(Play this song while reading this blog post for maximum effect)

As you may have guessed, I’m in Honolulu, HI for Spring Break! My family and I are staying at a beach resort (which is hilarious because we are not beach or water people). But we love our surroundings! There’s an inexhaustible amount of shopping and dining in the area, the views are unbelievably picturesque and the winds are wild. I’m a big fan of the yacht pier nearby and have an inexplicable inclination to take a ton of photos of those boats on the water.

#I’mNotOnABoatButI’dLikeToBe

We spent the first day settling into this resort, which is as gorgeous as promised. The subsequent visit to Buffalo Wild Wings was much needed and deliciously rewarding! One lion-pride-sized cat nap later, we walked around the city to get groceries chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. We were only interested in the chocolate-covered nuts. The night ended perfectly with spectacular, deafening fireworks!

I must say: what I’ve seen on TV of Honolulu has greatly and wrongly informed my perception of what this place would look like. I expected nothing but water and white sands as far as the eye could see, surfers and shacks selling shave ice and artisan crafts, hula dancers and muscly men with puka shells singing and dancing at the airport, etc. I didn’t expect skyscrapers and California-esque highways and huge shopping malls. The biggest challenge is trying to tour the city and immerse myself culturally without looking like a bumbling tourist, which is a difficult task when you have a fresh lei and DSLR around your neck and you don’t actually know what a Mai Tai is…

Hopefully, I’ll figure it out quickly! There’s a lot to do and not a lot of time to waste in #paradise 😉

Mahalo for reading,

All photos attached are mine; please do not copy/download/re-distribute. Thank you!