Aloha!

As you can guess from the title, I flew over the Pacific Ocean for the first time in July, and I checked off another state – Hawaii! I’m getting close to my goal of visiting all 50 U.S. states, with only 11 left.
My recent adventures have come at a personal cost, as I’ve missed 2 holidays (4th of July and Pioneer’s Day) and multiple birthdays (Mom, Sam, Kara, and Jon). Honolulu will be my main layover article for the summer, as my 6 days working/1 day off cycle was unexpectedly ended by a death in my family, that took me away from work at the end of June. This was followed by TravelCon in Boston, moving to NYC, and doing a 1 week retreat in Bali. Finally, I am now back on track!

Here’s a cute picture of the group from TravelCon! I’ll cover more on TravelCon later, because I know y’all took the clickbait to see what’s good in Honolulu! I was on a 24 hour layover (arrived in the afternoon, enjoyed evening/ morning downtime, with an evening departure), so I wasn’t able to hit up everything I wanted, but here’s what I was able to accomplish along with my commentary.

Duke’s Waikiki

In 6 words, crowded atmosphere, centrally-located, delicious food.
For 2 people to dine in, we were quoted 1 hour 30 min wait. Luckily, we were sat before then, but first impression was a tad stressful to say the least.
To eat, I ordered fried calamari. To drink, I went with a “lava flow” (rum, pineapple juice, coconut, and strawberry) and Ace Pineapple cider. Both the food and drinks were delicious and we went back to the hotel very satisfied with our meal!
Although the patio and bar area were crowded, the restaurant was open facing towards the ocean, so the breeze felt wonderful.

Waikiki Beach

In 6 words, “be ready to walk a lot.” Because Waikiki is a LONG beach. We came from the downtown area (Honolulu proper), so we started at one end, and made our way for about 30 minutes until we found a nice area that wasn’t crowded.
The sand is beautiful, and the water was warm. I would gladly come back to this beach, with sunscreen in tow! I got a little burned as I forgot my Vichy sunscreen (SPF 60) at home and had to use a generic one with less SPF… But, all in all, this is a great spot to lay out and enjoy a view of the ocean, city, and Diamond Head.

Eggs’n’Things

In 6 words (of another local), “that place used to be better.”
This spot was recommended by my friend who used to live in Honolulu. I really enjoyed the food (Açai bowl and omelet!), but the service seemed rushed as I was in the center of tourist town. I feel like maybe had I gone to another location (closer to where my friend used to live), it would have felt more like a Mom’n’Pop shop and less like a chain.

And with that, I conclude my overview of Honolulu! Usually I put the final tally at the beginning of my post, but today I wanted to switch it up. 😉 For June, July, and August (my summer schedule): I flew through 35 cities, I spent over 252 hours flying, and spent the night in 13 different layovers. Between all that, I worked over 65 flights. If you include my flights for anything other than work, I flew an additional 97 hours, through 11 cities.

If you look up, you may see me waving at you from 30,000 feet, 😉