HELLO, my name is nesqu!k: Hawaii 2009

Day 1: March 22, 2009

My family had already left for Hawaii the previous morning. The original plan was for us to all go at the same time, but I had a final Saturday afternoon, so my flight out was put off to the following morning. Kept it nice and simple with my backpack and one carry-on with all my clothes in it. Bags packed...

...ready to go.

I was up at 4:45am Sunday morning. Auntie Sue picked me up to take me to Vallejo Marriot by Marine World so I could take the shuttle to San Francisco Airport. We got there at 6:10, and since the shuttle wasn't going to leave until 6:30, I got a complimentary massage from the best massage therapist I know, Auntie Sue :)

Her only condition was that I buy her a Obama-themed t-shirt from Hawaii :P
The shuttle left promptly at 6:30, took about 50 minutes to get to SFO. Beautiful morning too.

When I arrived at the United Airlines check-in area, I was greeted by some electronic check-in machines which almost convinced me to buy a $500 upgrade to first class. Good thing I gave my mom a call to make sure I wasn't supposed to be giving anyone/thing any money since my ticket was already fully payed for :P Security check went pretty smoothly, aside from the fact that I lost a whole bottle of green tea :( I'll admit that was my fault though :P

After that I was on my way to the gate

Gate 86, or gate "hachi-roku", I jokingly said to myself as I looked at my ticket.

When I stopped to go to the bathroom and finished washing my hands, I came across a very odd-looking hand dryer...

wtf???

Ohhhh, I get it... Very clever. My hands were indeed dry in 12 seconds or less.
After that it was back to the gate for me, 7:50am. My flight was scheduled to leave at 9am, so I got real comfy in my seat. Had a nice red theme going on...

As I sat there I spotted something interesting on the update screen...

If you haven't found it by now, take a look at #29 xD
The idea is they list the first three letters of your last name, followed by a slash and your first initial, which just didn't work out too well for Mr... well, yeah, you get it.
My section boarded at 8:30am, and the plane left right on schedule. It was a pretty full flight...

I was pretty comfy in row 43, seat D

...quite comfy.

Left that there for whoever might want to find it ;)
The flight was 5hrs long, went pretty smoothly. I slept through the first half, and spent the second half watching Ocean's 13 on my laptop, and conversing with the people sitting next to me. To my right was Greg from Colorado, a 3rd year college student, and to my left was a very cute Korean girl who I talked to quite a bit but did not get her name xD
Dammit, Nestor, what the hell, what the hell.
It's all good though.
Hawaii is 3 hours behind us, so I arrived at ~11am local time, and was picked up by my family

...and we made our way back to our hotel along Interstate H1. Why does Hawaii have interstate highways again? Doesn't "interstate" mean "between states"? I suppose we'll never know.
Mom was at the wheel of our rental Chrysler Sebring.

We stopped at a local food court/shopping center to grab some lunch; I hadn't eaten since breakfast. First thing I did when I got out of the car...

Let everyone know that TIZ has touched down in Hawaii :D
Dad and I grabbed ourselves some Subway sandwiches.

Mom snagged herself some Korean BBQ.

Oh, hey, look...

Panda Express, haha. Oh, and...

Cinnabon! Fashooo. That was when I remembered that Hawaii is still America (you kind of forget sometimes, because there's so many Asian/Pacific Islanders, and its a 5hr flight to a remote island, after all).
On our way out, I spotted a silly Mustang with several GT-R badges on it

... (Nissan makes the Skyline GT-R, and the Mustang is made by Ford. Sorry, I'm a car guy :P)
Before jumping back in the car, I posted a sticker by the shopping center

I requested a pack of stickers from Benson specifically for this trip. TIZ's never been to Hawaii before :P
As we parked in our hotel's extremely tight parking garage (there is barely enough room for a car to get around the corners as you ascend or descend between levels), I spotted a pretty sick Nissan 350Z

Upon closer inspection we found that the entire body kit is actuall carbon fiber. Nice.
After I washed up a bit and changed into some shorts, we went for a little drive around nearby sightseeing areas. First stop: Diamondhead State Monument

Family photo

Bro photo

As we continued around, I noticed somthing about their buses. In Davis, we've got a fancy name: Unitrans. But Hawaii is known for being a super chill, simple place, so for them, the bus system is called:

TheBus. Nice.
We continued to several other places with nice views

Riz was having fun watching the surfers do their thing

Xavi was enjoying his time in the backseat

We cruised around and stopped at another beach

Took some time to chill for a bit.

And once again we were on our way. We stopped by a local food center to grab some food and snacks. I was pretty thirsty, so I got a hold of some Gatorade for myself

Pretty effin huge, heh. It was a but warm, though, since it was sitting on a shelf and not in the refrigerated areas, so I took matters into my own hands...

Didn't help that much, but it was a little cooler than it was at first.

After that it was off to another scenic location. Crazy-cool trees.

And here's something interesting: a self-sustaining streetlight.

There's a small solar panel on top to generate energy when the sun is out, and on the bottom there's a little propeller that uses wind power to charge the light's internal battery. A+ for innovation.

You walk up the hill a little bit, and there's a beautiful view of a bay

Got pretty trigger-happy with my camera after a while

Took some pics for TheImaginaryZebra's CNGNOT collection

After that we drove to another scenic location, and took more pictures

And after that, we started making our way back to the hotel

My dad's the only person I know who snacks on Mild Sauce packets from Taco Bell

I know for a fact that my wierdness and idiosyncratic tendencies come from him :P

Soon enough, Honolulu and Waikiki were in sight.

We got back to the hotel, I took a nap for a bit, and before I knew it, it was nightfall. We headed out to have a walk up and down the main strip to check out all the Sunday night activity.

Awww.... Xavi brought his deck too :(

Saw plenty of street performers

Stopped in some stores to try on some sunglasses

Went to the International Marketplace to check out all the cool shops and boutiques they had. Reminded me of Greenhills mall in the Philippines a bit

BOOGABOOGABOOGA! :P

I got myself a cheap little $25 ukulele after I realized how easy it was to play certain parts of Jake Shimabukuro's rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Can't seem to find the picture...

Anyways after that, we went back to the place, showered up, and rested up for the next day.