The Trip's BEST!!!

Superlatives have been counted and here are the winners of the Hawaii Expedition 2013:


Friendliest: Wouter M. from Belgium

Best Smile: Aase from Norway

Best Laugh: Linn from Norway

Funniest: Lise-Maria from Norway

Best English: Zaza from Thailand

Most Likely to Travel to Every Continent: Lena from Germany

Best Tan: Luca from Texas/Italy

Most Spirit: Joakim from Norway

Most Likely to be Surfing Pipeline: Marit from Norway

Best Hula Dancer: Gilles from Belgium

Most Likely to Become an Islander: Lina from Switzerland

Most Likely to Work at Dole: Jonas from Germany

Most Likely to Lose Their Luggage: Francesco from Italy


ALOHA everyone! A hui ho (Until we meet again...)

-Belo Staff

Snorkeling & Luau

Walking down the crater to the beautiful snorkeling beach

We're ready to see some colorful fish & turtles!

Luiz (Brazil) & Wouter (Netherlands) are too lazy to walk up the hill... Let's take the trolley!

The beautiful sunset at the luau (Hawaiian for "party")!

We enjoyed hanging out with the beautiful dancers at the luau ;)

Pearl Harbor & More Waikiki!

The wall with all the names of the men who died on the USS Arizona 

The American flag hangs over the unique memorial building...

Josephine (Denmark) & Luiz (Brazil) with 

the battleship Missouri in the background

The Awesome Hawaii expedition - Pearl Harbor's USS Missouri battleship and USS Arizona Monument ---

Today we got up a little earlier than usual to go to Pearl Harbor. Our bus driver, Rhonda, picked us up at 8:00am and took us to the legendary Pearl Harbor NAVY base. 

Before we could go up to Ford island, an officer checked our bus for bags and stuff we couldn't bring into the memorial zone, he also told us that we couldn't take pictures from the bridge as we crossed over to Ford Island to get to the battleship.

As soon as we arrived to the USS MISSOURI we split into two groups. 

The yellows started out with the tour of the battleship while the reds went to do some cleaning. Our guide told us about the life on board the ship and how they made the "floating society" work. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on the 7th Dec. 1941, the ship got hit by a kamikaze plane and got damaged. Other than that, the ship didn't get any more damage during the three wars "she" fought in. There were never any battle deaths on the ship or anything. Today it's a museum in Pearl Harbor because it is the ship where the Japanese surrendered and World War Two ended.

Afterwards, the groups changed and the reds went on the tour while the yellows did our volunteer project. The volunteer project we did was to help keep the ship clean, so we got some cloths and cleaned different areas inside the ship for 15-20 minutes. It was so worth the effort we put in to get the forty-five minute tour for free! At the pier right outside the battleship, we had some time to buy souvenirs (a lot us us bought the reproduction of the newspaper from the Attack on Pearl Harbor on the 7th Dec.) and took a nice group picture by the flags.

Next, we went back to the bus to go to the USS Arizona memorial. When we arrived, we went to see a short documentary about the happenings at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attack on the island was at 8 AM and the Japanese Military came in two waves with a total of over 300 planes and bombed the harbor. A lot of ships were sunken or badly damaged. The USS Arizona was hit by a bomb that hit the ammunition storage room and made all of their bombs and bullets fire, so the ship sank within 7 minutes! On the Arizona itself, 1177 Marines and Sailers died and during the 2 hour attack, a total of 2400 Marines, Sailers, and civilians lost their lives.

Once the movie was done, we took a boat ride to the memorial, which is built on top of the wreck of USS Arizona. At the memorial, we could see under the water what was left of the wreck after the NAVY used parts of the ship to repair other ships. Several times they tried to recover the bodies, but because of the technology level at the time, they decided to let the bodies rest in peace. Today there are still over 900 bodies in the ship. It's considered a cemetery because the ship became their tomb.

Something that we found really interesting, was that the ship is still leaking oil after being sunken for over 72 years... They say it is the ship and "her" crew crying "tears".

