HAWAII ON2 - Day 6 | Aloha Hawaii

With the alarm buzzing at 4am, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready to go. Having showered the night before, all I had to do was dress and pack up the last of my things. With a sigh and one last look around the room, I exited and took the 22 floors down for one last time.

Since our room was in the nearby tower and not the hotel itself, I had to wheel my luggage onto the sidewalk and up the stairs to the "front desk" to check out. Being so early and still dark out, it was a little intimidating to be walking the street. I was struggling with getting my bag up the stairs when a man approached me and asked me if I needed help with my bag. As a testament to how nice people really are in Hawaii, this big burly guy proceeded to take my heavy bag up the stairs for me. Being from LA, and trained to be wary of strangers, I was surprised and impressed by the unexpected chivalry. I was half expecting the guy to go running off with my bag. But instead, the guy was a complete sweetheart --- and he bid me a good trip as he placed my bag in front of the reception area at the top of the stairs. This gesture reminded me of something someone once said to me, "You have to trust people sometimes."

The shuttles for Diamondhead Vacations were punctual, if nothing else. There was only one other passenger in the bus --- a talent agent from Los Angeles. Our driver was very friendly too --- saying he wished he could have been the driver on the pickup from the airport because he was great at pointing out some great local (non-touristy) places we could have visited during our stay.

The airport was practically deserted. I was able to get through the Agriculture check, check in, and security check rather quickly. The walk to my gate was freaking LONG. And because it was so early, none of the shops were open yet. I could have used a Venti Unleaded Drip from Starbucks. But the whole place was still asleep. Next time, I may need to plan my return trip for later in the day. Getting to the airport so early was not a good idea.

I passed the time at the gate talking with Marvin -- the other passenger from my shuttle bus. We were on the same flight and we chatted about our visit to Hawaii. The plane boarded on time (7:15am) and right after I clicked my seatbelt on, exhaustion took over and I fell asleep as we were taxi-ing to the runway.

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC trip. Started out kind of crazy, but turned out wonderful. It broke my heart to leave...but I am mollifying myself by promising that I will return next year to attend the Salsa Festival again.

Tomorrow?? Back to the real world....

HAWAII ON2 - Day 5 | Farewell & Alone Time

Today was Ruth's last morning in Hawaii.
The lonely pangs began last night, but rather than put a damper on our last hours together, I pushed through...until now.

I awoke to find Ruth gone. After talking until 4am that morning, she was sweet enough to let me sleep in while she ran down to McD's to get us breakfast. As luck would have it, she got stuck with the "new girl" on the McD crew and rookie got the order wrong. When Ruth got back to our room, she realized that she was mistakenly given someone else's order. So I threw some clothes on and we ran back over there together to get our correct orders --- Rice, Scrambled Eggs, Spam, and Portuguese Sausage --- ONLY in Hawaii. (((McSeriously???)))

After breakfast, I couldn't let Ruth return to the mainland without visiting our favorite store --- ABC --- one final time. LOL So we stopped in for a quick second and turned in our receipts (which totaled over $100 --- so sad) for a free gift. With my new reusable Hawaii bag in tow, we went back up to the hotel to gather Ruth's things, went down to the front desk to check her out, and officially check me in, and wait for her shuttle to the airport

As I waited with her, I was struck with the realization --- I'm blessed with many friends. And I'm always thankful. Going out...hanging out with friends...is always fun. But it's very rare to find a good friend you get along well enough to travel with — and not want to commit murder or rather, be minus a friend, by the end of the trip. Ruth was the perfect traveling companion. Over the past 4 days, we seemed to laugh non-stop, we bonded...connected...and there was the underlying commitment to take care of one another while we were away from home. I felt very comfortable and completely unfettered on this trip. And with this thought, I let the pangs of loneliness hit me and I was overcome with sadness because she was leaving.

It was quite a different feeling going back up to the room on my own. Housekeeping had come and gone...taking my rollaway bed with them...and I had the place all to myself. I absently flipped through the TV channels and half thought to just hole myself up in the room until evening. But I had promised Ruth that I wouldn't become a hermit on my last day...that I would venture out --- take the bus or a walk --- and have a bit of an adventure of my own. Being from LA, I'm quite "mentally defective" when it comes to public transportation. I'd spent the last few days telling Ruth that getting on a bus freaks me out because knowing me and my horrible sense of direction, I'll get on the wrong bus and end up on North Shore, when all I wanted to do was go to the mall down the street. LOL

But a promise is a promise...So I channeled my sense of adventure and my determination to make the most of my last day on the island, grabbed my backpack, and decided to take the half mile walk to the park/beach where the Salsa Festival Beach Party was going to be. Incidentally, the Festival was being held at the Prince Kuhio Waikiki --- and Waikiki Beach was literally a block or two away from the hotel. But because they needed the space and a permit for an event for over 100 people, they had to hold the beach party at Ala Moana Beach which was closer to my hotel.

The Black Eyed Peas makes for a great walking soundtrack. I got to the park in no time at all...and I proceeded to walk along the entire length of the beach shoreline looking for the party. I got a few strange looks from the families that were gathered for their Sunday picnics. I may have looked a little too long at them, trying to figure out if they were the Salsa festival peeps. I didn't see the party, so I sort of gave up and circled around the other end of the beach up to the park area which was closer to the street and headed back to the hotel.

I love discovering little bits of street art --- on the sidewalk I found a spray-painted word "HAPPINESS" and an arrow pointing towards the direction of my hotel.

At the end of the path, I finally found the Salsa party...I spotted the dancers and followed the bachata music to the picnic. The fare was simple --- fruit punch, water, chips, salsa, and dip, vegetable cru d'etat, and the funkiest hot dogs I'd ever seen --- I dubbed them "Red Dye No. 5 Dogs" --- because I'm almost certain, no matter how many preservatives you put into something, that color wouldn't occur naturally.


I spent a couple of hours mingling, dancing, water-balloon-tossing...and after an afternoon in the sun, I decided to head back to the hotel to rest up before going to the closing social. Rest didn't come very quickly for me though, because a friend asked to come back to the room and sleep off an eye condition and headache. I couldn't say no to someone who needed my help. And while Ive known this person for quite some time...I can't say were were close friends, so while he crashed out for a while, I used the time to pack and run down to ABC on the corner and pick up a few souvenirs to share with friends and family back home --- Okay...I admit, I also wanted to say "goodbye" to the ABC folks. Aside from Ruth, I saw more of the ABC employees than anyone else. I felt like we were friends. LOL

After about 3 hours, my friend finally woke up and I had to send him on his way back to the Festival. I think he was half expecting me to get ready and share a cab ride with him to the social. But I begged off...wanting to take a nap myself and telling him I'd just see him later on at the festival. Once he was gone and I was on my own again, the exhaustion kicked in. I debated on whether I wanted to get all dressed up and take the bus to the social. The "tiredness" won the battle and I ended up finishing up with my packing, showering and settling in for the night. It was nice to just have some "me" time.

At Midnight, once everything was packed and I had my clothes and things ready for the flight the next day, I set the alarm on my phone, and went to sleep.