Hawaii

Hi everyone!

Well I just left Hawaii, my final port before being home. This will be my last blog for my trip around the world. I will get to San Diego in about 6 days, and I must say that I am very excited!
I was only in Hawaii for about 12 hours, but I had a really great time. I had been there before, so I didn’t have to worry about seeing all of the touristy stuff like Pearl Harbor, or the Polynesian center. I was able to just spend my time relaxing!!
The currency in Hawaii is ……….haha, just kidding-it’s the US dollar!

We got off of the ship at about 9 am, and decided to head to a little restaurant that a friend of ours had recommended….Cheeseburger in Paradise! We ordered our food and the waiter brought out water for everyone. On the ship our drinking water is usually kind of salty, or tastes like chlorine, so this water was the most delicious water I have ever had….I honestly drank about 3 glasses! I think that I am probably dehydrated, and just don’t know it. We ate some really good burgers and I found myself feeling really excited to be back home….It is nice being able to eat something without having to take some precautionary pepto! I was feeling really excited until I got my bill and realized that I had just spent $16 on a burger and fries….quite the change from India, where we could get a full meal for $2!
After our meal, we headed over to the beach, we picked a spot on Waikiki beach….a really touristy area, but it was nice. The weather was kind of weird in the morning….it would rain, and then it would be really sunny, and then it would rain again….etc. The afternoon was a lot nicer and stayed pretty sunny!
We spent our day laying in the sun and swimming in the ocean….the water was warm and really clear. Hawaii is just beautiful! We finally began packing up at about 6pm. We decided to grab some dinner before heading back to the ship. We walked around for a while, and finally decided to eat at this little Mexican restaurant called La Cucaracha… I was kind of skeptical about eating at a restaurant called that after all of the cucarachas I encountered in Vietnam, but we decided to give it a go… Name aside, the food was really good, and it made me really homesick…..I can’t wait to be home where I can eat Torres and enjoy chips and salsa on the regular!! Yummy!

After dinner, we caught a ride back to the ship with a friend of a friend who lived in Honolulu. She dropped us off and as we boarded the ship for the last time, I couldn’t help feeling a little bit sad. I’ve become so use to the procedures on the ship, and couldn’t help wondering how I am going to feel when I get home, knowing that I am never going to have to follow these procedures again….not being able to bring alcohol on board (even though I am of legal drinking age), making sure that I am on the ship by on-ship time, making sure that I’ve emptied out any opened bottles of water or juice that I have and no more look furiously though my purse for my ship ID card so that I can board.

Throughout my day, I found myself surprised by how unaccustomed I have become to American culture and procedure. I was taken back when I was asked to show my ID at a convenience store when I tried to purchase a souvenir cigar. Everywhere I’ve been over the past 3 months hasn’t really had a strict age restriction on tobacco or alcohol. Even on the ship, the legal drinking age at sea is 18! I felt like everybody was so loud (completely different from the quiet nature practiced in Japan), nude (completely different from the way that people are in India, where women wear long dresses even to the beach) and fat (different from pretty much all of the rest of the world), we over eat, over drink, and over spend like crazy…….
I found myself furiously hating my cell phone after receiving two calls from solicitors in a matter of about 2 hours. As soon as our ship docked in Hawaii, I was surprised at how hard I had to look for a place to talk in private as almost every single person on the ship was talking on their cell phone. I had gotten so use to not really having mine and to not really seeing them around. It was interesting to see how quickly we resorted back to our old cell phone practices though. Throughout the day, our phones were ringing off the hook and text messages were abundant. I guess this is just a small taste of some of the things that I am going to have to get use to again.

I am really excited to be coming home….I really miss you all! I know I’ve missed out on a lot and I can’t wait to share all the things I’ve learned and experienced!
Love you all,
V