Looking over Honolulu from the top of Diamond Head Crater
Greetings friends! If you were at all paying attention to my Twitter/FaceBook/Instagram, I'm sure you have already gotten the sense that I really enjoyed my trip to Hawaii. It was incredibly beautiful and relaxing, that's for sure! Before I show off a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend (FaceBook friends can see the whole album, up already), I wanted to explain a little bit as to why I enjoyed Hawaii so much. I even started a notepad entry on my iPhone when I was there because I wanted to remember all the reasons. Here goes:
Five reasons why Hawaii is paradise:
1) No hassle. Hard to overstate how important this is. When I'm traveling in the Caribbean, I'm always getting hassled by people asking me to buy stuff/do something. Most of the time I can easily just brush it off, or have some fun by engaging in a conversation (always entertaining), but eventually it gets old. The whole time in Hawaii, I think the only time I ever had someone try to get me to do something was when they were silently handing out flyers on the sidewalk. No hawking street vendors, no sense that I needed to be continually aware of everything in my possession, etc. Again, I love the Caribbean, but Hawaii was just so much more relaxing because it meant I didn't have to think as much. Probably by design, I'm guessing - they know that people are most likely going to spend tons of money anyway.
2) My cell phone worked. So awesome. It worked everywhere - including the top of Diamond Head Crater and in the middle of the rainforest. No roaming fees for using data. Super easy to figure out what to do next with the Maps software on my iPhone to walk around or use the bus system, or using Yelp to find good, cheap places to eat in Waikiki, or be able to put my Fantasy Football roster in order (I still lost to my brother this week), all without needing the wireless connection I would have to have if I was traveling internationally. Hawaii is smartphone heaven.
3) An abundance of fresh tropical fruit. My favorite fruit is pineapple, and obviously, there was plenty of that in Hawaii. I love a place where tropical fruit it easily accessible. I had pineapple, guava, mango, papaya, banana, and many other fruits during the weekend. Incredibly delicious.
4) The "ABC" stores that were virtually on every single corner in Waikiki. Normally, I'd abhor staying in such a tourist area, but for the $25 a night at the hostel within 1.5 minutes walk of the beach, it was a complete steal. Anyway, the ABC stores had pretty much anything you could want - like gigantic bottles of water for 99 cents ($1.10 with tax). I have to say, it was really nice having plenty of options all over the place if I needed something like extra soap.
5) The scenery. This is so obvious once you step out of the gate area at the airport and into the outside pathway. Just gorgeous, all over the place. Everything a landscape photographer wants. Pretty easy to get to everything that I wanted to, as well - though waiting for The Bus to show up (they come once every 30 minutes or so) got pretty boring after a while. For only $2.50, I could pretty much go anywhere.
In any case, enough with the writing. Here's some of my favorite pictures from the trip:
Sunset on the first evening in Waikiki - I took this at the halftime of the Oregon/Arizona football game, then went right back to the hostel to watch the second half. So awesome.
This happened by accident - I didn't even realize that HNL airport was right there as I took this 30 second exposure. I really love this picture.
The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
The Stars and Stripes flying high over the USS Arizona Memorial.
A lifeguard shack, palm tree, beach, ocean, and sunset. Good life.
Sunset #2 over Waikiki beach.
The sunset really was that color. Good call on bringing my zoom lens out.
Last sunset of the trip at Waikiki. Just gorgeous.
On the hike up to Manoa Falls. I think the trees have the real say over this trail.
It's more likely that someone from the UK is reading this than my FaceBook caption for this picture, so I'll hope they know what I'm talking about when I said I thought this looked like an entrance to the enchanted wood of The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton.
The reward at the end of the hike (which actually had me sweating pretty good, since it was through the middle of a humid, tropical rainforest), Manoa Falls.
This reminded me of something from Jurassic Park. Love all the layers to the rainforest!
Beautiful tropical plants at the Lyon Arboretum, near the Manoa Falls trailhead.
"Inspiration Point" at the Lyon Arboretum. Great look at the layers of the rainforest.
Last sunset in Hawaii - looking out from Honolulu International Airport into Waikiki/Diamond Head.
I hope you enjoy the photos! I sure loved taking them. Some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken. :-)
So, what's next? Well, I've spent the last day and a half recuperating in Portland, and tonight I'm off again to the East Coast of the United States. The ultimate destination for this weekend is Philadelphia for the Eagles vs. San Francisco 49ers game - my first ever visit for a game at Lincoln Financial Field (or a regular season Eagles game in general). I've been a big Eagles fan for about a decade now, so I'm obviously really looking forward to going. Here's hoping that Michael Vick plays (and plays well), and that the Eagles win! It looks like the game won't be on in Oregon - see this handy map: http://the506.com/nflmaps/2011/wk4.html - but you can follow along via highlights, online, or through my Twitter account, if you want.
Of course, JetBlue doesn't fly to Philadelphia (really lame, it's the only big Northeastern city they don't fly too - probably in large part because US Airways has a hub there), so I had to figure out an alternate plan. Here it is: I'll be flying PDX-JFK overnight, then JFK-BOS in the morning, then BOS-DCA (Washington DC), getting in around noon on Friday. I picked DC as the transfer point for a bunch of reasons: 1) it's relatively close to Philly, meaning the bus ticket up there was cheap ($13.50), 2) Hostelling International - DC is my favorite hostel ever, and unlikely to be removed from that spot any time soon, and 3) I'll get to hang out with my friend Erin Friday afternoon. Win-win-win.
I'll leave on Saturday via MegaBus to Philly, spend the night at the Hostelling International location there (it gets rave reviews - so we'll see), then go to the game on Sunday, starting at 1 PM EST. After the game, I'll hang out in the city for a while, then get on an overnight bus right (again, MegaBus) from Philadelphia to Boston, leaving at midnight and getting in around 7 AM. It was $27.50, but I figured it was cheaper than a hotel, plus, it makes getting back to Portland way easier, since the flight from Boston to New York leaves at 3 PM. I'll be back in Portland on Monday around midnight, and will stay until Friday (going to the Ducks game on Thursday night against Cal), when it is off to Buffalo, New York to see my cousins and go to another Eagles game (and then on to two more sporting events, which I will detail next week). Anyway, it's a very busy and exciting time here at Luke's Adventure Blog! Thanks for reading!
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