neighbors having sex. I'm not even kidding. I know all of us adults do it but it's the grossest thing to hear. We turned our tv back on for awhile to block it out then finally went back to sleep. After all that had happened a car alarm went off outside and continued on and on and on. Probably for atleast 5 minutes. I just want a decent nights sleep, please. I'm begging you.
This morning we woke up to pouring rain so we spent the majority of the morning in the hotel room. As of now we're not sure what our plans are. We're definitely not going to head anywhere else on the island considering as we went to bed last night 13,000 people were still without power on Oahu. I feel so negative in my past few posts and I truly apologize for you having to read my negativity. I honestly feel as though I'm a very positive person on most occasions but during these times I must be honest to myself even if it's got to be brutal. If we could hop on a plane right now we would. Let's look at the bright side of things. At least we have power right?
While venturing to the convention center we noticed a decent amount of debris on the streets of Waikiki from the storm the night before. We didn't think much of it and headed up to the North Shore yesterday. Bad idea. About halfway there we ran into a huge amount of traffic around a military based town. Upon passing through we found power line after powerline down. Not just the lines but the actual poles. HUGE trees were uprooted and thrown about. I've never witnessed anything like it before. There was no power including no traffic signals. Those were obviously some strong winds. All the power was out in the area. We decided to continue to the North Shore, unsure of what to expect when we arrived we found everything closed due to the weather and no power whatsoever. So much for our trip for shave ice. Instead of turning immediately around to head into the massive amount of traffic we just circled the island like the other day. We didn't find the rest of the island in too much better of shape. We were detoured down flooded roads to get around downed trees/powerlines. As usual we also ran into some rain.
After arriving back in town we decided to head out on a mission to find shave ice. In the meantime we also got our swimsuits on to "enjoy" the beach. It was windy as all get out but we tried to enjoy the few moments of no rain we could on the beach. While sitting there mother nature started to sputter and we rain back to the hotel. We ended up eating dinner at Chili's and then got some shave ice at the Food Pantry (grocery store). That's not exactly where I had hoped to get my shave ice but at least I can say that I had it while in Hawaii. We made it an early night and went back to the hotel room. Pretty Woman was on tv so we watched that. I was in and out of sleep and then finally was out at 10pm only to have both of us woken up by our neighbors having sex. I'm not even kidding. I know all of us adults do it but it's the grossest thing to hear. We turned our tv back on for awhile to block it out then finally went back to sleep. After all that had happened a car alarm went off outside and continued on and on and on. Probably for atleast 5 minutes. I just want a decent nights sleep, please. I'm begging you.
This morning we woke up to pouring rain so we spent the majority of the morning in the hotel room. As of now we're not sure what our plans are. We're definitely not going to head anywhere else on the island considering as we went to bed last night 13,000 people were still without power on Oahu. I feel so negative in my past few posts and I truly apologize for you having to read my negativity. I honestly feel as though I'm a very positive person on most occasions but during these times I must be honest to myself even if it's got to be brutal. If we could hop on a plane right now we would. Let's look at the bright side of things. At least we have power right?
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Crazy Winds
Hey, it's 9:30 am here and we're about to head to the convention center for the marathon expo. Even though we're not running it I want to soak up the experience. Anyway, last night at about 3:30am we were awoken by some crazy winds. Our glass sliding door was shaking and all. Looking outside we saw our palm trees flying in the wind with the rain pouring. We weren't necessarily scared but put on alert. We haven't seen that bad of winds since New Orleans. Pretty freaky. Thank God we didn't lose power or anything. With all that being said it was a rough night's sleep with it being constantly interrupted by the wind. Ah well. As stated previously it's going to continue to be crazy weather with high speed winds, thunderstorms, and flash flood warnings the next few days. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't get caught in the rain, for the millionth time.
Hawaii Continued
Okay, I didn't post yesterday so I'm posting today. Time to re-group and remember all that happened yesterday. We started out at Diamondhead. It was an awesome hike and I'd really like to do it again. We're not really the hiking type so I was quite surprised to find that it was a "beginners hike" but found it not to be so easy. Thank God for having been running. Although it wasn't "easy" it wasn't hard either. Just all uphill with some rough terrain and a decent amount of steps, with some being quite steep. It was great to get that anxiety out of my system and work up a good sweat. They say to give yourself 1.5 hours to finish. We finished in less than 40 minutes. We didn't race through the hike but we kept it challenging by keeping up our speed. And the final paved 1/4 we ran down the slope which felt even better. If you're ever here definitely check it out. I found the biggest issue with people is that they're not prepared. Don't wear crocs, sandals, flip flops, or brand new shoes. You need stability, comfort, and something you don't mind getting scuffed up. Once again, definitely something I'd recommend.
After that we headed back up the windward (east) side of the island and checked out Kailua again, running into rain. Lunch wasn't exciting, just McDonald's, but we finished up with a treat from Famous Amos' Chip and Cookie. We explored the area a bit then headed back south on H-running into rain again. I just had to see the Haiku Stairs aka Stairway To Heaven. I've read and researched about them a lot since learning about them a few months back. I do hope that at some point they re-open them to the public. I'd definitely do the hike, which would be a huge challenge. Right now they are closed, although people trespass and still climb them. If you'd like to see what it's all about just Google "Haiku Stairs" or "Friends of Haiku Stairs." Just amazing. It'd feel like you're on top of the world. Someday.
