Sunday, October 5, 2008

Back from Hawaii! Did Ya Miss Me?

Well, after about 19hrs of travel, we've arrived back in Maryland today. I'm going to miss the sunny 85 degree weather, the mai tai's, the blue water, the pineapple, and the odd Japanese tourists. This time around my mother joined us, and it was her first time to Hawaii. So, even though we didn't have an itinerary per se, we did repeat a few things we did two years ago when vacationing.

Almost everyday, we went to Waikiki beaches to enjoy the sand, water and people watching (buff tan guys on surf boards, woohoo!). Last Tuesday, we did our second tour of the Polynesian Cultural Center. I recommend that place for any first timers, because you learn about all of the Polynesian islands and cultures. And bonus, there's a great buffet and concert at the end.

Wednesday, we took a little drive to the North Shore and saw the start of the Billabong women's surfing competition. Those waves were killer. I had to admire the skill and courage those girls had to face some of those gigantic/powerful waves! We also visited Lanakai and Kailua beaches, which were pretty disappointing since there was so much beach run off.

Thursday we did a sunset sail on a catamaran, but unfortunately, some clouds blocked our view of the horizon. But all was good - we had plenty of mai tai's and wine on the boat.

Friday we planned some deep sea snorkeling. I must admit, this wasn't a highlight for me. I already have trouble breathing through my mouth, so when you couple giant turtles, other strange looking undersea creatures and deep water - I totally freak out. I did snorkel a bit while clutching for dear life to the boat's anchor, so I am quite proud of myself.

And Saturday...well...we got robbed. Yes, robbed.

Saturday was our last day, and we had to check out of the hotel at 10am. Unfortunately, our flight didnt leave until 10pm - so we had to leave all of our stuff in the car. We figured we'd be fine as long as we stayed in well lit and well populated areas. Trying to kill the last two hours before heading to the airport, we went to some 'ghetto' mall in Pearl City. Bad idea. We didn't know that Pearl City was a high crime area. In the end, some thugs stole my mother's ENTIRE suitcase with all her clothes, and they also got away with my portable DVD player (brand new I might add), my iPod, and my camera - with all my photos from our trip. So needless to say, I won't be posting any Hawaii vacation pics here on my blog. Sigh.

We had to laugh to keep from crying though. We found it pretty funny while going through baggage checks, because my mom had nothing but her purse. It's very doubtful any of our items will be recovered. All in all, we didn't let that ruin the end of our vacation. At least insurance will cover most of the items stolen. Lesson learned I guess. But we still had a great time and great memories.

Just no souvenirs. (lol)

3 comments:

Tiff said...

Poor Stephy :(

Having stuff stolen is no fun. Your poor mum, too. I hope she didn't lose any vintage, one-of-a-kind clothes either :(

Well at least it didn't happen at the start of the holiday, otherwise that would have really ruined it. I've missed your random posts, too :P

Joellyn said...

My Dad and Sister went to Las Vegas to see Cirque Du Soleil They didn't get robbed. So they got to bring back all their souveniers. So there is all this Cirque Du Soleil crap lying around the house and in the junk drawer.

Stephy404 said...

So...Joellyn, are you saying that you want to give me some of your 'Cirque' souvenirs?? lol. I've always wanted to see 'O'. I hear its great in Vegas.