Monday-Blues

Dear travel diary

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Today Chantal and I had another busy schedule and got up early as a result. After breakfast, we made our way to the bus stop and then to Ala Moana Center. That's where our car was parked today. Next, we went to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden, about a 30-minute drive away. At nine o'clock, when the park opened, we drove through the entrance and gradually felt like we were in a magical forest.

Everything around us was green. Except for the countless signs that said 'No photography on the road or on the roadside'. We parked the car in the parking lot and continued on foot. But how on earth are we supposed to take a photo if we're not allowed to stop but have to walk on the road anyway? You have to be six feet away from the asphalt if you want to take a photo, but at the same time you're not allowed to stand in nature. It would be best to be a superhero and fly through the garden so that you can follow all the rules. But even then, something would probably be non-compliant. In any case, we were stopped multiple times because we were walking on a deserted road and taking pictures of the landscape. We also had to listen to people telling us a hundred times that this is not an amusement park and skateboarding is not allowed. This continued until one of the rangers actually accused us of skateboarding. Not only that, but the illogical rule about photography also made us a little annoyed and we couldn't really enjoy our time in the garden.

After a short lunch break by a lake in the garden, where we also had mosquitoes for lunch, we continued our journey. Our next destination was the Byodo-in-temple, which was built over 950 years ago to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Japanese in Hawaii.

This temple was located in the so-called Valley of the Temples. There were also thousands of graves decorated with beautiful flowers on the wide lawn.

Since we had seen everything much earlier than planned, we looked for the nearest juice shop and treated ourselves to a fresh juice. With this, we then drove on famous Highway 3 towards Pearl Harbor and enjoyed the ride on the very picturesque section. Simply breathtaking, with green all around.

In that direction was also the Aloha Stadium in Aiea, which can host baseball and football games. It was huge! It almost reminded me of the stadium from the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter.

We continued on a beautiful and peaceful road a bit further inland, and then drove back to the center on the highway. There we unloaded our car and took the bus home.

Sunday, May 9, 2021

After breakfast, we made our way to the bus stop around 9:00 am and patiently waited for the bus. Shortly after, we saw Tony from our street driving by. When he arrived at our place, he honked, stopped, and offered to give us a ride. Of course, we didn't say no. Hanauma Bay, where we wanted to go today, is also very close to us, so it was just a short drive by car.

When we arrived at the entrance, Tony told the security guard that he just wanted to drop us off. The guard then asked us if we had a reservation. No, we said, and added that we didn't know we needed one. Shortly afterwards, the man said he would give us one. Before he handed it to us, Tony said we needed two. However, I added that we actually needed three because Lisa was coming too. After a short pause, the nice man gave us three tickets and we were able to continue.

What perfect timing, you might think.

Once downstairs, we waited for Lisa. Our entry ticket was for 12:00 noon, so we still had to wait until then anyway. After a while, a friendly staff member came to us and said that we might also be able to enter earlier. Today isn't our lucky day, we thought.

When Lisa and Laura showed up shortly after, we feared that Laura might not be able to enter without a reservation. However, she had no problem entering without a reservation and was already inside Hanauma Bay before us. Great, the three of us had to wait until 12:00 noon while Laura was already inside.

After another wait, we could finally enter and had to wait again. We had to wait for the previous group to leave the information room. After quite a while, we were finally allowed to continue and had to watch a film about Hanauma Bay, which explained how to interact with the water and underwater life. Hanauma Bay is known for its coral reef and many fish. That's why this morning we rented two snorkel sets from the family. Finally, when we reached the beach, we wanted to explore the underwater world right away. Equipped with diving masks and snorkels, we ventured into the cool water and swam along the surface.

After a short time, I bumped the top of my foot on a coral and scraped it a bit, as the corals were right underneath me. I was hardly daring to paddle anymore, but I still wanted to explore more. When I came to a place where I was even closer to the corals, I panicked for a moment. Like Nemo, I said to myself: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." Since the sky was quite cloudy, we could hardly see anything in the water, unfortunately. It was too dark. I could only make out a few fish. At least we got free entry to Hanauma Bay with our student ID, because otherwise I would have regretted the $12. From everywhere, all we heard were fantastic things about the bay, but it seems like it wasn't our lucky day.

In the late afternoon, we made our way back home, as the beach was soon closing and we would have had to leave anyway.

Easy, quick bus ride from A to B, we thought. Yes, right... The bus that used to go to the parking lot doesn't exist anymore, so we had to march down the hot asphalt of the busy road to the main road for nearly an hour. At least we didn't have to wait too long for the right bus there.

When we got on the bus, the bus driver greeted us with "Hello Ladies" and asked us if we had a nice Mother's Day after we started driving. I noticed that this day has a much greater significance in America than in Switzerland.

When we got off, we thanked the driver as usual and he wished us a wonderful day. Most bus drivers in Switzerland could definitely learn something from the Hawaiian ones.

After arriving home, I enjoyed a few free minutes in my new room, which turned out to be very cozy so far. It was nice to be home earlier and not have to sit at the dinner table right away.

Monday, May 10, 2021

7:00 am. Surprised to wake up at what is a late hour for me here in Hawaii, I snuggled back into bed and looked forward to the day. Just staying in bed, enjoying the day, and doing nothing. If you're thinking, "But it's Monday, so there's school," you're absolutely right. However, we calculated that since last Monday, we can't go to school on any upcoming Mondays in order to still meet the 80% attendance requirement.

So we leisurely had breakfast and surprised Debbie with our presence at home at this time. Afterwards, she said, "Oh right, you don't have Mondays anymore." Of course we still do, just in a different way than before ;)

Satisfied, we took the bus to Honolulu to Kapiolani Beach. We chose this beach so that we can lie on the beach like lazy seals and go across the street to get food when we feel hungry, and then return to the beach. A pure beach day like this is our first, we realized. So we enjoyed the beach, the water, and the sun, which fortunately was occasionally obscured by clouds today. Otherwise, it would have been too hot.

In the evening, we booked our flights to the different islands (Big Island, Maui, Kauai) and also some of the accommodations. For Big Island, we sat together with the family for quite a while and looked for a good and affordable solution. Grandma even called several acquaintances to see if we could get a room with them. Unfortunately, without success. You can tell that tourists are coming back and prices are rising. Even Debbie and Tony could hardly believe these prices. Anyway, we continue the search for the remaining accommodations and rental cars...