The Ukrainian Refugees that Tried to Raft to Vietnam

Once upon a time, I was in Laos searching for a place to camp and hoping that I wouldn't get robbed like last time.. 

The First Time I Was Robbed

I'll keep this short. 

Driving a Motorbike Across Vietnam.

Honestly, driving is one of my worst fears. And part of the reason for that fear that I'm terrible at it.. kinda like SpongeBob.  back home I often made the mistake of driving on the wrong side of a one-way road.. or not noticing curbs and driving over them.. the cars that I owned would fall apart, um, literally. I'd get honked at and/or yelled at almost every time I drove to the beach. and then there was that one time I crashed into a tree after attempting to turn too swiftly, or that time I tried to park and grinded against the car in the parking space next to it.. or that time I hit a fence.. or when I went on a road trip but my car didn't come back with me (for a reason I'd rather not say) -__-  ,etc. The point is; I fucking hate driving. 

So, I surprised even myself when I went to Vietnam and bought a motorbike while having zero prior motorcycle driving experience at all and then driving it across the country from the north to the south. 

Travelling Japan Without Staying in a Hotel or Hostel

Ah, here is a lovely picture of me inconspicuously stealing electricity from a building. 

First Trip to Mainland South Korea

 Some trips are hard to categorize and place in a "normal" blog format. Here I'll just sorta, unorganizedly (I know that's not a real word) summarize my trip to mainland South Korea.
This is more of an online journal than a professional blog at the moment. 

Jeju Island, A Freedom Camping Paradise

 Perhaps the greatest destination to camp in the world is Jeju Island in South Korea. I mean specifically for long term travelers on a budget of course. Although, I had gotten off to rough start. As a vagabond without a job or source of income at the time, it was my noble goal to explore the developed country without paying for accommodation. My first stop in South Korea was Jeju Island and I was nearing my 1 year of constant world travel anniversary when I arrived. 

Living with Hippies in the Woods

Me looking cool

When I first arrived on Kauai island in Hawaii. I was alone and slept on the beach. I have to say, I'm proud of my sleeping hole/shelter that I made. I wrote about it in my previous post. I spent over 3 weeks on that island and I never stayed in a room even once. After, I had been on the island for a few days, I met a very important person.

I stunk. The look on that one ladies face in the convenient store confirmed it. I didn't have any clean clothes.  I hadn't yet mastered my vagabond lifestyle of super cheapness.
I actually decided to spend money on a hostel room for just 1 night so I could conveniently shower and do laundry and then continue camping out the next day. I had been walking around, exploring, and also sweating a lot. I was also carrying my big backpack with me.

I started walking toward the hostel I saw in that town earlier to ask if they had a bed.
 On the way, I saw a guy about my age sitting on some steps in front of a closed shop.
When I walked by him he looked at me and said, "hey man, sit down, I need somebody to talk to!" I was shocked. What a strange thing to say to a stranger on the street. Bwaaaahh! 
"Uh, I'm not a therapist" I replied. " No, I don't need therapy. I just want someone to talk to."
I wondered if I should keep walking, but I decided to sit down.

The man's name is Kaia or Kai for short. He said he recently had gotten out of jail, which is why he really wanted to talk to someone. He was from Big Island but had lived on Kauai before. It had been 8 years since the last time he was on Kauai but he came back because of drama on the Big Island. Just like me, he had only been on the island a few days and was alone. 
A couple minutes after meeting him, a hippie walks over to us from around the corner.
 "hey guys", he pulled out a big clump of marijuana and offered us some. By the way, he was a stranger and didn't know Kaia either. He had a guitar and was carrying several didgeridoos which he said that he made himself.  A little while later, he left and said he was on his way to Kalalau Valley. Somewhere that Kai knew about.

Kaia and I became friends rather quickly and got along. Although we just met, It felt like we had known each other a lot longer. I didn't get that hostel room that night. We were both homeless in Hawaii and we slept on the beach, showered in the public rinse off stations, and did our laundry at laundromats. 

 I also learned that hitchhiking was common on that island, which is something that I'd never done. It's not as common in mainland America and it was something that I never thought I would actually do. The bus doesn't go everywhere and we used hitchiking to explore some great places on the island. Like this place...

 

Kaia is an expert hitchhiker. He taught me how to hitchhike with Aloha!



