Hawai'i Trip Day 1 (Saturday, 6-11-11)

Aloha friends!  I am going to be writing and reflecting about my 7 day Oahu, Hawai'i adventure I just got back from this week.  I learned so much and had an absolutely amazing time.  I can't wait to share all of my experiences with you :)

My Hawai'i trip was probably different than what you are thinking.  Most people when vacationing in Oahu, Hawai'i go to a Waikiki or Honolulu resort and spend the majority of their time in a bathing suit with a fruity drink in their hand- you know, the kind with an umbrella and dine in 5 star restaurants.  My experience was vastly different and I am very grateful.  Not that any of those things are bad.  Who doesn't like fruity drinks with umbrellas and amazing food all the time?  All that sounds great, but it's just not my style.  When I to go to a place I want see what it's really like there.  I love local things, even here in Roanoke, and I truly got the local Hawai'i experience.  Yes, I still spent a large amount of time in my bathing suit and yes I ate soooo much food but it wasn't on a resort and my drinks did not have little umbrellas.  And no I did not go to a Lu'au to see fire dancers, thank goodness :)  But what I did get was an amazing experience with some of our best friends, so this will be a trip that I will not soon (or ever) forget!  Who knows, I might inspire you to travel there to see what adventures the land of Hawai'i may hold for you :)

One of the coolest things I learned was about the Hawaiian "language".  So throughout blog posts about my Hawai'i trip, you will see words with explanations/definitions (exp.) and pronunciations (pr.).  You may think you know how to pronounce Hawai'i correctly, but do you really?  What about pronouncing Honolulu correctly?  Don't feel bad- I didn't either until my trip and only learned after many corrections by several of my old and new friends that lived in Mililani, Hawai'i (pr. Hav-I-ee), where we stayed for all of our trip.

My husband, Stephen, and I went to Hawai'i with two of our best friends, Steve and Supriya, and their three year old, Malia.  Steve (not to be confused with my husband Stephen!) lived in Mililani (pr. Mill-i-lani) for 22 years before moving to Roanoke and was going back to visit his friends he hadn't seen in several years.  My husband and I were ecstatic when Steve and Supriya asked us if we would like to go back to Hawai'i with them.  We said yes immediately and bought our tickets.  I mean, who could turn down that offer!

We left on Saturday morning at 6 am on a connecting flight to Chicago that would eventually get us to Honolulu which meant that we had to be at the airport at a painstakingly early 4:30 am.  Our total travel time to Hawai'i was 13 hours.  That's a long time.  Factor in the time change and that equals some serious jet lag.  Totally worth it?  Absolutely.  I adjusted to the time change in only 1 day- my stomach took a little longer to adjust but that just meant I got to eat more often.  Not a bad trade for the jet lag.  The cool thing about flying from east to west towards Hawai'i is that you gain 6 hours.  The flight there was good and seemed quick. I can't say the same for the (terrible) trip back, but more on that later...

We arrived on the island of Oahu in Honolulu at 2 pm on Saturday afternoon and took the Wiki Wiki bus to the baggage claim and then another shuttle to the car rental place.  We arrived 2 days before our friends Steve and Supriya, so we were on our own for a few days.  GPS units were advertised everywhere you looked inside the car rental place and I thought that would be a great idea since my husband and I were going to be by ourselves a few days before our friends got here.  And of course, they were sold out.  I am awful with directions- I will get lost in a parking lot.  Lucky for me, my husband is great with directions, even in a place he has never been to.  It turns out that Oahu is not hard to navigate, having three major interstates named H-1, H-2 and H-3 which can pretty much take you where ever you might need to go.  With no GPS and only a map in hand, we set off into the unknown of the Hawai'i to find the church parish house in Mililani where we would be staying in for the next week.

The drive to Mililani, located on the center of the island, was amazing.  Everywhere you look there are lush trees with beautiful red, pink, orange, white or pink blooms on them.  Wild flowers grow wild everywhere you look.  Two huge mountain ranges, the Koolau and Waianae (pr. Why-n-I), frame the center of the island.  The mountains on Oahu drew my immediate attention and can only be described as majestic.  Here in Virginia, the mountains sort of roll on into one another but the mountains on Oahu stick strait up from the base of the island and seem to reach right into the clouds.  They are breathtaking to look out and make you realize how small you really are.

Bird of Paradise, Hawai'i national flower

Common pink flowers seen everywhere

Koolau Mountain Range located on the east side of Oahu

Waianae Mountain Range found on the west side of Oahu

Beautiful trees with red blooms

 We arrived in Mililani and we were immediately greeted at the church and parish house by Frank, the current pastor at Waipio Grace Brethren Church, and his wife April.  Frank and April are awesome- that was immediately apparent after talking with them for only a few minutes!  I have to admit I wasn't sure what to expect from the church parish, but it was better than anything I could have imagined.  The house was built like a cabin on the inside- so awesome!  We were starving when we got to the house and asked Frank and April where to go eat.  They suggested Frank's favorite restaurant Alonzo's down the street.  This was our first taste of the awesome local Hawaiian food.

To say food in Hawai'i is amazing is an understatement!  You will see many photos of food in the next few blog posts.  Photos are definately not the same as actually eating the food, but it's the best I could do!  Most Hawaiian food have distinct Asian influences.  I love all types of food and will try anything, but I especially love Asian food.  I can eat rice with everything!  Most of the Hawai'i food influences come from east Asian countries- Korea, Japan, and China but you could find other Asian country influences every now and then.  At Alonzo's I had garlic chicken which tasted just like Korean-style yangnyeom fried chicken!  My husband got a Hawaiian staple- Loco moco!  Our friend Steve had been talking about loco moco for weeks before we left- it was one of his favorites, so we couldn't wait to try it.  Loco moco is a delicious heart attack in a bowl and is usually served as a breakfast food, but is great anytime of the day.  Loco moco consists of 2 hand made hamburger patties laid on top of a bed of white rice and smothered in brown gravy.  If that isn't enough, this is all topped off with 2 eggs served over easy.  Add a little black pepper and this is one of the best things you have ever eaten.  It just melts in your mouth.  We frequently ate loco moco throughout our whole trip :)  Pretty much every Hawaiian restaurant offers loco moco, so it is a must try if you visit!

Loco Moco!!

 After dinner we passed out asleep, after all it was around 3 am in Roanoke. So that's it for the first day- not terribly exciting but it gets better, I promise!  I thought as a wrap up I would sum up the best things about Hawai'i, from my point of view of course.  You will hear much more about all of these and more as I write about the rest of my trip :)

Best things about Hawai'i:
1. The amazing food
2. The friendly and laid-back people
3. The beaches of course!
4. Honu :) (exp. sea turtles)
5. The weather which is always sunny, warm and not humid

Thanks for reading!!