When we realized my mom was about to have her 60th birthday in quarantine, we decided we’d celebrate her and the entering of a new decade with 5 days in Honolulu. We’d just come off of what we thought was the worst of the pandemic. All of us had been double vaccinated and were prepared to follow any rules the Hawaiian government would impose- testing, masking, being socially distant. And because of all of that, we felt safe enough to celebrate in Hawaii.
By the time I’d heard of native Hawaiians asking the rest of America to stop coming to the islands, we were already there. I do believe it’s important to listen to the locals when they say they’re facing over tourism. We’re all flocking to their islands to escape life in the mainland, but we’re also depleting them of their resources. While I, and my family, did enjoy our time in Hawaii, I have made the decision not to return until locals are no longer in fear of being priced out of life and resources there. It’s not fair of us to continue taking their limited resources, even if we mean well when we visit. With that in mind, please take my experience there with a grain of salt.
Day 1 (Travel Day)
Our travel day was less than perfect. I’d had trouble sleeping on the plane and was feeling grumpy. And the check in process at the hotel was a mess. But eventually, we got to our room and got to relax for a bit. Once we were all settled in, we decided to explore a bit of the area we were staying in. Afterward, we went on a short walk to get dinner. We then went back home and knocked out. It’d been a long, stressful travel day. Sleep was definitely in the cards!
Day 2 of 5 in Honolulu
We did what one usually does on vacation in Hawaii… Went to the beach and drank! Duke Kahanamoku Beach was amazing. I usually stray from going too far into open water- not because I can’t swim, but because open water terrifies me. But I couldn’t seem to say out of the water in Honolulu. I felt so calm and was having a blast. Seriously, I was sad when we decided to leave the beach for the day. I kept asking for 5 more minutes!
We all went back to the room, showered, and went exploring after coming from Duke Kahanamoku Beach. Afterward, we walked around and went into a few different shops in Waikiki. I had an amazing dole whip cone from a CBD store, and bought a bottle of water from a local corner store for $0.50! When we tired of walking the island, we ended the night with dinner and caught a car back to the hotel to sleep off the sun.
Day 3 of 5 in Honolulu
We woke up a little bit later on day 3. This meant that the umbrella and chair rental we’d used at the beach the day before sold out. In an effort to still stay in the water, we decided to head over to Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon. They still had some chairs and umbrellas, so we’d set up shop there. It didn’t take long before the sun started being too much, though. The umbrellas we’d had weren’t doing a good job of keeping the sun away, and the bottom of the lagoon had really rough, grainy sand that kept irritating our feet. We decided to cool off with pineapple whip, then tried our luck again at the main beach. Luckily, I was able to rent an umbrella and two chairs for us to share.
Once we’d all felt like we may have gotten too much sun, we headed back to the room to shower. For the first time in my life, I’d gotten sunburnt! My shoulders were red and hurt to the touch. The sun and my SPF had betrayed me. Suffice it to say that I was already ready for the sun to set!
After everyone freshened up, we surprised my mom with tickets to a luau. She’d wanted to do nothing in Hawaii except attend a luau. Butt we’d waited until the last minute to book a luau and had been unsuccessful in finding one. Unknown to my mom, my little brother had seen hotel staff advertising for the Waikiki Starlight Luau when we were all at the beach the day before, and we were able to buy tickets and surprise her with the experience. She loved it, and even got up to hula dance with the locals!
We finished up the night with a stroll along Duke Kahanamoku Beach. There’s something beautiful and haunting about the beach at night. The water is black obsidian and the sound of waves crashing is deafening without the screams of joy from daytime beach goers. I enjoyed the quiet of the beach and the spray of the water against my skin as my mom, brother, and I walked down the shore. When we started to get cold, we headed back to the hotel room to rest up for the next day’s actives.
Day 4 of 5 in Honolulu
On our final full day in Hawaii, we went exploring the North Shore with our family friend’s cousin. He picked us up from our hotel with his dogs and we were off to find Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. The lines at the food truck were long, but worth the wait! After we’d all fueled up, we drove down to Shark’s Cove. It was hot, there were no clouds in the sky, and we’d all low-key started to peel from sunburns. So we only stayed at Shark’s Cove for a couple of hours before deciding to head back to the hotel and cool off.
That night, we went to a local tattoo shop and got matching tattoos. My mom kept saying she’d wanted one with all of us (her first one!), so we came up with a simple & meaningful design, and went to get it permanently etched into our skin. My brother got his on his hand, my sister her wrist, and my mom & I got it on our ankle- mine inside my right ankle, hers outside. Mom did a great job playing it cool while she got inked! This tattoo was also a first for my brother, and he took it well too. My sister and I already had a tattoo before this one, so we’d been fine the whole time.
Adorned with our matching, sentimental tattoos, we went to get dinner with our family friend’s cousin and his wife. Spent from the day by this point, we enjoyed talking and taking it easy over dinner. Our last night in Hawaii ended on a good note, and we all knocked out as soon as we got to our room.
Day 5 (Travel Day)
We headed to the airport the next afternoon. Our time in Hawaii had been much needed after the madness that was 2020. It was nice to celebrate life and family together, and though I now know the Hawaiians would have preferred for us to have not visited their island, I’ll cherish the 5 days we spent in Honolulu together for the rest of my life.
