The Hawaiian Epic, part 3: Honolulu and the way back
The flight itself was super short, and we probably spent more time in the shuttle than on the flight too. Predictably, our hotel in Waikiki wasn't as nice as the one we left. Plus, we all had to share one room. My companions were also not used to sleeping in a large, noisy city. I was fine with it for the most part. I knew Honolulu had a large Hawaiian population, but I didn't exactly realize it until we got there and found Japanese people and things everywhere. That would explain all the Japanese text. There were even tourist trollies entirely in Japanese. A couple where in a shape of a whale, and others had advertisements for One Piece. I was ecstatic at the prospect of all the Japanese food I could eat. But the thing I really wanted to eat was Okonomiyaki, which I had been craving for a while now. There were a number of restaurants that made Okonomiyaki, but many were very over-priced. Eventually, I found one that was reasonable. However, finding it was a problem. I ended up walking by it several times before checking the reviews online and finding that it was in the third floor of a building complex. I enter, and throughout the duration of my meal, I was the only customer there. However, it was good, and hit all the right notes. This place specialized in Hiroshima style, which of course I ordered.
I later realized the reason the place was so dead in part had to do with the festival and parade that was happening at the moment. We had heard about it, and in retrospect, we probably should have gone to check that out before eating. It was called the Honolulu Festival, but the parade seemed more like a Japanese parade with a whole bunch of Japanese floats and dancers and people everywhere. I guess there were more traditional aspects of a parade (floats and marching bands), but we missed it. Only a takoyaki stand would have made it better. Funny thing is I had no idea that this was going on at all, or I might have pushed for at least myself to come a little earlier. I took a lot of photos and videos, but it was getting dark, and my phone was extremely low on power Plus, I'm a crappy camera man. But I did get this one video. It's a group of dancers from all over Japan and Maui doing a dance performance called yosakoi. Here's a video I coupled together of their performance:
And here's the entire performance from earlier in the parade that I found on youtube. Had to search the name of the group in Japanese using kanji.
After the parade, there was going to be a fireworks show by a Japanese company who does fireworks in Nagoya, but my companions were once again lame and wanted me to take them back to the hotel because they couldn't figure out how to get around themselves. My aunt especially was freaking out at being in a very large city, so they were totally dependent on me for directions. I tried my best, but my patience was wearing thin. But I took them back nonetheless. Afterwards, I went out on my own to watch the fireworks, and the show, while short, was spectacular. While walking in the back, I popped in a minimart to buy some beer, only to find that they had some onigiri! I didn't pick any up then, but I did get one the next day. I also got streetpassed by the most people since the Zelda concert. Of course, that only worked out to be about 10 or so, but a number of them were from Japan, so that was cool. Also got one from Hawaii, so check that off my list. I then drank my beer while I finally got around to writing some postcards.
Day 8, Monday
Sadly, the reason we came to this island was NOT so I could experience Japanese culture, but to go see Pearl Harbor. My dad really wanted to go there, and I felt obligated to go there as well. I decided that the bus would be the best way to get there, and the trip there was long but problem free. The place itself was somber, but not quite as somber as the Hiroshima Peace memorial. But I guess there wasn't the looming shadow of atomic horror to deal with. Anyway, while at Pearl Harbor, we did the Arizona tour (which was very short, you don't get to stay on the monument for a long time at all), the submarine tour (vaguely interesting, but I could have done without, and the Battleship Missouri tour. I would have liked to go to the new aviation museum over the submarine, but we were all getting tired, and my phone running low on power.
The trip back was an ordeal. my phone was on the verge of dying, and ti was the nay way I could tell what bus we needed. Instead of taking the same bus back (which we would have waited ten more minutes for and require no transfer, I chose a bus where we'd have to transfer. The hour long trip turned to two hours, complete with having to with the bus we were on for a completely different bus at one point. I felt quiet embarrassed by that, since I was supposed to be the city savvy one. After I got us back to the hotel, we separated for dinner. I ended up going to a trendy sushi place. I got a sushi donburi and a specialty roll. It was good, but expensive. Later, I walked around look for various gifts, and to just see what there was. I did find a Japanese bakery, which was awesome. But I also wanted to get some takoyaki, but the street vender where I was going to purchase them was closed. Afterwards, I came back to the hotel. Tomorrow will be a long day of plane travel. However, it looks like the weather will be bad in Chicago, so I'm not entirely sure what will happen. All I know is that we have to wake up early to catch the shuttle to the airport.