                             

Ok,  so I suppose I should get on with the hippie part that is in the title of this post. 
The place is like an unofficial community living in the woods. It's not too easy to get to it though and that's something that makes it more rewarding once you do get there.
To get there you must go on an 11 mile hike which goes up and down and up and down and so forth! 
 Well, I guess it's possible to take a boat in but I don't have money or a boat and the waves and conditions can be monstrous! I saw the biggest waves I have ever seen along the Napoli coast. The trail is also gnarly and dangerous, people have died doing it before.
Just don't lean too much while on the trail...    or do it while drunk like I did once ^^ 
Anyway, the trail is beautifully fucktastic!

My shitty backpack.

Finally we arrived in Kalalau Valley exhausted. The beach and the waves there were HUGE!
Also, many people run around naked on that beach. Sometimes the waves overtake the entire beach! I met a guy who lost his wallet to the waves by leaving it on the sand at the wrong time.

caves

After collapsing on the beach for awhile, I set up my tent. Below is a pic of my friend, JP.

who slept in a hammock with tarps over it...   it didn't work out too well for him when a rain  

storm came.

Kalalau is a truly magical place. Some people stay there for months and years with no money and live off the land. Yes, there is so much food that just grows there on it's own and they also hunt wild goats and pigs and there is plenty of water from the waterfall.

Here I am with some goat horns

                                                                                   

meat!

goat eyeballs

It was very surprising how well we ate out there. Everyone shares and as long as you help hunt, cook, pick fruit and veggies, start the fire, gather firewood, and just help out with whatever is needed then you can eat! 

There are also hikers and temporary travelers that come and go. Some people visit every year or so around the holidays. People don't use money there but trade and share. So sometimes people will hike in with supplies like cheese and pepperoni and we have pizza.

I hope you are starting to see why this place is one of my favorite places that I visited on my long trip. 

Tobbacco, weed, cheese, spices, rice, alcohol, etc. are great things to bring to trade.

Now, let me tell you about some of the vegetation growing there. First, the Noni!
There are Noni trees Everywhere!

Noni is a fruit that is known as a super-food, it's supposed to be super healthy and full of antioxidants but...  it's super disgusting!
It smells kinda like vomit and tastes like Satan's ballsack! 

(I have no idea what Satan's ballsack tastes like, I'm just trying to be dramatic).

Well, that's my personal opinion. I like to call it the Oh No-ni. Some people develop a tolerance for it and/or mix the juice with lemon juice which makes it a little better... People also rub it on wounds to make them heal faster. 

Anyway, the leaves of the Noni tree are also edible and unlike the fruit, they don't taste bad, so everyone always uses the leaves as plates, eating the food and the plate too!
I ate spaghetti out of a leaf burrito! :)

                                      

Noni leaves taste great when cooked evenly over a fire to make Noni chips.
 They become crunchy like a chip and get stronger flavor when cooked.

   Anyway, spinach also grows there as seen being cooked in the pic below... 

As well as sugarcane, lettuces, mangoes, passion fruits (we call it lilikoi in Hawaii), lemons,  lots of oranges, and etc. It was Orange season when I was there and those were the best most awesomely fucktastic oranges ever!!! They taste Waaaaayyy better than any store bought orange or Any orange I have ever had and gave a jolt energy. They were like our Redbull. I was amazed at the power of those oranges. I probably ate about 20 day. Seriously, and there was still plenty more oranges there than we were able to eat. To gather them we have to climb and shake them out of the trees. I swear they always fall better when making monkey noises.

Me in a tree

Ok, so I've written A lot about food so far. Let's move on to activities and people.. well it has a great place to swim and jump off rocks.

They also play volleyball on the beach and every night many people gather around a fire and some play instruments, sing, and chant.

I also learned how amazing and powerful it sounds when a big group howls or OM's in sync. 

This is a special and fun place I will someday go back to. before I left we had a party... 

and this is what I woke up in the next morning.

For some reason a dog who I didn't know was also sleeping inside with me and please don't ask why there is a rock halfway in...  But that story is too long (and a little bit embarrassing) to put in this post so maybe Ill save it for an e-book or something.

So I think, I'll finished describing this place by describing the people. What kind of people are in this place? What can you expect? You might be wondering. 

