I am never traveling with my family ever again. Despite how much I love my parents, they can very muchso be the stereotypical annoying tourists, asking the dumbest questions, etc.
Saturday, September 15
- Left San Diego around 6 am for a 10 am Hawaiian Airlines flight at LAX
- My parents basically expected all the people at the counter to check you in, label your luggage, make sure it's on the plane, find seating, etc. It's too bad they were standing right in front of the electronic confirmation device and that was ridiculously easy to use...gah
- At the security checkpoint, the TSA employee who asks you for your ID and boarding pass asked my mom for her ID. She showed her driver's license and boarding pass. The TSA lady asked my mom to take her driver's license out of her wallet to show her, and my mom throws a hissy fit, eyes rolling included. Afterwards, of course she has some very lovely things to say about the quality of employees at the airport. I think there's a very basic idea to all of this and this is my advice. Chill. The. Fuck. Out. It's an airport, it's traveling and vacation time. If you're gonna bitch about the poor quality of employees at the airport, that's fine. Just remember that you'll get onto your plane towards your VACATION pissed off and annoyed. That's up to you. You think these people enjoy waking up in the wee hours of the morning to show up to the airport and deal with thousands of tourists daily? Yea not quite the most wonderful thing you'd want to wake up to every morning. So cut them some slack, and just listen to what they have to say instead of bitching. /rant
- I felt bad because I got one of the last decent meals and the lady sitting next to me couldn't have what I was having...which was fairly good food...
- Slept through Ocean's 13
- Arrived 5 1/2 hours later around 1 pm, exhausted and checked into the Ala Moana Hotel.
- Had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.. Never had it before...Hawaii and I think we have one downtown.
- My mom had her ASBMR meetings all day, and so my dad, brother, and I headed to the pool. We went to the Ala Moana Beach Park and tried to snorkel, saw absolutely nothing. Just lots of sand and rocks, and the water wasn't very clear.
- Had lunch in the Ala Moana Shopping Mall...holy crap that place is huge. It's like Fashion Valley combined with Horton Plaza. While there, my parents saw some old friends from Japan [this meeting had tons of people from Japan] and I was introduced to their daughter. Too bad she couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak Japanese. I will say that girl sure could dress. I feel hella awkward being introduced to family friends' daughters...
- Had dinner at Ruby Tuesday, another place that's prevalent in the mainland, and of course my first time is in Hawaii.
Monday, September 17
- Mom had meetings again, so the gang went to Waikiki Beach. Roughly a 15 minute walk, and we set up camp near the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Clear water, saw hella sea urchins, some crabs, and schools of fishes.
- On the way to Waikiki, I just remembered that there was this man who was pulling out of a parking garage around...Ala Wai? And he pulled out too far and I was just about to cross the road. For the first time in my life, the driver pulls back and gestures that he's sorry. Does that happen in California? Hell no it doesn't. Props to that guy.
- Dinner with Professor Suda, my parents mentors in Japan at Roy's. Delicious. He apparently was awarded with the highest honor at the ASBMR meeting, so congrats to him. I haven't seen him since he last visited San Diego, which was a longgg time ago.
- Again, my parents saw some more friends, I was introduced to yet another daughter. The first one from Sunday was 20, I'm 19, and this girl was 18. What the hell?
- We really wanted to go to Hanauma Bay, but of course because we didn't plan, they're closed on Tuesdays. I'll def. have to come back and check it out.
- Ended up going back to Waikiki, this time taking the trolley to the Duke Kahanamoku statue. My dad asked if the trolley went to point F, the statue numerous times when the trolley pulling up explicitly said it was the Pink Line and the map said Pink Line Map... Then one trolley left while I was wandering around and my mom acted as if it was the last trolley ever, giving me an earful. Jeez, it's a vacation chill they come every 10 minutes. More snorkeling, it seemed promising, esp. with me seeing a big school of fish first time I went out, but then after that almost nothing except coral that decided to cut me. Yea thanks. Tried surfing, and I'll admit I sucked ass. Big time. Couldn't even stand up a single time, and ended up chafing like a fool using a softtop board as well as a standard board. Someday I will learn how to surf. You shall see.
- Dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. Much thanks to Mr. Ribao and the rest of the family for the hospitality and the amazing food. I'll def. have to come back and visit. Yum. Forgot to take a picture, oh well next time.
- Eaaaaarly morning flight at 8 am, which meant getting up at 5 am. Gah. Traffic on H1. Dude, Hawaiian freeways have traffic at 6 am. Traffic sucks.
- Saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and that movie sucked. But I can live with a Jessica Alba movie. Mmm. The first one wasn't that great either to be honest.
- Got to LAX around 4 pm, decided that it was smart to drive through rush hour traffic back home...didn't get home til 6:30. Starvin' like Marvin. Typical post-vacation ramen dinner mmm.
No comments:
Post a Comment