The boat took us back and, on our way to the bus, it started to rain heavily. We ran back to the bus and went to get lunch. We all ate different things, as we had so many different restaurants to choose from. When we all got full, we went back to the hotel and had some rest and time to chill at the beach or do some last souvenir shopping.

For dinner we stayed at our hotel and had a buffet on the 21st floor. The food was good, and afterwards we enjoyed the wonderful night view, and took many pictures over the Waikiki Beach and the lit up Honolulu skyline.

Aloha from--

Joakim Selfors (Norway)
Lukas Küppers (Germany).

Hiking, Beach & Shopping!

Our day began with many a nui nui (rainbows)...

Even a double rainbow at breakfast!

Then we went hiking at Diamond Head...

We all represented our countries at the top of the crater...

It was a spectacular view and a great time 

to think about this awesome experience! 

We even got a panorama photo with most of the group...

Today was another awesome, and for some people, exhausting day.

We got to sleep in today and didn't leave until 9:30am. The mixture of sunshine and rain during breakfast created many beautiful rainbows for us to enjoy while eating on the beach.

We met up in the lobby and started a long walk towards the world's most famous volcanic crater-- Diamond Head. After a while we arrived at Diamond Head (Le' Ahi in Hawaiian) and a few of us thought that was it. But oh no! Apparently we had just warmed up on the walk over there and we hadn't even started the hike yet. We took a short break and then it was time. We started walking on the zig-zagged trail, and some of us ran, even though it was a hot day. After about 20-30 minutes, we had finally made it to the top! Sweating and panting, we enjoyed the beautiful view over Waikiki beach and the mountains. It was breathtaking... Until it started raining and we all got a cold, refreshing (all-natural) shower. We all came down and were not looking forward to the loooooong walk back to the hotel, with already tired legs. Some of us even asked if we were allowed to take a cab, but the answer was no... It was a great surprise when our bus was parked only two minutes away. We were thrilled!!!

We came back to the hotel around 12:30. Some of us that didn't go surfing on sunday went to test our skills today, while the rest of us spent the day at the beach or around Waikiki. After a long and sunny day we took the bus to the world's biggest open air mall. We were all speechless - it was huge (ginormous is the correct term)! We had a few hours to ourselves to do some shopping and after that we all met up at Bubba Gump to eat dinner. It was pretty cool because the restaurant is inspired by the movie  Forrest Gump. We even had a Forrest Gump quiz and the winners got prizes. We were set free again to finish our shopping. And a lot of us spent a little more than our credit cards (or parents) liked.

We just got back from another amazing day with Belo! And we are all super excited about learning some important American history first hand tomorrow at Pearl Harbor. 

Goodnight and  Mahalo!

- Signe & Julie, Denmark. 

Hawaiian Language Lesson

Hawaiian Words we’re learning on the trip--

Alo (face to face) +ha (breath of life)

Aloha (hello, goodbye, love)

Mahalo (thank you)

A’oli pelikia (you’re welcome)

Aloha wau ia oe (I love you)

Hau’ oli la hanau (happy birthday)

Moimoi (sleep)

Pipi (appetizer)

Pupu (beef)

Pua’a (pig)

Humuhumunukunukuapua’a (state fish of Hawaii)

Nu’uanu (highest)

Pali (cliff)

Maka (eye)

Ohana (family)

Kulikuli (be quiet, hush)

Malama (work)

Hula

Kai (salt water)

Wai (fresh water)

Ala moana (toward the ocean)

Lua (#2)

Luau (celebration, feast)

Pua (plumeria flower)

Kamehameha (lonely one, name of the first Hawaiian king)

A nuinui (rainbow)

Likelike

He’e nalu (surf)

Kane (man)

Wahine (woman)

Honu (turtle)

Vana (sea urchin)

Haoli (gringo)

Malihini (tourist, one who carries map)

Kama’ aina (one of the land, one who has come back to the land)

‘Aina (land)

Poi (staple food)

Lani (heavenly)

Mea (red)

Hale (house, home)

Ali’i (royal, royalty)

Our Secret Beach!

