The Whole Wide World

Christchurch to Honolulu

I left Christchurch and two flights and eighteen-hours later I arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii. One great flight-Christchurch to Sydney where I had the aisle emergency exit seat with an empty seat next to me, coveted. The nine hours from Sydney to Honolulu was a yucky flight though. When I picked my (aisle) seat in advance there were two empty seats next to me and plenty of other empty seats on the plane. After I sat down, a couple came and pointed to the two seats next to me, dang it, I was really hoping to stretch out and sleep. On top of being crowded, my seat was directly next to the bathroom and all I heard for the entire nine hours was the door opening, the power flush of the toilet and the door closing. Over and over. No sleep for me.

Honolulu arrival

It should be noted that my arrival in Honolulu was wildy entertaining. I took an Uber from the airport and within, meh, two-minutes of being in the car, my driver, Kevin, turned to me and with locked eyes (in morning traffic) announced that he was a recovering addict and felt blessed to be sober and having a stellar morning and oh so grateful for being able to pick me up. Me, eighteen-hours of travel deep, and more than a lot sleep deprived, wondered why this lovely human felt compelled to share this with me, an also sober human being.

Did he know? Was this real life? What is happening? Is this a sleep-deprived hallucination?

I stared at him and smiled and said I was also grateful to be here and then he proceeded to share more than a little personal details of his life to which I smiled and nodded and wondered if this was all real life. When we got to the hotel, Kevin got out of the car, helped me get my bag out the trunk…and hugged me. I think that might have been my first Uber hug. Kevin added that lil bit of wild times that my adventurous heart loves. Gawd bless Kevin.

Honolulu Hotel Life

The hotel I stayed at was in smack dab downtown Honolulu and the view from the room was so good. I spent every non-occupied second staring out the floor-to-ceiling window (from the comfort of my bed). Beyond the cityscape skyline (I was on the 27th floor) were green lush mountains that had constant but ever changing clouds rolling over them. It was a speak to my soul kind of view after the long dark Antarctic winter. There was also a bathtub, which I was submerged in within a few hours of arrival.

Arriving to the hotel just before noon, I fought to stay awake for the rest of the day in attempt to sort my sleep cycle out. I stayed awake, but me sleeps is still wild. New adventure jitters. I mean who wouldn’t be excited?! Oh and I had possibly the best poke bowl for dinner that night….gawsh it was scrumptious. Raw Ahi tuna that melted in my mouth. Seriously, I barely had to chew. The next day was my first day of work (onboarding) at The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) office, which was a five-minute walk from the hotel.

Morning Money Maker

Fact check: The day actually started at 3:45AM. Past Annemarie, back in Christchurch, agreed to a 4AM market research video call for a Navy Federal Credit Union. I know, silly, but hear me out, $150 for 45-minutes. Das good monies! So I rolled out of bed, got set up for the call…and they never showed up to let me into the meeting. Sad face.

I sent live updates to the organizer, who didn’t see the messages until thirty-minutes after the call was supposed start. At 4:15AM I closed my computer and got back into bed, naively thinking I’d get a couple more hours of sleep. No doubt, I was too excited about the day ahead of me (and bummed the call didn’t happen) to fall back asleep, so I sipped coffee in bed and watched the sunrise over the mountains-not so bad at all.

In the end, they felt so bad about the mishap and how early it was for me that they paid me anyways-success.

The Nature Conservancy

I arrived at TNC at 8AM and spent the day doing all things admin that a new job brings. An overview of their computer systems, HR meetings, Q&A’s, putting faces to names, details on the history and science happenings at Palmyra Atoll…lots of information packed into the day which was broken up with a lovely team lunch at The Pig and Lady. If you find yourself in Honolulu, I’d for sure recommend having lunch there. The pho and the shrimp crackers…I didn’t even have them and I am still thinking about how good they looked.

I walked back to the hotel via the Aloha Tower along the bay, but the sun was blazing and my Antarctic winter skin is pale and not akin to the sun, yet. I spent the evening unpacking and repacking my bags. One to be left in Honolulu and one to accompany me to Palmyra. Biosecurity protocols on the Atoll require that you freeze your clothes for 48-hours so I set an alarm for the morning to be sure I remembered to remove them from the freezer where I’d put them upon arrival at the hotel. After making sure I was the most organized I could be, I crawled into bed hopeful for a good nights rest. My final night of climate controlled sleep for the next three-and-a-half months.

C”mon sleeps.