When we got back to the city we decided to take a swim at our hotel pool. Actually I ended up in the jacuzzi and David ended up in the pool. The water was quite brisk in the pool. Not my cup of tea. After that we headed back to the streets of shops. I think I've said this before but you mostly have two ends of the spectrum when it comes to shops. High-end (Cartier, Tiffany, Burberry, Fendi, Gucci, Coach, etc.) and then the T-Shirt Shacks. I guess we'll stick with the T-Shirt Shacks (gotta love ABC Stores). We stopped at Niketown and I had to pull myself away from the Honolulu Marathon gear. They got some awesome stuff but I just can't get it out of my head about the stigma that comes with wearing gear from a race you haven't run. Although I do think in the back of my head, "I'll never run the Honolulu Marathon." I walked away. I did find these rubber bracelets I wanted. They were kind of like the Livestrong type but thinner and sized for women. The proceeds go to supporting women athletics. They of course had run out and wouldn't sell me the ones on the display. Ah well. Of course I find something that I actually like and want, and am willing to buy and they don't have it. No surprise.
We continued down the street to The Beachwalk (more high-end shops) and got stopped by a hotel/information person. She asked us where we were from and we told her Ohio. She then went on to say, "Oh you looked european!" Right...me look european. And David with his Ohio State Buckeye Nation shirt. Okay, whatever. She went on to give us a coupon book (which we already had) and then started some pitch about coming to see the Wyndham during breakfast to see what they have to offer with their vacation homes. In other words, timeshares. Oh no, we've been through that experience before. Of course they offer you all this great stuff but we declined the offer.
Dinner started at Senor Frogs, but we ended up leaving before ordering. We had never been to one and everyone raves about them, so we figured we'd give it a try. We've been sharing all of our meals for financial and caloric reasons. We looked at the menu before entering the restaurant and decided there was something we could share, and then we would get free nachos for mentioning an ad. Well, we mentioned the ad and came to find that we physically had to have the ad for the free nachos. Oh, heck nah. After reassessing the situation it was too expensive, we wouldn't get our free nachos, and we just wouldn't be happy, so we politely excused ourselves. It's the first time ever for us walking out of a restaurant.
We ended up at a highly rated (according to my books) place called La Cucaracha (yes cockroach, but it was darn good), that was at the other end of the beach. We were VERY pleased by the price, meal size, and general ambience. We bummed around the shops some more. We're definitely getting bored with the shops. You can only browse so much and at night there's not much else for us to do. We're not much of nightlife people so it's either the shops or sitting in our room. We stopped by Coco Cove, a convenience store. Something cool here is that they sell individual beers and smaller bottles of alcohol too. Once again, since we're not really big drinkers it's a way we can check things out without wasting money. We holed up in the room the rest of the night and each had our individual sizes of alcohol.
We arose this morning at 6am and headed out for our first run in Hawaii. It will probably be our last too...I'll talk about that later. The run went fine. It's very humid and the pavement was still wet from, you guessed it, more evening rain. We went up the Ala Wai Canal then down to the beach and park. Hitting the beach was like hitting a wall with all of the wind. Very tough. We ran into a lot of runners, people just out for morning walks, and more homeless people than we expected. Due to the wind the run was cut short at 2.5 miles. Hey, at least we got out.
After our run we went over to the Pearl Harbor area. As we got closer to the area the sky got dark and it started to rain. Are you seeing a pattern here? Rain, rain, rain. We stopped and waited for a bit only to find it wasn't going to stop. In hopes of experiencing what we had the other day we headed to the North Shore only to find that it was just as bad up there. So back down Highway 99 we went. As we got closer to Pearl Harbor the skies started to "clear" and we decided to try back at Pearl Harbor. We arrived and found that our wait was going to be an hour. Not too bad considering the books said you could wait anywhere from 15 minutes to over 3 hours. We checked out the grounds until our number was called and then we went into the theater to see the 23 minute movie. I got stuck neck to a kid/toddler that was inquisitive at every little thing during the movie. If I heard, "What's that?!" again that kid was going to see the back of my hand. I shouldn't write/say that should I? Can you now tell why I don't want to have children? David had the notorious gum chomper next to him. I appreciated the film but it could've been better without the surrounding issues. After the film we went immediately to the ferry. I sat on the left side. As the ferry started up we got some misting on our faces. Not that big of a deal. We continued on and the misting got heavier and heavier. By the arrival to the memorial I couldn't see out of my sunglasses due to the salt water on them. Oh, but it gets better. The ferry was docking and whoosh! a splash of what came into the boat and got me soaked from head to toe. David got some too. I couldn't believe it. I immediately felt uncomfortable. Wet and sticky with salt water. It's the type of uncomfortable where you are about to freak out in your skin and want to scream. Kind of like when you're a kid and your socks don't feel right on your feet (maybe that's just my family, dunno). Add on top of that the people watching us as we got off. I could see in their faces, "What the heck? What happened to them?" I just wanted to say, "Don't even ask." I took a few quick pictures, tried to put my issues aside to honor those at the Arizona, but it just couldn't be done. We got immediately back on the ferry and headed back. That's when the tears hit and all I could think of is, "I just want to go home."
After taking making the trip back to our hotel I took a shower, again. We re-focused and went over the Ala Moana Center, including Walmart and had some Papa John's for lunch. Ah, comfort food. Haven't had Papa John's in years. It was good. When we finished up there we stopped back at our hotel and then stopped by the Cheesecake Factory for take-out dessert. Stopped by Coco Cove for our nightly alcohol sampling (don't worry sita!) and here I am.
