Oahu, Hawai'i: Part One
Well, if you follow me on Instagram, you must’ve known this was coming - and if you don’t, well, surprise! I was in Honolulu for a couple of weeks! This is totally why the last few blog posts have pretty much entirely consisted of graphics and none of my own photography, so sorry about that, but I am back with all of my own photos for ya! I’ve decided to break up this blog into two parts since I was there for 10 days (10 and a half, really), so there’s lots to share both in text and in photos. I’m going to stop with this intro now and get into it, because there is a lot for me to share in just the first five days!
Saturday, February 8
DAY ONE: TAKING IT EASY
Our travel day ended up being a little longer than expected. Our first flight boarded on time, and got us to Toronto on time, but unfortunately our flight to Honolulu from Toronto was delayed, and ended up being delayed for a good two hours. No big deal though, it still was getting us to Honolulu around 4:30pm, leaving us plenty of time to get to our Airbnb, and get to do a little touring around.
After waiting a bit, we finally got to board, and off we went, on our near 10 hour long flight to Hawaii. As long as 10 hours is, I have to admit, it didn’t feel as bad (or lengthy) as we expected it to, and I didn’t even end up sleeping on the flight. It definitely helped that we were on a newer plane, and the entertainment system on board was awesome. If anyone knows how much I love How I Met Your Mother, you can only imagine how excited I was to see that season 2 was available to watch. That definitely helped the flight, pardon the pun, fly by. When we started to make our descend into Honolulu, the first thing I noticed was how bright it was, and the teal blue waters leading up to the landing. As beautiful as the photos I took ended up, it doesn’t even begin to show how absolutely gorgeous Hawaii really is.
Once we got off, got my checked bag, and got checked into our Airbnb, it was around 5pm, so we did a little exploring around Waikiki, grabbed a quick dinner at Taco Bell, and walked over to the Ala Moana Center to check out Target, get some snacks, a bottle of wine, and I bought myself a pair of sandals, and a fanny pack that I absolutely did not need. We spent a couple of hours exploring around the mall, headed back to the Airbnb, and hit the hay for the evening, at like 8:30pm, after a long day of travelling.
Sunday, February 9
DAY TWO: WAIKIKI BEACH & THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN
Sunday started off as a pretty uneventful day. Given that we were up around 5:30am, and a little jet lagged to say the least, we took it easy that morning, and went to grab some breakfast at the cutest little restaurant called Cream Pot in the bottom of the building we were staying in (link to the Airbnb we stayed in will be at the bottom of the blog). Unfortunately, we weren’t actually allowed to take any photos in there, but trust me when I say it’s the cutest little brunch restaurant ever, and they make a delicious french-style omelette. Once we finished up breakfast, we decided we wanted to take a little walk down the main strip of Waikiki where all of the resorts along Waikiki Beach were. We were super lucky to have a place that was within a 10-minute walk down to the beach, so it didn’t take much time at all for us to get there before it got super crowded with tourists. But before we even made it to the beach, I asked my boyfriend if he would mind if we grabbed a drink at The Royal Hawaiian’s beach side bar, the Mai Tai Bar and wow, having an Aperol Spritz beach side just hits different!
Once we got to Waikiki Beach, we took one look at the water coming up on the sand and decided to take off our shoes and walk along the shore… which instantly turned into my boyfriend & I looking at each other and saying “let’s go get our swimsuits and come back”. We took some more photos along the beach, rinsed our feet off, and headed back to our Airbnb to slather ourselves in reef-safe sunscreen & get our beach stuff. Once we got everything together, we headed back down to Waikiki Beach, put our stuff on the sand and jumped right into the water. The waters of Hawaii are seriously the most stunning teal blue, and so warm it takes almost no time at all to adjust to the temperature of the water there. We ended up moving along down the beach to a different location, swam there for a little bit, and sat in the sand for about 45 minutes, and suddenly it was 4pm, and time to grab some dinner. As we packed our stuff up, and headed out, I started noticing the undeniable pain of a sunburn starting around my neck & back, and so did my boyfriend. Yep, we got burnt on our first real day there.
