Hostel Folk

Where the magic happens

I’ve been in Australia for over a week and no one I met at the hostel in Hawaii has tried to contact me on Facebook so I figure it is safe to tell you about some of the people… and they'll never suspect a thing, muhahaha.
The first guy was from Chicago, Abe, 26, never learned what he did for work. He considered himself somewhat of a beer connoisseur in that he was always looking for new beers to try. This was good for me because he introduced me to the Chocolate Beer. We got to talking about relationships somehow, and he told me that he has only seen his girlfriend once in the past 4 months (he also considered the 30min drive to where she is long distance). He ended up revealing that his g/f was actually his high school English teacher and that they’d gotten together when he was done HS and were once engaged for a time, but her father would have none of it. She is 14 years older (40!). I was drinking when he told me this and I might’ve stared at him, mouth hanging open for a few minutes, can’t remember.
There was another guy, Ramon, from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was older, probably mid-late 30s, and worked as a mechanic for Delta, so he gets free flights anywhere. He also works nights, 4 on, 3 off. He was in Hawaii for his 3 off, flight freeeeee. He was a really nice guy and told me all about birds flying into plane engines and how it totally ruins them, both the bird and the engine. He said it usually happens during take-off and that domestic flights will turn around and get it taken care of, but international flights that can not afford that type of delay will just keep going. I guess it is possible to get from SLC to Heathrow with just one working engine. Fascinating.
I met another guy, from Switzerland, I never learned his name, but he was a pirate for Halloween (i.e. wore a pirate hat) so I just called him The Pirate. He was pretty funny, and like the German and Scandinavian hostel guests very intense.
There was a pair of girls from Iceland. They were underage but somehow got alcohol. The one girl liked talking about American politics when she drank.
I guess I found the whole hostel thing pretty interesting. Encountering the different types of travelers and watching them in their natural habitat. I liked to watch the people who were traveling alone. I would say, with my limited hostel and traveling experience (swim travel is NOT the same and therefore does not count), that there are 3 types of travelers, and this may just be at hostels or maybe just this particular hostel. There are travelers like myself, who prefer to go off on their own during the day and then come back at night and be social. There are the type that don’t ever want to be alone and want a companion to do things with during the day. But then there are the type who are sort of in-between: they are happy to do their own thing, but can also be talked into joining the needy type for the day. I guess there would be a fourth type too: The travelers who just want to experience the nightlife and go balls to the wall out every night, then sleep most of the day in bed or on the beach in preparation for the next night. I found these traveler-dynamics pretty interesting, new angle on people watching I suppose.

Hawaii Pics

I finally put up the rest of my Hawaii pictures.

This should be all of them... enjoy!

Flat White

So last night at the hostel I stayed in the girl at the front desk told me that this coffee shop, the very one I sit in right now and just spent $7.75 on a coffee- a “flat white” whatever the hell that is- and a muffin, has free wireless… But I just saw a sign that said internet access $4! There’s a computer over by the sign that says this business about $4 so I’m wondering if that means to use that computer it’s $4 and the wireless is still free? I’ll go ask once the line dies down. The muffin and coffee were pretty good though. Ugh. $2 an hour. That fucking hostel, I swear. I was wrong about it being clean… well it was for the most part. Each room has its own ‘ensuite’ bathroom. The toilet and sink were behind one door and the shower was behind another. When I was getting in the shower what do I see? Oh, a cockroach. Yay. Not big, but where theres one… so then when I go to brush my teeth there are bunch of baby roaches hanging out around the sink… not so clean in my eyes.
Anyway, I caved and bought the $2 internet. That’s only like $1.75 Canadian right? Haha I’ll hang out here for an hour and then head over to the train station to get over to the central transit center where I’ll then catch my bus to Byron! YAY!


P.S. I looked up what a ‘flat white’ was… I am buzzing from this shit, weeeeeeeee!

Aloha and Mahalo Hawaii... G'Day Australia!

I made it to Brisbane (Brissy) in almost one piece. In Sydney they took one my Hawaii scores at customs/quarantine, jerks! It was a kukui nut lei and that had honu painted on it... And I was really upset about it until I got on my flight to here and watched the inflight news and learned who won the US election! YAY Obama! And I just finished his book today too. Proud to be American today, or yesterday, haha.
Anyway, my day started this morning at like 4:30am Hawaii time. My Mom was right when she said I wouldn't be able to sleep if I worried about my alarm not going off, I was up every hour checking the time. I didn't need to get up til 5, but the worry of not getting to the airport with enough time etc woke me up. So I've been up for about 21hours, not too bad, I've done worse/better? And of course there were naps scattered throughout the 10.5 hour flight from Honolulu (strong head winds apparently).
I am also very sore from yesterdays surfing outting. I feel like I used to after our weightlifting program would change or get heavier, or after the days when we would test in the weightroom (max out). Feels good to know that I can still make myself sore!
So now I am at this hostel called BUNK, it's giant, can sleep like 285 or something sick like that? It's clean at least and cheap. They don't have wireless so I paid the $4 for an hour in their internet lounge.
I think I should shower and go to bed... I think I need to buy a real towel since all I have is the blood stained one from when I took the spill on the rocks and then trespassed a bunch. Good times, hahaha.

