Hawaii: Honolulu Nights

Hawaii is a special kind of place. There is a reason they shoot TV shows and movies here. It is very distinctive and always memorable. LOST is currently filming here, and I hadn't been back since it started. Now everything here reminds me of the show. I just hear the announcer voice saying "previously on LOST..." as we pass a brand new housing development set among the tropical foliage or a dilapidated and rusting mechanical structure that just begs for a Dharma Initiative sign swinging in the wind outside.

Of course, my TV heart really belongs to the best of the Hawaii shows: Wind On Water. In this epic of the 1998 TV season, Bo Derek plays the mother of hot sons (one of them William Gregory Lee, now steaming up the homos on Dante's Cove) who herd sheep by day and surf competitively by night. The timing of these activities never really worked out for me, but the hot sons were reason enough to savor both episodes of the show that aired before it was cancelled. True, some people may better remember a show like Hawaii 5-0 or Magnum P.I., but those shows ran for decades! Wind On Water has lived more intensely for me and with less to work with. Now that's a classic!

Our flight landed in Honolulu for the start of our exciting Hawaiian vacation. After staying up all night and flying for 14 hours, we were a little tired, but still anxious to get our vacation started. We checked into the hotel, showered, and then headed downstairs to grab a drink and then some dinner. We walked down the road to Hula's, the best known of the gay bars in the area and it was deserted. Granted, it was late afternoon, but it was still a Saturday. One of the bartenders flirted with me a little but I think he just wanted to keep us from leaving. After two drinks, we wandered off to find dinner.

Initially, we had planned to go to a cheeseburger place on the beach but it was packed when we arrived and really didn't want to wait. More wandering and we ended up at Chili's which not only was a perfectly acceptable dinner location, but allowed us to see through the window to the Denny's we would assuredly be eating breakfast at the next morning. After dinner, we made our way to the other gay bar but it was even more tragic than Hulas. Skinny bar waiter twink kind of looked my way for a moment, but I could barely keep my eyes open. It was scarcely ten pm local time (4am in New York) and we were walking zombies. Back to the hotel we went to sleep.

The next morning, we got up and headed out early to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and a muffin to enjoy sitting on the gay beach. Some gays wandered by but mostly we watched a group of tourists learning how to surf. After checking out of the hotel and ditching our bags there, we gorged ourselves at Denny's and then took a leisurely stroll to the mall. This was the highlight of the day.

Before I left New York, I realized that every article of clothing I owned was in terrible disrepair. All of my jeans were falling apart and even my shorts from last season were threadbare and ratty. I insisted on finding at least one pair of shorts and possibly even some new jeans at the mall. Went to J. Crew and everything fit horribly and it was outrageously overpriced. Next we hit Banana Republic where the shorts fit even worse. Plus, I accidentally tried on a pair of skinny leg jeans. The jeans got on alright, though they were weirdly baggy at the knees. But my meaty calves were too much for the skinny and in pulling the jeans down, I got stuck in them below the knee. Starting to feel claustrophobic and fearing I may need assistance while my pants were around my knees, I began to wildly tear at and kick off the jeans. Finally, I managed to pull them off inside out and ran from the Banana like it was on fire.

Over at Old Navy, I did fine a pair of cargo shorts with an orange flower on them that fit great. At first I was reluctant to get them, but filled with the aloha spirit, Mike insisted they were perfect for me. After that, we looked at some backpacks at Oakley since I was complaining about my ultra ugly but free Gay.com backpack I was still carrying around after the Fresh party in SF (and the demise of my old PlanetOut.com backpack). I got a new backpack with more zippers than I need, and even Mike picked up a new carry-on bag too.

Riding high on our purchases, we headed back to Hulas for what turned out to be a better second round. The place was more crowded on Sunday afternoon and this time there were even some hotties. The afternoon waiter was genuinely flirty, which is always welcome, though it did make leaving quickly to catch our shuttle to the airport all the more disheartening. But, we told him, we would be back on Friday. After all it was just the start of our Hawaiian vacation. 24 hours in Honolulu to kick things off, followed by five relaxing days in Kona, before returning for one last farewell day on Waikiki beach. Moments later, we were headed to the airport and ready for the next round of adventures that awaited us on the Big Island!