This past weekend, Steve and I spontaneously jumped on a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii. Crazy, right?!? We decided mid-last week to take one last non-rev trip before I start nursing school this coming Monday (before the chaos begins..). After checking flights to various places, we decided on Hawaii and were on a plane to Honolulu (via LA) at 7 last Friday morning!
Talk about last minute planning... And let me just say, for a person who is not generally spontaneous, it felt so good to not care!
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| approaching the islands! |
We arrived in Honolulu around 2:30pm their time (they are 4 hours behind TX...in fact, everything is slower there). After checking into our hotel, we changed into some comfy attire (weather in the mid-70s...yess) and walked along Waikiki Beach. Just BEAUTIFUL.
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| They upgraded us to an ocean view room! |
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| So grateful for the opportunity to travel :) |
We had read from other traveler reviews that the fireworks show put on by Hilton Hawaiian Village was a sight to see, so we were looking for a restaurant to eat where we would be able to see the spectacle. After walking around and seeing restaurant after restaurant with overpriced food and extremely loud atmospheres, we stumbled upon Subway...and not a soul was there that Friday night. For some reason we were just both in the mood for something quieter than what we were seeing. We gave each other a look of agreement, and my sweet husband had the brilliant idea to get our sandwiches and walk out to the beach and eat there. PERFECT :) We saved money
and were able to have a peaceful dinner on the sand of Waikiki Beach. Best of both worlds. Yes, we missed the fireworks, but we
did hear them...does that count?? Something Steve and I have learned on our travels is this: sometimes we can become stressed trying to make the trip perfect and do and see everything that we had planned, etc. And it gets exhausting! Even at the beginning of this trip we noticed that we were both on edge simply because we felt like things were going slower than planned and that we weren't going to pack in everything that we had wanted to during our short stay. Trips are SO much more enjoyable when we go with the flow and just enjoy the time that we have together in a new place. Who cares about seeing and doing everything on the "Top-Rated Attractions" on Trip Advisor!! Our weekend trips are so short (Hawaii was one of our longer stays at 2.5 days...) and there is NO WAY to see everything in one trip. We have learned to just ENJOY :) And that we did!!
We turned in early Friday night after a long day...and lots of walking! Saturday morning we woke up early to go snorkeling in the beautiful
Hanauma Bay. The bay is an old volcanic crater that has filled with water over time, allowing coral reef and sea life to invade. So cool! After about 10 minutes of inching into the FREEZING water (okay, I think they said it was like 71 degrees...but still), we warmed up and snorkeled for a while. Saw some neat fish, but not a ton. It's supposed to be Hawaii's best place to snorkel, but the fish weren't very active while we were there. Even still, it was really awesome to swim around the reef and see all the different creatures that call it home! The sun sure felt good when we got out of the water though...there is nothing more peaceful to me than soaking in the sun's rays with the waves playing their soothing melody in the background. And with the beautiful mountains surrounding us...just amazing. Our Creator is AWESOME.
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| snorkel gear ready... |
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| crystal clear water...incredible. |
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| can you picture the crater that this used to be years and years ago?? |
After our snorkeling adventure, we checked out of our hotel and hiked down the street to our next hotel (we sound like nomads...). Why did we switch hotels, you ask? We were lucky to have enough Hilton Honors reward points for one free night stay, which we used at Hilton Waikiki Beach the first night. On top of that, we also had almost enough Holiday Inn reward points for one free night, so we used those points and only had to pay $40 for our second night in Hawaii at Holiday Inn Beachcomber Resort. $40 total for our hotel costs for the trip!! Such a steal.
We then ate lunch at
Jimmy Buffett's at the Beachcomber. Delicious. Highly recommend it if you go.
After that, we walked around downtown Honolulu. There was a neat International Marketplace right next to our hotel (the Holiday Inn was right in the center of all the happenings - great location). We walked around there for a while. Check out my new hat!
