My First Friend in Hawaii

18 hours of travel, two cups of cran-apple juice, and one bag of peanuts later (I refused to buy gourmet airplane food -- who needs a goat cheese apple salad on a plane??), I finally made it to my hotel! The Queen Kapiolani is in the PERFECT location. Right down the street from Waikiki beach and on the same street as some hostels I will be looking into staying at after my 3 hotel nights are over.

I freshened up and headed straight to the beach. On the way, I called my dad to let him know of my safe arrival and a bum overheard me commenting about the food prices. I was starving but I was not going to pay $5 for a hotdog at the hotel restaurant. He laughed at me and said, "Expensive, huh?" I said, "Yeah!" He then told me there was a subway right around the corner and I should get a $5 footlong. I thanked him for the good advice. Hobo Heidi was a good name for this blog...

I was hungry, but seeing the beach was more important. It is beautiful. As I waded shin deep in warm, clear blue Hawaiian water, I thought to myself, "This is the best thing I've ever done." Coming to Hawaii I mean, not just the wading through the water. 

I continued to walk down Waikiki beach, but the lowering sun was in that direction. It was blinding so I turned around and decided it was time to go back and look for Subway. To my dismay, I discovered the bum was wrong. They no longer have any $5 footlongs. Poor guy, he must not have been here in a while. I got the footlong anyways. It was the best investment I could have made after 20+ hrs of surviving off a fun size bag of peanuts. 

I then went back to Lemon Rd.  to check out a hostel. The Beachside Waikiki does not require a ticket leaving the state to make a reservation, so I asked the long haired David Spade look-alike front desk guy if I could see a room. He showed me the small size (4 people share) and the large size (8 people share). There were a few girls in the large room. They looked my age and had similar style, this made me feel comfortable about possibly staying there. They were cute and had cute accents, probably just traveling on a budget like myself. 

I didn't have any other plans so I grabbed my guide book and a few flyers at some activity booths along the road and headed back to the beach. I got there at the perfect time to see the sunset. It was SO BEAUTIFUL. 

With some city lights and left over sunlight, it was still comfortably bright enough to browse my reading material. Hanauma Bay (Snorkeling), Diamond Head Crater (Hiking), Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor... What should I do tomorrow? I'd prefer to do something outside for my first day, but I felt kind of apprehensive about going snorkeling or hiking alone. I gave up on my guide book and was about to head back to my hotel.

As I got up to walk back, I heard music coming from a pier I had not ventured down. I curiously headed towards it and walked up it. There was a guy playing a guitar and singing, and later a girl came to join his show by blowing bubbles. I sat there just enjoying the beautiful place and the random show. 

Thats where I met Hide (pronounced "Hee-Deh"). He's from Japan and he's in Hawaii trying to improve his English. We talked at the beach and he bought me coffee. His friend has a tour company for Japanese tourists, and sometimes he helps him out by teaching body boarding. He asked if I'd like to go the next day and I very happily accepted, since I had been kind of down about not having a friend to do things with earlier. We continued to talk and we decided we'd go snorkeling too before the body boarding lesson. I was so fortunate to meet him. We agreed on meeting at 7:30 am to catch the bus and parted. 

That was my first day in Hawaii.