Hawaii: December 2021

Day 1 - Arrival Day

Travel began with Steven taking me to the airport. I snagged a quick chicken salad sub before my flight. As I headed to my gate, I learned that my flight to Vegas has been delayed enough that I would be missing my connecting flight to Honolulu. 

After trying to find solutions with Cori, we decided to keep my flight to Vegas, stay the night there, and then fly out in the morning on Hawaiian Airlines. It was not a cheap solution, but it got Keith in Hawaii 8 hours earlier than Southwest's options! I worked on the pool deck during the day, went to pick up our rental car, then called it an early night.

In-flight entertainment included digging into the Wheel of Time series breaking it up with the new Hawkeye series. Upon arriving in Vegas, I ordered some Raising Canes to arrive at the hotel right when I get there. I've never had Raising Canes before, but have seen crazy videos on Tik Tok so I decided to give it a try. For the most part, it met the hype. 

I departed from my hotel early to make my way back to the airport after a cup of coffee and a croissant from the hotel. For the flight, we decided to upgrade to extra comfort since I did not gamble large amounts of money in my night in Sin City.

This leg of the flight, I finished off Wheel of Time and started watching Dimension 20 “The Seven”. On this flight, I witnessed madness as a man in the row in front of me put on LOTR The Two Towers with an hour and half left in the flight. 

While Keith was en route, I spent the morning walking around Waikiki taking photos! I never fully adjusted to the time, so I've been waking up at about 6am with plenty of time for sunrise. After my photo walk, I made my way over to Ala Moana mall to grab some lunch and walk around. I picked up some food for Keith, since his flight left in the morning but was about 6 hours long. 

I met Cori at the airport where she had parked our rental car, and we make it back to our hotel at the Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach. Here are some facts about our hotel:

• the open-air lobby has a 280,000 gallon Oceanarium with over 600 species of fish

• it has a very cold saltwater infinity pool with a great view

• it's proudly named in honor of Queen Lili’uokalani, the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom

• you can find it next to the McDonald's

Once there, we dropped off my stuff in the room and headed to happy hour at the Longboard Club with Rob from the hotel, who Cori had been working with for her event. The Longboard Club is a club-level lounge at the hotel, available to those who upgrade- but Cori was surprisingly upgraded for free. We had a lovely cheese and meat plate, some crispy potstickers, and a few local beers. After some time there, the travel caught up with me because of the time changes, so it was time to go to bed. Keith was able to get a Caps game on tv, which was a good backdrop to some snoozin.

Some quick facts about the state of visiting Hawaii right now, too:

• Hawaii is still extremely strict on masking because of Covid-19. Every indoor place requires a mask (by mandate) and some outdoor spots required them too. 

• Vaccination cards or a very recent negative test are required to dine in restaurants. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

• Some places do temperature checks before you enter as well!

• Before arriving into Hawaii, you actually have to provide your vaccination records or a recent negative test via their Safe Travels website. They double-check this at the airport before you're allowed into the state.

Day 2 - Sightseeing Day

We started the day by seeing the sunrise over Diamond Head from a pier at Waikiki. There was a man there that could give the pigeon lady from Home Alone 2 a run for her money. We then went back to the Longboard Club for complimentary breakfast, which consisted of eggs, sausage, and bread pudding before embarking on our journey to Pearl Harbor. Free breakfast at the Longboard Club has been clutch on this trip!

At Pearl Harbor, we did an audio tour through the main museum buildings, it detailed the events leading up to the attack as well as what happened on that day. After the museum, we were able to head over to the USS Arizona Memorial on a boat. It's a very pretty memorial, and something you really should see if you've never been before. We're here just after the anniversary, so there were floral arrangements throughout the memorial from all over. 

After we wrapped up at Pearl Harbor, we went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet & Marketplace that our friends Tim and Bre told us about (they went there on their second date!). We bought matching Hawaiian clothes and other fun gifts and treats. It was a very cool place to check out and a great place for souvenirs. It was getting pretty hot, so we didn't walk through everything- but you could find almost anything here! Art, clothing, food, coffee- you name it. Way better prices than in Waikiki, just bring sunscreen and water!