We walked on until our feet ached and then took a brief nap before heading back out for dinner. Steve had made reservations at this oceanfront Hawaiian restaurant, Hula Grill. We got a seat on their outdoor balcony overlooking the water. So fun! And the food was awesome. We had coconut shrimp as an appetizer, and we also split a Mai Tai, which is apparently the most popular drink in Hawaii. Pretty tasty! Steve got a grilled seafood mix plate and I got coconut seafood chowder. YUMMM.
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| The picture turned out kind of dark, but the ocean is the black part on top! And I LOVED all of the torches - they had them everywhere! |
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| Look at that coconut shrimp presentation. Impressive. |
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| :) |
After dinner, we made a quick trip to the ABC Store (their convenience/souvenir stores...there are 56 in downtown Honolulu alone..they are literally at every corner and everywhere in between). And then we crashed.
We woke up EARLY the next morning and took a cab to
Diamond Head State Monument (the history on that website is pretty interesting...worth the read if you have time!). You can hike to the peak and there is a great view of the city, water, and mountains at the top. Truly breathtaking. Doors to the park opened at 6am and we hiked up the peak...in the dark...
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| creepy.. |
We had read that the climb was easy...piece of cake..."you could walk it in flip flops" is literally what one review said (which Steve actually did and I would have had I not bought tennis shoes the night before - oh yeah, we forgot our tennis shoes on this trip...the obvious things that you forget when trips are planned last minute haha). Anyway, before I continue rambling, the climb was not as easy as everyone made it sound (either that or I am TERRIBLY out of shape - likely the latter). My legs felt like jelly after the 3,429 steps that we had to climb (I'm exaggerating, of course, but that's what it felt like!). But the view at the top was SO worth the climb.
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| We love sunrises! |
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| extremely effective sign. |
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| downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach |
We were expecting the top of the peak to be a bit more peaceful, but there were a TON of tourists at the top (including us). Nevertheless, still an awesome experience. In fact, I would maybe rate this as my favorite thing that we did. Oh, and note to self: START HIKING MORE OFTEN...SO fun.
After soaking in the view, we made our way back down. Steve (the sweet romantic that he is) had picked up some cheese, crackers, and muffins at the store the night before, so we ate breakfast at the bottom of the peak when we got back down (the plan had been to dine at the top while watching the sunrise, but like I said, there were SO many people and nowhere to sit - enter plan B).
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| would NOT want to take a spill here... |
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| My husband is so wonderful. So thankful for that man. |
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| We had a visitor for breakfast! Isn't he beautiful?? I had my mom look this bird up in her bird book - it is a red-crested cardinal :) so pretty! |
We then headed back to the hotel (and it was only 8:30 when we got back - what a full morning!). At 9am we were in our swimsuits and headed out to Waikiki Beach. Steve had been wanting to surf, so we found a place that rented surf boards and he hit the waves!
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my beachboy :)
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| Look at him go! I'm sure I looked like a crazy person cheering on the beach...I couldn't help it! So fun to watch :) |
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| action shot! |
After surfing (and more beach lounging), we had lunch and then showered and walked around downtown for a little while. We found this cool coffee shop (Honolulu Coffee Company) and couldn't pass it up...
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| The coffee shop - we were sitting at that window to the right. I definitely thought to myself, "wow, those windows are super clean" until I realized they were open. DUH. |
Walked a bit more around downtown...check out this beautiful Westin hotel (the coffee shop we stopped at happened to be attached to this hotel):
We then walked back to our hotel, checked out, and caught the shuttle to the airport. We were not ready to part ways with this beautiful city, but so thankful we were able to visit!
Nursing school starts on Monday, and my clinical sessions have been set for every Saturday and Sunday, from 6:30am - 5:00pm starting February 2nd. Needless to say, I am SO thankful that we were able to get one last trip in before our weekends change! God is GOOD.
Have a blessed weekend!!
