Hey everyone!!

I hope you have been having a good time these past few weeks. For the college students out there, I hope exams have been treating you kindly and that you enjoy the time you are soon to have off! Unfortunately, in my case, I only get a few days off, which is pretty disappointing. However, I'll take something over nothing so I can't complain. 


As easy as I could make this post a bit sappy and talk about how my holiday is expected to go, I want to share some tips for those of you travelers who may find themselves in the Honolulu area this holiday. 

To start, your first big decision will be whether or not you want to go out to eat for Thanksgiving dinner, or whether or not you want to make the meal yourselves. If you went with the first option, then spend these next few days doing as much research as you can on the restaurants around where you'll be staying. Thanksgiving is a unique holiday, in my perspective, because you don't know what exactly is going to be open. I only say this because, while no one wants to work on the holiday, because Hawaii gets the majority of its money from tourism, many places are then forced to be open. So, what I can recommend is that you do your research now and, if even possible, try and reserve a seat. I would not suggest eating in Waikiki. Waikiki is notorious for their extremely expensive restaurants, and even some place as simple as i-Hop charges you a boatload for near everything. Try and go for someplace on the "outskirts" of the city, such as Kapolei or Maunalua Bay, near Koko Head. Now, if you decided that you were more of an option two kind of person, than hopefully this will be of some use to you. In Waikiki, where I'm assuming the majority of you will be, there are a number of places where you can buy groceries. However, similar to the restaurant situation, buying groceries in Waikiki is equivalent to just getting rid of your money. Stores you will often encounter are: ABC Store, Safeway, Food Land, and Walmart. While their prices won't change too much depending on where you are, I will say that $13 for milk in Waikiki compared to $11 in Manoa is a pretty big difference, because every dollar does add up. I would suggest, again, trying to get your groceries picked out at places a little bit outside of Waikiki. The price difference, if there really is any, won't be much, but if you can spend less on the same thing than why not do it? 

Next, and personally my favorite, Black Friday! 

In Waikiki you have dozens upon dozens of places to shop. The main strip is where you will find yourself surrounded by upper middle to low high priced stores. Some would include, Billabong, Victoria's Secret, Ugg, Forever 21, Apple, etc. Beyond that you can choose to shop at Ala Moana, a multi level mall with middle priced stores to 'this is only here because it looks nice' kind of stores. These include, Disney, Ferrari, Miu Miu, Vera Bradley, and more. With so many stores to choose from, I want to give you an idea of where you should go based on what you're hoping to buy. Initially, one might plan on only hitting up Waikiki, but, truth be told, many of these stores can also be found in Ala Moana. Also, I would not recommend shopping in Ala Moana if you also planned on going somewhere like Target. The distance between the two places is too big, and Waikiki is surely going to have more traffic than usual on Friday. It is this reason that I would not recommend shopping in the main Waikiki strip. However, if you only want certain stores like Victoria's Secret, than do not go to Ala Moana. Shopping in downtown Waikiki at Victoria's Secret is much better, because the store is huge and you won't be competing with customers from an entire mall, only the others from around the block. If you can, try and figure out which stores are doing what sales. As an example, Victoria's Secret is very tightlipped on what they're doing, so I wont know what their deals are until the morning of. Obviously if you don't care than disregard that. 

For Ala Moana, I would recommend only going here for the stores that you can't find in your own town. In my case, the Disney Store would be something I might hit up, as they have special Only-In-Hawaii items that you can't buy anywhere else in the country. There are also big chain stores, like Nordstrom, that you can shop at. With Ala Moana I would really try and memorize which level you want to be on. I won't lie, this mall is huge and very confusing. By knowing ahead of time which floor you're going to be on the most is going to pay off immensely. 

Besides that, and I know my tips are very obvious things, I would try and enjoy Black Friday and not overdo it. Because this is my first year in Hawaii (trying) to do Black Friday, I'm afraid I don't have anything else to suggest. As with everything, don't overspend and don't go out without doing your preparation. People in Hawaii can be crazy on the road, and the last thing you're going to want is a line of traffic behind you because you don't know if you should take the H1 or H2. And yes, there aren't names for the major highways here, only H1, H2, and H3. Good luck knowing which will take you where.



As a side note, I can't believe Colorado got their first day of snow a few days ago! As much as I disliked living there, I have to say that I really do miss the snow. Of course I say that now, where I don't have to drive, walk, or simply be in the snow. I have a feeling when I return I'm going to be just begging to come back here. But that's a good thing, right? 


One last thing. I wanted to share that today was my best friend Shannon's birthday. Twelve weeks ago I blogged about how terrified I was of Manoa and how I wasn't sure if I could stay here. That night I prayed and asked countless times for that group of friends I had been "dying to have". The next day, I remember seeing Shannon on campus and feeling that I needed to text her and catch up. As afraid as I was, I really hate texting people and feeling like a bother, I went with my gut and asked if she was free to hang out before school. Shannon, you won't read this, but I am so grateful that you said yes. You brought me into your group and I am forever thankful to have met such an understanding and caring person. Because you made me feel welcome, and you understand where I come from, I no longer want to leave Manoa. You are truly part of my Ohana, and I am so glad I chose to come to Manoa and am so glad I messaged you twelve weeks ago. Happy birthday!

Here is a picture of the girls and I from this morning. We rented a car and drove to Waimanalo to watch the sunrise and spend time together.