Hawaii | FindPenguins

Trip start

December 23, 2018

Getting ready

December 23, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

Packing started last night. Finding the swimmy in December is great. Starting the day with yoga, to offset all the sitting time ahead.

Hawaii Traveler

Christmas Day

December 25, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

It is Christmas day! Sunny and warm , so we got out and about. Walked up to the top of Diamond Head. The view was nice. The path was packed ,everywhere is packed. Mostly Japanese people , it seems.
We went back to Conor's and after tea and cereal , we went to a tiny little beach that Conor knows about and had a swim.
Then we walked along Waikiki Beach where people were packed in like sardines. Nothing like I imagined, that is for sure. It reminds me.of Miami from the 70's.
We ate some Japanese rice ball things then came back to the flat for a Christmas insta pot dinner.Read more

Hawaii Traveler

On the way back to Lincoln

January 1, 2019, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

I did not remember to write down our day to day activity. It was a fantastic trip to see Hawaii and more.importantly, to spend time with Conor.
He was an excellent host. He took us all around the perimeter of the island, as far as the roads would allow. Some of the time we were in a red convertible mini and other times we were in a four wheel drive BMW.
We snorkeled, which was on day 2. Saw lots of fish, an eejit tangled up in his spear gun cord, and tackled huge waves to go back to shore when it got rough and the water was cloudy. We hiked up the side of a mountain to a cave, hiked in a bamboo forest to a waterfall, went to the botanical gardens, the North shore, Diamond Head ( mobbed) the lighthouse trail, walked on deserted beaches, wandered in throngs of tourists on Waikiki Beach, ate Span wasabi, fish roe, Indian food on Christmas Eve, insta pot turkey on Christmas day, picnics on the beach, the side of the road and in parking lots, rented a bicci bike to ride back to the car at 1.00 am after the New Year's Eve fireworks in the Waikiki Beach AND went surfing! Well I floors on the board and paddled around a lot. Keera did surf, Conor can surf, and his girlfriend Becca was our instructor. We drank beer beside a pool after our surfing and spent 2 hours in Don Quixotes, a huge shop full of everything that felt like being in Japan.
It did not feel like being in America, some of the time, as there are so many Asian residents and tourists.
The Islanders are exotic looking, the flowers are beautiful, the chickens are everywhere, and the feral pigs are not friendly.
It was a brilliant experience , the longest journey I have ever taken, which is hard to fathom and difficult to appreciate when the first thing you see when you get off the plane is a Burger King.
It was really special to bring in the New Year on the beach and we started off the New Year with a " polar plunge" despite the signs for box jellyfish. We did not see any of them ( not that I know what they look like) and it was a quick dip as the sun was not out.
Maybe I will make it back again . It would be great to have it be a stop off on the way to Japan.
Stay tuned.Read more

Trip end

January 2, 2019