23 Sep Hawaii – Oahu

Today I am wrapping up part 3 of our trip to Hawaii. We started off in Maui, headed towards Kauai and spent the last few days in Oahu. We were both pleasantly surprised about our trip to Oahu. Many had told us it was just a big city, with lots of traffic, but we ended up loving it. We weren’t there too long and basically stayed in the same area, but my expectations were far exceeded.

Day 10 – Beach – Fly to Oahu

After landing in Oahu and picking up our rental car, we drove to check in at our hotel in the Waikiki Beach area.

Day 11 – Hiking + Beach + Pool

Colby and I started off the day by hiking at Diamond Head. Apparently the whole rest of the island had the same idea because it was packed. Lots of big group, tour buses, and little kids. The crowds were a lot so we did the 1.5 mile hike as fast as we could and were blessed with some beautiful views! After leaving there we went and did the Lighthouse trail, which was another 1.5 mile hike and thankfully, much less crowded with more beautiful views from the top. After our hikes we headed for Hanauma bay. This is a nature preserve so you have to pay $7.5/person to get in and then watch a video about the bay. The beach was pretty and there were lots of fish, but considering the fee coupled with the fact that Colby lost his wedding ring here, it wasn’t worth it. After we left, we got to meet up with a friend who I met through instagram and eat dinner together.

Day 12 – Beach

We spent all day relaxing at Waikiki beach. I loved this area because the water was so calm, unlike many of the beaches on the other two islands. The morning started off by watching the Roughwater 2.3 mile swim race, which pretty much made my day. I was so excited to watch, because I am usually participating. I was wishing I had known about the race so I could have raced, until I later found out that 300 out of the 700 swimmers had to be rescued. No thanks! While at the beach we got to meet up with two friends. It was a good and much needed relaxing full day.

Day 13 – Pearl Harbor + Fly home

After packing up and leaving our hotel we headed for Pearl Harbor. Being that it was so close to the airport, we couldn’t not go. We spent an hour or two walking around before heading to the airport for our flight home.

Day 14 – Arrive home

Tips: 

• Bring goggles/snorkel
• Get to hikes earlier for best parking options and less crowds
• You can’t beat the prices at Costco for gas and food, so if you have a Costco card, make sure you bring it.
• Bring an underwater phone case. You will be glad you did. We got this one and loved it!
• Car Rental – We booked through Discount Hawaii Car Rental and had such a good experience. The nice part was we could watch the rates and if the rate dropped (which it did) we could re-book at the lowest rate. They offer car rentals in Maui, Honolulu, Kauai, Kona, Hilo and Molokai car rentals. We also used them in Kauai and again, had a great experience and got the best price there too.
• Hotel – We stayed at the Doubletree Waikiki Beach. This offered a much better rate than those right on the beach and was about a 5 minute walk there.

Have questions? I would love to hear from you via email or comment below and I will get back to you!

I didn’t start sharing our traveling adventures on the blog until the end of 2013, but you can see some of our vacations below as well as how to travel on a budget here.

• Pacific Northwest
• Western Caribbean Cruise
• Arizona
• Hilton Head
• South America: Argentina
• South America: Torres Del Paine
• South America: Lake Region
• South America: Santiago + Coast
• Colorado
• Costa Rica: Manuel Antonio
• Costa Rica: Santa Teresa
• Costa Rica: La Fortuna
• Michigan
• Las Vegas
• Caribbean Cruise – Grand Turk + Dominican Republic
• Caribbean Cruise – Aruba + Curacao
• Colorado Ski Date #2
• North Carolina
• Maui
• Kauai

Sunglasses: Del Sol & Sili • Jewelry: Stella & Dot

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