Alone on Oahu
Feb. 20th, 2022 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aTechnically, I've never been to Oahu on my own.
I say technically, because when Kimberly was in the hospital two days for tests when we were out here in the middle of 2020, I had those days to myself, but I mostly spent them working(!). I'd figured I'd have more time to be about on my own later, but her week of tests ended up being just those two days.
But this weekend, we were planning to come out to Oahu to see my brother, Jason, my sister-in-law, Lisa, and family, and the day before our departure, Kimberly came down with a cold. So I ended up coming out on my own.
(And I've been watching like a hawk for symptoms that might suggest that I caught her cold. Which is annoying. So far, so good, I think.)
Southwest Airlines. My first trip on the other carrier that flies interisland. I've always called them "cattle carrier" airline, and that seemed pretty accurate. There was an unending sequence of people with different letters and numbers lining up to get on the plane.
I had a really late number, because I checked in on the morning of the flight, since we were still waiting to see if Kimberly might have recovered over night. Thus when I hopped on the plane, it was practically standing room only. Well, middle-seat only at least.
Finding a middle-seat with some space above to place my backpack, I scrabbled into it. And then found myself in a horror movie. The women to my right illegally had her mask under her nose, the woman to my left had it off entirely. As left-hand scofflaw started coughing into the window, I scrambled back up, telling right-hand scofflaw, "I'm going to sit somewhere with less coughing". So that's an advantage of Southwest: if you end up next to assholes who act like there's not a pandemic, you can get up and leave. Though it's sadly *more* likely you'll end up next to assholes, since Southwest seating ensures your party of two is broken up if you don't get an early number.
Continuing backward in the plane, I watched more carefully for masks, and eventually found a seat between an older gentleman and a kid who were both wearing their masks properly.
After landing, at Mary's suggestion, I took the bus into Honolulu. Kimberly and I did this before way back on our first stay in Oahu in 2016 or something, but the trips since have been all amidst pandemic, and often they've been focused on medical needs, and always they've been colored by the needs of Kimberly's knee scooter, so we tended to Uber.
The bus was so much less a horror show than the plane. Proper mask wearing, and more notably, about 80% empty. The trip was maybe a little longer than an Uber since we made about 20 stops, but it was also $3 instead of the $30-60 that's Uber from the airport (depending on whether they've got gouge-pricing on or not).
I got off at 'A'ala Park, because it was on the bus route, and it had a few things to do right around there. What Google Maps hadn't show was that there were homeless encampments all around and the park was partly taken over as well. So I mostly skirted the park.
But on the other side was "College Walk", a set of pedestrian walkways on either side of a little canal. Past that were Chinatown, the Arts District, and Hawaii Pacific University, which I perhaps should have explored, but my goal up at the end of the canal was the Foster Botanical Garden.
Foster's was a nice little garden. I may have been less struck by it because I see so many tropical plants on a daily basis. But it had a neat "prehistoric" section and also some art exhibits at the back, one of which was an amazingly looking plant actually made out of surfboards and plastic bottles! There was also a nice conservatory with orchids and such and a butterfly garden that had lots of Monarches.
The other great thing about the Botanical Garden was that it was absolutely *full* of shaded places to sit. Obviously, it was a local hang-out, and someplace I'd regularly visit if I lived in the area. (My kama'aina admission was $3; if I was local I'd get a $25 annual pass.)
After walking around the garden a bit, I was pretty tired out from being out and about in the sun. Oahu always seems much hotter than Kauai when I'm rambling about. So I sat about and read for a while before it was time to head to the AirBnB. (Check-in was at 3; we'd planned early time to go to the Bishop Museum, but given Kimberly's absence, I decided to save that for next time.)
Biking! The other reason I choose the Park to hop off the bus is because it was right next to the westernmost Biki bikes on the bus line. And the stand was very full, unlike the denuded Biki stands one finds deeper in the city. So after the Botanical Garden I hopped on a Biki and rode it out to Waikiki.
I know a few of the cycle tracks in Honolulu now, so I was able to ride on streets where I felt almost entirely safe, either because they were empty (bus/bike-only) streets or ones with bike tracks or lanes. Just one block on the way to the AirBnB inexplicably dumped you into traffic, but it was all clogged up with slow-moving cars, so no problem.
I eventually dropped off my Biki at a stand right in front on one of the 7-11's on Kalakaua, which I knew was there because I've picked up a Biki from it before.
The AirBnB is really more of a hotel. A hotel suite. They call it a "individually owner apartment" in the hotel, or some such. But, it's pretty much two hotel rooms smooshed together, one the bedroom & bathroom, the other the living room & kitchen. It's a plentitude of space, but it has an institutional feel and design to it that you don't get even in pretty small apartments.
I'm perfectly happy here, and it's really nicely furnished and has the best kitchen I've seen in an AirBnB even including the luxury of water and ice in the door of the fridge. It also has the advantage that if my cardkey gets stolen while I'm out swimming I can easily get back into my place. But at the same time it's not going to be high on my list for return visits.