I Might Be a Natural

Day was/is my last full day in Hawaii. I fly out tomorrow at 8am and am getting up at 5am, yuck! So today was a day of last minute things. First I did a bunch of shopping and then mailed a little something something home and sent a few postcards. Then I had a plate lunch, which I guess is popular here. The basic plate lunch consists of a meat, two scoops boiled rice, and one scoop macaroni salad. I got mine with Teriyaki Pork and in the mini size (one scoop of rice, less meat). The mac salad is basically macaroni and mayo. It was just okay. Then I did something that I should of done a week ago... I rented a surfboard and went surfing on Waikiki! Why I didn't do this earlier I do now know. I was expecting it to be really difficult but it totally wasn't... I think I might be a natural?? I was standing up on the board in no time and by the end of the few hours I was out there my balance had improved and I was able to actually stear the board a little. The swimming background is a definate asset, paddling was the easiest part for me, while I noticed my fellow novice surfers barely went anywhere when they tried to paddle and catch a wave. My wakeboard experience didn't hurt either, as it helped me know how to stear the board when I was up. I had a little trouble judging whether an approaching wave was going to break or not and worth catching, but quickly caught on to that too. I think I was lucky to learn/teach myself/begin at Waikiki since the break isn't very big (I would guess they were 2-4ft from the front), there was no riptide or other ocean currenty things to deal with, and the bottom was all soft sand and deep enough that should you fall off (I definately did in the beginning) you don't hit bottom or anything. The only problem was that it was crowded. I collided with a paddle boarder at one point and thank gawd for the leash, otherwise I would've got a board in the face! haha

Well tonight is my last night. I still have to pack and do some other last minute things like drink the last of my two beer in the fridge. It is this awesome beer a fellow hostel guest discovered and shared. It's called "Pipeline Porter," has coffee in it and tastes like CHOCOLATE! Could there anything better than chocolate beer? Probably not! It's made by The Kona Brewing Company, let me know if they import to Canada!

Next time you hear from me I'll be Down Under!

Aloha!

No Coffee = No Good

I’m blaming today’s mess on the fact that the hostel ran out of coffee so I didn’t have any with my breakfast. I went to the North Shore again. I had all these plans on where I would go and what I would see. I was going to start out with trying to see some sea turtles. I ended up getting off the Bus at this place called Turtle Bay Resort. I wasn’t sure if it where I wanted to be but got off anyway. I followed the signs that said “Shoreline Public Access” and found the beach. It was roughly a bay but it was really rough, the biggest waves I would see all day. I began to walk down the beach with thoughts of going around the resort (which included a gold course) and back to the road to catch the bus again and go somewhere else. Meanwhile it was sort of raining a misty rain, on and off since halfway into the bus ride. So I was going down the beach, taking my time, stopping to take pictures and look into tide pools. I came to a patch of rock in my path and instead of going around in went over it. It was flat but had sea weed growing on. As soon as I stepped on this rock I was in the air and then on my ass. It was fucking slippery! On the way down in my fall I rolled, twisted or did something to my ankle, scrapped my knee real bad and also got a few nicks on my foot. My first thought after this was “Shit! I broke my ankle!” I scrambled to my feet and realized I could walk, nothing was broken, and my skinned knee was what hurt most. The cuts were not deep, really cutting through the skin enough to make it bleed pretty good. I sat down and cleaned my cuts out the best I could with drinking water and then got up wanting to find the road or a nice place on the beach where I could let my wounds dry out a little and possibly elevate my foot. Then it started to rain for real. I was miserable. I wanted to go home L I ended up heading into the jungle and following this path that I realized it was a horse trail (I saw hoof tracks and poop) and most likely property of the resort. Trespass offence #1. The trail opened up onto the beach again and I was now facing a quiet bay. It was beautiful. I also saw houses on the other side of the bay and figured I could get back to the road somewhere over there. I was wrong. I ended up going through someone’s yard, Trespass #2, and then finally found asphalt. Then I saw a woman in the street, she smiled, I smiled back. Then I went this street and realized I was in a gated community! And was locked in! and I turned around and saw the sign that said “No Trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted.” Trespass #3! I went down another street in this community that ran parallel to the main road. But there was an effing 6-foot chain link fence all the way down and around this place! Panic. I snuck behind some nears by the fence and decided I would have to climb. The only other choice was waiting for a car to come in or out of the gates and risk being caught or worse—arrested in Hawaii! AHHH! So I found a spot along the fence that had the chain at the top folded over, through my towel over (which I had been carrying to soak up running blood from my knee), stuck a foot in the chain link and then swung myself over. My shirt got caught at the top and I ended up losing my balance on the landing and then again falling on my ass. There’s a hole in my shirt now but no one saw me.
I found a bus spot right by the front gates of the stupid place and it came eventually and took me away.
I ended up spending the rest of the day in Hale’iwa (the town on the North Shore). My knee has scabbed over well already but my ankle is pretty messed up. It’s fine when I walk but if I don’t move it for a while it gets stiff and takes a while to warm up. Hopefully it will be okay to surf on tomorrow, my last full day here. Sad.
I’ll add some knee pics tomorrow if I have time.

