Mar-2019

This particular long awaited trip was so close to being cancelled. Just 10 hours before departure, I was struck with some type of stomach and cold flu that had me hugging the toilet bowl for the entire night. Shivers and hot flashes cycled my body while nausea and stomach pains forced me in a fetal position. Anna stressed and convinced the trip is cancelled, while I had to fight my pain to convince her otherwise. Compromise was set that should I feel better at 3am, we would venture away.

3am flashed on my alarm clock and as miracles do happen, I was fully recharged and ready for the adventure. Was I truly ready or simply on adrenaline?

As we drive for several hours to Toronto’s Pearson airport, my symptoms are slowly resurfacing and for the first time in my entire life, I start second guessing if we’ve made the right decision in traveling. In my eyes, we’ve reached a point of no return and as we took to our seats on the plane, the nine and a half hour direct flight nightmare started. Same feeling as home, but this time there was no way I’d hug the airplane toilet seat. Nausea, stomach pains, cold and hot flashes happened all over again. Add the fact that we’re confined in a small area, coupled with a pressurized cabin, I couldn’t wait to land.

My usual demeanor while traveling is with extended joy, fully awake and continuously busy with either reading or watching a movie. During this leg, the complete opposite was extremely apparent. Frustrated, annoyed, agitated, helpless and counting down to our landing.

Determined to overcome this, our quiet taxi ride to the hotel and despite the sleepless night, our first day seemed a lot brighter. A quick breakfast, a short walk and we find ourselves on a beach we’ve visited 28 years ago. Our Honeymoon.

I keep saying that time slips by us ever so quickly but looking back 28 years definitely makes one feel old. Where has all this time gone? Family, children, accomplishments, challenges and emotions trickle down my thoughts and couldn’t help feel of how good life is. Truly.

The beach was beautiful and the sky was blue with just enough clouds to give some shade at intervals. The hotel lent us chairs and umbrella and what a better way to fight a stomach flu on a beach in Hawaii. As the morning progressed, the beach was getting more populated with both locals and tourists. The beach was surely happening. Many took to the waters with their surfboards while others embarking on catamarans for scheduled snorkeling runs. I just can’t wait for my retirement!

The first day was truly relaxing as we had no plans of doing anything. Relax, reminisce and fill our eardrums with the sound of waves. It seemed we were in slow motion but my demeanor was surely changing as I was feeling myself returning back to normal.

With Anna’s packed lunch, a beach picnic was had, a few more strolls on the beach, an afternoon nap and the evening breeze found ourselves with thick jackets. The main strip was alive and for whatever reason, we couldn’t remember any of the landmarks we’ve experienced during our first visit. I guess we can blame it on how young and naive we were or how much the city has grown since 1991.

Prior to leaving for this trip, my wife and her work colleague Rosa, were talking about traveling together since her husband Nick benefits from the same travel advantages as I do. That Monday morning, Anna received a text from Rosa indicating they made the flight and are in town. What a perfect way to start the week.

To start, Rosa and Anna look-alike that many students in their school confuse one with the other. Although Nick and myself don’t look alike, we certainly share the same passion for traveling. Our characters and values are also aligned perfectly that made this match extremely pleasant. We knew we were in for a great time with Nick and Rosa.

We met up with them on the beach mid morning and while we were conversing and losing track of time, Nick surely felt the sun rays on his rather fair-skinned body. So much so that he needed to purchase a cap at a local corner store. We planned for our dinner date, Nick and Rosa retreated back to their hotel and a great afternoon was had.

For lunch both Anna and I wanted to try those famous corner truck eateries. Thank God we have, since the shrimp, rice and broccoli combo plate was delicious.

We met up a their hotel that evening and wandered around the main city center towards the International market place. It surely has changed from 28 years ago for today’s market place is a high-end outdoor shopping mall with several floors, great landscape and filled with cafes and restaurants. We decided for some Italian Pizza and were all very impressed with the taste.

Before heading our separate ways that evening, we decided the following days’ activity would be to hike the Diamond Head Crater Trail. The hike is considered an average trail spanning about 1.3 kilometers one way and about 650 steps to the summit. Although the path was fairly uneven it was quite easy. Twist and turns followed every so feet and a substantial distance of 225 feet was actually through a tunnel. As we are all professional hikers, despite our apparel not reflecting it, the challenge is on! YEAH RIGHT….

Nick, being fluent in Chinese, welcomed every Asian tourist with a surprising amount of responses throughout the ascend. Okay, realistically he knew one word. Having succeeded the defeat, the view from the observation station was breathtaking.

As our dinner reservations were for later that evening, we gathered at Rosa’s hotel, Moana Surfrider, for some ice cream after the hike. The hotel had a porch along the front filled with rocking chairs. Great place to enjoy an ice cream, people-watch and converse with friends. The ice cream did cool Nick internally, but he had to lather his body with noxzema for his skin was certainly on fire.

With more time on our hands, Anna and I decided to take the local bus with no real sense of destination. We had a marina in mind, but not sure where it would end. We sat on the bus for over 30 minutes until the driver signals us that the next stop would be a marina. It was indeed, but not what we were looking for. We expected a more commercial type and not an industrial one. In any case, getting lost and venturing around is all part of the excitement and experience. After all, we did see the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort in which we’ve seen a Charo show in 1991.

Evening supper was at the Hula Grill  overlooking the ocean.  Food was delicious, company was awesome, view was spectacular and memories were made.  What more can anyone ask for.  Perhaps the only change would be a waitress that wouldn’t speak a mile a minute.  Her explanation of the menu got me so agitated and stressed that I felt my heart pounding out of my chest.  We had to calm her down and repeat several times before we understood anything.  We did devour baskets of bread with some special hot Hawaiian home made spice dip.

As the evening came to an end, we once again planned for the following day.  Whale watching!

As the month of March brings a very high possibility of seeing whales along the ocean in Waikiki, we booked a tour with Star of Honolulu.  A fairly large ship offering music, whale watching and buffet lunch.  After their safety briefing we were left alone to wander the ship and look out for gigantic whales.  Periods of clouds followed by sunny breaks did reveal several whales in the distance.  Not as close as we would have loved to witness, but nevertheless, seeing majestic humpback whales coasting the surface was surely an experience.  As the wind was strong, we had to manage holding our caps with one hand while the other on  the camera.  We’d get a small window of opportunity to focus since we’d see the whales blow mist in the air as they surface.

We disembark the ship and take the local bus to Starbucks where conversations kept flowing easily around the table.  With such a successful trip, one can only guess what our topic of discussion was?  Our next destination!

Anna and I leave for our hotel, the Vive Hotel Waikiki, grab a quick supper and enjoy a last stroll on the main street.  The flight back was so much more pleasant than the  arrival one as my flu was all gone. Customary to every return flight, we look over the many pictures we’ve taken and count our blessings.  Life is just a collection of memories and with every one we create, it solidifies who we are, encourages to do what we love and truly appreciate the time we have.

Mar-2019