A LONG AWAITED TRIP TO HAWAII.. THAT DIDN'T GO AS PLANNED

So I was in Hawaii about three weeks ago and I would’ve written this sooner I just had to decompress from the situation I found myself in. The opportunity to go to Hawaii arose from the fact that my aunt/cousin at the time was going and said she would love for me to come. My dad was concerned at the time because this particular aunt/cousin has shown some signs of irresponsibility in the past. Needless to say, I did not really care about the warning signs because Hawaii is a state I  had been trying to get to for a very long time. 

If you don’t know it’s one of my ultimate goals in life to visit all 50 states and take photos at every state. Luckily I’ve gone on many road trips and have visited all of the midwest and most of the southern state. (Florida is my dream vacation at this point) As you can see through my mindset was locked on the idea of experiencing Hawaii. 

Fast-forward to modern time I would have taken anything to just go to Hawaii with my family and live it out with them. So many things happened in the week I was in Oahu that I just wanted to hop on a plane to LA and come back immediately. When I’m more responsible when my 40 something-year-old aunt/cousin that’s sad. Anyways I’ll spare everyone reading this the details but just know that Hawaii was left as one of the worst states I’ve ever visited because of the issues I went through. 

My trip to Utah back in March was 10x better than Hawaii and I highly recommend everyone explore the beauty that is the Utah national parks. 

What my experience reconfirmed was that doing a vacation the way that you’re used to will forever be my comfort zone. I am an adventurer and am someone who wants to try local things and try stuff I can’t do back at home. The group of older people I was with in Hawaii legit went to fricken Yardhouse… for their first place to eat. That was just the start because they almost went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I was mortified because everyone knows I am a foodie and the people I was with caught on because by the end of the trip they were trying to order whatever I did because it looked the best. 

The one major foodie thing I did get to do and was because the roommate I was staying with (don’t ask questions it’s a long story) finally decided to go with me. The place was Leonards Bakery in Oahu. The research I had done on the bakery came down to the fact that they had the best Masaladas (Portuguese donuts) in all of Hawaii and they had been pulling tourists in for years.  As a donut enthusiast, they were fricken incredible and I highly recommend them! 

The tour that these older women bought was a day before cause they didn’t plan ahead even though they knew they were going to Hawaii months before was crap. The place the tour company took us to go snorkeling looked like a nasty cove and was extremely dirty. The food spot took us was a shrimp shack that supposed to be better than Giovanni’s but very subpar to even talk about. The dole whip factory was lackluster to me because I grew eating it cause of Disney and I didn’t even get the opportunity to eat a real pineapple while I was there. 

My biggest takeaways from the trip were that beaches in Hawaii have the bluest water I’ve ever seen and that the water felt clean. If you’ve ever been to a beach in LA you know how nasty the water can become. The second takeaway is that I now feel better traveling alone with strangers cause that basically what happened on my trip. Third I desperately want to know someone who has a boat because my best memory of Hawaii was going on a catamaran which was an idea I ignited. Finally, I learned what it meant to travel under the cloak of a parent. 

I hope one day to revisit Hawaii with friends (hopefully if I have any) and get better memories. I want to create positive memories when I travel cause it’s a means of escape and worry. I can back to Cali and felt little to no relief from my post-grad stress. Anyways, if you’ve made it this far into this story comment on your fav trip memory or why you think Hawaii is worth revisiting?

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Just a Girl trying to make it in a crazy world 
- Mia Nishanian