Yes, yes…I know.
Picking up hitchhikers is not always the safest of ideas.
But she doesn’t look like that mustached-stranger [usually named 'Kenny'] our Mom’s always warned us about, right?
And what better way to learn about the real Hawaii.
I drove.
She answered.
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Waking up blows. And no doubt, this is the last thing you want to do when you’re on holiday.
But, as we’ve talked about before - vacations are all about making us cool, yes? If you don’t come back with stories of drinking with the locals, boring tidbits on food preparation and a few sets of unfortunate coasters, then you haven’t really done your job, have you?
Oh yes - and pictures. In this day in age of social networking, if you’re not ‘tagging’ your own feet with the beach in the background, then your vacation credentials should be taken away all together.
Which brings me to my original point of waking up early…once.
For a sunrise, of course:
Now - a few things you need to do to prepare for said ‘rise’.
It’s cold. No matter where you are. See, the sun keeps things warm. So if it’s not visible, then you won’t be warm. So bring warm clothes. You roll your eyes and wonder if I’m just trying to meet word count (totally possible), but I’ve climbed* 2 volcanoes in the past year and have witnessed too many strangers cuddling (which, if you’re into, I can recommend a few bars in Berlin) out of poor preparation.
So bring a blanket or something.
And then charge the camera.
Get a coffee.
And have one day when you see both a rise and set.
‘Cause that’s the kind of thing friends back home love to hear about.
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Call him 'Lance' and you're in trouble.
Listen, I’m not going to lie to you, okay? I’m in Hawaii on a tour where we’re being treated like rock stars. Meaning, I am anything but slumming as far as hotels go. When I get a spare few hours, I will find some funky cool little places to stay in for less than usual, I promise. And let’s be honest, any quick search of cheap hotels in Honolulu will pull up more info than even I could steal and attempt at passing off as my own.
But, having been traveling for over 11 straight years now, I can offer some little tips on how to have a lot of the same experiences as the happy family on the brochure, without having to pay as much.
Take today, for example, I had a few extra hours before a welcoming party.
I could have easily picked up the guide book and read that the Iolani Palace was just down the street from me.
I could have found out through, well, a number of resources online, that it was an easy walk from my hotel.
I could have walked around outside, sat under the giant banyan trees and taken this monument in.
I could have gone inside, paid the $20, and read the information given by one of the older volunteers at the door.
I could have found out that it had electricity 4 years before The White House, or, perhaps, that this was the official residence of the monarch until the King was overthrown in 1893.
In fact, I could have easily cut-and-pasted all sorts of wonderful information about this downtown jewel right here and, thanks to this handy thesaurus that pops up with a click, might have even convinced you it was my own.
Or, I could have taken up a friend-of-a-friend’s offer to show me around.
Which I did.
See, Hawaiian’s are some of the most accommodating people in the world, they’re also some of the most laid-back; these are things you probably know. But in this day and age of social networking, everyone is one degree away from anyone else in the world.
And people like living here, they like talking about living here - so take them up on it.
I guarantee that with one ‘friend invite’, or one ‘tweet‘, you can find someone anywhere who has an hour.
That’s what I did, and now anytime I come back to Honolulu, I’ll have a new friend-guide, known to most as ‘Lancey-Poo’.
And that’s something everyone should have.
Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap. We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.
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Tim helps prepare me for Hawaii in the only way he knows how.
You’re looking at how much I know about Hawaii.
They make decent beer at cheap prices.
I mean, I’ve heard all sorts of things about it, but have no opinion - reason being is that I was brought up poor, still am, and even if I wasn’t, it’s an expensive place…
And if I’m going to shell out, I might as well go back to Thailand.
But Hawaii got word of this and is set to prove me wrong - something that has proven easily done ever since I proclaimed the Counting Crows to be ‘the next Dylan’ - and have sent for me.
So tomorrow I’m off. Actually, in less than 4 hours I’m off and I’m just now packing.
I’m not bringing much - a carry-on bag and a small backpack, as these luggage fees ad up when you have to fly out of Bend, OR (if this makes no sense to you, just know that there are no direct flights from here to Honolulu…or, well, most places). But I also want to enjoy myself as much as anyone else, so there will be the obligatory cocktail-with-a-tiny-umbrella, some surfing, local music and cheap trinkets to pass off as archeological finds to my family at Christmas. I want a flowery shirt and to go on a boat. Hell, I’ll get my hair put into beads if I can find it cheap enough.
Why? ‘Cause when I come back, I want to look like I just did Hawaii.
I’m just not going to give it my money…which works out nice as I don’t have any.
More tomorrow - can someone call me at 4am?
Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap. We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
This view was what started the whole ordeal.
Some would blame the 2 hours of sleep I was going on - I’m open to that being one of the catalysts for not one, but two airlines, and their passengers being upset at me.
It was kind of my fault.
That being said, how in the world I can go through 2 checkpoints, my shoes and belt being removed, laptop out of its case, bag scanned twice and then swabbed for residue, a pat-down and half of my toiletries being thrown away and still manage to board the wrong airplane is beyond me.
Seriously.
Not that I blame the nice, healthy-looking staff of the Redmond, OR Airport, but somewhere along the chain of command couldn’t one of them raised a hand and, at least, suggested they leave little signs indicating which tiny plane went where?
See, this is where my sleep-deprivation comes in; I should have asked. And I didn’t. I chose the plane that looked most like it was about to make the 30-minute hop over to Portland.
I ducked into the machinery that surely didn’t fall under the ‘if you lose one engine, you can still fly on the other’ category and the attendant immediately could tell my bag wasn’t going to fit into the overhead.
“Why don’t you go ahead and take your seat and I’ll put it down below for you?.”
I took my seat - 3C, as requested, for a view of Mt. Hood at sunrise, followed by the ruggedly gorgeous Oregon Coast.
More filed in and I laid my head back. A man sat down in front of me and quietly asked the same attendant (there was only room for one) something to which she sweetly shrugged off:
“Oh, this happens a lot, don’t worry.”
I didn’t worry and closed my eyes again.
And then we sat.
And sat.
When a murmur begins in a cabin that small, everyone can feel it. For some reason, we weren’t going anywhere.
“We’re almost ready to go,” crackled the redundant intercom. “Just a few more minutes and we’ll be getting you on your way to Salt Lake City.”
I didn’t want to go to Salt Lake City. Ever. But especially not this morning, as I had a connecting flight to Honolulu.
I repeated most of this to the attendant.
“You’re supposed to be on the Portland flight, right?”
Yes I was.
“They’ve been trying to find you.”
Trying to find me? In this day in age? Anyone could look at my blog, my Facebook, my Twitter and tell you exactly where I was, but the airline lost me?
In my twenties, there was a phrase having to do with a walk, and shame. I’ll spare you the origin of that, but just know that the exiting off of flight #1 and then the stroll to #2, was anything but confidence boosting. When the pilot’s face carries the same expression as the now late passengers, you know you’ve screwed up.
I got on the wrong plane this morning and have to admit that I’m kind of impressed.
If only I could say the same for the rest of those involved…
Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap. We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.
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Mother and son on the beach in Maui, HI.
Photo by Whit Honea
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Napali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii
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Hawaii On The Cheap - Day 10 [Pick Up A Nice Hitchhiker]