HONOLULU (KHON2) — Kreskin Torres has spent the previous few years touring throughout the nation, hanging out with the locals, studying about the tradition and consuming the perfect meals. The Baltimore native, also referred to as The Rideshare Foodie, makes use of Uber and Lyft to get round and pay for his method.
Last week, Torres landed in Hawaii for the primary time, celebrating his thirty fourth birthday early and marking the final state to go to. Though this meals tour throughout all 50 states comes to an finish, it’s solely just the start of Torres’ journey.
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“I’ve done the states, but I got a lot more to do,” stated Torres.
So far, he’s made 12,000 Uber/Lyft journeys to help about 2,000 native companies.
If there’s something Torres has discovered throughout his time driving individuals round, it’s that we should always get out extra and meet different individuals.
“Which I think is really needed because a lot of people feel comfortable, where they want to stay comfortable,” he stated, “and I think people need to get uncomfortable… because people don’t know much about other places other than what they may see on a movie or TV show.”
Even in Hawaii, he’s heard from individuals who haven’t explored completely different elements of the island, and it’s the identical factor on the mainland. He is aware of individuals who dwell in San Antonio who haven’t been from east to west.
Torres desires individuals to know that it’s nonetheless the identical America on the market. Every place is exclusive, and it’s greater than what you see on the information or in leisure. After spending time in Baltimore for the higher a part of his life, Torres determined to discover the world when he visited London in 2017.
After spending a month in Europe, Torres determined he wanted to journey extra. He took his first step outdoors his consolation zone when he visited Jackson, Mississippi. He cherished the meals, the individuals, the tradition, the hospitality — the primary place of his highway journey throughout America holds a particular place in his coronary heart.
“It’s really awesome to experience authentic or true local culture,” Torres stated, “because most of the times when you go to like a bigger city, you have a lot of like transplants. So you get different vibes of different people from different places, where like small towns, most of the people that live there are from there.”
By assembly lots of people, Torres has additionally obtained many alternatives. He even obtained an invitation to stick with an Amish household in Holmes County, Ohio.
And when individuals ask him how he picks his subsequent vacation spot, he stated he figures it out alongside the way in which.
“I’ll stop at small towns, you know, random cities I’ve never heard of, especially if I pick someone up in my Uber or Lyft, and they tell me they’re from a certain town,” he stated.
Torres provides that he’ll often be a part of a Facebook group that’s neighborhood pushed and can ask for suggestions. It’s a method to join with locals, and that’s how he discovered about O’Kims.
Out of all of the locations he’s visited in Hawaii, O’Kims in Chinatown takes the crown.
“The locals have been really showing me that aloha welcome and the meaning of mahalo,” Torres instructed KHON2 on May 12, Thursday.
During his Hawaii journey, Torres actually needed to know the way costly it’s to dwell right here after he met locals on the mainland who all the time introduced it up.
“So I get to here, and like, okay, you see the gas prices, I look at the candy bars, and what I realized that there’s certain things that are expensive,” he stated, “and then other things that are kind of the same prices you would get on the mainland.”
People may assume he’s on the lookout for costly eating places, ones you may see on Food Network, however that couldn’t be farther from his case.
“I’m from Baltimore, so that’s the perspective I’m going in with is, right? We have corner stores, we have like the Wawa, the RoFo, you know, things that locally, you know, just people that live there know about? So I’m like, ‘Okay, what is Hawaii?’ Orange Bang. I found out about the Orange Bang.”
FAVORITE HAWAII RESTAURANTS & FOODS
- Laverne’s Lunch Wagon And Catering for lau lau, squid, poi and kalua pig combo plate with ardour orange drink
- Leonard’s (Pearlridge Center) for malasadas
- Ted’s Bakery for loco moco and strawberry chiffon cake
- O’Kims in Chinatown for truffle mandoo, confit pork stomach, kalbi steak and Korean fried rooster (Best Korean restaurant in Hawaii, in accordance to Yelp)
- Banán (Waikiki Beach Shack) for pineapple yacht and banana ice cream
- Dole Plantation for Dole Whip
- ABC Store for some fast spam musubi and souvenirs
- Mina Stripsteak for Mai Tai and a Tiki Jamaican Punch
- Legends Sports Pub for affordable drinks and photographs
- Chun Wah Kam for a Managua
- Elena’s Restaurant for rooster adobo fried rice omelette
- Aloha Stadium Swap Meet for coconut water
- Rainbow Drive-In for combine plate combo plate and Hawaiian beef stew plate
- Zippy’s for Korean fried rooster plate
- Soul Wings for Yang Nyeom (candy and spicy) Korean fried rooster
Torres has been fortunate to have the locals present him these areas since he’s unable to Uber right here. According to Torres, you might have to be an Oahu resident to give you the option to use Uber, however he can do it on Maui or the Big Island.
However, he received’t be visiting Maui or the opposite neighbor islands simply but, or a minimum of not till his checking account has replenished. But when he does go to subsequent time, he is aware of what to do.
“When I go back to London or go back to Europe, I’m gonna backpack now because I got to, you know, experience it and ride the tube system and everything like that the first time,” he stated. “Same thing with here, when I come back, okay, now when I got the basics, you know, now I can go explore and dip out and everything.”
This way of life isn’t for everybody, although. Torres stated the principle factor you want to have is time, then in fact, cash. Some individuals marvel how a lot you possibly can earn by driving for Uber or Lyft. Can it actually cowl meals, accommodations and different bills? Torres stated it relies on town.
In Austin, Texas, Torres stated he might simply make $300 to $350, generally $400 a day.
“Because they have so much traffic and since they have so many different events, but it just depends on the city,” stated Torres.
And for accommodations? For the primary few years, Torres stated he was simply crashing in his automotive.
“Because when you think about it, 60% of your income goes towards where you live, your rent, mortgage, lodging — that’s most of your income,” Torres defined. “So this was the first road trip I started, and that’s when I started, like, getting into my sense of being a minimalist.”
For the primary yr, he calculated about $10,000 saved up.
“I’m like, ‘Oh no,’ like I will crash, go on the road, and I can stay wherever I want,” he stated, “and I’m not tied down to — I gotta get back so I can pay rent… But that’s the reality is most of your income goes towards we live.”
Torres stated that’s how he’s in a position to do that.
“You gotta get uncomfortable, because I’m like, you can have all these different experiences, like, what are you willing to give up? You know, to get there?” he stated.
Torres continues to be determining the place he desires to go subsequent, however in some unspecified time in the future, he desires to do a global tour, beginning with the Philippines.
“I’m not going to be able to drive Uber there,” he stated, “but I’ll be able to go, and then you get to, you know, meet other people from other countries that’s probably never been to America.”
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In the meantime, look out for his app The Rideshare Foodie, which is able to compile native suggestions of locations he’s been to thus far. Want to know the place to get the perfect taco? Who’s the perfect bartender within the space you’re in proper now? Those solutions will probably be obtainable quickly.
“I actually lived it out and it has a backstory. People feel a part of it,” Torres stated.
The Rideshare Foodie app is anticipated to launch subsequent month.