Before I start this particular blog post after a year+ hiatus, it would be dishonest of me to skip through my emotional landscape during late 2021 and the first half of 2022 up to this point. So let me be as honest as I can be, it has been tough. When I say tough, I am not meaning a few bad days. I meant months of tears, I meant waking up in agony and going to sleep filled with devastation. I meant sitting inside the wide range of my emotions -promising myself that I am making the right decision(s) based on thoughtful considerations and not mere reactions. I have relentlessly asked myself over and over on the values I want to hold onto and ultimately-irrevocably-the kind of person I want to be.

I believe that all of us are far from perfect, that we are bound to make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are devastating to others. Extreme selfishness is a disease and I see so much of it in this country. The pursuit of “happiness” regardless of how it affects another human being run rampant in this society and it disgusts me to no end. However, It is easy to blame and over the past months I find myself clinging to “easy”, to anger and indignation - because it was and still will be wholly justified. Thankfully lately, I believe the worst of it is over and with that I am finding myself again. I am extremely and deeply grateful that I have had a lot of help through deep connections and therapy in processing my emotions, in accepting them and forgiving parts of myself that wanted so very badly to exact hurt because of the hurt someone else inflicted upon me.

And most importantly to choose (daily) to walk back to where love lives.

I needed to be honest before I can start talking about how fun Hawai’i was, and how good travel feels again. It is what I owe to myself and to remind anyone reading - this is what we owe each other.

Hello, Waikiki!

This is Our first time in Hawai’i so we chose to go to Oahu mainly also because we have friends living there! I was nervous about the flight because they lifted the mask-mandate and we haven’t been on an airplane since August 2021 but thankfully things went quite smoothly. We decided to stay in Waikiki on a beachfront property - Note: I think the next time we visit I’d stay in the North Shore area but for a first timer, Waikiki offered us ease and convenient starting point. Plus it doesn’t hurt that the sunsets were magical from our balcony.

We spent the first day in Waikiki walking around the beach while we wait to check into our room. It was an early flight and I desperately needed to take a nap. It was a really beautiful sunny day and the air smelled like the ocean. We stayed in ‘Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach with an ocean view room. I am glad we splurged for it because it was really lovely to read, write and just listen to the sound of the world on our balcony, and did I mention how lovely the sunsets are? We also decided that we didn’t want to rent a car for the first 2 days and that worked out amazing because we had tons of things to explore the first 2 days in Waikiki. For lunch, I had my first poke in Hawai’i downstairs of the hotel at Momosan and it was really delicious. Juan had some ramen I didn’t take a picture of but he marveled on the cilantro in his ramen! The man loves his cilantro.

We rested in our beautiful room before our first dinner at this spot Basalt and it was so so delicious. Everything was on point and I’m adding all the pictures of the first day here.

Day 2!

We woke up early in the morning for a quick morning dip in the ocean. The water was warm and it had been years since I took a dip in warm ocean water. I am really glad we did a morning dip because as we were leaving the beach was starting to get busier. The morning dip got us hungry earlier than usual so we got ready and walked over to Marugame Udon to line up before the crowds. We got really fortunate that we got there early enough to skip lining up for too long. The udon was very delicious, comparable to Udon Shin in Tokyo, my favorite Udon place in the entire world! I really liked the system in place for Marugame Udon in which we get to grab a plate for extras such as shrimp tempuras, fish cakes and even karaage!

Post lunch we had to hunt around for soft serve ice cream + a good area to walk around and stay away from the sun for a little while. I am ashamed to say that unless I am laying on the beach, I have been increasingly sensitive to heavy sun exposure. Thankfully we are at the center of waikiki shopping area so we just walked around the shopping mall by Marugame.

Another sunset before we head on over to Morimoto Asia for dinner.

Morimoto Asia was a very good restaurant experience! I really like their menu offering, but just a fair warning, our eyes were bigger than our belly and we ended up ordering ONE dish too many. It was worth it though and notable things were the Angry Lobster and especially the kimchi that accompanied Grilled Galbi on their dinner menu. They are quite decadent and we had to walk off our dinner right after. It is worth checking out if you are interested in “fine dining”. Hawaii does offer other food that are way more affordable than this dinner. With that, we concluded the first FULL day!

Day 3!