I know I'm going to get a lot of flack from writing this on here, but I gotta stay true to myself when I say that this wasn't the trip we had hoped for. I had this thought in my mind of having a dream vacation full of paradise and it was a huge let down. Maybe my expectations were too high. We've battled rain on a daily basis and are constantly trying to be on top of it, trying to try another part of the island, only to be let down. As stated previously, in the way of shopping, there's not much choice for us. Not to mention, who wants to only shop on vacation? In our circumstance we're tight enough on money that shopping isn't really an option. I thank God we bit the bullet a few weeks ago and reserved a rental car. If we didn't have that thing I think we'd lose it. I know everyone's going to say, "Relax, you're on vacation." I hear ya loud and clear. My relaxing would be a quiet day on the beach. That's what I expected and packed for. Too bad we haven't been able to do so. The rain and overcast hasn't provided the best of circumstances to chill on the beach or by the pool. And when you have the opportunity to get in the water whether it is the ocean or the pool you freeze your arse off. It's not bathtub water let me tell you. And relaxing in the hotel room isn't really an option since it's so small (we aren't even sharing a bed for gosh sakes...one twin and one double bed. That's what happens when you try to go on vacation on a budget). And with only about 10 channels with 3 being Asian and 1 being a loop reel of tourist activities, there's not much to watch. I never thought I'd say this but I'm also sick of showers. From all the humidity, rain, salt water, etc we've each been taking 2-3 showers a day. I'm running out of clothes. I never thought that would happen on vacation, I always over pack. We'll wear our clothes and sweat or get rained on (or get soaked with salt water!) so we have to head back to the hotel and change. We set our clothes out to dry in various places around the room but with the humidity they don't dry and only become musty. And since I had planned for mostly beach wear my choice of clothes choices is dwindling. Another things that was unexpected was the amount of Asian influence here. From food to tourists. It's almost as though you're in a foreign country. No joke. And they can't understand you. As for running tomorrow, there's a storm front moving in tonight with heavy rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds that will be here the next 3 days...in other words the remainder of our trip.
On top of all of that I've been battling with some severe nausea while here. My gag reflex has been heightened and it's as though I could vomit at the drop of a hat. I've been getting light headed and just in a plain funk, especially in the morning time. I get these hot flash feelings and feel like I could pass out. Eating tends to help but I have to get passed the feeling of wanting to vomit while eating. By evening I feel decent. I can only attribute it to the highs from eating too much sugar and hitting too far of a low. I don't know, but it hasn't been fun. On top of that both of us have been sleeping horribly and battling constant headaches. Something even Tylenol PM can't help (we've tried it).
I question myself, "Are we not adventurous? Is this just not our thing?" I come to the conclusion that we are adventurous but when it comes to vacation we don't want to think hard for activities. In that way Disney was perfect. Everything was prepaid so we didn't have to worry so much about money and transportation was provided, so we didn't have to worry about that either. Live and learn I guess. David and I have decided to accept it for what it is and continue on.
I'm done with my rant...I can see the comments flying in now (even the unposted ones). On a much lighter note, we got to see Da Kine Bail Bonds today aka Dog The Bounty Hunter's business. I got some pictures. Then something else that brought a smile to my face was the parade of cars with huge Menorahs attached to the roofs of their cars tonight. They were beeping their horns, waving as they went by, yamikas and all. I got a picture of that too. Happy Hannakuh!
After that we headed back up the windward (east) side of the island and checked out Kailua again, running into rain. Lunch wasn't exciting, just McDonald's, but we finished up with a treat from Famous Amos' Chip and Cookie. We explored the area a bit then headed back south on H-running into rain again. I just had to see the Haiku Stairs aka Stairway To Heaven. I've read and researched about them a lot since learning about them a few months back. I do hope that at some point they re-open them to the public. I'd definitely do the hike, which would be a huge challenge. Right now they are closed, although people trespass and still climb them. If you'd like to see what it's all about just Google "Haiku Stairs" or "Friends of Haiku Stairs." Just amazing. It'd feel like you're on top of the world. Someday.
When we got back to the city we decided to take a swim at our hotel pool. Actually I ended up in the jacuzzi and David ended up in the pool. The water was quite brisk in the pool. Not my cup of tea. After that we headed back to the streets of shops. I think I've said this before but you mostly have two ends of the spectrum when it comes to shops. High-end (Cartier, Tiffany, Burberry, Fendi, Gucci, Coach, etc.) and then the T-Shirt Shacks. I guess we'll stick with the T-Shirt Shacks (gotta love ABC Stores). We stopped at Niketown and I had to pull myself away from the Honolulu Marathon gear. They got some awesome stuff but I just can't get it out of my head about the stigma that comes with wearing gear from a race you haven't run. Although I do think in the back of my head, "I'll never run the Honolulu Marathon." I walked away. I did find these rubber bracelets I wanted. They were kind of like the Livestrong type but thinner and sized for women. The proceeds go to supporting women athletics. They of course had run out and wouldn't sell me the ones on the display. Ah well. Of course I find something that I actually like and want, and am willing to buy and they don't have it. No surprise.
