Sometimes a girl just doesn’t want to vlog every single thing. Sometimes a flight attendant’s layover isn’t that glamorous or exciting. Layovers are actually designed not to allow flight attendants to explore their destinations but give them just enough to time to rest before they fly again. Two days ago I flew into Honolulu, Hawaii for the first time and paired with a strict budget and an independent crew it was up to me to figure out to use my time wisely!

Arrived: 430PM

Hotel Arrival: 530PM

I had just arrived from Frankfurt, Germany the day before so unlike my trips to Maui before, I stayed in my hotel room to rest. Normally I would watch the sunset on the beach, go to dinner with the crew, or grab a cocktail with a friend. Instead I showered, soaked my feet. Working long haul has made for achy achy feet even on my days off.

Dinner: 630PM

Flight attendants are lucky because we are allowed to bring food with us when we travel. I have been semi-successful in eating in a higher fat, lower carb vegan diet and brought along my meals for the next two days.

The view from my hotel was absolutely insane. Being on the 22 floor and watching the sun set over this shockingly urban environment was beautiful! Before this week I had never been to anywhere but Maui in the Hawaiian Islands and Maui is much more suburban than Honolulu; it was a big surprise to see so many skyscrapers leaning into the beach!

Sleep: 8PM

Wakeup: 5AM

The sun wouldn’t rise for another hour and a half and so I decided to get ready (with my man Dr. Phil on in the background) for a morning at the beach. At the recommendation of a fellow stew I decided to grab a Starbucks, since no local roasters were open nearby, and walk to the closest beach to watch the sunrise.

Unfortunately, due to the angle of the beach I missed most of the actual sunrise. I walked to Treasure Island which is a small beach that was surprisingly active for 6AM. The diversity of activity between swimmers, aerobics, paddle boarding, and sleeping was different than my other beach activities. This was more of a locals beach as Waikiki was in walking distance and is the obvious choice for tourists.

Beach Morning: 7AM

Since I am very very pale I prefer to spend the early mornings on the beach when it isn’t so hot and the rays aren’t as powerful. It was such a beautiful way to spend the morning; watching people, nature, and basking in gratitude. There are so many moments that I am frustrated by my circumstances and mornings like these make me feel like it’s all going to be okay.

Over the next few hours I just sipped on my coffee, read my favorite book, and enjoyed my paid vacation!

Froyo: 9AM

By 9AM I could feel my skin starting to burn and was also starting to get run over by the influx of tourists and joggers on the beach. It had been about 4 hours since I had eaten breakfast and decided to get something cooling and “healthy” to eat. I got lost multiple times but eventually found froyou at the Ala Moana Mall at Pressed Juicery. Ala Moana  is an amazing mall with a good deal of high end shopping and some fantastic food! It was such a tempting place to walk through to try and find some frozen yogurt!

Pool Time: 11AM

By 11 I had gone back to room to change into my “tanning bikini” and enjoy the AC. Originally I had planned to take a nap and go back to the pool in the afternoon, until I realized that the pool was completely covered in shadows by 4PM.

Lunch: 12PM

By 12PM I had already given up on the sun. There was not enough coconut oil in the world to prevent myself from getting burned. My last trip to Maui I completely destroyed my skin using a natural sunscreen that took about a month to heal from that I wasn’t willing to re-experience.

My last meals in Honolulu were carrot sticks and this amazing Raw Pad Thai (from https://christieswadling.com/).

Nap Time: 2PM

My crew van left at 7PM and so after an active morning of reading and laying about in the sun I decided to take a nap so I could survive the 8 hour all nighter flight back to Dallas.

Back at Home: 9AM

At 9AM I was back in DFW and ready to head home!