I had a couple of work meetings in Honolulu that I had to attend and I was due for a staycation on Oahu anyway, so I made a short weekend trip to Honolulu before my work meetings the following Monday morning.

After landing in Honolulu, I took public transportation to Waikiki and checked in to the hostel I was staying in.  After I was checked in, I went out and walked along the coastline to Diamond Head Lighthouse beach.  I  walked at a relatively fast pace because I wanted to take a picture of the sunset with the lighthouse in the foreground.  It turned out to be a really nice shot.

I had made a car reservation so that I could get around the island but I ended up not picking it up.  I stayed in Waikiki the entire weekend.  It’s ok though.  There is plenty of walking around to do in Waikiki.

I went out to the bars at night.  They were ok.  Fun as always.  I had dinner with some friends at Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Waikiki.  This was the first time I’d been to a Sansei location other than the one in Waikoloa.  The food was fantastic as always.

Bair had informed me that he was being transferred back to the US mainland so I wanted to hang out with him one more time before he left.  Time was not on our side but we did hang out at Starbucks near the airport for a couple of hours after my meetings were done.  As I was walking toward Starbucks, I came across a baby bird that I think was learning to fly.  The parents were up in a nearby branch and got a bit hysterical when I approached the little bird.  I photographed it from a distance in order to try to keep the parents somewhat at ease.

One drawback about Hawaii is that it has a lot of turnover.  It seems as though everyone leaves sooner or later.  That makes it hard to form lasting relationships.  The high cost of living combined with lower paying jobs than on the mainland make it very challenging  for many people to become established.  I am lucky that I have a good paying job that allows me to live a comfortable lifestyle.    Oh well.  Thus is life.  Nobody ever said that everything in life was easy.