Hawaii - Io Palace and Downtown Honolulu Day

September 13

Today was our Honolulu day! We planned to visit the Io Palace, check out the Deloitte office downtown, and see the city and if I could envision myself living here. We wanted to get to the city early to find parking and be there on time to check in for our palace tour. We did get a nice parking spot due to our earliness, and we also had time to try Honolulu Coffee, a cafe nearby. I ordered a cappuccino and Mom ate a pastry there, then we headed back to the Palace to watch an informative video and get ready for our tour. 

We were well prepped for our tour and excited to get in with our audio guides and see the place. It was a great tour, but I won't lie, the palace was much smaller than what I was expecting. It looked so much bigger from the outside, but felt quite modest once you got inside. And maybe because I only have the massive European castles to compare, so I was surprised by this, but the size did not take away from the beauty. Plus, the audio guide was very informative and I enjoyed learning a lot about the history and heritage of the royal families that lived here. Mom also loved the tour, she was hesitant to give the city of Honolulu some time, so as much as she didn’t want to come to downtown, this entranced her here and I was grateful for that. 

After our tour, we were hungry and went to a nearby vegan deli. I was grateful mom joined me and trusted me that she would like this. She got the tacos, and I got a burrito, that meal was one of the best eats I've had so far in Hawaii. We also ordered a vegan caramel roll that we shared for dessert. I loved this meal, and even better that it was in the same area as the Deloitte office. 

That was our next mission, to find the office. We passed the building on our way to get coffee before our palace tour, crazy how close we were to it already this morning. On our way there from our lunch spot, we got to see all of the great food places nearby, so many of them having vegan options, and the nice area of downtown we were walking around. This was surely the business district of Honolulu with some of the nicest spots, and for the Deloitte building to be placed just there I was in love. We walked into the Deloitte building lobby, it was so lovely. I knew that this would be the farthest we could get to seeing the actual Deloitte office, but even that was enough for me to feel so comfortable and so at home. My dream of transferring offices here felt ever so real and achievable. Stepping foot in the lobby of the building made it feel as though this is something I would soon do everyday, take myself over to the elevators and up to work for the day, and then signing off at 5pm to explore the rest of the island in my free time. I could see the future and it was so sweet. It was another moment in which I felt, with a bit of determination, I could make this dream of mine a reality. 

We felt as though we saw enough of the city when we found Deloitte and walked around the nearby buildings, although that was really only a corner of city, it was good enough for mom and I to feel as though our research was collected and concluded. Honolulu, passed! So, our next mission was to head to the Ala Moana Mall to Uniqlo to pick up a bag for mom.

Don't you just love the name of the mall, Ala Moana? We headed straight for Uniqlo and got exactly what we needed while there. We also stepped into a few other stores, I showed mom Artizia, and we found some jewelry at Madwell we liked. Our shopping didn’t stop at the Mall, we made a pitstop on the way home from Honolulu at the Tropical Farm, to pick up some more souviners, I got these adorable mini turtle candles for myself.

We went to Sugar Mill for dinner, an area home to a bunch of different food trucks that was near our condo. I was hoping with all of the different options that I could get a good vegan meal there, but I ended up eating an onion ring avocado burger and fries and I can’t say that was a moment for peak health and the grease surely didn’t help the headache I got from my Tropical Farms lotion smelling session. The night did take a turn for the better as mom and I went on a sugar frenzy to the point it was hilarious. First, mom got the ube ice cream at one of the stores in the Sugar Mill, which prompted a conversation with my friend who said that we had to try an ube haupia pie, so we went to the grocery store to grab that, which happened to be by a Hawaiian shaved ice place and I got that for myself, and it was so massive that I made mom help me. Therefore, making it a triple dessert type night for her. We were laughing so much because we made some funny jokes about it. One of my favorites was her saying that the shaved ice was essentially just hydration, lol I wish. That was our night, and of course the ritual couch and tv but this time we were stuffed to the brim with sugar and burgers.