Kauai
I mentioned in my trip summary post that Kauai was amazing and that I loved it. I have a long time friend who is so incredibly lucky to call Kauai her home. She literally lives in a post card with incredible landscape views everywhere and lovely beaches around every corner. I was able to spend the majority of my time on the island with my friend and really get a true sense of the island’s social, cultural and economic life.
Kauai still has a very small town feel. Name one other place where traffic in both direction will immediately stop when you want to cross the street? The majority of the island has small towns with a few shops and restaurants that are independent local business owners. Sure you have your typical American chains of Walmart, McDonalds, KFC, etc but who wants to go there when you can have a lovely home cooked meal for the same price.
Given the landscape of the island you cannot drive completely around the island due to the rugged Na Pali coastline. The roads are generally two lane with many twists and turns which makes travel time longer than you may anticipate. However the long drives were always delightful with plenty of beautiful scenery to keep you occupied.
Highlights include links from my Instagram: Waimea Canyon, Hanalei Bay and Na Pali Coast.
This a good website to help get you started if you are considering a trip to Kauai but let’s just keep this amazing island our little secret.
Honolulu
While I was only in Honolulu for 24 hours I don’t regret my limited time. Perhaps it was my personal mindset coming from the friendly relaxed Kauai island to the big city. However I did not like Honolulu….there I said it. Sorry.
While I am beyond the historic events that happened and certainly willing to forget the past tensions that may existed; I felt oddly uncomfortable visiting Pearl Harbor mourning the loss of American soldiers with the majority of tourists from Japan.
Here are 5 interesting USS Arizona facts. There are only 7 remaining soldiers who were on the USS Arizona on that fateful day. I had the privilege to meet two of them and thank them for their service to my country. Since the day of the attack the USS Arizona continues to leak about 1 quart of oil a day with no environmental concern. Many people call this oil leakage the USS Arizona weeping “black tears” and speculate that once that last soldier from the attack passes away the weeping will cease.
In addition I went over to Waikiki area which was so overloaded with tourists predominately from Asia spending hundreds of dollars on high end shopping. The Waikiki beach was crowded with people continuously stepping right directly in my path while attempting to capture my sunset photo. At this point I longed for the joyful relaxed beaches in Kauai.
However the journey continues as I was off the next day on the Micronesia Island Hopper flight!
Seek your adventure!