Hawaii - Back in the US!

Holy cow, look at all the white people! It felt so strange to see a ton of white people again. In fact, we kept thinking they were other SASers, as this was the case in the other countries when we saw white people. And, the food! I ate fries, burgers, and pizza galore, which I don’t even eat when living in the US. And, the signs were in English! And, there were Christmas decorations and songs everywhere, which still felt foreign because we are in tropical Hawaii, where snow and winter are inconceivable.

We stopped first in Honolulu, located on the island of Oahu. This stop was a bit hectic because we had random plans, such as lunch with a lifelong learner, sight seeing with a former student of mine (who flew to Hawaii to meet the ship), and visiting with Chris’ cousins. The student, Kara, and her mom hosted us and their other friend, Chris, for a few hours in the morning. They wanted us to get the most out of our two hours so we visited the palace (the official residence of the Hawaiian Kingdom's last two monarchs), walked around at Diamond Head Mountain, and downed a Malasades donut quickly before our lunch date with the lifelong learner, Heather. The rest of the day, we hung out on the beach and walked around the shops. The second day, we saw Chris’ cousins, who recently moved here for a job. We went to the beach with Heather, Gabe, and the children, Sitka and Orion. After that, we hung out at their house and ate…you guessed it…delicious burgers! It was fun to see them and hear the family updates. We really enjoyed rendezvousing with people in Honolulu – we felt like it was a priority; however, we didn’t feel we saw much of the island, including Pearl Harbor, waterfalls, and hiking. So, we really wanted to make up for it with our next stop.

The ship ported in Hilo, located on the big island of Hawaii. This island is interesting because the Hilo side is rainy and green; whereas, the other side of the island, Kona, is sunny and arid despite its close proximity. We wanted to see both sides so we rented a car with a group of friends. We first went to Akaka Falls and saw large, beautiful waterfalls. Others in the group referred to them as “Jodi’s Falls” because I was dead set and vocal that we see waterfalls in Hawaii. We found a 50’s diner for lunch that had awesome decorations, including a Fonzie-themed bathroom, authentic jukeboxes, and a singing mantled deer head. It was a gorgeous drive to Kona along the coastline where we passed many lava rock beaches. We managed to quickly find a hotel with an ocean view, for really cheap (since it is not the high-season). Despite being on the arid side of the island, it rained! So, we ordered in…you guessed it…pizza! It was a simple pleasure to have pizza delivered to us. We played drinking games and laughed a lot that night. Our other friend, Sam, took a flight into Kona that morning so we packed six of us into our rental car the second day. Surprisingly, it was fairly comfortable in the back with four of us girls. We went to the beach known to have sea turtles along with Volcano National Park. The park has steam coming up from the ground through steam vents because the lava is so close to the surface. There was also a “steam tube” where lava once rushed through, creating a unbelievably wide cave – so big in fact that a car could drive down it.

And then, we were back on the ship before we knew it. We have six days at sea before we arrive in San Diego. Our group of friends has formed late and we have really been enjoying spending time together. It will be sad to leave the ship; and yet, we are all thrilled to go home. After the exams, we have a “re-entry” day to start processing all that we may experience when we arrive home. I think Chris and I started this process last night by showing pictures of our home, family, and cats to our friends. It is peculiar to consider they don’t know much about our “real” lives. We will miss them a lot!