#DestinationHawaii - Vacation and Family
I’m finally home after a week away in Hawaii and I’m starting to go through one of those “808-withdrawals”. Throughout the week I made it look like a vacation on my social media platforms with my beach posts and adventures, my road trips around Oahu to even my shopping sprees.
One of the main reasons why I felt like Hawaii had to be my next destination was because of my Aunty Faga, my cousin Tina and her beautiful family who I hadn’t seen in almost 14 years. I had thought about visiting Hawaii many times before, but my only setback was the visa complication and the thought of having my application rejected.
I’ve traveled to many places with a “YES” on my visa. If you've applied for a US visa in Fiji, you'll know the struggle is real, with the rejection being handed out in front of a room full of people. This is why I was praying! LOL. Years later, after parts of South East Asia, the Pacific and Australia were checked off, I finally gained the courage to apply with hopes that they allow me at least a week to spend in Hawaii. Prayer after prayer, I felt good about it all. Interview day came and I was over the moon when the guy at the counter said “Visa granted!”. I quickly called my family in Hawaii and told them to get the red carpet ready because the Queen was coming.
Hawaii was everything I thought it would be. I would listen to my mum and her siblings talk about how beautiful it was. They would talk about BYU and PCC and walks along Waikiki and I would always tell myself, “one day!”. And when that day came, I already had a list of things I HAD to do which involved me at the beach, me at PCC and me at Waikiki. Everything for ME! Haha.
Call me selfish, but if you’re going to spend $400 on a visa (with no guarantee that you’ll get it) with only a single entry and a couple of hundreds more on airfares, you better go and slay the hell out of that trip and take heaps of photos and do as much as you can. And if you want to spam your social media platforms with pictures, boomerangs and videos, you go right ahead booboo because you deserve to.(Good pep talk, David, taps self on the back)
I caught up with my Aunty and cousin for hours every night the entire week. We would leave the house first thing in the morning, get home at around 8 or 9 in the evening, make our cocoa and crackers with our peanut butter and jelly spreads and spend hours outside at the porch catching up on 14 years of stories. Ask me about any topic, we covered it. Cigarette after cigarette, Cocoa after cocoa, I enjoyed these talanoa sessions so much that I wish my mum said ‘yes’ to tagging along with me on this trip.
There was so much to do! If you’re more of a beach person like me, there are beaches almost everywhere you go. Food is in abundance and depending on what you love eating, you can get a great meal from $5USD to $15USD. And if you’re on a budget like I was, the fast-food places were serving burgers and all-size drinks at only a dollar (WITH FREE REFILLABLE CUPS. RIGHT?!) . If I spent more than a week at a place like this I don’t think I’d want to weigh myself when I got back home. The food is so tempting.
Shopping was everyday for me. I managed to score trendy brand new clothing for as low as $3 at Walmart and I had to dig deeper into my already torn pocket for branded and more ‘boujie’ items at Ross where I spent about $60 - $80 on a considerable amount of items. The more “Hawaii” inspired pieces, souvenirs and Aloha shirts and dresses you will find available at the local SwapMeet which is located at the Aloha Stadium in Aiea. This is the better and more cheaper option compared to the stores located along the Waikiki strip. BUT be prepared. If you’re going to go to SwapMeet on a hot sunny day, take some water and an umbrella. There are tents all around the stadium car park so the walk isn’t that ideal for the pluses like me.
BUT Ala Moana though. Where do I even begin with this one. I fell in love with the Westfields around Sydney, the Asia Mall in Manila and even the Coco Park Mall in Shenzhen China, but Ala Moana took the cake and the entire bakery! I’ve always heard about this mall and how beautiful it was, but to get there and to see it myself?! mind blowing!
I didn’t go on a shopping spree at Ala Moana except for some T-shirts at the Old Navy and H&M Clearance Rack (The only racks I dig in to whenever I hit a clothing store lol), but the walk around alone was good enough. We’re talking palm trees, creeks and zens inside the 4 story mall, all the Prada’s and the Louis, a ginormous food court to even an entertainment area. It was just like they said it would be.
For more ‘touristy’ things, I suggest the local museums and of course the world renowned Polynesian Cultural Centre. It’s about an hour drive from Honolulu to the other side of the island of Oahu but the entire experience is worth it. I don’t know how much the normal tickets are (only because my high school friends pulled through with the complimentary tickets- shoutout to Joseph and Una) but the package includes a Canoe Show, visits around each village, a ‘Luau’ (Feast) and finally the night show. It’s an adventure and a display of Polynesian culture through dance, food and story telling. You get to experience all that and more. I had the best time at PCC with my Aunty Faga and Tina and it’s something that I would do all over again with them.
To wrap up this blog I just wanted to share a life-lesson from this trip which I hope inspires you as much as it did me. I feel it’s important to talk about the significance of family and how, in this day and age, we need to prioritize or maybe balance the time we spend doing other things with the time we spend with our families. We need to be able to see that no matter where we go in the world or what we do, our family is our backbone and no one else gives us the best moral support like they do. Everyday since I’ve been back I think of the fun times I had with my family in Hawaii and wonder, “all these years, why now?” or “why at the age of 26 and after 14 years that I decide to visit my family?”. I don’t know why, but I do know that there’s a reason to everything and it’s all in God’s timing that we got to meet in 2018 healthy and full of life.
So thank you Tina, Watson, Aunty Faga and the kids for having me for the week. I enjoyed so much and I now cannot wait for February. “OHANA” MEANS FAMILY AND FAMILY MEANS NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND. 💕 To the people who helped make this trip a success:
- Dearest Sammy. Thanks for all that you do for me. Love you boo.
- Aunty Rusila for your love and support.
- Eliki Gaunovou, my powerful sister from Nadi. Thank you for including me on your Staff Travel from 2016 to date. You’ve helped me save heaps on airfare so that I am able to get content for my struggling blog.lol thank you so much and I hope Fiji Airways sponsors me soon LOL. #TeamBuddyPass.
-To Jordana and Ash for holding the Three Good Lane fort in my absence. You are the real girls.
Till my next update, Love always, David. X
