I never seem to tire of Hawaii. Well, there was that 8 years or more break that I took off from coming to Hawaii. It had nothing to do with me tiring of Hawaii, though, but more to do with my being proactive about seeing other places in the world.
My Hawaii thing has been back on for the past 4 years. I traveled here once in 2009, once in 2010, once in 2011, twice in 2012 and this is my second time here in 2013. I need that fix of sunshine, beach, Hawaiian music and mixed cultures. I’ve also realized that the only two places where I sleep soundly through the night are Hawaii and Bali.
I don’t have much to say in this post. I don’t even really have a point to it, other than to say I’m happy and relaxed.
My alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. ’cause it takes me a leisurely hour and a half to get ready, then 15 minutes to check my packing again. The shuttle was there at 6:30 and I was at the airport a little after 7:00. For some reason, I was gifted with TSA pre-check, which meant I didn’t have to remove my shoes, my hoodie or anything from the carry-on. That made the line move a little quicker. The person who ran my boarding pass through the machine prior to my boarding just happened to be the ex-husband of an ex-friend of mine. We only had time for a quick hug, but it was nice to see him after all these years. We boarded on time, yet proceeded to sit at the gate about 50 minutes longer than anticipated. Their excuse was that there was lots of luggage to load. Don’t they begin loading the luggage long before we board?! Whatever, once the luggage was loaded, there was barely any wait for the runway. The rest of the flight proceeded smoothly; I slept for at least half of it.
My friend picked me up at the airport and took me to Zippy’s for lunch. Believe it or not, over the course of my many trips to the Islands, I’ve never eaten at Zippy’s, but always wanted to. Everyone raves about their chili, so I opted for the chili spaghetti. It was good, as was the accompanying garlic bread. I tasted his chocolate milkshake, which was also very good. Wish there was a branch on the Mainland.
It’s been a quiet evening. I grabbed something small (i.e. an appetizer) to eat, along with a beer. The live music was two older women singing Hawaiian songs. They sang “Beautiful Kauai,” which makes me think of my Tutu. I ended with two drinks at The Mai Tai Bar in The Royal Hawaiian Hotel. They’ve seen me there so many times over the years that part of the staff thought I lived in Honolulu! It’s my home away from home in Waikiki, and they always greet me with “Welcome Back” and questions about how long I’m staying and what my plans are.
With that, I’m going to go to bed since I’ll be waking up early because San Francisco is 2 hours ahead of Honolulu!