           

Well, you'll see a lot of outdoorsy loving travelers that come and go. They are tougher than the typical tourist. You'll also see a lot of hippies and hippie-ish people and you'll see a lot of laid back people. Oh and also a few naked people as well.
I also noticed that people like to hug others quite a bit in that community. Even if they hardly know you.There was a guy who became really embarrassed because he got an erection in front of several others after a naked girl hugged him.

I certainly met some interesting characters. A few go by names like Izzy,Grizzly,Space Dog, Uncle T and Josh. Josh was an interesting guy.. Just not his name. 
I met a guy who actually told me that Shiva told him to go there. But don't worry, no one else I met was quite as Out there as him...  At least not that I know of.

Damn, there's so much I could write about that place and this has been my longest blog post so far. I hope you enjoy it. You probably have at least some if you are still reading this. It's been over a year since I've been to Kalalau as I write this now.

This post isn't over yet. I'll explain how to get there for anyone interested.

How to get there:

So, the airport in Kauai is in Lihue, The furthest the bus goes is to Hanalei. After that, If you don't have a car then you either have to hitch-hike or walk about 7 miles or so to the start of Kalalau trail, which is the very end of the road.

It was never too difficult to find a lift.

After that, there is one problem... as usual, it's the government.

Warning: this next part will contain complaining

Technically, everyone is supposed to have a permit to camp. and the price is an unreasonable $18 per night!  The hostel I stayed at in New Orleans was $16 a night. 

A hostel with a bed and a shower for Less than sleeping in a tent that I own in the woods?

I don't believe in paying for nature. 

Sometimes I don't mind paying a little for a spot at a campground because campgrounds have a bathroom and sometimes a shower and public facilities like a kitchen area and often an outlet that I can charge my laptop with. In my point of view, I'm paying for the facilities, not for the nature and it still must be less than a hostel price...   but Kalalau wasn't a public campground.  They Seriously wanted $18 a night to take a walk in the woods..  nature that they didn't create.

 $18 a night is ridiculous. 

So Kaia and I and 2 others that we also met, JP and Michael,  all went to the start of the trail and had some ranger in a green shirt walk over to us and demand we have a permit.

I didn't  know that a camping permit was required before arriving and I was shocked to learn that. Michael, who we met the night before already a permit. So, he said " well, later." and began the hike on his own.

"Ok, fine. I won't camp if I need a permit. How about I just leave my tent here and lay on my tarp on the ground?"  I said. "That's CAMPING!" he said angrily.  

"If you spend the night in the woods, you have to pay $18 a night for a camping permit!"

"I don't mind paying if it helps support the department of forestry" JP said and pulled out a 20 dollar bill. The man wouldn't take it. "No, you can't buy a permit here. You're supposed to buy one from the office building in Lihue." 

We were very far away from there.

Then that asshole made a suggestion. We were out of cellphone signal range but he said that if we walk 1 mile down the road there is signal and we could access the internet from a cell phone and then go online and buy a permit from the website and walk back and show him the receipt and then we'd be allowed to hike the 11 miles!

JP didn't do it, he ended up sneaking on the trail. Someone mentioned to us "hey, this guy gets off work at about 4 p.m. and then no one is guarding the trail."  So we came back later that evening and hiked in as the sun was setting.  We hiked in about 2 miles and camped when it got dark  and did the other 9 in the morning.

Well, I think that's finally all I have to say for now.  wow, this has been a long post. Thanks for reading.

The Overwhelming Homelessness in Hawaii

Hawaii is different from mainland America. One of the first things I noticed was the large amount of homelessness unlike anywhere I had seen before! 

After arriving, I walked out of the airport and decided to take a long walk and explore. During the beginning of my walk, I was next to a highway with overpasses. Underneath one of the roads that rose up was what looked like a homeless city. Many people lived underneath that road. 

Up ahead I saw a homeless man walk out of the darkness from underneath the large road and he turned and looked at me. He was a large man and had no shirt on and looked mean from a distance but when I got closer, he smiled and asked "hey, are you Amish?" Haha, I probably looked a little Amish because of my facial hair and my straw hat.

When I went to Hawaii my plan was to technically be without a home myself. Hawaii can be an expensive place and I did quite a bit of camping to save money on accommodation, however, that turned out to be a lot harder than expected because of legal shit. The government hates it.

I hope I don't sound mean or ignorant but from what I've seen in mainland America, I've always got the impression that the majority of homeless people are crazy or not quite right mentally. 

