Month: January 2016

Our Trip to Hawaii: Oahu

Lauren4 Comments

Wait, you didn’t think I was going to leave it at that, did you?  I actually plan on dragging out our trip to Hawaii for as long as possible by recapping it island by island then posting a big old travel guide (with hotel, tour group and restaurant recommendations!) at the end.  Partly because I wanna keep reliving this vacation and partly because when I’M travel planning, reading recommendations from other people is so so helpful.  And without further adieu, Oahu!

We flew (direct!) from Denver to Honolulu and were transported to Waikiki and serious story, I returned from the airport bathroom to find Joey, Lori and Adam all laughing because the woman ushering us to our bus had apparently called me a teenager.  This is my real life.

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We stayed near Waikiki Beach and I’ll be honest, it is crowded and touristy.  I’ve seen worse though and when you can walk to the beach and have your wedges toes in the sand in five minutes, you forget about all of that.  Also, it took all of 30 seconds for me to fall in love with Hawaiian sunsets.  We walked down the beach and grabbed dinner at Duke’s.  Plus umbrella (or backscratcher?!) drinks for all!  On the walk back to our hotel, we found some shave ice because: when in Hawaii!

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The next day we were up and at ’em for a full day at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Our bus driver was… quite the character.  I don’t even think I can go there because it would take too long but I don’t think any of us will forget “Cousin Ken” any time soon.  As for the cultural center, it’s more or less a theme park, divided into areas for each Polynesian island/culture, where they do scheduled performances throughout the day.  Though we all had fun, we agreed that we could have skipped the all day activities and just came for the luau and post-dinner show (front row seats, hi-ya!).  I drank from an actual coconut and later on from a full pineapple, so I was happy.Read More »

5 Things I Brought Home with Me from Hawaii

Lauren8 Comments
  1. A $15 (?!?!) jar of coconut peanut butter.  Let this be a lesson to us all to check prices before making spontaneous purchases at the airport.  Though I did try some this morning, and it may be worth the price.  Maybe.
  2. A renewed sense of adventure.  Sometimes I think I know myself pretty well, but then I’m pleasantly surprised to discover I’m not as shy or indecisive or scared as I think I am.  I was kind of nervous to bike down a volcano, fly in a helicopter and sit through two seven hour plane rides, but you know what?  None of that ended up being scary and those first two were actually really fun!
  3. A billion pictures.  Of gross things like beach sunsets, colorful plates of food and humpback whales 🙂  Seriously going to have so many memories of this trip and all the wonderful things I did with some of my favorite people.
  4. Some coffee INdependency.  Traveling makes me anxious.  Coffee makes me extra anxious.  I decided not to combine those two things and GET THIS I felt calm as could be, slept better and was actually in control of my emotions.  I mean I still brought home some Hawaiian coffee beans, but whatever.
  5. So much love and appreciation for a different state/culture.  And a Pacific island could not be more different from my landlocked snowy mountainous home state.  From the food, to the traditions, to the history, to the wildlife, I learned SO much about Hawaii and it was all so interesting.  I think I was much more receptive to all that learning than I was last time I was in Hawaii, at the god-awful ungrateful age of 16.
  6. A tan.  HA HA, okay I can’t even go any further with that joke.

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