Day 4
I decide to pick up my car rental at the airport. Before the trip my company I work for which I will not name got a great deal with Hertz.
So I decide to book a car with them bout $400.00 for 2 weeks. I get to the office and use my hawaiian charm and yes it works. The counter gal gets me from a nissan maxima to a mercedes benz e350.
I was stoked since I am getting a nice ride. I have a MB and I freaking hate it, an SUV nothing but trouble maintenance wise.
But this 2013 sedan has swayed me and I love it. I would not pay of $50,000 for a car no matter what.
So I get my car and I decide to catch up with an old friend. Leonard is a dog trainer whom I met while playing cards and through mutual friends . We became good buds and I keep in touch using that social media outlet Facebook.
I decide to meet him where he lives in the westside
Tennis 3 hours
diamond head grill
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Monday, December 16, 2013
Day 3 Sunday Kamaina
Kamaaina means local in Hawaiian. So after hanging out in Chinatown on day 2. Sunday is upon us. Weird night I can't sleep well again. I wake up and the eagles are on tv at 8am in the morning. The eagles are getting smoked 8-0. It is snowing in Philly hope all my philly peeps are ok.
Somehow in the second half the eagles come alive and win the game. I am ecstatic the iggles won.
I prepare a wonderful breakfast with local ingredients I bought from the farmers market Saturday. Portuguese sausage, baby arugula, yogurts spread, and artisan butter. It was made with lots of aloha (love)
I am so full it's ridiculous from the breakfast. But anyways the day before we book a round of golf for Sunday at Kooalou golf course. The hardest golf course on the island and the 2nd hardest hardest in the US. The slope rating is 175 which is very hard. Plus it's built on a side of the kooalau mountain.
The kamaina rate is $40.00 bucks to play a round of golf and the visitor rate is $110.00. I have never paid that much for golf. I use my pidgin and ask bruddah if he can hook me up, and get the kamaiana rate. He gives me the local rate to play. Which is amazing I am glad my pidgin is coming back it helps. I pay $70.00 rate + golf ballz.
We play and man what amazing vistas each holes have. My buddy captain Seymour would fall in love with this course.
I am entranced with the golf course totally. Who knew I would be playing golf in Ha2waii in December. I play terribly because of poor equipment. My buddy captain Ron gives me crappy equipment to play with.
Overall I enjoy the round with Ron and lee and Jason.
We head to Kailua nice quaint town outside of Honolulu. It's where the Obama stay for the holidays. I watch football at the new whole foods. I get a shrimp bowl and a burger with a beer and sit on the lanai and just chill.
Head back to get some zzz and prepare for the next day. LIFE IS GOOD TODAY.....
Somehow in the second half the eagles come alive and win the game. I am ecstatic the iggles won.
I prepare a wonderful breakfast with local ingredients I bought from the farmers market Saturday. Portuguese sausage, baby arugula, yogurts spread, and artisan butter. It was made with lots of aloha (love)
I am so full it's ridiculous from the breakfast. But anyways the day before we book a round of golf for Sunday at Kooalou golf course. The hardest golf course on the island and the 2nd hardest hardest in the US. The slope rating is 175 which is very hard. Plus it's built on a side of the kooalau mountain.
The kamaina rate is $40.00 bucks to play a round of golf and the visitor rate is $110.00. I have never paid that much for golf. I use my pidgin and ask bruddah if he can hook me up, and get the kamaiana rate. He gives me the local rate to play. Which is amazing I am glad my pidgin is coming back it helps. I pay $70.00 rate + golf ballz.
We play and man what amazing vistas each holes have. My buddy captain Seymour would fall in love with this course.
I am entranced with the golf course totally. Who knew I would be playing golf in Ha2waii in December. I play terribly because of poor equipment. My buddy captain Ron gives me crappy equipment to play with.
Overall I enjoy the round with Ron and lee and Jason.
We head to Kailua nice quaint town outside of Honolulu. It's where the Obama stay for the holidays. I watch football at the new whole foods. I get a shrimp bowl and a burger with a beer and sit on the lanai and just chill.
Head back to get some zzz and prepare for the next day. LIFE IS GOOD TODAY.....
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Day 2 Honolulu
The start of the day is good. I get a great amount of sleep like 12 hours. My buddy ron has to work 8-12 pm. So I get up like 7:30 also, this will be my day to myself. I am about to head out to Chinatown. I have to hit up my favorite restaurant on the island in Chinatown. Pho To Chau, the food is amazing they make only one dish and do it real well. Vietnamese Beef Noodle soup, the owner is this grumpy lady and the service is terrible there but it's worth it. The shop was supposed to open at 8:30 but since it is hawaii she opens at 9:00 am.
I order some fried eggrolls and a huge bowl of pho. It tasted just at good as it was years ago when I visited this joint. So we finish breakfast and I head to the local farmers market at Kapiolani Community College.
I have been to this farmers market before and it has vastly improved 10x better vendors help. Food, produce, and specialty products. I meet dean from Nalo farm a really cool guy and really is champing the farm to table movement. I buy baby arugula, Portuguese sausage, and other various produces to make for break fast.
