Day 2 ~ Arriving in Honolulu, Oahu

Me making it to the top of Diamond Head 

We woke up at 6 am to catch our ~8 am flight. Everything went smooth this time. After arriving in Honolulu, Oahu we took The Bus in to Waikiki and got settled at the Beachside Hostel. The staff was amazing guiding us there, and they didn't charge us for the missing night, so technically we only benefited from the lay over in LA. We got a free night and food and arrived in Honolulu at the same time we normally would have woken up. With no lost daylight and a lot of energy I dragged Matt out for a quick brunch and a first adventure; Diamond Head. We walked 2 miles to the crater and talked our selves through the park gates in last minute. We would have an hour to head up and down the crater. "No problem. Time to make a speed hike boys!" I shouted and off we went with another new found friend. Doing this little hike/tour under time pressure wasn't the smartest thing. The sun was strong and we hardly had any water left, but people back home said that Diamond Head was amazing, so I had to do it.  I have to say that I expected way more from this tourist sight. The crater it self wasn't very special. It was very dry and yellow with some buildings in the middle. I guess the view was nice with the big ocean in front of us. The bays to the left were more green and tropical. The view over Waikiki was nice, but it hardly impressed on me. I'm not a big fan of city views. What caught my interest was that the crater top was used as a look out post during WWII, as a history freak, that made it a little extra worth it.

Hiking down was easy and I walked back to Waikiki with a small group of new people I met. Matt took off and did his own thing. After telling my new friends good bye for the day, I walked along the beach to see what else I could find to do. I ended up watching my first Hawaiian sunset and hula! Perfect!

All the dancers on stage during the last hula
performance for the night

One of the hula performances. 

Back at the hostel it was dinner time! $4 BBQ! Heck yeah! The food rocked and I kept walking in to all these random cool people. I couldn't stop wishing that Tobias would have been there. He would have compared this ocean of interesting traveling people with heaven - just like me. Next time Hübsch!

I shared a mixed bunk bed  dorm with 7 other guys;
Matt
Anthony - Our Canadian, French speaking friend.
Sebastian - Our German surfer friend, flown in from Australia (for all my German friends, he originally lives in Münich).
"Chez" - A little older dude who tried to stay at the hostel long term. He's very protective about the room and the hostel rules and he respects the hostel a lot. I guess it's good to have one of those guys sleeping right next to the door(!). He's also the fixer guy. Finding good party sites etc.
The rest of the guys come and go, I don't really get introduced to them. One guy is a German who is afraid to interact with people because of him having a cold, another guy is laying in bed listening to religious radio every time I see him. Well well.. I have the whole freaking island to catch up with!

During the BBQ I met two cool guys; Corey and Mike.

The M&M's; Matt and Mike

Mike - from Switzerland, were traveling around doing his own thing. Funny guy with a heavy charming accent.
Corey - from Mississippi/Louisiana. Just like Mike, traveling around just checking things out.
We all decided to go out for drinks after the BBQ, Matt came with as well. We headed to some bar with $2 drinks. I went by Corey's place first to meet his "Lady friend", while Mike and Matt started off at the bar.

Corey and I

It turns out that Corey got "picked up" by an old lady after he missed his bus. This lady offered him a free place to stay (she will go under "Hawaiian Granny" in the blog). She was really cool. Super cute and very talkative ( Just like me ;) Turns out she is this 90+ stereo type sweet grandma and she starts off telling all these old stories. I swear you would all just love Jean, the Hawaiian Granny. I didn't even meet her for that long and I was completely sold - what a woman!
When we got back to the bar we joined M&M for a drink. They had both had enough already, especially the Virginian M who we found sleeping at the bar. After a while we try to leave, M gets an extra kick in the but from the security and we start off our long (usually short) walk home. Long story short, M made a complete fool out of himself being drunk and we are all happy when we reach the hostel to dump him off. (For you who think I point someone out, I will add that no one back home know's Matt and his story is already typed down in other blogs as well).

As the saying goes, the night was still young. Me and Corey decided to hit up the beach for a midnight swim. Couldn't have ended my first night in Hawaii in a better way; The sky was bombed with stars and we swam out to this wall, which breaks the waves, and just laid there talking and watching the sky. The waves tried to knock us over playfully and after a while I got knocked down - right after making a wish on a shooting star! Amazing!