This entire trip was already going to be a whirlwind. I was in DC for work (I was living in Ohio at the time). I had to fly from DC back to Dayton, to get my flight to Hawaii. As I’m sitting in the DC airport, the plane collided with the helicopter and crashed into the Potomac. I knew there was no way I was getting back to Dayton. Luckily, the airlines were all incredibly supportive. I ended up changing my flight from Dayton to Philly, and I took a train up to Philly. I was leaving only 12 hours later so I wasn’t too far behind.

I get to LAX for my layover and my flight delayed over 8 hours with no takeoff in sight. I delayed to leave the next morning. Now I lost almost 36 hours from my already short trip in Hawaii.

I flew into Oahu, and unpopular opinion – I wasn’t super impressed with Hawaii. At least where I was, there wasn’t much beachfront to walk around (reminded me of how the Bahamas was).

I ended up just lounging by the pool for most of the time, drinking mai tais and getting some sun. I went to the U.S.S. Arizona memorial – which was as haunting as you’d imagine.

Definitely a check the box on a new state trip, but a great little getaway in February when it’s freezing cold out!!