In Hawaii, I got a different impression. It actually seemed "normal". 

One day I was walking in a mall and I also was carrying my big backpack. A man working behind the counter of a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop asked me where I was from as I was walking by. During our conversation, he told me that he sleeps under the bridge. I was shocked to learn that he was employed and homeless! He informed me that a large percentage of people are homeless in Hawaii. I asked why. "because It's easy!", he said excitedly.

I guess It's easy to see why. There is lots of fruit, It's warm and It's beautiful.

Me chilling in a secret spot.

 As I was walking along the beach in Waikiki one night, I was surprised to see many people were sleeping on it. I even saw a mother with her kid wrapped up together in blankets and sleeping. I usually try to hide when looking for a spot to sleep but from what I saw, It didn't look like many people even made an effort to hide. Waikiki was a generally crowded and touristy place and not very easy to find a hidden spot on the beach in that area. 

Seeing so many sleeping on the beach gave me the impression that it might be safe... 

But, please don't sleep on the beach in Waikiki, you might get woken up by some extroverted tweaker at 4 a.m. like I was.

I know now the importance of hiding.  So, I was shocked when I was walking around and saw many people camping in the city, On the sidewalk!  What the fuck???  Why? 

 Later, I read somewhere that in 2008, they passed a law in Hawaii that forbids people from camping on the beach which is what a lot of homeless people were doing back then. Of course, the reason for the law is about money. The government was afraid that people camping on the beach would look bad to tourists and tourism is a huge industry in Hawaii. 

So they all got kicked off the beach and now they camp on the sidewalk in the city and technically there is no law that says they can't. 

Some people are pushing for a law to keep them from pitching a tent on the sidewalk too but luckily for the homeless, they haven't been able to get that law approved yet. 

I was able to camp on the beach successfully but I had to be super careful and hide and I was caught and kicked out of my tent once even though I was about a mile away from a town. I was surprised to learn that some people are paid to search for campers.

However, the extreme strictness is mainly in Oahu. Oahu is a touristy island. I also went to Kauai which is a lot different from Oahu. Still had a lot of homeless though.

As you can see from the picture above, Kauai is the garden island.
There are no big cities like Honolulu. It has more towns and more countryside and a lot of the tourists that go there go there for hiking. 
When I first arrived in Kauai, I was very paranoid about cops because I had just come from Oahu. I had gotten chased by the cops in Oahu for simple things like starting a fire on the beach(not allowed), drinking pineapple wine on the beach(also not allowed), and one other minor third thing that I'm not going to put in this blog post(yet again, not allowed).

Alright, so the beach is public and it's fine to be on it but not legal to set up any kind of structure, even if it rains.

That would be considered camping.

 So I just decided to dig a big hole. Here's a pic of the shelter I made...  

The hole I slept in for 2 nights.

It was comfortable and dark and it even did a decent job of protecting me from rain. 

After spending a couple nights in my special sleeping hole, I continued to explore the island and walked to the next town. That night I searched the beach for a good camping spot. I walked a little far and found a very dark area of beach. It was quiet and seemed like a great spot. Just when I was about to open up my backpack, I heard a voice say "hello"
"Whoa! I didn't expect anyone was here" I replied surprised. 
"Yeah, I sleep here sometimes" she said. "really?, I was thinking of sleeping here tonight too." I said. 
 When she learned that I had a tent,she seemed very surprised. "You have a TENT?!! I just have a tarp". She got out her tarp and unfolded it and spread it out on the ground and then with a distressed and sad voice she said, "Oh No! It's wet"
Even, though Hawaii is a warm place, it was December at the time and can get a little chilly at night. 
I was standing there awkwardly looking down at the homeless woman who was lying down on the middle of a wet tarp in a fetal position. 
She had a light jacket on but no sleeping bag or anything.
"... uh, you look cold" I said. "Yes, I am cold" 
Even though my vision was limited from the darkness, It was a pathetically sad looking scene. I knew there was only one thing I could do to help and I felt uneasy about suggesting it to this person I just met.       
"Well, my tent is big enough for 2 people if you want to share".

She was extremely grateful and when we got in the tent she said,
"It's so warm in here, wow, this is First Class!"
We both agreed that sand is a very comfortable substance to sleep on. Beaches are very enjoyable places to camp, well, if I don't have to worry about cops kicking me out. 
If you wish to read and have not already; I wrote about some of my camping struggles in an earlier blog post.
 --> Be-careful-when-camping-in-oahu.