We continued down the street to The Beachwalk (more high-end shops) and got stopped by a hotel/information person. She asked us where we were from and we told her Ohio. She then went on to say, "Oh you looked european!" Right...me look european. And David with his Ohio State Buckeye Nation shirt. Okay, whatever. She went on to give us a coupon book (which we already had) and then started some pitch about coming to see the Wyndham during breakfast to see what they have to offer with their vacation homes. In other words, timeshares. Oh no, we've been through that experience before. Of course they offer you all this great stuff but we declined the offer.
Dinner started at Senor Frogs, but we ended up leaving before ordering. We had never been to one and everyone raves about them, so we figured we'd give it a try. We've been sharing all of our meals for financial and caloric reasons. We looked at the menu before entering the restaurant and decided there was something we could share, and then we would get free nachos for mentioning an ad. Well, we mentioned the ad and came to find that we physically had to have the ad for the free nachos. Oh, heck nah. After reassessing the situation it was too expensive, we wouldn't get our free nachos, and we just wouldn't be happy, so we politely excused ourselves. It's the first time ever for us walking out of a restaurant.
We ended up at a highly rated (according to my books) place called La Cucaracha (yes cockroach, but it was darn good), that was at the other end of the beach. We were VERY pleased by the price, meal size, and general ambience. We bummed around the shops some more. We're definitely getting bored with the shops. You can only browse so much and at night there's not much else for us to do. We're not much of nightlife people so it's either the shops or sitting in our room. We stopped by Coco Cove, a convenience store. Something cool here is that they sell individual beers and smaller bottles of alcohol too. Once again, since we're not really big drinkers it's a way we can check things out without wasting money. We holed up in the room the rest of the night and each had our individual sizes of alcohol.
We arose this morning at 6am and headed out for our first run in Hawaii. It will probably be our last too...I'll talk about that later. The run went fine. It's very humid and the pavement was still wet from, you guessed it, more evening rain. We went up the Ala Wai Canal then down to the beach and park. Hitting the beach was like hitting a wall with all of the wind. Very tough. We ran into a lot of runners, people just out for morning walks, and more homeless people than we expected. Due to the wind the run was cut short at 2.5 miles. Hey, at least we got out.
After our run we went over to the Pearl Harbor area. As we got closer to the area the sky got dark and it started to rain. Are you seeing a pattern here? Rain, rain, rain. We stopped and waited for a bit only to find it wasn't going to stop. In hopes of experiencing what we had the other day we headed to the North Shore only to find that it was just as bad up there. So back down Highway 99 we went. As we got closer to Pearl Harbor the skies started to "clear" and we decided to try back at Pearl Harbor. We arrived and found that our wait was going to be an hour. Not too bad considering the books said you could wait anywhere from 15 minutes to over 3 hours. We checked out the grounds until our number was called and then we went into the theater to see the 23 minute movie. I got stuck neck to a kid/toddler that was inquisitive at every little thing during the movie. If I heard, "What's that?!" again that kid was going to see the back of my hand. I shouldn't write/say that should I? Can you now tell why I don't want to have children? David had the notorious gum chomper next to him. I appreciated the film but it could've been better without the surrounding issues. After the film we went immediately to the ferry. I sat on the left side. As the ferry started up we got some misting on our faces. Not that big of a deal. We continued on and the misting got heavier and heavier. By the arrival to the memorial I couldn't see out of my sunglasses due to the salt water on them. Oh, but it gets better. The ferry was docking and whoosh! a splash of what came into the boat and got me soaked from head to toe. David got some too. I couldn't believe it. I immediately felt uncomfortable. Wet and sticky with salt water. It's the type of uncomfortable where you are about to freak out in your skin and want to scream. Kind of like when you're a kid and your socks don't feel right on your feet (maybe that's just my family, dunno). Add on top of that the people watching us as we got off. I could see in their faces, "What the heck? What happened to them?" I just wanted to say, "Don't even ask." I took a few quick pictures, tried to put my issues aside to honor those at the Arizona, but it just couldn't be done. We got immediately back on the ferry and headed back. That's when the tears hit and all I could think of is, "I just want to go home."
After taking making the trip back to our hotel I took a shower, again. We re-focused and went over the Ala Moana Center, including Walmart and had some Papa John's for lunch. Ah, comfort food. Haven't had Papa John's in years. It was good. When we finished up there we stopped back at our hotel and then stopped by the Cheesecake Factory for take-out dessert. Stopped by Coco Cove for our nightly alcohol sampling (don't worry sita!) and here I am.
I know I'm going to get a lot of flack from writing this on here, but I gotta stay true to myself when I say that this wasn't the trip we had hoped for. I had this thought in my mind of having a dream vacation full of paradise and it was a huge let down. Maybe my expectations were too high. We've battled rain on a daily basis and are constantly trying to be on top of it, trying to try another part of the island, only to be let down. As stated previously, in the way of shopping, there's not much choice for us. Not to mention, who wants to only shop on vacation? In our circumstance we're tight enough on money that shopping isn't really an option. I thank God we bit the bullet a few weeks ago and reserved a rental car. If we didn't have that thing I think we'd lose it. I know everyone's going to say, "Relax, you're on vacation." I hear ya loud and clear. My relaxing would be a quiet day on the beach. That's what I expected and packed for. Too bad we haven't been able to do so. The rain and overcast hasn't provided the best of circumstances to chill on the beach or by the pool. And when you have the opportunity to get in the water whether it is the ocean or the pool you freeze your arse off. It's not bathtub water let me tell you. And relaxing in the hotel room isn't really an option since it's so small (we aren't even sharing a bed for gosh sakes...one twin and one double bed. That's what happens when you try to go on vacation on a budget). And with only about 10 channels with 3 being Asian and 1 being a loop reel of tourist activities, there's not much to watch. I never thought I'd say this but I'm also sick of showers. From all the humidity, rain, salt water, etc we've each been taking 2-3 showers a day. I'm running out of clothes. I never thought that would happen on vacation, I always over pack. We'll wear our clothes and sweat or get rained on (or get soaked with salt water!) so we have to head back to the hotel and change. We set our clothes out to dry in various places around the room but with the humidity they don't dry and only become musty. And since I had planned for mostly beach wear my choice of clothes choices is dwindling. Another things that was unexpected was the amount of Asian influence here. From food to tourists. It's almost as though you're in a foreign country. No joke. And they can't understand you. As for running tomorrow, there's a storm front moving in tonight with heavy rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds that will be here the next 3 days...in other words the remainder of our trip.
