With only 2 months to hit the road with, I realized that my South America jaunt was going to have to wait, so I went back to the drawing board and started to think about where I could travel for a shorter period of time that was closer to home, warm and maybe not so draining as the third world destinations I seem to be frequenting as of late. Hawaii came to mind… a place I had always viewed as “too close to home” in past years, a place I viewed as “America,” “expensive” and “touristy.” But lately, it had been creeping up on my list of places to visit in the world. I had seen other travellers’ photos, heard stories of remote waterfalls, pristine beaches and friendly people. I wanted some warmth and some ease instead of the “roughing it” i’d become accustomed to, so I decided to spend my Spring thawing out on the Hawaiian Islands.
I managed to get a reasonably priced flight from Atlanta to Honolulu via Phoenix on US Airways and, after a solid day of traveling, arrived to the rainbow state. Ironically enough, after grabbing my bag and getting into a cab, a rainbow appeared in the sky… I took this as a good sign and tried to make conversation with my Taiwanese cab driver. I’d never seen a full rainbow so low in the sky, so I was pretty impressed. He wasn’t and said to me sarcastically, “you know this is why we’re called the rainbow state, right?” OK- i’ll try to keep my naivete to a minimum (but it was beautiful).
Ludmila, a Brazilian girl now living in Honolulu, was my host, and I was welcomed in typical Brazilian fashion- with very warm hospitality. Instead of arriving at a strangers’ house, I was greeted with a hug and made to feel at home at once. After getting settled in and cleaned up, Ludmila took me for a tour of Honolulu and Waikiki. We watched the sunset over the beach and saw the moon creep up over Diamond Head. Everyone was squeezing in their end of day workout- whether that was a run in Ala Moana, an ocean swim, a surf session, or paddle-boarding.
