Travel Diary: O’ahu | Hawaii Part 1
One week in Hawaii – O'ahu to be exact – was the highlight of the road trip through the western USA. After three weeks of spending at most three nights in one place, the prospect of a week in the same hotel was really tempting.
As much as I like to travel, I need a break from time to time. Especially in combination with the farewell from New York it was a bit much at some point. Hawaii and a one week break was just the right thing to do. Even though I had planned to do a lot, it was clear to me: on Hawaii I would first decelerate.
Day 1: Arrival from LA& first impressions
The morning starts way too early: I overslept a bit, and I'm stressed out. At least we still make it, somehow at the last minute, for me the purest horror. I prefer to sit at the airport for half an hour longer and do nothing. Once on the plane it goes but then – over 6 hours. When we arrive, we are immediately greeted by good weather. We did without flower wreaths as a welcome gift, because it is just too expensive for us. The ride to the hotel by cab takes relatively long, for the first time we can't order an Uber. Arriving at the hotel, we can at least go straight to the room, although we are actually still too early. And it is beautiful.
Once arrived the bikini is unpacked. The first way leads directly to the beach – just a few minutes walk and we are at Waikiki Beach. Despite a lot of sunscreen I go home with a first sunburn, it goes faster than expected here. Dinner is in a restaurant directly on the beach, then we go to bed early, the day was already long enough thanks to the stressful morning.
Day 2: Just beach
Although I would like to explore the island, today we first relax on the beach. The pool, which belongs to our hotel, is hardly used at all – when the ocean is so close, it becomes superfluous somehow quickly. In between, when I need a bit of shade, I go to a bar, because there are relatively few umbrellas. On the beach we plan the next days, but in general for this week: everything is very relaxed.
Day 3: Honolulu, Para Sailing& Waikiki Beach
Just like yesterday, the first thing we do is have breakfast – right around the corner there is a store that we will visit every morning for the rest of the week. Because it tastes good and the price is okay, and because we really don't want to stress out.
Afterwards we go to Honolulu. Not really in the middle of the city yet, because we want to take more time for that. Because at 11 o'clock it goes for us to the Parasailing, before that the time is enough only for the 'Iolani Palace and the Hawaii State Capitol. Afterwards we go directly to the harbor – I am a bit nervous, although I was the one who wanted to go parasailing. But flying 50 meters above the water? That sounds quite exciting all of a sudden.
With a group of 10 people we go on the boat. Always two fly at the same time for about 5 minutes, then it's the next one's turn. We get the life jackets directly, while the boat goes out to sea, we get a short briefing. I can hardly wait for it to be our turn, and then it's over way too fast. But: this was surely not the last time parasailing for me! The parasailing I have found a few weeks before on Groupon and struck directly, because so we have saved about half of the price.
In the afternoon we only go to Waikiki Beach. Somehow I decide that I won't take surfing lessons anymore, so I buy a swimming tire, which is a small consolation. The waves at Waikiki Beach are super high, and I feel like I was a kid again, in Greece at the beach, when the waves were bigger than I was. Dinner directly at the beach, watching the sunset, another beer, a cozy evening.
Day 3: Lanikai Beach
In the evening at the hotel I did some research and found Lanikai Beach – a nice change to Waikiki Beach. The waves are much calmer here, moreover there is more shade, and there are much less people here. It will be a wonderful relaxing day, luckily we got some food in the supermarket, because there are no restaurants or bars here either. When we get hungry at some point, we start our way back to the bus stop and drive from there back to Honolulu. There I have dinner at the Ala Moana Center, after a short shopping trip. The warm weather, the sun and the laziness make tired, also this evening will be spent in front of the TV and with a little blogging – but that has to be done sometimes!