Hawaiian Holiday

Growing up, Hawaii wasn’t somewhere we thought about traveling – in part because my parents are not beach people. Similarly, I’m still not a beach person, but a good friend getting married there was a best excuse to go visit Hawaii.

Traveling to Hawaii: I took Southwest and used points, so it felt like it was free.

Flight to San Diego: 10/10 – Easy.
San Diego INT Airport: 3/10 – Eh. // The term “International” airport feels misleading when the airport is so small. It’s also in a wheel pattern, so all the gates are a piece of a pie leaving there nowhere to stand during busy times without feeling in the way. Also make sure your first flight is in the same terminal as the next flight, because if not you have to go back through security to get to the other terminal.
Flight to HON: 7/10 – Easy except for the 2 hours left mark. It felt like time stood still but once you then hit the hour, it was easy. Also southwest gave a snackbox which was not the norm.
Honolulu Airport: 7/10 – its indoor outdoor, so its very humid and there are birds flying around but otherwise easy to navigate down to baggage.

Hotel: I was between several Marriott properties (I’m in my hotel loyalty era) and opted for the Royal Hawaiian due to its beachfront location.

I had pre-booked transportation to the hotel. It was only $20 (charges per person), which was WAY cheaper than ubering. They were super easy to connect with too.

Royal Hawaiian Hotel: 9/10 – location is perfect, staff was nice, all the things you’d expect from a luxury hotel. Room was clean but definitely could use some upgrading. That being said, I have no complaints about my time there. Make sure you take advantage of some of the resort fee amenities, like lei making classes. It is directly connected to the Royal Hawaiian Center, which was VERY convenient) and it was off the street, so there was zero traffic noise. And if you can spring for the mailani tower with the ocean front room, on a higher floor, you will not regret it.

Activities in Waikiki

• Shopping: The Royal Hawaiian Center and basically all of Waikiki is filled with lots of luxury shopping. I mean I don’t know how many cities have Hermes stores one block away from eachother but Waikiki does. Come prepared.
• Walking/Running: If you don’t want to shop, you can still walk. Downtown Waikiki is super flat and the strip is maybe 3 miles long. Beware though, Hawaii does a lot of watering to try to maintain plants & minimize sand on the walkway so it’s often wet. If running, go early so you can avoid large crowds.
• Beach!: Lot of good beach parks that are both mixture of park and beach. The further down you go from the main hotels, the less crowded the beach is. You also might even see a monk seal come ashore. Keep your distance.
• Hiking: The views from Diamond Head were amazing. City skyline and ocean all in one.
• Eat: lots of good restaurants at all levels of pricing available in Waikiki. You can go the expensive good sushi meal (go to Omakase By Aung) and equally get several kinds of musubi from the ABC store which are also delicious. Leonard’s and its iconic malasadas are also in Waikiki. The hype about Foodland poke is completely real btw.

Activities Outside of Waikiki

• Kualoa Ranch: If you love Jurassic Park like I do, 10/10 do recommend. There are many varying levels of tours to take but I did the Jurassic Adventure Tour, which was the only tour offered that saw the most of the ranch. There are some odes to the movie locations but I spent most of the time in awe of the unreal mountain range.
• Shopping: The shopping I did was in Haleiwa. It’s a small, old beach town. There are some big brands, like Hurley and then there are boutiques there as well. Make sure you visit the guys at the North Shore Surf Shop.
• Dole Plantation: I honestly only went because I needed to kill time, but the dole whip was 10/10. I also bought some souvenirs for my parents. It’s free to walk around some of the grounds and see where their koi fish pond is. You have to pay to take the train tour which might have been worth it but I feel fine about bypassing that.
• Snorkeling: There are a lot of places to snorkel in Hawaii since the water is so clear. The place tiktok told me to go to was Sharks Cove and they were not lying. Lots of good fish to see swimming throughout the reef. Growing up with a loose gravel driveway prepared me to walk barefoot over the lava rock surrounding it, but if you didn’t have that set up then definitely worth it to get water shoes. Sad to report that the only bad thing that happened to me was that my flip flops at one point fell out of my backpack. I hope whoever found my favorite rainbows in Hawaii is enjoying them as much as I did! Don’t worry, I’ve already replaced them.
• Shark Diving: I saw an ad on instagram about diving with sharks at the North Shore, so I went diving with sharks at North Shore. 10/10 do recommend letting the intrusive thoughts win on this one. Happy to report nothing bad happened.
• Pearl Harbor: It was free to enter, not free to park. Make sure you also read all the directions about what you can and can’t take into the memorial. Also if you intend to go visit the USS Arizona, make sure you plan that too. I didn’t, but had been checking every day to see if there was an available ticket, and luckily got one. I think there is a standby line when you go, but it is not guaranteed. I’m grateful I got to pay my respects to those who served.
• Ho`omaluhia Botanical Garden: Also free to enter and honestly you could get lost in this place so easily, it’s huge. They have a lake with the most koi fish I’ve ever seen in one place and a lot of the perfect backdrops for scenic photos.
  

• Beach!!!: All beaches in Hawaii are public, so you can go to any beach you’d like (just make sure to park legally and don’t impede the locals to get to their houses).
  • Favorite Beach: Laniakea Beach (Turtle Beach) – Unsurprisingly, this was my favorite beach. There were SO many turtles. Just make sure you keep a safe distance away as it is illegal to touch the sea turtles (also people can narc on you anonymously to the police). Also be careful walking on the rocks, they can be super slippery. I truly spent a whole day basically there watching the turtles and enjoying the sunshine.
  • Prettiest Beach: Lanikai Beach – Not all beaches are created equally, which I was unaware of. The sand here was the softest sand and the water was ultra clear. I get why it was voted Hawaii’s prettiest beach (or atleast that’s what someone had told me). Make sure you get there early for parking. Also there are no amenities like a shower like there are at true beach parks.
  • Notable Mention: Couldn’t go to Oahu and not visit the North Shore. The sand was not super soft, but there was convenient parking. There was also a Foodland nearby for you to pick up some lunch. It was crazy to sit and think about how crazy the waves get there during the winter.

Tips for Hawaii

• Prepare for humidity.
• Hope you like chickens, roosters and birds in general.
• Don’t feed the chickens.
• Rental car was worth it.
  • The bus system is supposed to be cheap and an effective way to see the whole island but what is only a 45 minute drive (Waikiki to North Shore) can turn into a few hours.
• Respect the locals (animals included).
• Portable chargers will get you through beach days.
• Don’t put your flip flops in your packable backpack side pocket.
• Good idea to bring some cash for the random odds and ends (like food trucks).

Traveling Home:

I opted to fly Delta First Class home knowing that my flight to was basically free and everyone told me how miserable the ride home would be. Make sure to leave extra time when going through the Honolulu airport as you have to go through the agricultural check. I actually ended up flying home DeltaOne because Delta tried to bump me out of first class due to overbooking. Flying DeltaOne 10/10 do recommend. Pro tip: watching the office laying in your lay flat seat will make the flight feel like 5 seconds instead of 7 hours.

All in all, I had a great time. I know people told me 10 days in Oahu would be too much time, but to be honest I’m sure I could’ve spent way more than that there as only a day and a half at turtle beach did not feel like enough. Can’t wait to go back and explore more.