Travel Diary

Day 3

The next morning I woke up first at 6am. It would have been easy to get up at that time, but I kept resting up until 7am, when I showered and got ready for the day.

But Lauren was a bit late. I guess she had overslept herself. No matter. I was able to check email and do a little reading. She arrived at 10am and we headed to brunch. We walked along the same streets but I had new life as I wasn’t hungover this time. The restaurant was Duke’s and it’s a regular icon in Hawaii. The buffet was almost done but we caught it in time. Everything looked good, yet I showed resistance and didn’t go crazy. I had a plane ride later and didn’t want any complications.

We did go back for seconds and I saw Lauren had chosen eggs benedict. It looked very good, but I knew I couldn’t finish a whole one. She said to just get it and take a few bites. That actually made perfect sense. This food was going to be thrown out in 10 more minutes. It’s not as if they save the cooked eggs for the next day. It could go directly to the garbage or pass by my plate first. Six of one.

Very well.

I did get it and tried it and liked it, but yeah, only a couple bites. It seemed strange leaving a plate half full, although I lived with it. The things we do for fun.

When brunch was done, we went down to the beach--about 20 yards away. Now the weather was perfect. No clouds, and a hot sun. I made sure to cover myself liberally again. Didn’t want to finish the work week with a sunburned back or anything like that.

It was ice to just relax, talk, and take in the ocean.

But now time was no longer a friend and it escaped quickly. Soon, we had to return to the car and head to the airport.

I was concerned about how crowded the airport would be at 2pm, but it was nearly a ghost town. That was nice. The flight was uneventful and I was able to do some writing and then watched “Gone, Baby, Gone,” a terrific movie.

In due time, we were landing at Oakland Airport. It was about 11:35pm now. I lost three hours of time zones and five hours for the flight.

I also didn’t know if the airport parking meter starts a new day at 12am or if the days were each 24 hours from when you first park. Not wanting to risk $14 needless dollars, I raced.

I mean, I booked. I passed up every other passengers toting his or her luggage and just ran (IN MY FLIP FLOPS) to the exit. I then ran to reach my car. Minutes were disappearing fast. I had about four minutes left when I entered my car. I then quickly drove to the cashier gate. The car in front was taking forever, but I made it...at 11:58pm!

She processed the parking for just three days and I was glad. I asked about when the time “flipped.” She said it was based on 24 hours from the time of parking. Ah, okay. All that sprinting and running out of breath for nothing.

Well, not for nothing, I did get some good exercise.

And I had all those drinks to burn off.

It was nice to be home.

What did I learn?

Boozin’ It

Know your body--for one thing. While partaking water with booze does help, if you’re not used to many drinks in one night, there’s almost no way to avoid paying the price. Now, it wasn’t all bad since I did come to have fun, but I may have just overloaded by a couple of drinks. Once shouldn’t be to conservative since it’s rare to be there and fun shouldn’t be completely sacrificed for prudence. Yet, finding that perfect balance can be tough.

Coffee

I’m sorry, but Hawaii is no Seattle when it comes to good coffee. At least the “regular” coffee is poor (or was poor for me) anywhere I went. I just couldn’t find a great cup of coffee. Luckily, I wasn’t there for the coffee.

Location x3

Always research your hotels carefully. While the hotel wasn’t bad for me, I did find many negative reviews once a got home. I added one more. There are much better choices.

Flip Flops

I learned the joy of casual dress. Shorts everywhere! It also made packing much lighter. I had some tennis shoes (for hiking), but most of the time, I enjoyed the simple pleasure of flip flops. That said, my feet hadn’t worn flip flops much since the last trip to Hawaii--seven years prior. So walking around in them for a couple of days was hard on my feet. The joints below the toes were not pleased with the lack of support that they usually had. They survived, but not without complaints.

Worth It?

Of course! A short trip beats no trip if you haven’t much time for travel. A few people asked the cost. I guess it’s no secret. The flight was $385. The hotel was $312. Each day was about $120. And the final parking was about $40. I suppose it was just under $1,000. To me, that’s worth the fun I had. Obviously, a longer trip would diffuse things like the plane cost, and there are cheaper places to stay.

No use making money if you’re not willing to ever spend any.

Last Entry