After arriving I went for a swim in the lagoon, which is just around the corner, but it turns out that it's a little hard to get to because you have to backtrack to get across Ala Moana Blvd, which is very busy.
The lagoon's always fun. There was beautiful ocean nearby, but I have that on Kauai, not so much a fake lagoon with fake island and tons of little paddle boats.
My card key was not stolen.
Next plan was dinner, and I decided to go out to Ala Moana Mall, so that I could see if I could surprise Kimberly with a visit to the BTS Pop-up that she'd been upset to miss because of her non-attendence.
Success! I was able to get in even though she'd either cancelled her reservation or had it lost. I was able to video call her and show her all of the (relatively scant) items in the store. She picked out a bag of them which I purchased (and then got a chicken cheesesteak while there as well, at the Mall, not the BTS store, something not available on Kauai as far as I know, but which left me sick to my stomach this morning :-|).
It's DunDraCon weekend out in California, so Dave S. had organized a "Virtual Rainbow" for all of my old roleplaying buddies to get together. Having finished up my other activities for the night, I logged in about 7.30, after it'd been going for an hour and a half or so. I sadly just missed Eric R., but I got to talk to most of the rest of the old gaming crew, none of whom I'd seen since the end of 2019, and some of whom I hadn't seen for a few years earlier. Bill F. was even there, giving us a collection of folks from the East Coast to Hawaii.
We had a great chat. Some folks also did some great drinking, but I had no such supplies to make a rainbow of drinks at the AirBnB (nor a particular desire to get drunk before seeing family the next day).
I also learned that not only is Dave P. pretty regularly visiting Kauai, but he also tends to stay in Poipu and go over to the Small Boat Harbor in Kekaha, which puts him within two blocks of my house during the transit. He apparently visited in December, though it easily could have been while we were in California.
So, he's going to check in next time he's on the island.
Night. Sleeping. I was very restless, mainly because I woke up constantly when the AC boomed on. Tonight we'll try that with the lanai doors open instead. I'd wanted to muffle the street sound, but I now suspect that might be quieter than the AC.
(Otherwise, the apartment is fine, and I'm sure I'd get used to the problem with the AC noise. It even has a huge 8-nozzle shower panel that I have named Otto.)
Plan is to meet up with Jason, Lisa and family at 11 this morning, get some lunch and walk about Waikiki.
One thing I love about being back in a city: the ability to exercise so much more easily. I got almost 25,000 steps (10+ miles) yesterday, mostly just going here and there, let alone the swimming and biking.
I say technically, because when Kimberly was in the hospital two days for tests when we were out here in the middle of 2020, I had those days to myself, but I mostly spent them working(!). I'd figured I'd have more time to be about on my own later, but her week of tests ended up being just those two days.
But this weekend, we were planning to come out to Oahu to see my brother, Jason, my sister-in-law, Lisa, and family, and the day before our departure, Kimberly came down with a cold. So I ended up coming out on my own.
(And I've been watching like a hawk for symptoms that might suggest that I caught her cold. Which is annoying. So far, so good, I think.)
Southwest Airlines. My first trip on the other carrier that flies interisland. I've always called them "cattle carrier" airline, and that seemed pretty accurate. There was an unending sequence of people with different letters and numbers lining up to get on the plane.
I had a really late number, because I checked in on the morning of the flight, since we were still waiting to see if Kimberly might have recovered over night. Thus when I hopped on the plane, it was practically standing room only. Well, middle-seat only at least.
Finding a middle-seat with some space above to place my backpack, I scrabbled into it. And then found myself in a horror movie. The women to my right illegally had her mask under her nose, the woman to my left had it off entirely. As left-hand scofflaw started coughing into the window, I scrambled back up, telling right-hand scofflaw, "I'm going to sit somewhere with less coughing". So that's an advantage of Southwest: if you end up next to assholes who act like there's not a pandemic, you can get up and leave. Though it's sadly *more* likely you'll end up next to assholes, since Southwest seating ensures your party of two is broken up if you don't get an early number.
Continuing backward in the plane, I watched more carefully for masks, and eventually found a seat between an older gentleman and a kid who were both wearing their masks properly.
After landing, at Mary's suggestion, I took the bus into Honolulu. Kimberly and I did this before way back on our first stay in Oahu in 2016 or something, but the trips since have been all amidst pandemic, and often they've been focused on medical needs, and always they've been colored by the needs of Kimberly's knee scooter, so we tended to Uber.
The bus was so much less a horror show than the plane. Proper mask wearing, and more notably, about 80% empty. The trip was maybe a little longer than an Uber since we made about 20 stops, but it was also $3 instead of the $30-60 that's Uber from the airport (depending on whether they've got gouge-pricing on or not).
I got off at 'A'ala Park, because it was on the bus route, and it had a few things to do right around there. What Google Maps hadn't show was that there were homeless encampments all around and the park was partly taken over as well. So I mostly skirted the park.