On top of all of that I've been battling with some severe nausea while here. My gag reflex has been heightened and it's as though I could vomit at the drop of a hat. I've been getting light headed and just in a plain funk, especially in the morning time. I get these hot flash feelings and feel like I could pass out. Eating tends to help but I have to get passed the feeling of wanting to vomit while eating. By evening I feel decent. I can only attribute it to the highs from eating too much sugar and hitting too far of a low. I don't know, but it hasn't been fun. On top of that both of us have been sleeping horribly and battling constant headaches. Something even Tylenol PM can't help (we've tried it).
I question myself, "Are we not adventurous? Is this just not our thing?" I come to the conclusion that we are adventurous but when it comes to vacation we don't want to think hard for activities. In that way Disney was perfect. Everything was prepaid so we didn't have to worry so much about money and transportation was provided, so we didn't have to worry about that either. Live and learn I guess. David and I have decided to accept it for what it is and continue on.
I'm done with my rant...I can see the comments flying in now (even the unposted ones). On a much lighter note, we got to see Da Kine Bail Bonds today aka Dog The Bounty Hunter's business. I got some pictures. Then something else that brought a smile to my face was the parade of cars with huge Menorahs attached to the roofs of their cars tonight. They were beeping their horns, waving as they went by, yamikas and all. I got a picture of that too. Happy Hannakuh!
Monday, December 03, 2007
Fun In The Sun
Today was a much better day. We woke up to pouring down rain and were a bit disheartened. It would pour, then stop, then start again. However, instead of staying at the hotel we decided to head up the middle of the island to check out the Dole Plantation and the North Shore. Although the Weather Channel said rain once again, we had read somewhere that, "if you don't like the weather, get in the car and drive...you'll find something better." On our trip up the island we saw a rainbow. We then turned a corner to find a huge rainbow, complete from side to side. I've never experienced one before, they've only been the half-rainbow. We drove right "under and through" it.
By the time we got to the Dole Plantation the weather had not gotten better. Still humid and wet. We sucked it up and checked out the store then got some fresh island fruit. There are fresh fruit vendors everywhere here. Yum yum in the tum tum. It included mango (not really a fan, weird texture), apple pineapple (never heard of it but boy, was it to die for), and then coconut (never had coconut before, not all that great and doesn't live up to your thoughts on what to expect), and the miniature bananas (not sure what they're called). After that we headed to the Dole Maze. Basically it's a hedge maze kind of like in the Harry Potter movie. Crazy. Not only is it a maze, you have checkpoints that you find to accomplish the entire task. It was a fun time even though it decided to rain almost the entire time. You know me though, once I start something, I gotta finish it. Mission accomplished. It only took us about 30 minutes...pretty poor considering the record is 6 minutes (I can't see how anyone could do it in 6 minutes...lots of planning and preparation I guess). After our hard work David surprised me with a pineapple juice, pineapple sherbert float. That stuff is to die for, but I have to eat it in moderation because I'll get sicker than a dog. David really wanted to go to the Dole Plantation and I just went along not really expecting much. Most of the books called it a tourist trap. It was very "touristy" but fun and enjoyable at the same time. I'm definitely glad that we stopped.
After that we headed up to the North Shore. Just gorgeous. The skies cleared, the waves roared, and we soaked up the sun. Oh yeah, we decided to try out the convertible top again. We figured it out. As we continued our drive all I could think about was, "This is what I'm talking about. This is vacation." The North Shore is totally different than Waikiki. Much more laid back and just chill with little stores here and there. Hard to explain. Hale'iwa is known for it's surfing so that's where we started. We road along the stretch for a few miles then headed back into town for some grub. We shared a burger and fries at Kua'Aina Sandwich. It was an awesome burger and fresh cut thin fries. We then traveled clockwise from the top, down the windward side of the island. Come to find out they're having the World Cup Surfing Competition right now. That's when the big dogs come out to surf Sweet. When we arrived we found that the conditions weren't favorable enough for surfing so the events for today had to be cancelled. We'll definitely be checking out the area again. We continued on down the island, car top down, sun shining, wind blowing through our hair, capturing the amazing natural beauty of the island. Things you only see in photographs. Once again, this is what I'm talking about. I couldn't take the smile off my face.
We rode through all the small towns, stopping here and there to check out little stores and we ended up at the Kailua Beach. It was a calm beach with not too many people. Very peaceful. Oh yeah, we did end up going to the bach yesterday (Waikiki) and found that the water is pretty chilly. Once you get in it's nice, but it's definitely not bathwater warm. Yesterday we only ended up walking the beach instead of swimming. Obviously we had the same problem today with the water being chilly but we did get in. It's been such a long time since I've swam in salt water that I forgot how "sticky" you feel after being in the water.