We decided to take a morning walk over to Leonard’s Bakery for some Masaladas. Masaladas are Portugese donut without a hole! I wanted to try this place because I crave donuts atleast once every couple of weeks and this place were so highly recommended by so many blogs during my trip research. The walk was about a mile or so away from waikiki beach which was perfect to build up some hunger. Unfortunately when we arrived, they told us they couldn’t make filled masaladas because their machine broke down. Eitherway though, we got ourselves what they have to offer which is unfilled masaladas: original, cinnamon sugar and li hing* - which ended up being our favorite flavor. I also bough a very interesting looking stickers for my travel journal. I chuckle a little everytime I looked at it.

*li hing is a powder made out of dried salted plums, they are salty, sour and sweet all at the same time!

We finally got our rental car as we get back from lunch which was a poke spot nearby called 5 Star Poke. This was my second Poke of the week and I was not seeing signs to slow down. It was so delicious. Juan got some Hawaiian hot dog nearby that was also really excellent but silly me forgot to take the picture because I was scarfing down my poke. We also bought ourselves matching Aloha shirt and dress! More on that later.

Another daytime paradise shot from our balcony.

Late in the afternoon we decided to take a ride over to Uncle Clay’s House of Pure Aloha for our first EVER real hawaiian shaved ice and they did not disappoint. The day was quite warm so it melted quite quickly but we enjoyed the shaved ice thoroughly. It was a good thing because we have a late dinner at a spot called The Surfing Pig. Looking back, the food there was decent but nothing to write home about. My main course was actually a bit rough to eat (I couldn’t finish it) They are supposed to be seared rare tuna but I don’t know if it was an off day at the kitchen but mine came out tasting odd. I didn’t want to make a fuss so I just didn’t eat it. After that dinner I was left feeling bummed so Juan took me to get some banana split ice cream which turned out to be a great call to end the night.

Day 4: Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Trail

I love hiking. I am not the best at it, sure, but I love hiking. There is something really lovely about going on a walk and getting to explore nature around you. We started a little late on our hiking journey, we didn’t leave until 8am and it was quite a hot day. Juan burns quite easily so we tried to do the hike as quickly as possible while still enjoying our surroundings. We are lucky we have long strides! I really enjoyed this hike. The view is beautiful and it was a shorter hike. We ran into a mom and teenage son duo at the top and they were so so sweet. They offered to take our pictures if we would take their pictures haha. Fair trade!

I want to hike and explore more beaches when we go back to Hawai’i for sure!

After the hike, we went for the closest sushi restaurant to the trail so we could get something to eat, I forgot the name of the restaurant and I didn’t take any pictures! It was a good sushi place, pretty regular in their menu offerings but it tasted so gooood after a hike. We then went home to rest before we ready ourselves to meet up with our friends and their little baby girl, Moxie. They live up north and this would be the first time we ever drive up to North Shore, which turned out to be my favorite spot to find little beaches. More on that later!

We decided to be silly and wear our matching shirt and dress. I know it can be corny, but I love a little corny and I love dressing together as a couple. It felt like achievement unlocked type of moment where we don’t care what others think. We are that couple now!

It was soooo lovely to see Albert, Kimzie and Moxie (for the first time). The last time we saw them it was when they got married in Houston. It was a short trip and we didn’t get to catch up much. They took us to this restaurant called Maya’s and it was my highlight restaurant of the trip. We ordered so much food and 4 orders of their Patatas Bravas and gosh, I could go back to that restaurant NOW. We got to catch up and watch people we know since we were in our 20s as parents and it was so so so good to see how they are with Moxie. I have said this many times now but I am quite hopeful in watching the way parents in my generation raise their children. I think my generation are raising their children differently than how we were raised, and I get so emotional about it all.

Day 5: North Shore Drive

I loved North Shore so much we decided to take a day and drive up to explore. First stop is Ehukai Beach Park. The drive up was so so lovely. Everything in Hawai’i is just so lush. We stopped along the way to take little pictures and smell the ocean breeze. It was heavenly. There was a little moment during our drive I got so emotional. It has been such a hard couple of years up to that moment that I couldn’t help but felt so grateful that I didn’t give up. That particular moment wouldn’t have existed and I would have missed one of the best days of my life. I am grateful. Grateful for the growth this past 3 years of pandemic have offered me and Juan. Grateful that we love each other fiercely. ❤️

We then stop by Aji Limo Truck in Haleiwa and gosh, it was SOOOO GOOD. I had, yes, you guessed it - Spicy Poke Plate! It was so delicious that as I am typing this my mouth is watering. Juan got their surf & turf and got a chance to speak with them in spanish because the ladies serving us food are from Peru and Spain! It was so cool. We also got to hang out with some brazen chicken who wanted to steal our meals! Ah, not under my watch.