The Dole Plantation was our next destination, this is where we got lunch. I had a Dole Whip float and a pineapple chili dog, Cori got a Dole Whip with raspberry sauce, pineapple, and a waffle cone, and just a regular hot dog. We took a walk around the garden and saw some plants and lots and lots of snails, surprisingly enough. From there we exited through the gift shop before heading back to hotel to rest up. The drive to/from the plantation was very pretty, it's generally a little more cloudy in that area. Definitely glad we had our rental car to get us there and leave on our own time! We didn't do the train or the maze, but those are options as well if you're stopping in!

After we took a rest back at the hotel, we went to go see sunset from the bar at Moana Surfrider on the beach. We briefly thought about drinks and dinner, but when the drinks start at $20 and the appetizers hit that $20-30 range, we're out. Forgetting to buy sunglasses was a bad choice, but the sun falling below the horizon over the sea was very beautiful. Cori will say the clouds were not right. They were not. Clouds are a huge factor in a mediocre vs. a good sunrise or sunset!

After sunset, we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise (not associated with James Buffett). I had my first Mai Tai of the trip and an Island Burger. Cori also had a burger. They were pretty tasty. The food and atmosphere was great- Keith even got to watch hockey since we sat at the bar. We wrapped up the evening with ice cream on our way back. From there we settled down for a long winter's night. 

Day 3 - Rest and Relax Day

Today, I skipped sunrise to try and get a few more Zzz’s. Cori went back to that pier and there was another bird man. It was also the morning of the Honolulu Marathon- our hotel is at about mile 6 of the marathon, and walking distance from the finish line too! I snagged a photo of Rob and his family walking the route as they made it into Waikiki!

When I woke up, we met for breakfast at the Longboard Club. I had some eggs bacon and toast. Also there was some fried rice. Longboard Club breakfasts are the best- I'm going to need access there again if we return to this hotel!

After breakfast we decided that today will be a super chill day. So we got our bathing suits on and chilled by the pool listening to Hawaiian music. The wind was blowing pretty good so we did not overheat. We had lunch of pizza and tortilla chips and a few beveraginos. I snuck in a small nap laying in the sun, highly recommend. 

After the pool, we took a quick nap (yes another nap) in the room. We went back to the Longboard Club for snack and drinks once we woke up, then we left when sunset again was coming. It was pretty amazing with some better clouds. Then we went on a shopping spree before ice cream and back to our hotel room.

Day 4 - Road Trip Day

Today we decided it is time to explore. If we haven't mentioned before, we highly recommend getting a rental car if you're staying on Oahu- there's so much to see and we were able to do it all on our own time! I wanted to dedicate one day to driving around the island, and that was today :)

First stop was Maunalua Bay Beach Park. ‘Twas nice. It was a pretty waterfront park with a small beach, not many people there at all! Next up was Spitting Caves, which was a trick since we could not figure out how we could access it, Google just took us into a neighborhood. Still great views as we drove up there. I researched this afterward, and there are a few harder-to-access ways to get there. Probably not something that Keith and I would've had the experience to do even if we tried.

After that detour, we went Haunama Bay. The parking lot was closed so we continued on. Right after that turn-off though, there was a scenic point at Kahauloa Cove. ‘Twas also nice. There's not even a page on TripAdvisor for me to link to! This was a beautiful spot- the rock formations allowed you to walk all the way down to the ocean if you wanted to, but it was more picturesque from the top (and I wasn't wearing appropriate shoes for climbing).  

Once we finished taking pictures we moved on to the Koko Crater Botanical Garden. This was more of a hike than we realized, and we were not prepared for that kind of trek. 

Exhibit A: A stick went right through Cori’s flip flop. 

Exhibit B: We did not have sunscreen on. 

Exhibit C: We did not bring water. 

But when we turned back I saw a mongoose. Keith was very excited about the mongoose sighting, as he loves seeing all kinds of little rodents wherever he might be. The water and sunscreen was fixable, but again, I should have brought better shoes- so we turned back.

We then departed for Hukilou Marketplace, which was about an hour drive around the island where I took many pictures from the passenger seat. When we arrived, we learned that the marketplace is all part of the Polynesian Cultural Center. We tried a few weeks back, but we could not get tickets to their luau. We grabbed some lunch (I had a burger and Cori had a Crepe) and we looked around the shops. We did not have much success, especially knowing that most of the stuff found here is cheaper at the ABC Store. We left with our sights on the North Shore Market, continuing around the island.

At the North Shore Marketplace, we got some java from Coffee Gallery and had some success with shopping for an art and a Christmas ornament. 

