When my high school friend Christopher told me he was moving to Hawai'i for two years to follow his wife, I thought I wouldn't be seeing him for quite a while. Then I decided to take a summer of vacation, and all of a sudden flying out to a bunch of volcanic rocks in the middle of the Pacific seemed to make a lot of sense.
Getting to Honolulu from Colombia took me 5 days, as I made a few pit stops on the mainland before flying halfway across the globe. I first flew to Miami, where not much happened, besides getting:
- told by the immigration that it wasn't me on my passport picture
- a spider bite on my wrist, that grew bigger and bigger over the course of the following week
- the bottom of my foot licked by a strange Colombian man in the middle of a crowded hostel.
Next stop was Newport, Rhode Island, where I was catapulted right back in the middle of the yachtie scene for 2 days. I had a great time catching up with many good friends, followed by more of the same in Greenport, Long Island. Then I finally headed to the Newark airport to catch a westward-bound flight.
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| Sunset on Newport Harbor |
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| I missed that sight! |
It took only about 15 hours to reach Hawai'i from NYC: two 6-7 hours flights and a short layover in Phoenix, Arizona. My first destination in Hawai'i was Honolulu, on the island of Oahu. Oahu is the third hawaiian island in size, but also the most populated one. My friends live on the ground floor of a house in the hills above Honolulu, which means they have a nice view of the city and they are out of reach of possible flash floods.
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| Lazy Sunday morning at the beach |
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| Sunset on Honolulu from the neighbors' terrace |
Our time in Oahu was a good balance between fun activities (hiking, snorkeling, slacklining, bodyboarding), and simply enjoying island life (going to the market, cooking delicious dinners, listening to live jazz in Chinatown, chilling on the beach...). The only negative point I could find about life in Oahu was that it is almost impossible to do anything without a car - but I guess that would apply to most places in the US. Overall I think Christopher and Melody have it pretty good on their little piece of rock!
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| The daunting sight of the Koko Head trail |
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| That view made all the sweating and swearing worth it! |
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| View from Koko Head |
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| Beautiful Hanauma Bay - like swimming in an aquarium |
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| High surf in Waikiki |
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| Hiking the Makapuu Tomtom trail |
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| 5 hours to walk 4 miles... We should have known it wasn't going to be "easy and not too steep" |
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| Shopping at the Ala Moana Center |
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