Two of the most exotic places in the US are Hawaii and Alaska. After exploring Alaska I was pumped for Hawaii, for obvious reasons. Hawaii has a unique culture, heritage and laid back people. With 8 official islands (Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Kauai and Niihau), the state is renowned for its rugged landscapes of cliffs, waterfalls, tropical forests, volcanoes and red, green & even black sand beaches. And if that isn’t enough Hawaii introduced surfing to the world. Even though Hawaii has 8 islands, it seems Honolulu is the first destination for most tourists. I mean it makes sense since Honolulu is the state’s largest city and it’s capital.
But let me start from the beginning. After the usual prep (booking tickets & all), I was all set to embark on my journey. But as they say, “things went south” because as soon as I boarded the plane from Seattle to Honolulu, it turned out to be my worst flight till then. I thought I was being smart when I bumped my seat from row 18 to 10. And since I had my new lens with me, I was all excited to take some aerial shots. But the moment I sat down I discovered that seat number 10 didn’t have a window. Just when I was digesting this and sulking about being on a 6 hour flight in a window seat without a window, the seat next to me got filled by a needy 6 year old who didn’t shut up for like 1 second through the flight. I mean don’t get me wrong I don’t hate kids but some can be really annoying especially on a plane. Well, I could still look forward to 7 amazing days in Hawaii.
Honolulu is really touristy. On any given day there are ~240k tourists on the islands, mostly from the mainland, Japan & Australia. It can get overwhelming for some.Waikiki’s architecture and vibe reminded me of Miami South Beach, which was discouraging in a way, as I was certainly not expecting it to be like Miami. But as I was walking down Waikiki I was amazed to see high end designer shops like Harry Winston, Gucci, Prada, LV, Hermes and Bottega Veneta to name only a few. After window shopping for a mile I was dead tired and called it a night.
Balance
Sunset