I got the impression that homeless people don't get as much sympathy in Hawaii. A friend who I met in Kauai and who was also homeless at the time told me that his Mom had been homeless in New York City before and had to steal food to survive. Obviously, it was a lot colder there too. So he got 0 amount of sympathy from her.  
He said that his Mom would always tell him something like, "So what? You're in Hawaii, go pick fruit."  

In this post are just some of my experiences with homelessness in Hawaii.
Thanks for reading.

Be Careful When Camping In Oahu

The great thing about being a vagabond with no obligations is being able to have a flexible schedule and flying on whatever day is cheapest. I was able to find a special deal to Oahu, Hawaii for $192 one way from San Diego! the only condition was that I had to leave on a Monday in November(it was October at the time)and that was no problem for me. Hawaii is in the middle of ocean and for such a big distance that was a cheap flight.
I had actually originally planned on going toward Europe, however, It didn't matter exactly where I go to me and I decided to take the flight deal to Hawaii.

I was wondering if someone would put those flower necklace things around my neck when I excited the plane but no one did.  :(

Oahu is a very touristy island. It is sometimes called The Gathering Place because that island has the most people on it compared to the other Hawaiian islands. I flew there with no reservations and my plan was to camp to save money. 
It seemed like a good idea since the island has a lot of nature and beach, however, I had quite a bit of trouble with it at first. It can be done and be enjoyable, however, there are a few things to keep in mind especially in Oahu. 

1. Territorial 
Practically everywhere I looked in Oahu had some type of No Trespassing signs. I have never seen so many No Trespassing signs anywhere else in my life! Every house and even forests seemed to Always have one of those damn signs. Certain public parks were also forbidden to be in after a certain time at night.

2. Mountains may be further than they appear

I had a terrible first day in Hawaii. I wasn't even going to write about it on this blog because I'm a little bit embarrassed but I just now changed my mind. 
I made a spontaneous decision after getting off the plane to walk to some mountains I saw in the distance. Those mountains were a lot further away than I expected.
I thought that because I could see the nature in the distance that it couldn't be TOO far away and also that I was tough and could walk a far distance and was in the mood for a long walk anyway.
I felt like I was so cool to be wandering around without a plan because I was a Real traveler! but then I eventually felt stupid and frustrated. It took me all day to get over there. I was also carrying my backpack and it was hot. I finally arrived where the nature was but there was one problem.. I was unable to get to it. Along those hills were houses everywhere and although the place I needed to be was right in front of me, I couldn't get there without going through someones backyard first!  I would definitely be seen or heard if I climbed over someone's backyard fence! I looked for a path or opening of some kind but it was a long hopeless road of houses, fences and No Trespassing signs. 
I was exhausted and shortly before the sun started to set, I was able to find a decent spot to sleep. It was near a bridge and a stream, however, I could not find anywhere that wasn't within eyesight of someone's house. I stayed quiet and hidden within the trees, bushes, and darkness. 

The next morning I woke up early and decided to go back to the airport and pretend that I had just arrived.

3. It rains.. A Lot

I took a few buses around the island and learned where they go and how to get around. I decided to take a bus to a beach and explore and find a good camping spot. I got off the bus in a small surfing town called Haleiwa. I thought it was funny that it had an organic health food store and a McDonalds right next to it. It was a nice town with a big park and many surfers. There was plenty of woods and nature around to hide my backpack in and I took a very long walk along that beach.

It was a great beach to explore. I walked very far away from the town and also saw a few sea turtles along the way.
Also I came across giant bubbles!

Oh, yeah. now about the rain part. 
I wandered far along that beach. I was surprised that I didn't make it to another town. Finally, the sun started to down as I was walking back towards Haleiwa. I was still probably 1 mile away from the town when I came across some sorta survival hut that someone built from wood and palm branches. Nobody was in it and it looked a little worn down.
There was nobody around me. I was alone in the dark and listened to the waves. I felt so free. The temperature was comfortable and there was a cool breeze. I laid on the soft sand and began to drift asleep.
Later in the night, I was awakened by a sudden downpour of rain! I hadn't yet pitched my tent in that area. I quickly went inside that structure that was near me but it didn't help much. The rain was heavy and easily passed through the leaves. In hardly anytime at all, I was soaked. That was a long terrible night of being wet and cold..  Fuck!
I quickly learned that it rains a lot there. It rained every night for at least some amount of time while I was on Oahu except in Waikiki for some reason? but everywhere else on that island It always rained sometime in the night.