Epilogue
Not much to say about the trip back. We woke extremely early on Tuesday to board a shuttle to take us to the airport. Our flight was at 8am, but our shuttle meet us at 5:30am. They were there right when we left our hotel room. The Honolulu airport is a bit strange, as they have shuttles that take you directly to your terminal after you get pass security. Unfortunately, once we got to the shuttle, all of the shops were closed. I was hoping to pick up a bottle of my favorite green tea (Ioten's Oii-ochya), which I was finding all over Honolulu. But none of the normal shops were open. Well, one was, but that was before we got on the shuttle. The Hawaiian airline flight was really nice. Each seat in coach has its own screen in the back of the chair! True, you had to pay for movies or TV, but music and flight tracking were both free. They also supplied us a lot of food, and it wasn't too bad. I actually skipped my last drink because I was really had to pee by that point. The pain of having a window seat is you have to awkwardly step over the person you're setting next too, so I almost never use the on board bathroom. After we took off, there wasn't much to see except the sea, though I did get a good view of two more Hawaiian islands that we didn't visit. I spent most of the trip playing Radiant Historia.
The looming question of the trip is would our flight back to Chicago be canceled? A snow storm was passing through Chicago that day, and some of the earlier flights back had already been cancelled. The plane didn't offer any WiFI, so I couldn't check it as we went along. As soon as we touchdown at LAX, If looked it up on my phone only to find out the light had been delayed by 35 minutes. Not too bad, but it would mean we'd get back even later. Originally, I was just going to drive back home that night, but since the weather was questionable, had none of us had much sleep the night before, we decided it would be better to just get a hotel room. So I booked one on Hotwire while we had a 3 hour layover at LAX. We also had a little trouble getting between terminals there too. Hawaiian gets in at Terminal 2, but Southwest uses Terminal 1. So we had to get our luggage, walk to Terminal 1 (we were going to take the shuttle, but no one could figure out how to use it, and it probably would have taken longer anyway) and re-check in at Terminal 1. It mostly went okay, except for the long distance we had to walk.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. I was able to recharge my phone and 3DS at a charge station the airport offered. We took off and landed on schedule. We were able to get a seat up front, so I ended up being the first person off the plane. I got the truck while my companions got the luggage. We then drove around Chicago to get to our hotel (which was close to Mitsuwa, of course). The next day, I did a little shopping at Mitsuwa and grabbed a bowl of ramen while my companions dined elsewhere, and we drove home after that.
I've been back a few weeks now, and I've been feeling depressed. This is somewhat to be expected, as I'm coming from an awesome trip to not really much to look forward to. There are some concerts coming up, but they're in April. And I haven't heard back from almost none of the places I applied to (except for a few "we got your application" emails."). Sent many of them follow up emails only to find out they passed on me. I also feel off hard on my exercise regime, and my weight is now at what I don't want it to be at. And my sleep schedule is beyond messed up.
As for Hawaii itself? Overall, the trip went pretty well, and I did most of the things I wanted to do and then some. I don't regret a whole lot about the trip. I would definitely like to go back someday down the road. While I like Kauai a lot, I'd probably want to see some of the other islands too. I could definitely have spent more time in Honolulu. It would also be cool to see the observatory and volcanos on the Big Island too. Maybe someday, but I got to get my life in order first.
I later realized the reason the place was so dead in part had to do with the festival and parade that was happening at the moment. We had heard about it, and in retrospect, we probably should have gone to check that out before eating. It was called the Honolulu Festival, but the parade seemed more like a Japanese parade with a whole bunch of Japanese floats and dancers and people everywhere. I guess there were more traditional aspects of a parade (floats and marching bands), but we missed it. Only a takoyaki stand would have made it better. Funny thing is I had no idea that this was going on at all, or I might have pushed for at least myself to come a little earlier. I took a lot of photos and videos, but it was getting dark, and my phone was extremely low on power Plus, I'm a crappy camera man. But I did get this one video. It's a group of dancers from all over Japan and Maui doing a dance performance called yosakoi. Here's a video I coupled together of their performance:
And here's the entire performance from earlier in the parade that I found on youtube. Had to search the name of the group in Japanese using kanji.
Click to viewAfter the parade, there was going to be a fireworks show by a Japanese company who does fireworks in Nagoya, but my companions were once again lame and wanted me to take them back to the hotel because they couldn't figure out how to get around themselves. My aunt especially was freaking out at being in a very large city, so they were totally dependent on me for directions. I tried my best, but my patience was wearing thin. But I took them back nonetheless. Afterwards, I went out on my own to watch the fireworks, and the show, while short, was spectacular. While walking in the back, I popped in a minimart to buy some beer, only to find that they had some onigiri! I didn't pick any up then, but I did get one the next day. I also got streetpassed by the most people since the Zelda concert. Of course, that only worked out to be about 10 or so, but a number of them were from Japan, so that was cool. Also got one from Hawaii, so check that off my list. I then drank my beer while I finally got around to writing some postcards.
