Marie Javins's Blog, page 29

Remember to Take Your Brain On Vacation

I went for a sunset walk tonight after work. I'm in Lahaina, Maui, which is lovely if super-touristy. I like touristy places because they have options for food and lodging. I also like remote places if I have rented a car and the lodging is cheap and has great wifi for my workday, but I can't think of when all that has happened. It's usually the wifi fall down, go boom.

Anyway, I walked along Front Street, and when a young woman in a cosmetics store tried to give me a sample, I said an abrupt no and kept walking. It's like being at Bloomingdale's with people trying to spray your wrist with perfume. Go away, don't put that on me.

Anyway, I felt guilty after being abrupt, so when the next young woman tried to give me a sample, I took it.

Which led to an extended interaction where she told me her magic cream (the improbably named "Stemtox") would magically take years off my face's age. And she was going to show me RIGHT NOW.

She did, and it seemed to work. "I have to figure out that trick later," I thought. My guess is any moist cream looks like it changed your skin. It moistens it, for a moment anyway.

And then she tried to sell me the tube for a mere $399.

Obviously, if it actually worked, I'd buy it, but also obviously, of course it doesn't work.

She continued to lower the price as I firmly said I wasn't interested.

Ultimately, I grew tired of this game and said good night, and I thought about the psychology behind this. I imagine this is all about preying on the fantasy of a magic solution to aging and wrinkles. The real magic is probably called "your dermatologist with some Botox."

But when people go on vacation, they tend to become enamored of magical thinking, or at least more open to new possibilities. I bet they sell a lot of Stemtox in Lahaina.

Anyway, here is the sunset.

Maui Coastline

 Along the road to Hana. 

Risky Business

So far Maui is dangerous. 

Last Saturday in Honolulu

Bus window rainbow, morning Ilikai (not the Jack Lord side).

But the View

Throughout the day, the 20th floor “lanai” (balcony) terrifies me. Still lovely.

A What?

Sure, I was just wondering that myself.

WFH

A week ago, I arrived in Honolulu.

I didn’t tell people because even me musing about the possibility created a kerfluffle. Well, I’m here and you can kerfluffle all you want, but I’m still here.

One does not just walk into Hawaii. Right now, Honolulu has a 1.1% positive COVID rate, and they’d like to keep it that way. You can’t get on the plane without first getting a specific type of test from one of the approved partners, and all the LA ones are drive-through, except the one at LAX. I don’t have a car—on purpose—and usually it’s not a big deal, but this was one time when it was annoying. I couldn’t exactly ask a friend or an Uber to drive me through for a COVID test.

So I took a Lyft (double-masked with the window down) to a luggage storage locker near LAX at 8 am last Sunday, then walked to the airport and got a COVID test. My flight wasn’t until after 1 pm, but the results take 3-5 hours to show up, then have to be uploaded to your account on the Hawaii Safe Travels site. I couldn’t check in without the test results, so I met a friend to sit on some steps and drink coffee. And remember how I read that blog post on how to walk to In-n-Out Burger from LAX and laughed? Well, now I found that blog post and followed the instructions to and from the luggage lockers nearby. But there’s a modification…now you can take a shortcut across the LAX-It lot, where the ride share companies pick up.

Eventually, my results showed up (negative!) and I uploaded them so I could check in.

Then I got a spinning beach ball followed by “Verification in Process.”

What? In process? How long will this take?

At 12:30, I was still waiting, so I changed my flight to a 4:30 one via San Francisco. There aren’t many flights anywhere right now. If I didn’t get on the 4:30 one, I’d have to wait for the next day. But that’s why I only booked two nights at a hotel—too many X factors, wasn’t sure I’d get there.

I dug around online for an answer to what I was supposed to do when the app got stuck—someone said to just print the results and get on the plane. I went back to the test center to ask for a printout, but they said they can’t do that for privacy reasons. Finally, I checked in and went to the airline’s customer service counter, and they printed out my results.

I realized I might be stuck in quarantine for a few weeks, which would suck since I wouldn’t even be able to go for a walk, but I went ahead and got on the plane, wearing my N95 for the LAX-San Francisco leg, then double-masked from SFO-Honolulu.

On the other end, I showed my printout and was processed on into Hawaii!

A friend was here on Monday night, so we met up that evening for carry-ou

t outdoors, and I spent the first day checking out just about every hotel with kitchenettes in Waikiki. I was also scouring the usual sites—AirBnB, VRBO, FlipKey—but those would give me little clues that would lead me to local condo rental agencies. And that’s what I ended up going with, a place called Ali’i Beach Rentals. I moved to a 20th floor condo in the Jack Lord building from the opening credits of Hawaii Five-O (the original).

Due to the time difference from LA, I work 7 am to 4 pm. Then I go swimming or for a walk. I have a bus pass for when I walk too far and need to get home. I have groceries, and because I’m on the outskirts of Waikiki, I can get carry-out. Many things are closed, of course, but several restaurants are open and some stores. The ukulele factory tours are, sadly, all closed for now. I’ve made a day trip to Pearl Harbor and taken a rental car up to the North Shore for a look around.

When they said “WFH,” I thought they meant “Work From Hawaii.” 

Photo album is here.

Car-less

Remember how I was toying with the idea of going to Hawaii for a while?

I am still toying. Airfares are cheap, hotels are cheaper but a lot for someone who is still paying for a roof...but we don't get the work-from-home forever, so I'm still thinking about it.

I ran through a scenario today. I like to call it "What if I flew to Hawaii on Saturday?"

And what I learned is I would have to get a Zipcar to get the pre-travel COVID test.

Basically, only certain places are partners with Hawaii to do the test. And nearly all of them require you be be IN A CAR to get the test. There are FAQs online about these tests, and no, you may not just walk up and take the test. You have to be in a car. (I assume it's for the safety of the workers, though I'm not sure how me walking up is all that different than driving up.)

LAX has a walk-in place you can do day-of-travel, but it's a lot more trouble to get to LAX than it would be to get a Zipcar one morning and go to CVS.

This is all kind of odd and hilarious and this is the world we live in right now.

Hawaii Food Oh

I've been toying with the idea of going to Hawaii for a month of this work from home stuff, and it ain't cheap, y'all.

I have dug and dug and found a few possible places to stay that wouldn't make me queasy, and just now I checked to see how much groceries are in Hawaii.

Hoo boy.

Bamboo

Today in Adventures in Condo Owning, Marie contemplates her attempts to buy 36 inches of T-moulding (molding?) to match the existing bamboo. It's "tongue and groove horizontal natural solid bamboo" flavored.

Attempt #1 resulted in a free strip from Lumber Liquidators. Too brown.

Attempt #2 resulted in a $13 strip of "too yellow." This came from the same supplier as the original bamboo, out in Van Nuys.

Where will the next attempt take us?