sniffle continued

so this cold got out of control.  actually, i guess i cant call it a cold anymore.

this viral sinus infection i have somehow gotten has sent me to the doctors here in hawaii.

doctors that are very expensive.

during a time that i have no insurance coverage at work.

so its going to cost me almost 650 cdn.

fack.

this trip has been so damn expensive.

i want it to end now, but i dont even go back to work until mar 16.

i think as i save back up again, i will have to open a bank account overseas and send money to it.

that way i cant get at it again.  then i have to go to get my money.

otherwise ill never go.

i really thought this year would start out better...

sniffle

well, i have a cold.  thats just it.

started my open water scuba diving course the other day, but I have two dives left to do, but my stuffed up sinuses say no diving is happening.. hurts the ears!  so its chill out time.

i just hope that this will clear up soon so i can finish my dives..

gonna go blow my nose now..

oh, and our wireless internet has crapped out again so i have no access to my pics.  boo.

ok

so i posted the three blogs that i wrote about a week ago now....

ill add more late on. with pics from maui.

the internet is finally working here but it is so annoying i could lose it. i have to keep manually reconnecting... took forever to get the next 3 blogs up, complete with their pics.

so enjoy for now. and ill update more later when i collect some more patience....

urg

Its 430 am. Im at the airport. My flight isn’t until 600 to maui but the shuttle had to pick me up at 3 or nothing. So im writing this in word and will post it later. Well, now, as you are reading it now.

(disclaimer .usince it is being written in word, it is automatically capitalizing words and i am not going to go back through and change it to post. So there.)

So, my days in oahu are over. But lets recap shall we?

Friday i finished up at work as much as you can when you are going away for a long time and need to clean up a zillion odds and ends. Hung out for a bit with the guys and then headed back to my ex-home where heather was aleady setting up her new home. It was pretty strange to see someone elses stuff where mine has been for the last four years, but it felt good. Change is good.

Janine picked me up after some bad luck on her end and we headed down to seattle. Since we left so late, we didn’t get there til after 1 am so we just grabbed a cheap-ish hotel room and passed out. The shuttle came for me at like, 6 am or something, i don’t recall, maybe 7 and i was off.

I landed in Honolulu and found my mom at the Hawaiian airlines terminal. We hopped our flight and were off to the big island!

Im going to break this into segments so its not so intense to read at once. And also so i don’t have to fuss with some many pictures.

oahu

Landed last Tuesday and caught the shuttle to our hotel on the beach. Couldn’t be the view, thats for sure. All ocean. And it wasn’t loud at all, which was what i totally expected. We wandered to the international market for a bit and then back to the room.

Wednesday we got up and headed to the ala moana shopping center. Shopped a short while and then went back to Waikiki. Hit the beach (finally!) for a bit and then went to the market again as it was clouding over. It then rained so hard it was insane. And we were caught out. So we got soaked. Yay. From there we had a late lunch/early dinner, and hit a grocery store to save on some eating costs.

Thursday i got up and walked back to the mall, as i could see that my book would end very soon and i needed the next one in the series (i was reading the golden compass, and boy, the movie sure ends differently!). so i walked, and got rained on and soaked again, and walked back. My mom had been at the beach the entire time, so i joined her down there for a bit. Oh, and we had ice cream. We didn’t do much that night cause there was a two hour show on that we wanted to watch. Nerds, i know. But it was good.

Yesterday? Friday... we got up and headed down to the beach. Laid there for a couple hours and then got up to do the final wander of Waikiki. We got my mom a pair of sunglasses from macy’s only to have them break later, so now i have to find one in maui and try to exchange or return them. Had some lunch, bought some bags to travel with and came back to the beach again.

After that we had to get my mom ready to head out. Sad sad. When we were showered and she was packed, we headed down the beach to a patio and got a couple fruity tropical drinks with umbrellas. Then it was back to the hotel to chill a bit before getting her down to the shuttle.

I was sad to see her go. I love my mom to bits and i do miss her. She makes me totally insane and brings out the bitchiness in me for sure cause we are so different. I was much better this time than i have been in past trips, but i know i was still short with her at times. Regardless, i know how much she loves Hawaii and i know she didn’t want to leave. 10 days is still a good amount to be here though.

So she left, i went back to the market, got a ring i wanted, and went back to the hotel. Watched tv, slept a bit, and that brings me to here. The airport. Its now 5 am. Almost. One more hour. Guess ill read.

Maui for 3 weeks! Here i come!!!

the big island

We landed in the kona airport which is by far the best airport ive ever been to. Its tiny, and all open air. Everything. The baggage carousel and ticket counters, bar, everything. It looks very Polynesian. Good start.

Got over to the rental place and got my hands on our red mustang convertible. Yahoo! Never had a convertible before so that was super fun. We made our way to the hotel and got settled in, and went for eats. Met up with cara, whom i work with, and her brother. And we went out for a couple drinks while my mom went to bed.