Day 8, Monday
Sadly, the reason we came to this island was NOT so I could experience Japanese culture, but to go see Pearl Harbor. My dad really wanted to go there, and I felt obligated to go there as well. I decided that the bus would be the best way to get there, and the trip there was long but problem free. The place itself was somber, but not quite as somber as the Hiroshima Peace memorial. But I guess there wasn't the looming shadow of atomic horror to deal with. Anyway, while at Pearl Harbor, we did the Arizona tour (which was very short, you don't get to stay on the monument for a long time at all), the submarine tour (vaguely interesting, but I could have done without, and the Battleship Missouri tour. I would have liked to go to the new aviation museum over the submarine, but we were all getting tired, and my phone running low on power.
The trip back was an ordeal. my phone was on the verge of dying, and ti was the nay way I could tell what bus we needed. Instead of taking the same bus back (which we would have waited ten more minutes for and require no transfer, I chose a bus where we'd have to transfer. The hour long trip turned to two hours, complete with having to with the bus we were on for a completely different bus at one point. I felt quiet embarrassed by that, since I was supposed to be the city savvy one. After I got us back to the hotel, we separated for dinner. I ended up going to a trendy sushi place. I got a sushi donburi and a specialty roll. It was good, but expensive. Later, I walked around look for various gifts, and to just see what there was. I did find a Japanese bakery, which was awesome. But I also wanted to get some takoyaki, but the street vender where I was going to purchase them was closed. Afterwards, I came back to the hotel. Tomorrow will be a long day of plane travel. However, it looks like the weather will be bad in Chicago, so I'm not entirely sure what will happen. All I know is that we have to wake up early to catch the shuttle to the airport.
Epilogue
Not much to say about the trip back. We woke extremely early on Tuesday to board a shuttle to take us to the airport. Our flight was at 8am, but our shuttle meet us at 5:30am. They were there right when we left our hotel room. The Honolulu airport is a bit strange, as they have shuttles that take you directly to your terminal after you get pass security. Unfortunately, once we got to the shuttle, all of the shops were closed. I was hoping to pick up a bottle of my favorite green tea (Ioten's Oii-ochya), which I was finding all over Honolulu. But none of the normal shops were open. Well, one was, but that was before we got on the shuttle. The Hawaiian airline flight was really nice. Each seat in coach has its own screen in the back of the chair! True, you had to pay for movies or TV, but music and flight tracking were both free. They also supplied us a lot of food, and it wasn't too bad. I actually skipped my last drink because I was really had to pee by that point. The pain of having a window seat is you have to awkwardly step over the person you're setting next too, so I almost never use the on board bathroom. After we took off, there wasn't much to see except the sea, though I did get a good view of two more Hawaiian islands that we didn't visit. I spent most of the trip playing Radiant Historia.
The looming question of the trip is would our flight back to Chicago be canceled? A snow storm was passing through Chicago that day, and some of the earlier flights back had already been cancelled. The plane didn't offer any WiFI, so I couldn't check it as we went along. As soon as we touchdown at LAX, If looked it up on my phone only to find out the light had been delayed by 35 minutes. Not too bad, but it would mean we'd get back even later. Originally, I was just going to drive back home that night, but since the weather was questionable, had none of us had much sleep the night before, we decided it would be better to just get a hotel room. So I booked one on Hotwire while we had a 3 hour layover at LAX. We also had a little trouble getting between terminals there too. Hawaiian gets in at Terminal 2, but Southwest uses Terminal 1. So we had to get our luggage, walk to Terminal 1 (we were going to take the shuttle, but no one could figure out how to use it, and it probably would have taken longer anyway) and re-check in at Terminal 1. It mostly went okay, except for the long distance we had to walk.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. I was able to recharge my phone and 3DS at a charge station the airport offered. We took off and landed on schedule. We were able to get a seat up front, so I ended up being the first person off the plane. I got the truck while my companions got the luggage. We then drove around Chicago to get to our hotel (which was close to Mitsuwa, of course). The next day, I did a little shopping at Mitsuwa and grabbed a bowl of ramen while my companions dined elsewhere, and we drove home after that.
I've been back a few weeks now, and I've been feeling depressed. This is somewhat to be expected, as I'm coming from an awesome trip to not really much to look forward to. There are some concerts coming up, but they're in April. And I haven't heard back from almost none of the places I applied to (except for a few "we got your application" emails."). Sent many of them follow up emails only to find out they passed on me. I also feel off hard on my exercise regime, and my weight is now at what I don't want it to be at. And my sleep schedule is beyond messed up.
As for Hawaii itself? Overall, the trip went pretty well, and I did most of the things I wanted to do and then some. I don't regret a whole lot about the trip. I would definitely like to go back someday down the road. While I like Kauai a lot, I'd probably want to see some of the other islands too. I could definitely have spent more time in Honolulu. It would also be cool to see the observatory and volcanos on the Big Island too. Maybe someday, but I got to get my life in order first.