We then went to a little shop/food area in Haleiwa and got ourselves delicious acai bowls from Haleiwa Bowls. It was really excellent especially during the hottest part of the day. We spent some time browsing little shops and got some stickers for my travel journal!

What I love about traveling to tropical places is that I have more down time at the hotel patio to draw, read, listen to music before each activities. I wished we spent more time in the ocean swimming and just relaxing on the beach but what I learned is that Waikiki Beach isn’t conducive to us for that purpose. BUT, next time we go to Hawai’i, whether it is to Oahu or other islands, I think we may stay at more remote area to get to enjoy more of the ocean.

Still, I am very happy with what I get to do in between. Sitting on the private patio snapping sunset pictures and getting some separation from crowds of people while still being able to people watch was so fun.

I came across this poem that resonated so deeply with me and I had to put it in the journal as a reminder of what is truly important.

For dinner, Juan did some great reddit research and found us a lovely spot. It is called Lucky Belly and the food was DELICIOUS. We shared their Dim Sum Sampler which consists of Pork Belly Bao, Lobster Shumai & Oxtail Dumplings. For main course I had the Beast Bowl which was * chef kiss * - it is filled with ramen noodles, tons of veggies, brisket, short ribs and oxtail wontons. Juan had Lobster Moco which he scarfed down so quickly. It was garlic rice topped with lobster croquette, egg and gravy. Oh my goodness! Everything was so filling but we were so happy we found this spot. 5 stars!

After dinner, naturally, we looked around for a dessert spot and found a really good place called Thrills Soft Serve. We were SOOO FULL that night and it was amazing.

Day 6: Last Full Day in Oahu

We decided to check out Kailuatown Farmers Market with Kimzie, Albert and Moxie. It started pouring down rain on our drive there. We are glad as we parked the rain dissipates a little for us to walk around the market. There were excellent food there so we decided to just grab a burrito and walked around the market after we finished our burritos by the car. Juan loved it so much he bought 2 and ate another in the car after we left the market. Since the rain isn’t letting up, we decided to stop by Ala Moana Center. I like going to local markets and locally owned shops but I really didn’t enjoy Ala Moana for they only have lame “high-end” brands. The only bright spot in that mall was the fact that they have Moomin Hawai’i and I got to grab some stickers, postcards and stationery items! I also grabbed some poke for lunch.

We returned the car and decided to just walk around Waikiki strip to find a good spot for dinner. We settled on Waikiki Food Hall. As much as I liked the spot and the cute ambience, the food were just okay. I did grab a couple stickers on the way to dinner and was really happy about it.

Day 7: Departure

We were ready to go home to our little Jasper. We had a big breakfast from Liliha Bakery nearby in preparation for the flight back. It was really good. We ordered some eggs and pancakes and I had a few cups of coffee. We walked around until it was time to head to the airport.

This trip was a good one for us to start feeling safe traveling again in the pandemic era. We are not out of it quite yet and personally, I need a little longer to process what the pandemic did to us - and humanity in general. It didn’t just kill people, it took away our ability to move freely in this world. It took away communities and most importantly it took a lot away from immunocompromised people. If you are reading this, I urge you to consider what steps you can take to protect the most vulnerable of all of us. Maybe it starts with wearing a mask in a packed airplanes and cancelling plans when you know you are sick. We will never get out of this pandemic if we don’t consider each other along the way.

Anyway, I am glad I finally got to blog about this trip and what it means to me. I want to record so many of these moments so I can look back fondly. With that being said, I am going to awkwardly close this up while I think about blogging my trip with a sweet friend of mine, Margaret to New York City in November 2022.

Until then, please look at this magnificent view from our airplane ride back. See ya later, Hawai’i! 👋

Oahu, Hawai’i 2022