Hawaii & The lost day

I have been to Hawaii multiple times so I basically just wanted to get off the ship, wander, and not spend too much money. A lot of friends had field programs & field labs for class, so Bryan and I decided to go off and have a spontaneous day. It is such an amazing feeling being on land after a solid week on the ship, and I felt so free because this was the first time I'd really been anywhere without parents! (Yes, I am a baby.) There is not much to do in the city of Hilo on the big island of Hawaii, but Bryan and I found a bus called "hoppa-on hoppa-off" and it was $20 for a day pass. We got off at the first stop, The Hilo Farmer's Market, and ran into tons of SAS'ers and just wandered around and bought random exotic fruits and my favorite, macadamia nuts! We then went back on the bus to Rainbow Falls but only stayed a bit because we got really hungry and went back to town to eat amazing Hawaiian tacos at a restaurant called Pineapples. After wandering through town some more and finding a place to buy a keychain (I'm getting one in every place I go to-I started doing it 2.5 years ago on a Mediterranean Cruise I went on), we got back on the bus and went to Richardson's Beach. This is a black sand beach that was full of SAS'ers and we just hung out with people and eventually made it in the cold water. I have a very awkward GoPro video of me running in the water…oh how I love my GoPro.

Overall, it was a very relaxed day and it was nice to just go with the flow and not plan anything out. Hawaiian culture is so laid back and I look forward to the next time I go there!

On another note, we are approaching the International Date Line! It is currently 11:25pm on January 18, 2015, but when it hits midnight we are going to skip forward an entire day and go right to January 20^th. So January 19^th, 2015 will not exist for me…it's so weird and cool to think about. So we arrive in Yokohama, Japan on January 26^th and I cannot be more excited. I also turn 21 on January 24^th but I will still be on the ship, so I plan to celebrate my birthday in Tokyo!