Travels of Note: Spontaneous Adventures in Honolulu

Some times the best days are the ones that come completely unexpected. The surprise of random events I think gives them a more exciting spin than say maybe a day that you vigorously planned. After spending my morning and early afternoon, in Honolulu helping a friend trying to purchase a new smart phone (unsuccessfully), I get an unexpected message on my phone. An old friend, Mindy just so happens to be living in Oahu now AND just so happens to be in town. She read my Facebook status update saying that I was in Honolulu and got in contact with me. After a few Facebook messages and texts, we arrange to meet up for drinks and/or a random adventure.

I met her at the Aloha Towers after she drives in circles for a few minutes around the parking lot. After she finally spots me, I jump in her car and we zoom off to find parking. She is with a friend of hers named David who she use to work with in the military. We find parking and walk over to the shopping center in the Aloha Towers. She tells us she’s starving and so we sit down at a little bistro near by. We talk and I tell her about the cruise ship life and she tells me that she’s going to school for Chinese and her future plans.

She asks what I want to do in Honolulu. I sit there and kind of shrug my shoulders. I can think of a ton of things to do but I’m broke and have limited time since I have to be back on the ship in a few hours to play a jazz set in the casino. David suggests that we drive up to Pali lookout. He tells me that he use to work as a tour guide here in town so he knows basically all the places to go and he knows their history. He says that Pali point is relatively close and would be a cool place to check out.

We finish up out drinks and we hop in her car. She makes David drive since she doesn’t remember exactly how to get there. Along the way, David points out several historical landmarks and gives a little backstory on them. We see a courthouse, Liliuokalani’s Palace and some old cemeteries. The city eventually gives away to highway and we start heading uphill. I start chatting with David who is also going to school but he is studying computer science at the local community college. After some chatting about that we reach the look out.

We step out of the car and are immediately met with huge gusts of wind. The wind was so strong we struggle to prop the car doors open for us to get out. We walk up the short stretch of sidewalk till we get to the look out. A vast open landscape laid before us that stretched all the way to the sea. You could see the town and all the farms surrounding it. It was an impressive sight. I reach for my camera and another violent gust of wind blows. It makes it difficult to hold on to my camera but I managed to hang on to it. I snap a few shots and then put it back in its case for safety.

At the lookout, the state put up signs that gave you some information on the significance of the look out and also its development over the years. This is the place that King Kamehameha I fought Maui’s chief Kalanikupule in order to unite all the Hawaiian Islands under one rule. He fought them up to this point here and won the battle by fighting them over the cliffs. Looking down the cliff, it looked like there was no way anyone could survive the fall. It was a long and rocky fall down to your death. I then took a few steps back from the ledge.

We got back in the car (mostly to get out of the wind) and decided to go back into town and grab a quick drink before I had to be back on the ship. Before we got back into town, we stopped at the Oahu cemetery. It was pretty cool because of the vast, old looking headstones and also the large Japanese style building that over looked it. We admired it from the side of the road for a few minutes and then got back into the car and drove the rest of the way into town.

We drove to downtown where David knew of a good Irish pub named O’Tools we could sit down at. We parked on a side street and walked into the bar. The bar had a about 20 people in it and looked like every other Irish pub you’ve ever been in, Shamrocks everywhere, old Guinness ads mounted on the wall, dark wood counter that looks like it was there before the Hawaiians landed here. We sat down and each of us had a shot of Jameson (what a cliché I know) and toasted to world peace or something like that. O’Tooles had also a small stage in the corner so I assume they have live music occasionally. It seemed to be a popular hang out since there was a good, young crowed in there for four in the afternoon. I will definitely have to go back there next time I’m in Honolulu.

We were only there only 15 minutes before I looked down at my watch and realized that it was time for me to go. We closed out the tab and got back in the car. They dropped me off at the pier and I hugged Mindy awkwardly from the back seat to where she was sitting in the front passenger seat. I shook David’s hand and thanked him for the mini tour. We made promises that I ever get back in town again, we’d meet up and hit the town. What started off as an aimless day in Honolulu, turned out to be full of surprises. I got to see an old friend, meet a new one, and also get a little tour of Honolulu.