4. Hide!

When I first arrived to Hawaii, I was still very early in my travels and had a lot to learn. OK, the mountains and the rain incidents were tough lessons but now everything is going to great! .. well, so I thought but yet again I made another mistake. -____-  

Well, actually I did pretty good, almost. the next few days were great.
I was shocked when I learned of the strict camping rules in Hawaii! Camping on the beach is not allowed. Also camping in the woods is not allowed. The only way to legally camp in Oahu is to pay $ at a campground or the sidewalk. Yes, it was technically legal to camp on the sidewalk. But I'll save my thoughts on all the homeless politics for another blog post. The point is I needed to be hidden.
In the daytime there was sometimes a few people walking on the beach and I wanted to stay out of sight from everyone. I was about 1 mile away from the town and around nothing but nature. Behind the beach was a vast forest.

here's some pics of those woods and the area I was camping in..

It was beautiful and I found a great secret camping spot in those woods. But of course the whole forest was Government Property and I wasn't even suppose to be in them.
But I wasn't hurting anything and I camped in that spot for the next 4 days.

I bought Virgil's Root beer from the health food store. I like Virgil's Root beer.. A lot

But as I was laying in my tent one morning, something terrible happened.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps outside and a voice said "hello".
I poked my head out the tent door. It was a man who worked for the government. He seemed angry and told me he that if I wasn't in my tent he had a right to take my stuff because I was camping on government property. He asked for my I.D. and I didn't argue with him.
He seemed mean at first but somehow I was able to have a friendly conversation. I started asking him questions about his job and he seemed to enjoy hunting down campers like he was some kind of badass bounty hunter or something. When I told him I had been there for 4 days already he was surprised that he had not found me for so long.
The reason he did find me was because he could see the blue of my tent through the trees while driving on a back road through those government owned woods. 
Before I left home to go travelling I bought a cheap tent from a Walmart. I didn't care or put any thought on the color. But now I know that it's super important to always Get a green tent! not a blue one!

This picture isn't of the spot I was caught in but I'm using it to emphasize the importance of a green tent. This was my tent that I had on the early part of my journey.

That government guy also told me that the survival structure someone built from wood and leaves would get torn down because sleeping in any type of structure is considered Camping. The beach however is public and is perfectly legal to be on it and at any time of the night or day.. just can't put up a structure. That pisses me off!

The government and the very frequent rain make makes it very difficult to sleep anywhere without a tent or a structure of some kind.

The man put my information from my I.D. into a computer and took a picture of me. He said I would get fined if caught again.

He also said that I could sleep there 1 more night and to leave by the morning.

I was surprised to have been found and also that people get paid to stop people from camping. As I walk along that beach sometimes I see a few other people camping too, like couples for example but I was farther from the town and more hidden than other campers I saw.

A few minutes after the government guy left, he came back and asked "hey, you're not gay are you?" It seemed like a strange and random question to ask. "no" I said. He then told me that someone was on the beach looking for some gay guy. His eyes opened wider and he said "he don't like gay people". Then he told me that he came back to make sure I wasn't gay for safety and he left again..

Well it sucked that I could no longer stay at my special camping spot. I enjoyed it for 1 last day.

I had mixed feelings toward him. I thought that guy seemed alright and appreciate that he let me stay another night and came back to check if I was gay but I really don't know why it's such a big deal to lay on the ground with a structure over my head.

I felt discouraged and defeated but I realized the mistakes I had made.

Also, another thing to keep in mind is that if I had taken the tent down in the daytime and pitched only in the darkness of night, then I know I wouldn't have been caught. At least not in the woods surrounded by trees.

I didn't camp for a few days after that. But eventually I regained my confidence and determination and was super cautious. Even if that meant digging a giant hole. I camped several more times in different spots around that island and did not get caught again.

By the way, hostels in Hawaii are about $30 a night!

that's expensive for a hostel. 

I probably should have sent couch requests on Couchsurfing.org before going to Oahu but I didn't expect camping to be so damn difficult! It was easy when I was at Niagara Falls.

Well, Actually I'm grateful for these experiences.