14 Jan – 20 Jan 2018
The second week of our trip in Hawaii was filled with so much more excitement since we ended up having a three day weekend due to Martin Luther King Jr. day.
Our first day off, 13 Jan 2018, I shall never forget.
We had big plans for that day. First in the morning we were going to Pearl Harbor to visit the Arizona Memorial. From there we’d go to the Iolani Palace, the only palace in America that was home to the Hawaiian Royal family for around 80 years. Then we’d continue on to Diamond Head to enjoy the hike up the crater and see some amazing views of the island and Honolulu from the top.
The day started normally just like any other day. The sun rose, I woke up, the hustle and bustle of the city was starting and I ate my french toast breakfast. (I had french toast just about every morning for breakfast. It was so good!)
We decided to leave a bit early to get to Pearl Harbor and grab ourselves a ticket to get in. We were told a lot of things about how to get a ticket and how to get one in advance, but I got the inside scoop from a friend that lives there. She said to just grab a ticket and no matter what time it says just go over to the theater and say you’d like to be a standby. So that was our plan to get in as soon as we could. Well there was no plan for what was about to happen.
We were just driving down H1 like normal when all of a sudden we got an Amber Alert that said the following, “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRIL” .
We both saw it, looked at each other and at the same time said, “What the f*ck?” Next thing we know a radio announcement started playing that said the exact same thing. I just thought to myself, “Really? My one time I’m in Hawaii and there’s a missile coming towards us.”
We were looking around and all of the cars in front of us continued to drive so that’s what we did until we made it to the entrance of Pearl Harbor. There was a security guard at the gate and when we stopped he asked us if we got the announcement so we said yeah, and he said “okay, just park your car anywhere. You need to go get in shelter.” So we just parked the car right in the middle of the lot and went to the closest building they had. They rushed us inside and proceeded to tell everybody to hunker in place.
Now let me tell you. First off this “shelter” was the souvenir shop. So yeah, like that’s really going to protect us from a ballistic missile. Second, I’m hoping the irony isn’t passing you on the fact that I was at Pearl Harbor when this was taking place. Third, people were beyond terrified during this situation.
Now obviously, since I’m writing this and I’m sure you saw the news, there never was a ballistic missile. Someone just “pushed” the wrong button. However for those 38 minutes between getting the amber alert saying there was a missile and getting the amber alert saying there isn’t a missile, it was very real. Then like 10 minutes into it all of the sirens across the island went off.
I’m not going to say I wasn’t scared, but at the same time I wasn’t crying my eyes out like the girl sitting beside us. You literally could’ve mopped the floor with the amount of tears she was putting out. I’m not being insensitive, I’m just stating facts here.
The question I’ve been asked the most about that whole ordeal is, what was I thinking. Well when we first got the message you know what I said aloud already haha. I’d say I was more nervous and confused than anything. I was texting a friend at that moment and told him what was going on and that I’d have to talk to him later. When we were in the shelter I texted my parents and told them I loved them. Those were the only people I directly messaged. Besides that I had a story on Instagram going of what was going on so I could reach more people and keep them updated.
In the moment I wasn’t really thinking about anything else besides staying calm for those around me and trying to figure out if this was actually real. I was on my phone the entire time watching for updates. I didn’t really think that I was about to die, but I wasn’t sure either. I just figured we have a military and defenses for situations like this and we’d come out fine. Which we did come out fine.
Finally, there were reports coming out from the news that the entire thing was false and there was never any real danger. Then we were told that it was all clear and everybody was happy again. Now realizing they weren’t going to die.
Once that was all over we went about our business and I headed to the ticket booth to grab our tickets while my coworker went to the car and parked it in an actual parking spot.
Since nothing like that had ever happened before the staff at Pearl Harbor was in bit of a disarray which was totally acceptable and I gained an important insight to share for all of you who would like to visit Pearl Harbor some day. If you ever want to get to the front of the line, just go when there’s a ballistic missile on it’s way 😉 haha.
But yeah, that was the start of my weekend! Quite the experience I have to say and it made my trip to Hawaii even more unique. Now I can say I survived a missile attack at Pearl Harbor.