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Visiting the Hiking Hawaii Cafe in uptown Honolulu
Situated right in-between the Ala Moana Shopping Center and the famous Waikiki district, the Hiking Hawaii Cafe is located on the first floor of the Hilton DoubleTree Inn, and I found it by accident. Actually, Yelp popped a message up on my phone: Check Out these Hot&New restaurants in your area! (Yelp is not sponsoring this, lol). Usually, this message is garbage for me, as Yelp loves to suggest steakhouses and Seafood restaurants despite my profile clearly indicating that I don’t eat meat. Where’s that eyeroll emoji when I need it? This time, though, it was exactly that thing I’d been looking for my entire time in Hawaii! The reviews said…
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Nice photos from a restaurant I didn’t really enjoy.
It can’t all be roses, I guess! But when you’re paying $20 and up per plate, you’d think that there would be a nice selection of things to order. But skip the Surf Lanai if you want a decent selection. As a vegan, anyways. Or anyone with vegan friends. One thing I will give the Royal Hawaiian’s beachfront restaurants are that they’re pretty. The RH is probably the prettiest hotel in Waikiki, unless you think that the classic architecture of the Moana Surfrider is nicer. It’s a tossup, really! But, I mean look at this. The menu, though, was so laughable that I didn’t even take a photo of it. There were…
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Afternoon Tea at the Halekulani
Endless blue skies and gorgeous summer weather. That’s what I think of when Afternoon Tea comes to mind, and Halekulani’s Orchid restaurant, set right up against Honolulu’s world-famous Waikiki Beach, didn’t disappoint. In a way, it was perfect. Here’s me sitting at the table, surrounded by clean, warm air and the quiet chatter of other tourists. Getting There Waikiki is conveniently located right in Honolulu, along the oceanfront (duh!). Most of Oahu’s major hotels are in Waikiki, so the Halekulani is just a short walk away! If you’re coming from somewhere else, the best way to get there is to drive East along Kalakaua Ave and turn right on Lewers…
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A Tokyo Sunrise
Tokyo welcomed me back with open arms. It was virtually the same as I had left it. Most of my friends still lived there, most of the shops that I had loved were still there, even if some of them had changed locations. Most of all, the anime was still there. (1,244 geeks have read this)
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In the Park Hyatt Tokyo, you are…
Well, I mean, I’m not! Your mileage may vary. Japanese and me are old friends, anyway. The staff also spoke English pretty well, at least the times that I spoke to them in my native tongue, so there’s that! I actually chose this title because the Park Hyatt Tokyo was the hotel that was used in the movie Lost in Translation. How cool is that? I love movie sites! This trip marked the first time that I ever stayed in a hotel in Tokyo (I had never needed to when I had my own place!), and they didn’t disappoint in most fronts! I stayed at the Park Hyatt for the second portion…
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Enjoying ourselves at Tokyo Disneyland and GET SOME INSULATION, JAPAN!
I’m making so many decisions back here to make life easier and better, and just overall more geared toward my true self, you know? But just bear with me, guys… right now, it’s picture time! Tokyo Disneyland was cold. Coooooooold cold cold! I moved away from Japan because of constant cold like this. It was/is really hard to live in such frigid temperatures when the houses are not insulated but that’s actually perfectly acceptable to most (crazy) people there so nothing changes. Every Fall, Winter, and Spring that I lived in Japan, I wanted to scream: “It doesn’t have to be this way!! Demand insulation! Don’t just go with the status quo when there…
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Tokyo Disneyland Hotel ahoy!
Here’s something new… for me, at least! Thuy really wanted to stay in the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, in one of the character suites, and I tend to go with the flow, so we ended up in the Beauty and the Beast suite for two days! No complaints here! Well, about the hotel itself, that is. It’s really, really nice, and I’ll let the pictures speak for m. But first, a few things, dear Disney and Japan: 1) The front desk is on the second floor, so to check in and out, you have to either carry your luggage up a large, opulent flight of stairs or go quite a bit…
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Welcome to Tokyo Disney Sea!
Oh Japan. I miss you, and I don’t. That’s for another post, though! This is all about Tokyo Disney Sea and my journey there this time. I’ve been there a handful of times, and written about it before, too! I was just getting the hang of my new camera (I still thought that the touchscreen was the best way to take photos, but I was SO wrong, and of taking photos in RAW. If you’ve known me for a long time, you might remember when I started to post photos of my walks in Arizona and my first arrivals in Japan in my old livejournal. Most of those photos are…
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First up: Harajuku and Omotesando! ^-^
I got lost on the way from customs to the train station, and it was kind of embarrassing. I walked right past the escalator down into the train station (it’s inside of the airport outside of the International Arrival exit gates). Oops! We only had to backtrack a little bit, and it has been three years, and let’s face it, I’ve only ever been to Narita Airport a few times, as I rarely left Japan when I was there, so I can be forgiven for this one. So, once we found the underground station and I got new Suica cards (I think I turned all of mine in when I…
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I’m back in Japan!
Well, I was back in Japan, for one quick week. Dec 9-16. My first impression was how cold it was. I don’t miss that. At. All! Aside from dealing with the cold, I wasn’t sure how I would feel returning to a place that held so many memories for me. A place that, until this trip, I still considered as my only real home. Living in Tokyo for nine years was the longest time that I’d ever lived in one single city. I moved around every 2-4 years growing up (Dad’s job, as an Operating Engineer), and even college was just 4 short years for me in Phoenix. I’ve considered moving…