We ended up just grabbing a quick dinner at Sbarro in The Royal Hawaiian Center, and well… Emily, queen of the birds, got attacked by an island pigeon for my pizza. (If you don’t know, I despise birds and I’m absolutely terrified of them) So not only did I get a sunburn, but I also got attacked by a bird on my first day in Honolulu! So far, so good, eh? That’s my only real complaint about Hawaii - the birds there are ruthless and ballsy man! Just know this if you’re planning a trip there & don’t love birds, like me.
Monday, February 10
DAY THREE: A RAINY DAY AT THE BISHOP MUSEUM
My boyfriend & I both agreed that we’d stay out of the sun given that we both had a pretty wicked burn on our backs, but we luckily ended up having a pretty rainy day, so it made staying out of the sun a lot easier than if we didn’t. We started the morning off with hanging out in bed a little longer than we wanted to, and looked up some museums we could check out, and decided to go to the Bishop Museum. If you’re going to be heading to Honolulu, I highly suggest making some time to go to this museum as you really get to immerse yourself in the history of Hawaii, and the culture of the people including seeing replicas of the boats they used, homes they built, what kind of foods they ate, a hall of paintings of their monarchs before they became apart of the United States (if you don’t know, it’s not a happy story). There was even an exhibit happening when we were there called Mai Kinohi Mai Surfing in Hawai'i, which is happening until May 3rd and even features a replica of the 27’ wave that Duke Kahanamoku infamously rode. It really puts into perspective how amazing, and powerful the ocean is! I think my favourite part of the museum though, was reading all about the traditions and stories of the pacific islanders - it really makes you respect the island that much more when you see that the Hawaiian people always believed in taking care of the land & waters, and that you absolutely should too.
After we finished up at the museum, it took us a little bit of time to get back into the city, but once we got back, we had a pretty uneventful afternoon given that both of us were still in pain, but we ended up taking a walk down to the grocery store, picking up some snacks to keep in the Airbnb for when we got hungry, and I bought myself the most beautiful purple orchid lei, which was only $9! I was definitely expecting lei’s to be much more expensive, and some were, depending on the flower that was used, but they’re truly gorgeous and keep really well in the fridge.
Tuesday, February 11
DAY FOUR: WAIKIKI AQUARIUM & PEARL HARBOR
Tuesday ended up being another mildly-rainy day, so we started it off easy with grabbing a local-made breakfast at this tiny restaurant called Goofy Honolulu, which had the most delicious omelette in a bowl with mushrooms, corn, spinach, kale and topped with sliced avocado, cheese & sour cream. Breakfasts there are generally served with salad and rice, which was a nice change from the usual heavier breakfast sides of Canada like potatoes and meat (if you eat meat, haha).
Once we finished up breakfast, we headed for the Waikiki Aquarium, which had so many beautiful fish and sea creatures. I’m not someone who generally supports aquariums, however this one was not like SeaWorld where they’re profiting from making these fish jump for food. Like I mentioned above, the Hawaiian’s believe in taking care of the ocean and the animals in it, so this aquarium was all about educating people on these fish, and really why it’s important to take good care of the ocean to keep them alive! This all being said, my favourite part was checking out their rescued monk seal*, Ho‘ailona, who was abandoned by his mother when he was a pup, which just broke my heart, but made me happy knowing he was well taken care of & able to survive because of the aquarium’s help. He was adorable, and absolutely hilarious, rolling all over the place & making noise looking for the handlers to give him more fish.
* More information about their Monk Seal Exhibit is linked here.