We finished up our swim and headed back to Waikiki to find that it was still raining...surprise, surprise. We went back to the hotel, took quick showers, then headed out for dinner. Buca Di Beppo was our choice. We've only been to Buca's twice and they've never let us down. Today was no different. Very good and fast service. Once again we shared leaving room for some sort of dessert. We bummed around the area checking out some stores at the Ward Center before they closed. After that we headed back to the hotel and went on an adventure to find dessert. We found a place called Rock Island Cafe. We passed it the other night and didn't think much of it. We stopped by it again tonight and found that it was pretty cool. It's a local deal that's set up like an old diner. They're playing old music and everything's basically Elvis, Coke, Marilyn Monroe, etc. While waiting for our "King Kong Banana Split" (which didn't end up being very King Kong-like) there were old game cards from Trivial Pursuit and other types of games that kept us busy.
It's now 8:30pm and we're going to chill the rest of tonight. Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow. I definitely have Diamondhead, Pearl Harbor, and a few other things on my "must see list" yet. I do know that we'll definitely be headed back up to the North Shore at some point though. By the way, sorry if I have a ton of typos in theses posts, I'm trying to get everything typed real fast.
By the time we got to the Dole Plantation the weather had not gotten better. Still humid and wet. We sucked it up and checked out the store then got some fresh island fruit. There are fresh fruit vendors everywhere here. Yum yum in the tum tum. It included mango (not really a fan, weird texture), apple pineapple (never heard of it but boy, was it to die for), and then coconut (never had coconut before, not all that great and doesn't live up to your thoughts on what to expect), and the miniature bananas (not sure what they're called). After that we headed to the Dole Maze. Basically it's a hedge maze kind of like in the Harry Potter movie. Crazy. Not only is it a maze, you have checkpoints that you find to accomplish the entire task. It was a fun time even though it decided to rain almost the entire time. You know me though, once I start something, I gotta finish it. Mission accomplished. It only took us about 30 minutes...pretty poor considering the record is 6 minutes (I can't see how anyone could do it in 6 minutes...lots of planning and preparation I guess). After our hard work David surprised me with a pineapple juice, pineapple sherbert float. That stuff is to die for, but I have to eat it in moderation because I'll get sicker than a dog. David really wanted to go to the Dole Plantation and I just went along not really expecting much. Most of the books called it a tourist trap. It was very "touristy" but fun and enjoyable at the same time. I'm definitely glad that we stopped.
After that we headed up to the North Shore. Just gorgeous. The skies cleared, the waves roared, and we soaked up the sun. Oh yeah, we decided to try out the convertible top again. We figured it out. As we continued our drive all I could think about was, "This is what I'm talking about. This is vacation." The North Shore is totally different than Waikiki. Much more laid back and just chill with little stores here and there. Hard to explain. Hale'iwa is known for it's surfing so that's where we started. We road along the stretch for a few miles then headed back into town for some grub. We shared a burger and fries at Kua'Aina Sandwich. It was an awesome burger and fresh cut thin fries. We then traveled clockwise from the top, down the windward side of the island. Come to find out they're having the World Cup Surfing Competition right now. That's when the big dogs come out to surf Sweet. When we arrived we found that the conditions weren't favorable enough for surfing so the events for today had to be cancelled. We'll definitely be checking out the area again. We continued on down the island, car top down, sun shining, wind blowing through our hair, capturing the amazing natural beauty of the island. Things you only see in photographs. Once again, this is what I'm talking about. I couldn't take the smile off my face.
We rode through all the small towns, stopping here and there to check out little stores and we ended up at the Kailua Beach. It was a calm beach with not too many people. Very peaceful. Oh yeah, we did end up going to the bach yesterday (Waikiki) and found that the water is pretty chilly. Once you get in it's nice, but it's definitely not bathwater warm. Yesterday we only ended up walking the beach instead of swimming. Obviously we had the same problem today with the water being chilly but we did get in. It's been such a long time since I've swam in salt water that I forgot how "sticky" you feel after being in the water.
We finished up our swim and headed back to Waikiki to find that it was still raining...surprise, surprise. We went back to the hotel, took quick showers, then headed out for dinner. Buca Di Beppo was our choice. We've only been to Buca's twice and they've never let us down. Today was no different. Very good and fast service. Once again we shared leaving room for some sort of dessert. We bummed around the area checking out some stores at the Ward Center before they closed. After that we headed back to the hotel and went on an adventure to find dessert. We found a place called Rock Island Cafe. We passed it the other night and didn't think much of it. We stopped by it again tonight and found that it was pretty cool. It's a local deal that's set up like an old diner. They're playing old music and everything's basically Elvis, Coke, Marilyn Monroe, etc. While waiting for our "King Kong Banana Split" (which didn't end up being very King Kong-like) there were old game cards from Trivial Pursuit and other types of games that kept us busy.
