Hawaiian dream

by Radoslava Nikolova (Bulgaria)

A leap into the unknown USA

What do you really expect to find when you go somewhere in the unknown? Is all this a chance to create experience you will remember all your life? There are different people with different needs, feelings and situations they fall into. Isn’t that the most interesting part of all – to share these amazing and unique for every single person experiences with others? Let me tell my story… My name is Radoslava and I’m 27 years old now. I was born and raised in the European country of Bulgaria with the big dream of traveling the whole world some day. I found a decision for the money problem when I became a student in my city. Every summer of my four years of study I had the opportunity to go on Work and Travel program in the USA for 3-4 months. And here it comes the most interesting part of my life… Have you ever wonder when was the first time when you realized you love to do something? For me, this moment came for sure when I made my first more exotic trip to Hawaii. This happens when one young soul does not get enough of seeing interesting places and cities in this large country such as San Diego (my love at first sight), Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York City and others. I thought again about the money problem but even asking myself hundreds of times, the answer for me will always be the same and it is “Imagine how poor your soul would be with all these money saved and how rich would be with all these money spent?” So, after reconciling with my self, the trip was planned for the end for summer. Me and my three Bulgarian friends found cheap flights to Hawaii from San Diego where we were living and working for the past three months. And believe me, I can’t describe the impatiеnce, the expectation and the ensuing happiness of going to this amazing place. That was my favourite flight ever! And how many interesting things were yet to come! My first impression after landing at the Honolulu airport was very positive. This was the first place where I could see Hawaiian citizens with their distinctive features – the skin with so much tan but also their cute Japanese eyes. They were smiling at us and greeting us with “Aloha!” Тhey even put us a wreath of flowers! Oh, I loved this tourist trick (After all, who doesn’t watch TV and not have seen these notorious wreaths?! Of course, I wanted to get one of those! :)) On the nеxt morning, we headed to the most famous beaches with our rental car Mustang convertible (the thought of wind-blown hair seemed me like a good idea). Then I saw the ocean on the right and the mountains on the left. What a view! If there were shades to explain the colors blue and green, I would call them Hawaiian blue and Hawaiian green – there are just like no other - uniquely beautiful! Perhaps many of you have heard about the spectacular sunsets of Hawaii. Of course, as we are very familiar with the sights of tourists, after the visit to the volcano Diamond Head we headed to one of the best sunset spots on the Oahu island. I will never forget this sunset… With every passing second the color of the sky was changing from one color range to another until the sky turned bloody red. Тo this day it was the reddest sky I have ever seen. Оur incredible luck to see such a sunset was followed by the incredible chance of being stopped by traffic police for wrongly overtaking another car on the turns. We pulled over and the policeman came to us. I will never forget his words. „Are you trying to kill your passengers? - he said to the driver. The driver said “No, of course not. I apologise, it won't happen again.“ They said to each other 2-3 more things and then the policeman let us go. All this made me think how much you have to respect the law, order and people in a foreign country. My story continues but 700 words are a short part. Тhank you for the opportunity to tell part of it and thanks for the smile on my face, writing it. It was more than pleasure to share my passion for traveling and describing my experiences.