I decide to visit my old neighborhood on the east side of the island Hawaii Kai. This is my old stomping grounds. I see my old neighbors take and Flo they don't recognize me because I have moved 6 years ago. take is almost 90 years old and Florence is80 years old. We talk story and I ask about my old house and he said the owner sold it to his daughter. They do a huge remodel on it and I see brand new windows on the house. the reason i visit is to see my neighbors house that burned down. I had to say a prayer to say the vicitim that was lost in the fire. the younger sister who i helped save passed a few years ago. So now I am at peace.
Afterwards we head to costco hawaii kai where my brother used to work. This Costco got bigger, I avoid the costco in town in downtown Honolulu because it is a crush. Too many people going there at least at the is Costco it is not that bad. You can actually dock your boat and shop at Costco if you like.
Anyways meet one of my brothers coworkers tony who i remember. he was inquiring about my brother. I buy what I need and head back into Waikiki. I decide to stop by champions malasadas which is a fresh fried donut. So good it was burning my tongue.
I have a tennis match in 30 minutes. I meet ron's friends and meet my buddy Lee who I knew when I lived here. My tennis game is off and I can't serve to save my life or hit. We play until it gets dark at 6pm. All of ron's tennis buddies are cool. We were going to do a hot tub and beer afterwards but plans changed.
We decide on a comedy show instead. First was dinner we go to Lucky Belly, which was recommended by Gooch one of my chef friends. The menu is tiny but they do the food really well, Literally only 20 items on the menu. this is a drinking Establishment mainly food is second. We all spit the gnocchi special with mushroom, mackerel, in a cream sauce.
We all go for the ramen, I go for the beast bowl with smoked brisket and eggs. I am super dehydrated from tennis and decide not to drink that night. We miss the comey show due to dinner.
ron gets blitzed and we are out till 2pm. we get back home and he has the munchies. I pass out at 2:30pm.
I order some fried eggrolls and a huge bowl of pho. It tasted just at good as it was years ago when I visited this joint. So we finish breakfast and I head to the local farmers market at Kapiolani Community College.
I have been to this farmers market before and it has vastly improved 10x better vendors help. Food, produce, and specialty products. I meet dean from Nalo farm a really cool guy and really is champing the farm to table movement. I buy baby arugula, Portuguese sausage, and other various produces to make for break fast.
I decide to visit my old neighborhood on the east side of the island Hawaii Kai. This is my old stomping grounds. I see my old neighbors take and Flo they don't recognize me because I have moved 6 years ago. take is almost 90 years old and Florence is80 years old. We talk story and I ask about my old house and he said the owner sold it to his daughter. They do a huge remodel on it and I see brand new windows on the house. the reason i visit is to see my neighbors house that burned down. I had to say a prayer to say the vicitim that was lost in the fire. the younger sister who i helped save passed a few years ago. So now I am at peace.
Afterwards we head to costco hawaii kai where my brother used to work. This Costco got bigger, I avoid the costco in town in downtown Honolulu because it is a crush. Too many people going there at least at the is Costco it is not that bad. You can actually dock your boat and shop at Costco if you like.
Anyways meet one of my brothers coworkers tony who i remember. he was inquiring about my brother. I buy what I need and head back into Waikiki. I decide to stop by champions malasadas which is a fresh fried donut. So good it was burning my tongue.
I have a tennis match in 30 minutes. I meet ron's friends and meet my buddy Lee who I knew when I lived here. My tennis game is off and I can't serve to save my life or hit. We play until it gets dark at 6pm. All of ron's tennis buddies are cool. We were going to do a hot tub and beer afterwards but plans changed.
We decide on a comedy show instead. First was dinner we go to Lucky Belly, which was recommended by Gooch one of my chef friends. The menu is tiny but they do the food really well, Literally only 20 items on the menu. this is a drinking Establishment mainly food is second. We all spit the gnocchi special with mushroom, mackerel, in a cream sauce.
We all go for the ramen, I go for the beast bowl with smoked brisket and eggs. I am super dehydrated from tennis and decide not to drink that night. We miss the comey show due to dinner.
ron gets blitzed and we are out till 2pm. we get back home and he has the munchies. I pass out at 2:30pm.
Move Away ....HONOLULU
So it has come down to this day, Friday Dec 6th, 2013. I checked out work since Monday, gosh it was busy, but who cares work is work, I work hard and I play even harder.
The anticipation of a trip of this magnitude does bring some levels of emotions with it. I have lots of nervous energy, my flight leaves Newark, NJ at 9:30am. I have decided to stay up and adjust to Honolulu time which is 6 hours back. I wanted to take a big trip like this for a long time now. It's been 6 years since I moved back to the Mainland and people ask me why Hawaii again. Well Hawaii is a magical place it's got a great terroir, or as the locals call it mana (spirit) in the land, the people, and the overall well being also.
Sure it's a rock in the middle of the pacific.
I have done this trip before and I am a super flyer now.