The famous last battle to unite the Hawaiian islands...

And what we see today! (Pali Lookout)

Our secret beach!

Eating our picnic lunch on the beautiful beach

The boys inviting us to play soccer with them

And the girls (and Giovanni) cheerleading!

Don't worry, dad, it's airbrush! Isn't it beautiful?

Let's go body surfing!

Some of the girls with Nathalia, our monitor...

Enjoying the amazing view of the lava rock coastline...

Looking out for whales...

And the blowhole in the rocks!

Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle ;)

Today we had a lazy day at the beach that started out with a visit to a windy cliff with a complicated name (Nu'uanu Pali = Highest cliff). Skirts and hats flew, but fortunately none of our friends did! :) Glorious shots were taken by many cameras, and many unforgettable memories were made, and we checked off "Pose with a BFF on a windy ledge Titanic-style" from our list of things to do in our lives.
We were able to enjoy a great view from this cliff which will be big competition with the view we will have tomorrow from the top of Diamond Head. 

In the past, this cliff was the location where a big battle was fought between Oahu's brave warriors and King Kamehameha, who forced them to chose between sacrificial death or a hope of life over the cliffs edge.

Fifteen minutes later, we found ourselves back on the bus singing happily to random songs, working our way towards paradise. On the way to the lonely beach, we made a stop at the small town, Kailua, to buy food for our lunches. After we reached the isolated beach, everybody feasted their eyes at the tropical blue and turquoise Pacific. A safety meeting with the life guard, who made very clear to us that we need to be extremely careful with the (high-ish) waves, followed our arrival. 

Everybody enjoyed the hours and, unfortunately, a few people underestimated the sun's power and took away sunburns as lasting souveniers. Strong winds created high waves perfect for adrenaline-rushing bodysurfing. The lifeguard had a boring job though, we were all safely screaming our heads off (having fun) in the water the entire time!

On the way home, we made a stop along the East Coast with one special sight, "The Blowhole". 

When the waves slam into the old lava stone tunnels, it created a fountain which looked like the spout of a whale.

We finished our day at the hard rock cafe here in Honolulu and spent the rest of the evening exploring Waikiki before headed to bed to recharge ourselves for the upcoming day. 

Moi moi (good night)

Zaza (Thailand)

Jonas (Germany)

Jakob (Germany)

The North Shore!

Our first adventure of the day- finding a seal sunbathing in Waikiki!

 

All the girls with Queen Lili'uokalani

At the beautiful state capitol building....

A group photo in front of one of only two palaces in the United States!

All the "men" with King Kamehameha 1

Enjoying time with each other on the "long" bus ride to the North side of the island

Yesterday's blogger, Lise-Maria (Norway), enjoying Dole pineapple whip

A lot of us got bracelets with our Hawaiian names written 

Our new hero-- the Japanese drummer at Tonga!

Learning to HULA!

Smiles...

Hang loose (shaka)

Wouter (Belgium) was called up to show off his Tahitian dancing skills

(Ever seen the funky chicken?!)

As was Gilles (Belgium)...

Getting tattoos in Fiji

Aloha!

We just came home from another amazing day in this beautiful paradise called Hawaii! Today we were introduced to the unique and wonderful Polynesian culture. We started the day off with breakfast at the beach where we found a very big seal just relaxing in the sun. 

After the beach we went for a bus ride around the island. Our first stop was at the state capitol building where we took lots of pictures, and where our amazing bus driver explained us a lot about the building's architecture and history. The second stop was at the Dole plantation, where we ate a lot of typical hawaiian fruit, and got to buy some nice souvenirs. Many of us got bracelets with our hawaiian names, and tattoos (fake, of course). We also got to try some yummy pineapple ice cream!  