Next destination: our hotel for a quick snooze before our evening plans. After some rest at the hotel, we made our way to dinner at Arancino di Mare where we started with arancini siciliani (fried risotto croquettes, YUM) and I had tagliatelle con prosciutto e funghi, while Cori had spaghetti con melanzane e mozzarella. The food was delicious. Then we made our way to the main attraction of the evening! 

Cori had booked tickets for the Christmas Lights Extravaganza at Aloha Stadium (also known as ShowAloha Land's A Winter Wonderland). We may have had Google maps take us on an 18-mile detour, but we made it on time for our trolley ride through the lights. I have to chime in here. Because we obviously do not know the island well, we relied on Google Maps to get us everywhere. I blindly followed, and for the most part, we got to where we needed to go. On the way to the stadium, Keith and I both commented on the weird exit that Google Maps was having us take- but we followed. This resulted in us turning onto IH3, which apparently has no exits or turnarounds for nearly ten miles. After driving through mountain tunnels and ending up on another side of the island, we were finally able to turn around and head back to the stadium. 

Once we were there, we started off with this quote from Cori, “I should have expected all of these children, I don't know why I didn't.” The show was an electric light parade of joy. 

After this action-packed day, we returned to the hotel for another long winter nap. They really weren't long, I haven't woken up past 6:30am since I got here.

Day 5 Luau Day

This day's beginning should sound familiar: Cori went out to see the sunrise while I attempted without success to fall back asleep. We met up for breakfast at the Longboard Club before we went back to the room for Cori to make up some of the sleep she missed. We also took this time get our things together for our flight tomorrow. Important to note: today was our matching outfit day, we were very cute.

We then went out for lunch and shopping at the Royal Hawaiian Center where I had Cori try Raising Canes. She was not impressed. It was just chicken tenders seasoned with pepper?? IDK, I don't get it. We did some window shopping before moving on to Chinatown, where we tried in vain to find a dried flower lei. But after walking around a bit we decided to move on to our planned excursion of the Toa Luau. I'm going to assume you can't buy them dried, you probably have to get them fresh and dry them yourself. Live and learn- at least Chinatown was a nice walk. I wish we hadn't had just eaten lunch, there were a lot of good-looking restaurants there!

The Toa Luau is a family-run luau in the North Shore area that had some fun activities before a delicious dinner and a great show that highlights the cultures of many different Polynesian Islands. Definitely a recommendation for anyone visiting HI. Highly recommend this luau to anyone trying to visit a luau on Oahu! I was hesitant because of the distance from our hotel, but the one at the Polynesian Cultural Center was booked so we got tickets! It was phenomenal! It was so much smaller than the PCC luau- maybe 250 people max, which made it so much more intimate and fun. Beforehand, we got to participate in multiple cultural activities like preparing food and weaving coconut leaf crowns. The performers ran it all- from welcoming guests, to leading the activities, serving the food, and performing at the end of the night! So, so great!

Also to note, if you do book this luau- make sure to arrive at least two hours beforehand! Your luau ticket gets you access to the botanical garden and waterfall, both of which we missed because we didn't realize they closed at 4pm! 

It was about an hour away from our hotel so we headed back afterward and got ready for our short flight over to Maui in the morning.

Day 6 - Island Hopping

This was the first day that we slept past sunrise, but not late enough we couldn't get one last Longboard Club breakfast in. After a little snafu with the room key, we checked out and made our way to the airport for our flight to Maui. We also stopped at the ABC Store one last time for anything we may have forgotten. 

The flight was short, although it seemed like because it was short the passengers had forgotten how to fly on a plane. It didn't help that when we landed, nobody knew where our checked bag would come out- our flight wasn't even on the arrivals board!

We landed on this new island of fun and had about an hour ride to our new home. This time, we are staying in an Airbnb inside a resort-ish condominium complex called Royal Kahana, where we’ve rented a studio apartment. It's absolutely adorable, and just perfect for what we need. Bonus: it has a washer and dryer- one of our favorite things when traveling is coming home with a suitcase full of CLEAN clothes! It also has a gorgeous view of sunset from the balcony. 

We get settled and then immediately headed to the closest brewery for lunch/dinner. Luckily, Maui Brewing was right across the street! It's like this was planned or something... We split loaded fries, Cori had a salad, and I had a pub plate which had pork, rice, and mac salad. We may have also sampled the beers on tap. 