The initial cost of the trips was $681.00 then I did some add ons such as boarding early and getting better seats. Now I am taking a shuttle up to Newark bout $100.00 and taking Amtrak back $58.00 when I return. So the total for the flight is $1139.00 not bad really.
The premier access was huge I was able to board first right after business class. Yes the overhead bins were full instantly. The seats were comfortable for what they were. The flight was super full no open seats. My fellow passenger was a big guy like me. He was retired man from Jersey who now resides in Florida. I got along with him real good. It was his first time to Oahu. So we got to talking and we both told our life stories. His daughter was treating him to Hawaii for the week. She was sitting in first class and she gave him a wrap with ham and cheese which he shared with me. She was a lifesaver and even gave me snacks also. I hate united bc they ran out of food to purchase during the flight. So thank goodness i ate a huge breakfast at the airport. It was a crappy breakfast prime rib hash and french toast. I could have made better. But the plane was selling these crappy snack mixes. I opted out of this. Note to self on long trip pack better and have snacks and a back up food. Anyways tim was a nice guy he watched a kung fu movie with me on the plane. He gave me an education on cigars and was so nice to give me a cigar when we landed. We landed on time in Oahu around 3:30pm and boy was it hot like 85 degrees. Oh I forgot I only slept only 3 hours on the plane and the night before. My buddy ron picks me up outside baggage claim. He wants to go out tonight since it is first friday in Chinatown. I tell him I am starving from not eaten in a long time. So we drive down to the piers for dinner. We head to Nico on pier 39. Nico used to be a client of mine. I remember when he first started with just a lunch wagon and had his first place across the street. His first brick and mortar establishment. We got to the restaurant and I was like what the hell. He moved across the street into a huge space. Now he had a full bar, take out, a lanai, and outdoor seating. Wow congrats Nico. We opt to sit at the bar. I have the poke sampler which is raw marinated tuna. Fish and chips, and fried calamari. The reason I picked seafood because less than 100 yards is the Honolulu Fish Auction. So you are getting fresh seafood. The sunsets and I tell ron lets get back home and see if I take a shower and can make it out. Nope I take a shower and crash....
The anticipation of a trip of this magnitude does bring some levels of emotions with it. I have lots of nervous energy, my flight leaves Newark, NJ at 9:30am. I have decided to stay up and adjust to Honolulu time which is 6 hours back. I wanted to take a big trip like this for a long time now. It's been 6 years since I moved back to the Mainland and people ask me why Hawaii again. Well Hawaii is a magical place it's got a great terroir, or as the locals call it mana (spirit) in the land, the people, and the overall well being also.
Sure it's a rock in the middle of the pacific.
I have done this trip before and I am a super flyer now.
The initial cost of the trips was $681.00 then I did some add ons such as boarding early and getting better seats. Now I am taking a shuttle up to Newark bout $100.00 and taking Amtrak back $58.00 when I return. So the total for the flight is $1139.00 not bad really.
The premier access was huge I was able to board first right after business class. Yes the overhead bins were full instantly. The seats were comfortable for what they were. The flight was super full no open seats. My fellow passenger was a big guy like me. He was retired man from Jersey who now resides in Florida. I got along with him real good. It was his first time to Oahu. So we got to talking and we both told our life stories. His daughter was treating him to Hawaii for the week. She was sitting in first class and she gave him a wrap with ham and cheese which he shared with me. She was a lifesaver and even gave me snacks also. I hate united bc they ran out of food to purchase during the flight. So thank goodness i ate a huge breakfast at the airport. It was a crappy breakfast prime rib hash and french toast. I could have made better. But the plane was selling these crappy snack mixes. I opted out of this. Note to self on long trip pack better and have snacks and a back up food. Anyways tim was a nice guy he watched a kung fu movie with me on the plane. He gave me an education on cigars and was so nice to give me a cigar when we landed. We landed on time in Oahu around 3:30pm and boy was it hot like 85 degrees. Oh I forgot I only slept only 3 hours on the plane and the night before. My buddy ron picks me up outside baggage claim. He wants to go out tonight since it is first friday in Chinatown. I tell him I am starving from not eaten in a long time. So we drive down to the piers for dinner. We head to Nico on pier 39. Nico used to be a client of mine. I remember when he first started with just a lunch wagon and had his first place across the street. His first brick and mortar establishment. We got to the restaurant and I was like what the hell. He moved across the street into a huge space. Now he had a full bar, take out, a lanai, and outdoor seating. Wow congrats Nico. We opt to sit at the bar. I have the poke sampler which is raw marinated tuna. Fish and chips, and fried calamari. The reason I picked seafood because less than 100 yards is the Honolulu Fish Auction. So you are getting fresh seafood. The sunsets and I tell ron lets get back home and see if I take a shower and can make it out. Nope I take a shower and crash....
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Lanai
The Airport at Lanai
My good friend and co worker Eugene
On the grounds of the lodge
Beautiful Sunset in front of the Lodge
Crystal was the best
Dinner at Pele GardensA tour of my room at the Lodge at Koele Four Seasons Lanai
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)