Trip to America 2024
July 30, 2024 ~ Aug. 13, 2024
A trip to meet G-pa with a pit stop in Hawaii along the way.
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Checkin to Tokyo International (Haneda) Airport (HND) (ζ±δΊ¬ε½ιη©ΊζΈ― (ηΎ½η°η©ΊζΈ―))
Escaping the heat for a bit. -
One thing I like about Hawaiian Airlines is they process everything with people. No damn kiosks.
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Checkin to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
Not a bad hop across the ocean. -
Checkin to Hi Burger
Amazing basil pesto burger and lemonade. So simple and soo good. -
Checkin to Bean About Town
Righteous cold brew while waiting for the Trolly. -
Checkin to Honolulu Zoo Playground
Looking at the animals. -
Checkin to King Kamehameha Statue
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Checkin to Maui Brewing Company Waikiki
Brews with a cousin. -
Checkin to The Royal Hawaiian
Fantastic stay at the Royal Hawaiian. Will definitely be back. -
Checkin to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
Maybe the slowest delivery of bags to the claim. Theyβre trickling out. -
Checkin to Lang's Horse & Pony Farm
Riding horses! His name is cherry. -
Checkin to Starbucks
4:30 open times. I like this. -
Checkin to Snoqualmie Depot
Riding a tourist train from Snoqualmie to North Bend. -
The Week #214
by James- πΊπΈ We flew to the US. First to Hawaii and then to Seattle. When we landed in Hawaii, we were immediately escorted to immigration for 2 hours. Turns out we were supposed to file some paperwork and or apply for certain visas as my wife's green card had expired. We thought going in under esta was the right thing to do (as it's what we did last time) and turns out it wasn't. Turns out immigration in Houston is just much more lax than Honolulu. A stressful couple of hours and $675 dollars later and we made it in. The coming months will require us to think about the feasibility of maintaining PR or not...and then filing the appropriate paperwork and or maybe start planning regular long-ish trips back to the US.
- π΄ After the ordeal of actually getting into the country, we got to the good partΒ β hanging in Waikiki. Hawaii is beautiful. I finally understand the hype. A day in and I was trying to figure out the timezone math for me to be able to meet with both Europe and APAC so longer-term stays could be viable.
We didn't go with any agenda on our trip β we just wanted to relax. We stayed at the Royal Hawaiian and it was great. Our water pressure could have been better, but being directly on the beach and the environment of the space was really great. That said, pries in the US are high and prices in Hawaii are even higher. I wasn't expecting it to cost $100 for 3 (amazing!) burgers, an order of (amazing!) fries and a lemonade.Looking at Waikiki while on a run Duke Kahanamoku statue - π² After a few days 3 nights in Hawaii we took a flight to Seattle. Seattle is also so beautiful. But the weather... the weather is exactly what I was after β 30 degree highs (where it doesn't hit the high until 2pm instead of 8am) and lows around 14 (a bit chilly!).
While in Seattle we've gone out and rode horses in Mt. Vernon and rode a historic train. The train ride was a lot of fun, but it was like an oven because not all of the windows could open.Views from the train
On the drive out there we went through some really cute towns. Washingtonians are a fairly active folk, so we also so plenty of people taking advantage of the excellent summer weather and gravel biking along trails. And for the second time I couldn't help but imagine another possible life (though more realistic this time). Living in Seattle, driving out to the mountains to enjoy the small towns, hiking and cycling, wearing socks with my Birkenstocks. How great would that be? But then I think about the required driving and the political division and the guns and think maybe it's just the relief of escaping Japanese summer speaking to me. Maybe I should plan how to do that every year.
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Checkin to Altitude Trampoline Park
No trip to America is complete without a visit to the trampoline park. -
Checkin to Jennings Memorial Park
Great park with a cool bmx area, too. -
Checkin to Imagine Children's Museum
Hanging at the childrenβs museum. Super cool! -
Checkin to Scuttlebutt Brewing Company
Red IPA π -
Checkin to Starbucks
Caved for the discovery series tumbler and eco-bag. -
Checkin to Pike Place Market
Last day touring about. -
Checkin to Aqua Terra
Having a Kraken beer. Wish it came in a Kraken glass. -
Checkin to Peetβs Coffee
Airport priced breakfast. -
Checkin to Gate S11
Heading home on Hawaiian. πΊ -
Checkin to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
Mad dash to catch our connection, but we made it. Was hoping for a couple hours between flights instead of 25 - 30 minutes. -
Checkin to Tokyo International (Haneda) Airport (HND) (ζ±δΊ¬ε½ιη©ΊζΈ― (ηΎ½η°η©ΊζΈ―))
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