Month: August 2016

I’ve been eyeing up the little lagoon I can see from our bedroom since we got here, and today I finally went!

Because I work until one, it’s pretty much always hot and sunny when I head out on my adventures, but today that was great because I got to take a dip.

The lagoon is nice for people like me who can’t swim through waves. I mean, I’m really quite terrible at it. I understand the mechanics–a wave comes at you and you dive/swim through it to not drown. But I panic every. Single. Time. The last time I was in the ocean was in Ocean City, Maryland, and I failed yet again to dive into a rather large swell. It ended up taking me under, flipping me over a few times, taking my sunglasses, and nearly taking the bottom half of my bathing suit with it as it dragged me across the stony bottom. I emerged bleeding and terrified. Needless to say: I like this gentle little pool that still has some waves in it but is basically the PG version of the ocean.

We did happy hour with some more new friends at BLT Steak. And yes, unfortunately, it is in the Trump hotel but the drinks were reasonable and the food was good. We ended up calling it an early night because we both have early, early work events in the morning.

 

We haven’t been able to connect to the WiFi since we got here, which normally I’d be all, “Boo hoo, poor me, no WiFi in paradise,” but I have to work from the condo and, um, I kinda need the interwebs for that. I can get online if I plug my laptop directly into the router/modem, so when Mike threw up his hands in disgust this morning I just set up a little makeshift desk for myself using a laundry basket and a leaf from the table. I have no idea if or when anyone will fix this situation because thus far we have not had the best experience with our contact at the rental company (the one who didn’t answer any of our frantic phone calls when we couldn’t figure out how to get our key out of the secret lockbox in the wall of another building that is under a different company’s name… the one who told us our condo was on the third floor when it is on the 30th… the one who put a letter in our unit number, confusing both us and the security guard who showed us around…). But at least the cable router/modem works and I guess it’s not the worst thing ever to sit on the floor all day.

I didn’t want to do too much exploring after work because I’ve been itching to buy new swimwear for probably two years; I went to the mall on Ala Moana Boulevard. It. Is. Gigantic! I bought two new swimsuits and let some pretty Israeli girl talk me into buying an overpriced silk “magic dress,” which is what I imagine some brilliant Indian businessperson decided to call sarongs in order to sell them to white women. I stopped in at the Longs Drugs in the mall to discover that 1) it is basically a grocery store within the mall; and 2) it’s CVS. I don’t mean it’s like a CVS–it actually is CVS to the point they let me use my club card and I got that glorious yard of coupons on my receipt.

Mike’s first day ran long, as can be expected when you’re getting acclimated and meeting the staff and catching up. He ran into some more difficulties with the bus on his way home and when he finally got home I suggested we check out the condo’s hot tub to decompress before dinner. That would’ve been a great idea had there not been six children under the age of 10 doing cannonballs in it…

… so wine it is! We cracked open an $8 bottle from the grocery store after discovering the $3 sweet potato I bought YESTERDAY was bad already. I improvised and we had pork chops with sauteed red onion and pineapple. I’m relearning how to use an electric range so the chops weren’t up to my rigorous standards, but with a little OLD BAY they were pretty tasty. Yes, I brought OLD BAY to Hawaii. Eight years as a Marylander has led me to develop certain preferences. We also don’t have any other spices in the condo currently, which just made its way to the top of my to-do list tomorrow: Buy even more groceries.

We’ve hit some bumps in the road these first few days, as is to be expected. But I can’t stay mad at anything that gives me a good story later and I already have some doozies. YOLOHA!

We hit up our first ABC store today and it was pretty cool. I’m glad there’s one right across the street for all those little household things we’ll run out of regularly. Not having a car makes me really appreciate the prevalence of ABC stores in general. They’re everywhere!

Next we did a dry run of Mike’s bus route to work that did not go as well as I’d hoped. Neither of us is “good at” public transportation so the two of us trying to figure out the bus schedule was a comedy of errors. We did eventually get to his office building and scope out the area a little bit. We also both decided we were glad we didn’t opt for the hotel closest to his office because that area is more of a business district and we wouldn’t be as close to all the Waikiki spots we already love…

… like Duke’s Barefoot Bar. We met some of our online friends IRL for the first time while listening to the Henry Kapono Band (who, coincidentally, has a song called “Duke’s on Sunday”). We had some beers, got to know our new friends, danced, and Mike bought me a fresh lei. He assured me it smelled divine.

 

On the way home we stopped at Goofy Cafe & Dine for dinner. I had a pork sausage that was meh, but some purple sweet potatoes that were out of this freaking world. It was open-air seating, but it was a little cramped for my taste. It’s only a block from the condo, though, so we’ll probably go back.

We’re attempting to get into the ritual of winding down on the lanai because it overlooks a lot of cool stuff that’s all lit up at night, so that’s where we hung out before turning in.

Our day started at 3:30 a.m. ET, which is tough when you’re not a morning person. Being two hours from the Philly airport meant we had a hard time finding someone who wanted to make a four-hour round trip for us, so we ended up bribing two of our friends to each take an hour leg of the drive. It worked out really well and we got to spend a little quality time with our friends en route to the airport.

All in all our entire trip here was mercifully smooth. Our flights were on time, we made friends on the second plane, and our luggage arrived with us. We neglected to plan ahead for our ride to the condo, though, so we did spend about half an hour aimlessly wandering around debating the merits of a shuttle, an Uber, or a cab. We ended up getting an Uber and our driver was an absolute delight who told us all about some great local spots.

We’re staying in a rental in the Discovery Bay Center’s Endeavor tower. The condo we’re staying in is a little dated, but otherwise it’s really great. We’re a couple of blocks from the beach, and we lucked out that we have a pretty sweet ocean view to boot (pictured above). We realized almost immediately that we don’t know how to work the WiFi and there are no instructions, so for now I’ll be hard-wiring my computer into the modem directly and working from the bedroom floor. #FirstWorldProblems

After pinching ourselves another dozen times and putting some stuff away we went to the Moana Surfrider Beach Bar for Mai Tais and poke wanton nachos. I cannot stress how pretty this property is; it’s right on the beach, the water is a gorgeous aquamarine, and the banyan trees are unreal. There was a guitar-ukulele duo playing while a hula dancer performed too. 11/10 will return. Probably weekly.

We scoped out the beach a bit before wandering back to our neighborhood. We popped into Snapper’s Sports Bar, which is apparently a Green Bay Packers bar. Who knew? This place hits all the right marks for a new favorite watering hole: It is literally steps from our condo; the drinks are inexpensive; the atmosphere is more local than touristy; and the bartenders are chill.

We ended the night hanging out on our lanai, listening to Hawaiian music, and sampling a bit of the local lychee vodka. The plan was to stay up as late as possible in an attempt to fast forward through some of the discomfort of switching to a time zone that’s six hours behind what you’re used to. I think we gave up and passed out before our heads hit the pillows at about 9:30 p.m. here (3:30 a.m. ET).