Halloween Waikiki Style

Happy belated Halloween!

When I was booking my flights and such at the beginning of September I was really struggling with what to do about Halloween. It has been my 2nd favorite holiday (Christmas is #1) for a number of years now and the thought of not being able to go all out was kind of, no, it was very upsetting. It came down to 3 basic options: 1) Don't leave Canada until November, 2) Fly out of Hawaii on the morning of the 31st and totally skip Halloween, and 3) Spend the "holiday" in Hawaii and risk being disappointed. Option 1 was quickly out, as I knew too long in the Great White North might kill me and I also didn't have a fail-safe Halloween party/outing like Boo Bash to go to. So after much deliberation and the fact that the Nov 4th departure was in the neighborhood of $100 cheaper, I ended up going with option 3 and crossed my fingers.

Well let me tell you, I made the RIGHT decision. The evening began pretty early. The hostel was throwing a BBQ for a small fee that started at 7:30 but most people started drinking well before then. I tried to not start until 8, but I think it was more like 7:45 or so. After two drinks I decided I should paint on my costume before I would be unable to do so. I was a cat. Really boring and lame, but I didn't have much to work with as I was not into buying something here and did not want to pack a costume either. I did pack black lipstick and black liquid eyeliner (reminants of the Goth costume in 2006). I also made my 'ears' out of a museum postcard, some masking tape, and a piece of pre-wrap. Compromises.

Meow.

As more alcohol was consumed everyone started to loosen up, drinking games ensued at a few different tables, Ghostbusters was playing on the TV! and people were getting to know each other (as well as you can when you're a couple sheets to the wind. I don't remember most of the names I learned last night, oops). At around 10:30pm our guide (one of the hostel staff) told us it was time to go. We could hear that there was a fair number of people out in the streets but little did we know what awaited us beyond the walls of the courtyard.

The squid. Probably the most innovative costume at our hostel, he's Canadian obviously.

There were hundreds, if not thousands of people walking up and down the main drag of Waikiki, and a vast majority of them were dressed up!!! Heaven! There were lots of lame get-ups, but some of them were quite impressive as well, and the ones that really played the part of their costumes were the best, as always. I'm trying to remember some of the good costumes, but can't right now. The road was not closed to traffic so all these people were milling about and trying to get places on the sidewalks. It took us what felt like a long time to get to the club/bar we were heading to and at one point this Danish guy went into an ABC Store (there is one every block, not exaggerating) and got a sixer of Bud that we all shared (and tried not to get caught, there were lots of cops around). Needless to say, I was not so drunk anymore by the time we got to "The Red Lion," but drunk enough to shell out $10 cover! Luckily the drinks were reasonable. The rest of the night was spent dancing the night away with the Germans and the Danish guy showed me how they dance in Denmark, basically with reckless abandon ("You don't know these people; They'll never see you again." Great advice). By 2am I was done and me and buddy from Pheonix (Jason?) walked back to the hostel. He just could not get over the number of people still out at 2am and went on and on about it (Bars serve liquor until 4am here). I guess Pheonix is boring?

Insanity

He's wearing a real diaper... is the gun also real? I do not know.

Japanese Bananas!!

Anyways, the scene last night did not even compare and put to shame the most crowded nights that I've seen on 6th Street, and I was down there during ROT Rally this year! hahaha

This morning I slept kind of late and decided it wasn't worth going to the North Shore for only a few hours (the bus ride alone is close to 4hours), so I just wandered around Waikiki, sat on the beach for a few hours, and had a giant Hawaiin Shaved Ice aka a snow cone. It made me feel sick :)

I'll post the rest of the Halloween pictures tomorrow, the internet here is being hella slow right now.