We returned to the bus and went to a small town in the North Shore of Oahu. It is a beautiful town with only a few restaurants and shops. Some of us bought amazing hamburgers with pineapple or avocado and others ate at a fantastic seafood restaurant at the beach. 

After lunch we had the opportunity again to go shopping for some souvenirs before the bus left. We continued to follow the shore to our next stop, a local surf beach which had already "acted" in some movies. We watched  pro surfers ride waves and had to realize that we probably needed a little bit more practice before we can call ourselves pros.  

Soon we were back on the road on our way to the polynesian culture center. We passed by many beautiful beaches and Ronda, our bus driver, explained to us which famous contest is held at each one.

After a bus ride filled with, more or less good, singing and a lot of partying, we finally arrived at the Polynesian Cultural Center. First we saw a Tonga show where they used people from the audience to play the drums. It was so hilarious, many of us were crying (mostly because of the Japanese guy that didn't understand too much of what was going on...) We got some free time before we went to a hula dance lesson from a very handsome guy. Then we went to the Tahiti island for another show, it was a dancing show. Two of our guys were picked up to dance on the stage. They did an amazing job, and they really made a show out of it!

 Then some of us went to try to climb up palm trees or spin funny looking sticks which none of us was good at... We also went to an another show where a guy spoke very many languages and made fire with sticks and opened a coconut((. He was very funny! Thru finally we went to an amazing buffet dinner, they had soo much food and we could choose everything we wanted. After dinner we went to a dancing show in a huge theatre. They had some pretty good dancers, they even danced with fire (and stepped and sat on it...). It was a long show, and we were all tired after after a long fut FUN day. So some of us fell asleep on the bus back, but some kept on singing and having fun. When we got the question "who wants to go straight to bed?" and I am sure all of us raised our hand :)

Jonas Germany

Hanna Norway

Simone Netherlands

Surfing & Sailing!

The plane ride in...

Arrival at our hotel--- next to the beach!

Hanging out in the lobby, eating FroYo! (Frozen yogurt)

Checking out the beach with everyone on the way 

back to the hotel Saturday evening...

And breakfast on the beach in front of our hotel Sunday morning :)

Getting our surf lesson on the beach before hopping in the water

PS: RAINBOW!

Let's do this! Surf's up!

Wouter- our bogger- giving me the hang loose sign :)

The view from the catamaran (Diamond Head and Waikiki)

Having fun in the water! TJ knows how to flip...

Sea Turtle sighting!!!

And OCTOPUS sighting?!!

TJ is ready to paddle out and hang ten!!!

Jumping pics are the best!

Aloha world!

After a long day of traveling we arrived on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu on Saturday, where we met 55 people from all over the world. We got a lot of free time the first day to discover the beautiful beach, right across the street from the hotel, and relax with our new friends. 

Sunday we all met at the beach for breakfast at 7AM. It was warm, and sunny already. After this dream breakfast with a few rainbow sightings, the Hawaiian beach boys were waiting for us to give us surf lessons. Half of our group became surfing professionals, while the other half was wondering how good we were (while laying out to get tan). Everyone was able to catch the waves and to stand up. When the other group was ready, the wind was blowing so hard that they will have the chance to become pro surfers on Wednesday. 

After lunch, tanning, and some volleyball, we were ready for an amazing catamaran trip! First we went out to Turtle Canyon where we got to snorkel among fishes, turtles and an octopus! Then the boat went sailing around in the ocean, where we got to enjoy the music and beautiful view of Waikiki (the most famous beach IN THE WORLD!) and Diamond Head volcanic crater.

Than when we were all starving after this intensive day, we went to a pizza restaurant. So yummy :) At nighttime, we explored the main street off Honolulu were the ladies went shopping and the guys just hung out in paradise city (Waikiki)...

Now we are so tired and ready for bed. We need to be ready for another adventure tomorrow!!! 

Love from Honolulu, Hawaii!!!!!! 

Btw it is AWESOME here!!!!!!  

 Lise-Maria (Norway) and Wouter (Begium)