Uh-Oh I got drunk and started typing. I probably should not have crowdsourced my beer orders. Thank god they did not Google the cocktail menu. For clarity, Keith posted on his Instagram for his loyal followers to choose his beer selections. It went very well. On our way back we stopped at the General Store for some breakfast snacks, and wound up getting three small sleeves of donuts for $15. 

After the brewery, we felt it was a good time to just enjoy the condo and our amazing view for the rest of the day.

Day 7 - The Chill Day of Chilling 

Today we are chilling. Donuts for breakfast. We hung around the condo and did some laundry and enjoyed the view (and some Hawkeye on Disney+).

Then we decided to head over to the Front Street area that the Lyft driver recommended yesterday. We did some light shopping, saw a old big tree and got lunch. The aforementioned "big old tree" was actually the largest Banyan Tree in the United States. These trees grow from a central trunk, but have aerial roots that eventually extend to the land and look like other tree trunks. The tree shade about an acre of Lahaina and has 16 additional "trunks," making it look like there are multiple trees- but there's only ONE!

Lunch was from Captain Jack's where we split a quesadilla, Cori had fish (ono) tacos and I had a Philly Style Loco Moco. There was a sign out front that said they were closed for renovations, but my nose and ears said otherwise. Glad they did- the place was open and was a great spot for lunch!

After that mountain of food, we did some more shopping. We grabbed a few things at the grocery store in town and went back to the condo to relax and have an early night before our 2am wake-up call. Our Lyft driver on the way home was from Germany and did the Disney International College Program!

Day 8 - Awake Already

We got up to see the sunrise over the Haleakala Crater. A shuttle was set to pick us up between 2:30-2:35. Our driver Al was awesome, he stopped a few times for us to use the restroom and get beverages, and made his way up the dark and windy roads of the mountain.

Despite my tummy turning sideways from the switchback roads and elevation, we saw a beautiful sunrise and experienced being cold on the Islands. We were one of the first groups there, which was great- we got an excellent spot! By the time the sun came up, there were hundreds of people standing with us. It was around 30 degrees when we got off the bus, and there was snow on the ground! We stood in the dark and could see a lightning storm in the distance, and as the sun rose we could start to make out just how magnificent the crater was. It really was a great experience, so glad we were able to do it!

We booked this tour through Polynesian Adventure. They picked us up took us to the top of the crater and then we had breakfast before going back to the hotel after 11am. The breakfast stop at Kula Lodge was also just gorgeous! It was built on the side of the mountain and had a nice gift shop and botanical garden to browse after we ate.

This trip also served to help us better acclimate to Eastern time for our flight. Even so, once we got back we crashed hard and took a siesta. 

We pretty much spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the view. We ordered dinner from Dollie's Pub and Cafe across the street. I got to enjoy watching the Capitals beat the Jets and we went to bed early again to keep the east coast time momentum. We had an early travel day in the morning. I packed up all of our (clean!) clothes so that we could just head out in the morning, we enjoyed one last sunset from the condo before bed.

Day 9 - Home Again

We wake up at 3:45 to fly home. Lucky for me the new season of The Witcher dropped to help with the long day of travel. Until next time, dear reader.

I can't believe he wrote three sentences for the final day. 😂 We had arranged a shuttle from Maui Town Car to the airport because it was an hour away and we didn't want to rely on Lyft so early in the morning. We actually arrived at the airport before it even opened, things work a little different in Maui apparently! Once we got checked in, we grabbed some Starbucks breakfast (Keith bought even more Kona coffee), and headed to our gate.

Our flight to Vegas was pretty uneventful, I filtered through my work inbox, answered emails, and started wrapping up my meeting's budget so that Monday morning could be a little easier. We got lucky with an empty middle seat. Once we landed in Vegas, we got a notification that our flight was delayed. We grabbed lunch at the airport and headed to a lounge at a different gate for a few hours (shout out to our credit card- which gets us free access to lounges all over the world!). 

Must note: Keith got compliments on his Buc-ees t-shirt on BOTH flights.

Once we finally boarded to Baltimore (our pilots were delayed), we scored another empty middle seat! When we landed in Baltimore, it was almost 3am. By the time we got our bags and got home it was 4am. We snuck in the front door (so as not to wake our roommates, my parents), grabbed giant glasses of water (so dehydrated!), and collapsed into bed.