The trip to Hawaii was absolutely wonderful. It was the rare sort of trip where every single day went well, and we didn't miss out on anything we didn't want to. The nice thing about going on a trip with just my mom is that we're both pretty punctual people. I had my schedule and we stuck to it.

Day 1

We landed, settled in the Airbnb, and had some delicious food. Pretty smooth landing, all things considered. We walked around at the beach at sunset, which was fun except for the random fight that broke out in front of us. Some real worldstar shit LOL. My mom was like, "should we get involved?" No sis. Never. I'm on vacation. Next question.

Day 2

We woke up early for an all-day tour around the island! It was an absolute blast. Our tour guide was super nice and gave us lots of interesting facts as we did a rotation around the island (Apex Legends voice). We went to a couple of the more secluded beaches, saw a cool giant sea turtle, and more. It ended with a trip to the Dole Plantation. Ngl, i'm never gonna be comfortable in a place that has "plantation" in the name, but it was still pretty cool. Also our tour only had like six people total, my mom and I included, so it was pretty chill compared to some of the giant, stuffed buses we saw.

Day 3

We walked around all over the city, starting from the river next to our Airbnb which fed into the ocean next to the resorts. We took the main shopping street, which was very pretty and had a nice international market too. We also found out they have Coco Curries in Hawaii, which made me wanna cry with joy. Beyond that we didn't really do much, just a day to sort of relax and recharge.

Day 4

Today was split in two halves. The morning had us exploring around our Airbnb again. But the main event was in the evening, where we went to a Lu'au. That was amazing. Learning about the history of Hawaii was fun, I got to eat some delicious fish, and the fire dancing made me turn to my mom with my mouth agape - I can't remember the last time I'd been so impressed lol. It was super worth getting a reservation for. Also the Uber we got to go back home had a driver that talked about how much Hawaiians hate white people which was absolutely hilarious, lmfao.

Day 5

This was the day we were meant to leave, so after we checked out, we spent our time at Hawaii's (and America's?) largest outdoor mall. It was very nice! We basically just killed time there since our flight was late in the evening, eating at various restaurants and doing some light shopping before we finally left!

Final Thoughts

Hawaii is a beautiful state, and the most interesting one I've ever been to in America. Not that I've been to many interesting ones, but still! It feels exactly like a different country, which makes sense, given its history. In a way it felt like an epilogue to our trip to Japan, because it felt so similar. The people were just as nice, the food was just as good, and a lot of the culture was shared - right down to the Coco Curries, haha.

Most importantly, I enjoyed this trip because my mom did. She's always wanted to go to Hawaii, and I'm glad I was finally able to take her. I could tell she really enjoyed her time there, and was happy to be there, and that made me happy as well. She deserved it after how hard she's been worked to take care of me. So yeah, great trip!