But on the other side was "College Walk", a set of pedestrian walkways on either side of a little canal. Past that were Chinatown, the Arts District, and Hawaii Pacific University, which I perhaps should have explored, but my goal up at the end of the canal was the Foster Botanical Garden.
Foster's was a nice little garden. I may have been less struck by it because I see so many tropical plants on a daily basis. But it had a neat "prehistoric" section and also some art exhibits at the back, one of which was an amazingly looking plant actually made out of surfboards and plastic bottles! There was also a nice conservatory with orchids and such and a butterfly garden that had lots of Monarches.
The other great thing about the Botanical Garden was that it was absolutely *full* of shaded places to sit. Obviously, it was a local hang-out, and someplace I'd regularly visit if I lived in the area. (My kama'aina admission was $3; if I was local I'd get a $25 annual pass.)
After walking around the garden a bit, I was pretty tired out from being out and about in the sun. Oahu always seems much hotter than Kauai when I'm rambling about. So I sat about and read for a while before it was time to head to the AirBnB. (Check-in was at 3; we'd planned early time to go to the Bishop Museum, but given Kimberly's absence, I decided to save that for next time.)
Biking! The other reason I choose the Park to hop off the bus is because it was right next to the westernmost Biki bikes on the bus line. And the stand was very full, unlike the denuded Biki stands one finds deeper in the city. So after the Botanical Garden I hopped on a Biki and rode it out to Waikiki.
I know a few of the cycle tracks in Honolulu now, so I was able to ride on streets where I felt almost entirely safe, either because they were empty (bus/bike-only) streets or ones with bike tracks or lanes. Just one block on the way to the AirBnB inexplicably dumped you into traffic, but it was all clogged up with slow-moving cars, so no problem.
I eventually dropped off my Biki at a stand right in front on one of the 7-11's on Kalakaua, which I knew was there because I've picked up a Biki from it before.
The AirBnB is really more of a hotel. A hotel suite. They call it a "individually owner apartment" in the hotel, or some such. But, it's pretty much two hotel rooms smooshed together, one the bedroom & bathroom, the other the living room & kitchen. It's a plentitude of space, but it has an institutional feel and design to it that you don't get even in pretty small apartments.
I'm perfectly happy here, and it's really nicely furnished and has the best kitchen I've seen in an AirBnB even including the luxury of water and ice in the door of the fridge. It also has the advantage that if my cardkey gets stolen while I'm out swimming I can easily get back into my place. But at the same time it's not going to be high on my list for return visits.
After arriving I went for a swim in the lagoon, which is just around the corner, but it turns out that it's a little hard to get to because you have to backtrack to get across Ala Moana Blvd, which is very busy.
The lagoon's always fun. There was beautiful ocean nearby, but I have that on Kauai, not so much a fake lagoon with fake island and tons of little paddle boats.
My card key was not stolen.
Next plan was dinner, and I decided to go out to Ala Moana Mall, so that I could see if I could surprise Kimberly with a visit to the BTS Pop-up that she'd been upset to miss because of her non-attendence.
Success! I was able to get in even though she'd either cancelled her reservation or had it lost. I was able to video call her and show her all of the (relatively scant) items in the store. She picked out a bag of them which I purchased (and then got a chicken cheesesteak while there as well, at the Mall, not the BTS store, something not available on Kauai as far as I know, but which left me sick to my stomach this morning :-|).
It's DunDraCon weekend out in California, so Dave S. had organized a "Virtual Rainbow" for all of my old roleplaying buddies to get together. Having finished up my other activities for the night, I logged in about 7.30, after it'd been going for an hour and a half or so. I sadly just missed Eric R., but I got to talk to most of the rest of the old gaming crew, none of whom I'd seen since the end of 2019, and some of whom I hadn't seen for a few years earlier. Bill F. was even there, giving us a collection of folks from the East Coast to Hawaii.
We had a great chat. Some folks also did some great drinking, but I had no such supplies to make a rainbow of drinks at the AirBnB (nor a particular desire to get drunk before seeing family the next day).
I also learned that not only is Dave P. pretty regularly visiting Kauai, but he also tends to stay in Poipu and go over to the Small Boat Harbor in Kekaha, which puts him within two blocks of my house during the transit. He apparently visited in December, though it easily could have been while we were in California.
So, he's going to check in next time he's on the island.
Night. Sleeping. I was very restless, mainly because I woke up constantly when the AC boomed on. Tonight we'll try that with the lanai doors open instead. I'd wanted to muffle the street sound, but I now suspect that might be quieter than the AC.
(Otherwise, the apartment is fine, and I'm sure I'd get used to the problem with the AC noise. It even has a huge 8-nozzle shower panel that I have named Otto.)
Plan is to meet up with Jason, Lisa and family at 11 this morning, get some lunch and walk about Waikiki.
One thing I love about being back in a city: the ability to exercise so much more easily. I got almost 25,000 steps (10+ miles) yesterday, mostly just going here and there, let alone the swimming and biking.