Knowing how much my girlfriend loves Hawai’i and the fact that I have never been there, plus I’m heading off to Germany & Austria to go snowboarding, I decided it would be a nice Valentine’s Day surprise to take her to Waikiki for the long weekend. Needless to say, she loved the surprise and we had a great time together. I have to admit, making her happy really makes me happy.

As I was a Hawai’ian virgin, Reiko did her best to show me as much as possible, and I have to say she did an excellent job. We went swimming on the North Shore, saw Honu, both sun basking on the beach and swimming in the water, saw sea cucumbers that look like black turds, briefly went bodyboarding (a first for me), went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, where we saw a 3-foot long octopus and tons of colorful fish. We also went to Pearl Harbor, which I found to be a lot less interesting than I originally thought. In the museum, I did learn a lot about the events that occurred there, but the actual sunken battleship was difficult to see and rather uninteresting. I think one of my favorite things we did was visit the Dole Pineapple Plantation. First off, I love plants and there was no shortage of exotic plants here. I also learned a lot, such as the fact it takes 15-20 months for a pineapple to become ripe. Damn that’s a long time and I’m sure I’ll enjoy my pineapple all that much more the next time I eat one. The pineapple we had onsite was awesome, sweet and juicy, absolutely delicious.

As Reiko and I are addicted to massages, she insisted that we get a Lomi Lomi massage. The massage was good, but I guess I couldn’t tell the difference between a regular relaxation massage. I also think the place we went to was a little ghetto. The next time we go, I think I’ll do some research to try and find a better place.

On our final evening, we went to one of the beachside hotels to watch a traditional fire dancer and some hula dancers. It was really nice to relax and watch the show together.

All in all it was a great trip and I can’t wait to go back later this year. On our next trip, Reiko and I are planning to visit some of the other islands.