Up early the next day, Sunday, to drive to hilo. Drove the north way around which was really pretty. Its nuts to see how the landscape changes as you go. Starts off as lava fields with basically nothing. Then there are grasslands, and then into lush forest/jungle. And back again.

Got to hilo and to the airport and got set up with our doors off helicopter ride over the live volcano, Pu’u. It was cold up there! But super fun. We landed at jacks place, which is a bed and breakfast that the flows seem to have gone around twice now. The last one in October 08 took out his only remaining neighbour, so now its just him there. The only way in is to either walk a long ways to where the roads start again (and that is over the dried lava)(and its still active in parts underneath!) or to fly in by helicopter. I cant believe he’s still there.

After that we drove south to complete the circuit of the island. It got dark pretty quick so we didn’t see much, but i do know that the stupid road had many curves.

Monday we got up and wandered a little bit in kona. There isn’t much to see really. Then went and met up with cara and her family and got ready for our tour up mauna kea. If anyone ever goes to the big island and wants to do this tour, don’t bother. Just rent your own car. Waste of money.

The dinner sucked and wasn’t what was advertised, our driver was super annoying and they blast the damn a/c. To top all that off, mauna kea had gotten snow the night before, and because they are at an elevation of 14,000 feet, the road freezes when the sun goes down, so they closed off the top part. Which meant that we weren’t able to get up and see the telescopes, which is essentially the point of the tour. My mom was soooo bummed cause she wanted to do that more than anything. It was basically the reason we went to the big island in the first place. But we did see the sunset and learned about some start constellations.

Tuesday i got up early and went to the airport to exchange the convertible for a 4x4 jeep so that we could go back up to try see the telescopes. Hoping that the road conditions were better during the day. After a long bumpy drive up there, we found that the road had been closed again, due to ice flurries. In freaking Hawaii. What the hell. My mom was bummed again, but at least we really tried. Boo.

We came back down to kona and grabbed lunch at a hotel far superior to the one we stayed in and then headed to the airport and off to oahu.

maui

is super fun!

i have posts to catch up the trip so far, but they are typed out on my laptop, and we've been having internet problems.  hopefully have them sorted by tomorrow.  in the mean time, we can only get danielles laptop online.  so, wait for it.

as for today, i was supposed to have a surf lesson, but the wind was a bit high so they opted for us to wait.  instead i went snorkelling out at black rock, which is just up the beach from where we are staying.  saw all kinds of fish and a turtle even!  it was right under us when we got into the water.  no pics of him though, but some of the fish!

going to go and figure out some dinner and see whats up for tonight.

hope you all are good!

kristin - say it with me - kris-tin

check out my friends new blog.
she is funny stuff.
and also getting her back done by steve moore!
maybe we can get a picture out of her..maybe...

phew

ok my mom is going to sleep and ive had a bit of wine, so no long winded posts from me.

ill start off with the before the trip bit.

signed a contract at work to have me there for three more months.
time to make some more money, and time to see how this world economy crisis stuff levels out.
this travelling here makes me want to move more than ever.
i love my job and all, but i crave new and i crave travel.
we'll see how it all goes down.

one thing im glad for, with the signing of the new contract is that it will allow me to make back some of the money that i will be spending here. like whoa. so much on food it isnt even funny.
and magnets. can forget those.
check this out!














in the international market here in waikiki.
oh man.
i only spent $10 i swear.
in that store anyways..
im out of control....

but yeah. make the money. move on.
it needs to happen.

i wont lie though, ill be looking for that special someone to make me a wife in hawaii.
then i can live here always.
and not work. he has to be rich.
cause as much as i love hawaii, i love it while im on vacation.
im sure it would be a different story if i was working.
so that rich special someone. yes.

until then, this is what greeted us in our bathroom when we checked in.
dont ask. i have no idea.
except there is a nautical type theme to the hotel. more later.














ive named him henry.

aloha!

lots to update on and read up on.
but not right now.

everywhere here charges $10 a day for nets, so my mom and i got this going today.
ill write more tonight probably.

for now. i am alive and happy and finally got to the beach.
here's some shots for now... keep ya entertained in my slow moving blog.
my slog?
whatever..

me driving the red mustang convertible we had for two days














my mom and i at dinner on our first night there together. our hotel is in the background.














open door helicoptor tour!















this is one of the vents of the very active volcano, name escapes me right now.
sulpher fumes galore!

it is done!

the new hair!

look at all this that was cut off. so much more but i didnt even get a shot.
enough for a whole wig i swear it. damn i had alot of hair.




























i hope i can get used to it! its so short!
its never been *this* short before...

she cut it a bit longer, to my chin, and we were going to come back and make it this short after hawaii, but i took a deep breath and said just do it!!!

and so she did.



















after we went for sushi.
deandas took forever.



















and she ordered one that said slice cheese, and lo and behold, american cheese.
on sushi!!!
gross..