Hilo, The Big Island

So happy to be getting off the boat

We made landfall and scurried off the boat. The plan was to walk to town and check out the farmer's market, look into a couple museums, and enjoy the laid-back island. Hilo is the supposed to be the most laid back and serene of the islands.

 

The walk was much further and hotter than we had been led to believe. We were not moving very fast and there wasn't a bus to be seen. We plodded along, steadily heading towards our destinations.

3/4 of the way into town, Krys realized she had left her cell phone a quarter mile back while taking a photo of a statue.

The statue

Krys was struggling with the heat and walk the most, so we told her and Becca to continue to the farmer's market. Alexis and I then sped walked back to the place Krys remembered taking a photo. We looked around but didn't see it, so I called Idaho Tech Support a.k.a Michael and requested help. He was able to turn the Google location on Krys's phone and give us an exact location, from half a world away. Unfortunately, that location was under a tree where it had been tossed after the screen was shattered. This left Krys completely shattered. A seller at the farmers market offered us a ride to the T-Mobile store, but we decided while we were at the farmers market, we might as well shop.

 

I bought a keychain, I ate lots of apple-bananas and tried mangosteen. Despite it appearing like fat little larva, it was quite tasty.

We then caught a bus heading to the T-Mobile store. The passengers on the bus told us all about the bus system, the closest stop to the T-Mobile store, the bus we would need to get back, the best place to visit, why Hawaii was wonderful, and even which street they lived on. It was a pretty intense bus ride, but also enjoyable. Unfortunately the people at the T-Mobile store were not nearly as helpful as the bus patrons, and they simply told Krys to file an insurance claim, which would leave her without a phone for the entire trip. Alexis then went next door to Walmart (which we had already shopped at) and picked up a burner phone for Krys to use for the remainder of the trip. I am downplaying the sheer amount of angst that was buzzing around, but know it was a lot. After we ate lunch at the outdoor mall food court (it was pretty good), we didn't feel up to much more sightseeing, museums, or riding the bus again so I installed the Lyft app on my phone and requested a car.

 

For $8, a nice man in an air conditioned car picked us up. He was surprised that there were four of us, and his front seat was not passenger ready, but we assured him we didn't care. He seemed embarrassed and admitted he had just begun driving for Lyft, and I told him I was new to Lyft as well as I was gently pushing his water bottles off the passenger seat and climbed in. I told him as long as he took us to the pier, we were happy campers. He relaxed, there was a/c, everyone was happy. Our driver then told us about local food and things we should try on the island while we were there and what he loved about the next island we were going to. He had a car, a/c, and food recommendations. We were best friends by the time he dropped us off.

 

We didn't see a lot of the island, but we were all able to see what we wanted and I got to eat apple-bananas. We also tried papaya, but we all hate it. The pineapple was great though.

I also stopped to take pictures of all the plants. Even though my children were not even there, I could feel them sighing every time I pause to take a photo of the plant life.

We got back onto the ship. Alexis worked on setting up Krys' new phone, Krys worked on submitting a claim, and I glanced at my Fitbit. Almost 22,000 steps and all were somewhere I had never been before. It wasn't perfect, but it was still interesting.

 

That night we all made it to dinner!