It's now 8:30pm and we're going to chill the rest of tonight. Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow. I definitely have Diamondhead, Pearl Harbor, and a few other things on my "must see list" yet. I do know that we'll definitely be headed back up to the North Shore at some point though. By the way, sorry if I have a ton of typos in theses posts, I'm trying to get everything typed real fast.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Aloha From Hawaii
Aloha everyone! As mom stated in her comment, we've made it safely on Oahu. No big problems with the travel yesterday with the exception of David having some head/cabin pressure issues during our last leg. I will make a note to myself not to drink a huge thing of OJ in the morning before any future flights. I swear I had to keep using the lavatory during our first flight. And it was the kind of thing where you had to go NOW. It's not that big of an issue but when you have to make two people move so that you can get out of your seat, that's not cool. We were about 1/2 hour late into Phoenix so we raced to get something to eat and to our connecting flight.
We made it fine and the second leg of the trip was fine. No bathroom problems and we were right near the lavatory so when I did have to go I didn't have to travel far. We were well into our flight when the flight attendant told us that we were in the "chosen seats" and that anything we wanted to drink would be at no charge. Shoot, wished she had let us know earlier. Come to find out since we had the backs to the lavatory and couldn't lean back, but the people in front of us could, we had "crappy" seats with very little room. Ah, didn't bother us none, but I took her up on the offer and had a nice glass of wine. Heck, I'm on vacation. I probably shouldn't have drank though. Right after finishing the glass we hit turbulence. With me being a light-weight with the whole drinking thing, not having anything too substantial in my stomach, and the turbulence, the room started spinning. I didn't feel sick but it did make me laugh and made my head heavy. Upon descent David started to have the pressure issues. He's had the problem before so he started to use the earplugs called Earplanes. They have helped in the past but it wasn't the case this time. It's almost as though his head's about to burst and it even effects his nerves. Weird. He's a bit better today but still battling a slight headache.
Hawaii greeted us with rain. Boo. The sun wasn't shining at all. And we found everything to be outside. Basically the open-air type of thing, including the airport. We got our car and received an "upgrade." We were supposed to have an Aveo-type of car but ended up with a VW Bug Convertible. Pretty cool, but when there's high crime in the area and you can hardly fit your luggage in it, it's not that cool. And we can't even figure out the darn thing. In all honesty I think the thing's broken. Ah well, we didn't find that out until about a 1/2 hour ago and even if we had figured it out at the rental place, nothing would have changed. The whole rental car place was crazy. The guy was handing out upgrades left and right mostly because they didn't have the capabilties to give you anything else. Our gain, I guess.
We hit the road and got stuck in their rush hour traffic. It took us forever to get to our hotel. I had everything mapped and planned out but that totally went out the window. Needless to say once again we have found that we wouldn't be good on Amazing Race. It's not that we were yelling at each other but we were just done. If you think about it, it was about 10pm (eastern time) when we were trying to get to our hotel. Add on top of that no food, a LONG plane ride, and David's head issue, it pushes you over the edge. During our long wait on the highway we came to realize that Hawaii wasn't really what we expected. It's not all paradise and beach for sure. To get from the airport to Waikiki you have to go through some slums. Very sad. We should be desensitized to it considering we've lived in that type of area with New Orleans and all, but I think that's what actually brings it to light even more. You're aware of it more, considering you've been exposed to it. Once you hit Waikiki it gets much nicer.
After getting to our hotel, check-in was a breeze and our room's nice. Small, but nice. We wanted to crash but since it was only 5pm here we decided it might not be that good of an idea. We unpacked our things and headed out to find food. Once again, all of my planning went out the window and we ended up eating at Denny's. How unadventurous is that? People will ask, "What did you do in Hawaii?" And we get to say, "Eat at Denny's." Great. At that point we didn't want to go far and we wanted something in our stomachs. After that we adventured out to check out some of the area. As expected there's a VERY high Asian population here....both tourist and local. The shops are pretty cool. Mostly t-shirt shacks or high-end type of stores. We got a few things for friends, family, and us. We were several blocks away from our hotel when it decided to rain. We're not talking about just rain...it was pouring. Hard. We waited, only to find that it wasn't going to slow down so we ended up running to our hotel...good thing I picked up some running skills in the past few months. By the time we got to our hotel we were soaked. It's so humid that by this morning our clothes still weren't dry. After that we hit the sack.
Sleeping was okay but I'm still on eastern time. At 5am here our bodies decided it was time to be awake and so we were. It was still wet and humid outside. We ended up going to the Aloha Swap meet and the Aloha Stadium. That was an enjoyable, cheap time. While there David got his one and only Hawaiian shirt. We also got some local-made jelly. Mmm Mmm good. It's amazing. We then got some fresh pineapple with something on it. I'm not sure what it was but that guy told us it was the best and that we had to try it. If we didn't like it he'd give us our money back. Oh my gosh. That stuff was good. So juicy. Amazing.
Following the swap meet we headed to the Ala Moana Shopping Center to park and the walked to downtown Honolulu to sight see and take pictures. FYI it's a much longer walk than you'd think. We were exhausted by the time we got back and it was time to eat. Why not look for PF Changs? Shoot. We got lost. Again. But this time we were on foot. At this point I started to get cranky but David kept me going. I think we were looking for it for 1-1 1/2 hours. Once again, we were still on foot. I love my crocs, but they can only do so much. It was also hot and humid with the sun shining. After taking so many wrong turns and asking a ton of people, we finally found it. It was yummy as always. We then headed back to the Ala Moana Center, walked around, headed back to our hotel, and now here I am. We're not sure what the rest of the day holds. Maybe a trip to the beach if the rain holds off. Yeah, by the way, our forecast shows rain all week. What the heck?!