Once we were done at the aquarium, we decided to make our way up to Pearl Harbour. When we arrived, we instantly saw a sign saying that the tours to USS Arizona Memorial were sold out. We were pretty bummed, but we got in line & bought tickets to tour the USS Missouri. The person working the desk asked us if we’d be going to tour the memorial, and we said no, the sign showed tickets were sold. We were instructed to go ask if they had extra tickets (a tip if you ever go too & see that sign, just ask!), and turns out they did have some tickets left! Of course, we took them & went to our tour. It starts with a somber video recapping what happened at Pearl Harbor, and then you board a boat to proceed to the memorial.
When you arrive at the memorial, you’re asked (rightfully so!) to be quiet & respectful given how many soldiers died & were trapped on that boat we were about to stand over. When I say it’s an odd feeling standing over a boat knowing this was thousands of peoples resting spot… it’s just an odd feeling & you instantly realize how respectful you must be, whether they ask you to or not. My personal favourite spot was the wall of names of those aboard the USS Arizona, and the two pillars in front where they added the names of those who survived, when they died. A lovely tradition that just brings tears to my eyes is the survivors of Pearl Harbor can choose that when they die, they have their earns placed on board the ship so they can once again be with their brothers. Very heartwarming & sad if I do say so myself.
Once we got back to the main museum, we went to get in line for the shuttle to the USS Missouri, and turns out… it was closing in less than an hour. And I couldn’t get my money back. So please keep in mind, if you get there in the afternoon & it says the USS Arizona tours are sold out, ask first before buying tickets to anything else, because it may not always be the case. Like I said to my boyfriend that day, I hope the US Navy appreciates my $50 USD donation, haha.
Wednesday, February 12
DAY FIVE: DIAMOND HEAD & THE BEACH
Getting up bright and early Wednesday morning, my boyfriend and I headed for Diamond Head State Monument to hike up the inactive volcano. Everyone kept saying it was a mellow, easy-going hike, but if you’re like me, and pretty dang out of shape… it’s not so easy. I will start by saying, it’s uphill the entire time, and it’s not a smooth climb. It being a volcano makes it that it’s very rocky and bumpy, so if you’re not very well-balanced, it may not be a good hike for you to do. Secondly, as you reach the top there are a ton of stairs you need to climb, and the ones that specifically scarred me was the flight of stairs that are right before a little cave tunnel you need to walk through. So if you’re claustrophobic, much like me, be forewarned, there’s a little dark, uphill tunnel you have to walk through after a flight of like, 50 stairs. That all being said, the views from the top were absolutely worth it, and you feel so good knowing you’ve accomplished that hike. Make sure to get there early in the morning, because it does get crowded pretty quickly - we started walking down around 9:30, and it was already becoming much busier going up on the trail than when we did it. At the end, I treated myself to a coconut water from an actual coconut, which I did not end up liking, so I gave it to my boyfriend, but it still made for a serious cute photo!
Once we finished up there, and head out, we stopped at the Kahala Mall to grab something to eat, and I did a little shopping before we headed into Whole Foods to grab some Beyond Meat Beyond Sausages to make for dinner (spoiler: they were amazing, and I’m anxious for them to available in Canada!) On our way back, our bus took us by the most beautiful beach at the base of Diamond Head, so when we got back to our Airbnb, we instantly put on our swimsuits and headed for that beach where we ended up hanging out for the entire afternoon. It was very windy, and definitely more of a surfers beach, but it was way less crowded than Waikiki Beach, and though I didn’t swim, we walked along the shoreline for a bit, and I watched the people surfing. It was a lovely, relaxing ending for what started as a super physical day!
That’s all for now! It does say part one, after all… part two will be coming on Friday, and I’m going to delay my February favourites until next Tuesday because I can’t wait for you guys to hear about the rest of this trip. See you all again on Friday for the remaining recap!
* The Airbnb we stayed at. Shujie was a fantastic host, and the condo was very clean upon arrival. I can’t recommend their condo enough to anyone who is looking to do Honolulu on a budget.
