A leap of faith on leap day

Mahului Bay

It's been two weeks since I left Boston on Feb 29th. That was intentional. I wanted to pick a date that I would remember well when I did finally take the plunge into the unknown world of FUNemployment. And so far ... it's been great!

In two weeks, I've completed the first four legs of the trip. I went to Las Vegas to spend some time with the fam. Hopped over to San Diego to hang out with some friends and catch a free flight. I flew to Honolulu to attend the wedding of one of my oldest friends. And I went to Big Island to see some of the wonderful volcanic landscapes Hawaii has to offer.

Vegas was, surprisingly, relaxing and was a very functional pit stop. Having been to Vegas seven times in the last 14 months, this visit was strictly family time. It also gave me a chance to do some last minute strategizing on what to stuff in my pack. It didn't seem like I packed too much but it still weighed 20 kilos.

San Diego was a blast. I visited two friends, Diron and Sam. Diron picked me up at the airport with Blu, the sweetest blue nose pit I ever did meet. And if you know me at all, you know I went crazy for Blu! She kindly repaid my attention by staring at me in my sleep and attacking me with kisses.

Diron lives in Ocean Beach and the neighborhood is quite eclectic - very laid back vibe and such a beach town which I enjoyed very much. Given my forthcoming inability to pay for steaks, we barbecued some steak tip kebabs paired up with some asparagus. We hung out with his neighbors and hit up the main drag of OB for some pints and ended up grabbing my first of many California burritos.

The next day I got dropped off at the Wavehouse in Mission Beach to meet up with my friend Sam. Wavehouse has this sick wavepool you can surf. Sam had given it a go earlier in the day and was sticking around to watch some pretty intense people ride the wave, do some jumps, and even somersaults.

Seeing Sam was great since I hadn't seen her since she moved for grad school. Her spot is in Birdrock, a pretty nice neighborhoood next to La Jolla, about a block from the beach. The coffee shop down the street from her place was pretty damn good as well and the Kiwi barista even asked me if I was Kiwi - made my day! All in all, La Jolla is pretty great. Loads of fish taco spots and other mexican eats, their bars come equipped with shuffle boards ( I dominated Sam and Alan), and the weather is pretty damn good!


After three relaxing days in SD, I flew to Honolulu to attend Scott and Joanna's wedding. Kyle and Chris had also both come down from Boston to hang in Hawaii for a week. Chris hooked us up with some pretty sick hotel rooms on both Waikiki and Big Island, including a top floor ocean view room at Sheraton Waikiki.

It seemed like I did nothing in Oahu but eat. A breakfast buffet started off my first full day in Hawaii, followed by a 10-course chinese dinner, a trip to the North Shore and chowing on a Pineapple burger, and driving down the coast to grab some Korean BBQ dinner. The third day was equally gluttonous with a loco moco breakfast and the grand daddy of all buffets - the reception buffet at the Halekulani for Scott and Joanna's wedding complete with, not one, but two roasted pigs! I don't know how I kept all that food down on the dance floor, but luckily I did. I'm pretty sure I packed on a few given all that food. I'm convincing myself that it will all come off with the great famine of traveling later ...

LOCO MOCO

Despite all that food, we did manage to see some sites and experience a bit of Oahu. We drove to North Shore and saw pipeline, chilled out on Pupunha beach on the north shore, and drove down the coast seeing landscape akin to what you see in the Jurassic Park movies. I got charged at by a bull as I snapped some photos but quickly sought cover in the car. He was also behind a fence but I didn't want to be horned.

After all the wedding festivities, I flew to the Big Island. Kona was fascinating from the get go. I mean the airport is built on lava flow. How cool is that?! We immediately drove our car to the nearest beach, which just happened to be at the end of this lava field - Mahauila Bay. It was weird to see the end of the lava flow meet the ocean and the preserved part of this bay that wasn't ravaged by the lava flow. That night, we checked into our hotel, also built on lava flow and boasts a shoreline favored by giant manta rays! We saw a couple swimming around.

Last day in Kona

Day 2 on the Big Island involved a trek out to the Green Sand beach, one of only two in the world (The other one is in the Galapagos). We drove an hour south of our hotel and took a rocky dirt road to get as close as possible before hiking for about 40 minutes to get to this secluded beach. It was pretty epic to see a green sand beach. The current was rough and the wind was even tougher. At one point, I got caught under the wash and it lifted my legs up in the air as my head stayed underwater. We drove to Volcanoes national park after and saw the crater of Mt. Kilauea -  Humaumau. We saw the crater at dusk and the ash cloud billowing from it was glowing!

Day 3 involved a helicopter tour of the lava flow. It was my first time in a helicopter and it was pretty cool. We saw the last remains of a once lush Hawaii and just the devastation from lava flow. Some lava flow still appeared fresh, like silvery mercury flowing ever so slowly on the ground. We were in for a treat as our pilot spotted two vents that had been created into the lava flow and we could see the bright red lava still flowing underneath the "cooled" top. We also flew over inland and saw some pretty amazing waterfalls. All that aerial excitement was then followed up by a trip to Hapuna beach. It was crowded but a nice beach nonetheless.

Big Island was by far the best. It was fascinating to know that the island is aged anywhere from 900 million years old to 1 day old (where lava changes the landscape, adding "new earth" daily). Also, how many other islands boast white, black and green sand beaches?! It also didn't help that it was home to Kona Brewing Company, our favorite brewery during our entire stay in Hawaii. I really do wish we could have stayed

But now, off to AUSTRALIA!