As stated previously so far this vacation isn't really what we had expected. We're not really sure what we expected though. Our experience thus far isn't bad it's just not what we expected. It's been a true adventure. I'm definitely looking forward to checking out the rest of the island, especially the north shore. I wonder what surprises it will hold. David's patiently waiting for me to finish the post so I better get going. See ya'll later!
We made it fine and the second leg of the trip was fine. No bathroom problems and we were right near the lavatory so when I did have to go I didn't have to travel far. We were well into our flight when the flight attendant told us that we were in the "chosen seats" and that anything we wanted to drink would be at no charge. Shoot, wished she had let us know earlier. Come to find out since we had the backs to the lavatory and couldn't lean back, but the people in front of us could, we had "crappy" seats with very little room. Ah, didn't bother us none, but I took her up on the offer and had a nice glass of wine. Heck, I'm on vacation. I probably shouldn't have drank though. Right after finishing the glass we hit turbulence. With me being a light-weight with the whole drinking thing, not having anything too substantial in my stomach, and the turbulence, the room started spinning. I didn't feel sick but it did make me laugh and made my head heavy. Upon descent David started to have the pressure issues. He's had the problem before so he started to use the earplugs called Earplanes. They have helped in the past but it wasn't the case this time. It's almost as though his head's about to burst and it even effects his nerves. Weird. He's a bit better today but still battling a slight headache.
Hawaii greeted us with rain. Boo. The sun wasn't shining at all. And we found everything to be outside. Basically the open-air type of thing, including the airport. We got our car and received an "upgrade." We were supposed to have an Aveo-type of car but ended up with a VW Bug Convertible. Pretty cool, but when there's high crime in the area and you can hardly fit your luggage in it, it's not that cool. And we can't even figure out the darn thing. In all honesty I think the thing's broken. Ah well, we didn't find that out until about a 1/2 hour ago and even if we had figured it out at the rental place, nothing would have changed. The whole rental car place was crazy. The guy was handing out upgrades left and right mostly because they didn't have the capabilties to give you anything else. Our gain, I guess.
We hit the road and got stuck in their rush hour traffic. It took us forever to get to our hotel. I had everything mapped and planned out but that totally went out the window. Needless to say once again we have found that we wouldn't be good on Amazing Race. It's not that we were yelling at each other but we were just done. If you think about it, it was about 10pm (eastern time) when we were trying to get to our hotel. Add on top of that no food, a LONG plane ride, and David's head issue, it pushes you over the edge. During our long wait on the highway we came to realize that Hawaii wasn't really what we expected. It's not all paradise and beach for sure. To get from the airport to Waikiki you have to go through some slums. Very sad. We should be desensitized to it considering we've lived in that type of area with New Orleans and all, but I think that's what actually brings it to light even more. You're aware of it more, considering you've been exposed to it. Once you hit Waikiki it gets much nicer.
After getting to our hotel, check-in was a breeze and our room's nice. Small, but nice. We wanted to crash but since it was only 5pm here we decided it might not be that good of an idea. We unpacked our things and headed out to find food. Once again, all of my planning went out the window and we ended up eating at Denny's. How unadventurous is that? People will ask, "What did you do in Hawaii?" And we get to say, "Eat at Denny's." Great. At that point we didn't want to go far and we wanted something in our stomachs. After that we adventured out to check out some of the area. As expected there's a VERY high Asian population here....both tourist and local. The shops are pretty cool. Mostly t-shirt shacks or high-end type of stores. We got a few things for friends, family, and us. We were several blocks away from our hotel when it decided to rain. We're not talking about just rain...it was pouring. Hard. We waited, only to find that it wasn't going to slow down so we ended up running to our hotel...good thing I picked up some running skills in the past few months. By the time we got to our hotel we were soaked. It's so humid that by this morning our clothes still weren't dry. After that we hit the sack.
Sleeping was okay but I'm still on eastern time. At 5am here our bodies decided it was time to be awake and so we were. It was still wet and humid outside. We ended up going to the Aloha Swap meet and the Aloha Stadium. That was an enjoyable, cheap time. While there David got his one and only Hawaiian shirt. We also got some local-made jelly. Mmm Mmm good. It's amazing. We then got some fresh pineapple with something on it. I'm not sure what it was but that guy told us it was the best and that we had to try it. If we didn't like it he'd give us our money back. Oh my gosh. That stuff was good. So juicy. Amazing.
Following the swap meet we headed to the Ala Moana Shopping Center to park and the walked to downtown Honolulu to sight see and take pictures. FYI it's a much longer walk than you'd think. We were exhausted by the time we got back and it was time to eat. Why not look for PF Changs? Shoot. We got lost. Again. But this time we were on foot. At this point I started to get cranky but David kept me going. I think we were looking for it for 1-1 1/2 hours. Once again, we were still on foot. I love my crocs, but they can only do so much. It was also hot and humid with the sun shining. After taking so many wrong turns and asking a ton of people, we finally found it. It was yummy as always. We then headed back to the Ala Moana Center, walked around, headed back to our hotel, and now here I am. We're not sure what the rest of the day holds. Maybe a trip to the beach if the rain holds off. Yeah, by the way, our forecast shows rain all week. What the heck?!
As stated previously so far this vacation isn't really what we had expected. We're not really sure what we expected though. Our experience thus far isn't bad it's just not what we expected. It's been a true adventure. I'm definitely looking forward to checking out the rest of the island, especially the north shore. I wonder what surprises it will hold. David's patiently waiting for me to finish the post so I better get going. See ya'll later!
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