Friday, January 14 – Waikiki

I was scheduled to check out from the hotel today, but decided to extend my reservation another three nights. It’s a nice place, good location, reasonably priced (for Waikiki), and most importantly, I’m still trying decide how I want to see the rest of the island. I’m in no rush, so let’s see how it plays out (can you tell that I’ve already assimilated some of that surfer vibe!)

My rate for the new reservation is $183/night all-in. A little higher than my original reservation, but that’s the price you pay for flexibility (or more likely in my case, indecision/laziness!)! I forgot to mention earlier that the rate includes a “to go” breakfast. It’s basically a pre-boxed meal consisting of fruit, pastries and a hard boiled egg. About the best you can ask for in a Covid world.

Also meant to talk about the local Covid policies. Basically it’s the same as Madison/Dane County – masks are required indoors, but not outdoors. There are some exceptions to the latter part though. For example masks were required at all times while at Pearl Harbor.

Today was pretty low key day. After sorting out my reservation I took a walk to Ala Moana Park. It’s not super far from my hotel, but it’s in the direction away from the tourist part of Waikiki and towards Honolulu. This area includes some beaches and is popular with the locals, but not so much the tourists. Perfect!

I stopped by the grocery store on my way back to the hotel. Which led to…

Saturday, January 15 – Waikiki

I woke up this morning to a text from Ali asking me if there were any local concerns regarding the tsunami. What?!? Wait! There’s a tsunami?!? Fortunately, there was only an advisory issued here, with no major wave impact expected. Whew! Disaster averted.

(And thanks for checking in Ali. I’m not the greatest at following the news while away. Especially the local stuff. As we all learned a couple years ago when Kait suggested I might want to take Covid seriously and get my butt on the next flight out of Argentina!)

Today is looking to be only moderately busy. I’m going to hike the Manoa Falls Trail. This is a 1.7 mile out and back trail located near Honolulu. And how do you think I’m going to get to the trailhead? You got it! Back on the bus!

Travel Note: Google Maps is great for providing local bus routes, schedules and real-time arrival status updates.

The bus stop near the trail happens to be at the end of the route, so when the bus arrives it parks for a few minutes to give the driver a break. For my trip back I happened to be the only one waiting at the stop, so was able to have a nice conversation with the driver. I found her and the other locals I’ve interacted with to be very friendly.

I decided to get a little more walking (and exploring) in on the return trip, so ended up exiting the bus well before it approached the area of my hotel. As I meandered along I happened to approach a McDonalds and got a sudden urge for an ice cream cone ($2). I can’t remember the last time I’ve be in a McDs, but I must say the cone tasted pretty good!

For dinner tonight, a little Korean place near my hotel. I thought it would be a good choice after I saw some local Five-O* eating there a couple days ago!

*Five-O: Urban slang for police officers. Derived from the police drama “Hawaii Five-0.” In this case, a rather appropriate use of the term, if I do say so!

While were on the subject of Hawaii Five-0, who’s with me in saying that that show (the original, 1960s version) has the greatest theme song of all time?? Take a listen…