Tuesday 2/10
Ubered after dinner to Holiday Inn LAX for $69 (best price I saw…most of the day, it was between $83 to +$100). Tipped $15. Picked this hotel since it had a free shuttle and also didn’t need breakfast as the airline would provide. Glad we didn’t drive since parking fees at LAX hotels are horrendous.

Wednesday 2/11
Woke up at 5:30am, got on shuttle at 6:25am, got off on Terminal 6 and done with security by 6:45am! So surprised that it was so quick and had an hour before boarding time. Seats 39g and 39h, I had packed cheese, fruits, veggies, and container for breakfast for hubby and I ate 2 turkey sausage breakfast sandwiches and spicy tomato juice, flight was 5 hr 15 mins and arrived local time 12:30pm. Explored the Honolulu airport and relaxed at their cultural gardens. I visited the IASS lounge (no food or snacks and drinks could not be taken outside the lounge…2 out of 5 stars). Had some guava juice and lemon iced tea and was out in 7 mins.

Funny that our first meal in Hawaii was L&L. Had BBQ chicken plates and spam musubi $35, Ubered to Residence Inn in Kapolei $29 + $6 tip, arrived 3:15pm, got complimentary upgrade to a suite (had separate living room and kitchen!), took a much needed nap, then explored the fitness center, walked to Foodland for groceries $34 and discounted musubis, L&L (again?) $17, and brought back to hotel for dinner. Took a much needed shower (weird partition since water gets on the floor) and last midnight walk before sleeping. Writing this a 5am next day since can’t sleep. Need to try since doing the adventure course today!

Thursday 2/12
Yesterday, was up early (today too!). Had breakfast at the hotel (standard Continental food…miss breakfasts in Asia). Anson ran to Target to buy gloves while I checked out Foodland poke to get at lunchtime. Walked 1 mile to Coral Crater Adventure Park $59 and did the adventure tower at 11am. We had 2 other people in our party and our guide was named Stephen (tipped $10). I was able to complete part of the course and liked the freefall baley at the end. It only took an hour which is less than other ones we’ve done Dallas/Buelton, so it’s nice that we got this on the Go City pass, but would be disappointed if had to pay retail price.

For lunch, walked to Foodland and got two poke bowls (one premium wasabi salmon and one regular Hawaiian ahi tuna) $19 while Anson got L&L $17 again. The fish was pretty good, and next time, I should just buy the fish by pound. This L&L doesn’t seem to give as much chicken. Went back to the hotel, Anson was able to troubleshoot and fix my phone that couldn’t send/receive MMS messages, watched the movie Happy Death Day, then swam in the “heated” pool (only went down to a depth of 4.5 feet). Used Uber eats for takeout at Ramen Bones $32. Got Anson chicken fried rice while I got tonkatsu ramen (haven’t had ramen in years!) Might switch up the schedule tomorrow and do all the things at Pearl Harbor…

Friday 2/13
Today has been dedicated to all things Pearl Harbor. We ate breakfast at the hotel, packed some eggs and croissant sandwiches + our veggies from Foodland for lunch, then Ubered with Hema (she had some good suggestions as she used to be a tour guide) for $27 + $9 tip to Pearl Harbor. The first few times we came here, I didn’t even know there was the Ford Island and that it had all these museums to explore! Used the Go City pass for three different museums here that it almost covers our pass already. We first took the shuttle to the Battleship Missouri $40 and was able to go in and see the quarters, food hall, bakery, post office, etc all on the ship. Then, went to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum $30 and saw a whole lot of different older fighter planes. We were able to go into a cockpit and also saw a demo of what happened on Dec 7th that made the Japanese attack so deadly for the ships and planes. Lastly, we shuttled to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum $26 and we were able to go inside and explore just like the battleship. It felt a little more crampt and every is so…made of steel…wanna make sure people would survive the water pressure.

We were pretty pooped once we were done around 4pm, so we Ubered (kind of a bad time with rush hour traffic) $49 + $9 tip, had a good conversation with George on the trip, and checked in to the Holiday Inn Express in Waikiki for the next 6 nights. Have to pay for the first 2 nights $530 since didn’t get my free nights in time with the IHG CC and it’s Valentine’s weekend, but was able to get the 4 next nights for free (well…plus resort fee). We then went to the Waikiki beach to get dinner at Steak Shack $28 (too well done) and watch the fireworks at 7:45pm and didn’t anticipate how many people would be in line for that restaurant. Took about 45mins to 1 hr to get the food, but I guess we were already waiting for the fireworks and liked the guitar performer a lot (tipped $10) so I was glad we did this. I think Waikiki has suffered from the Disneyland effect, and there’s too many people and makes the experience less enjoyable. We then bought some groceries at Waikiki Market $31 for just some veggies, oranges, and chips …so overpriced here. We’ll try to explore and find a supermarket that has better prices tomorrow!

Saturday 2/14
Today is more of a rest day since yesterday was pretty packed. Had breakfast at our hotel at around 9:10 (dining hall closes at 9:30). I was pleasantly surprised that they had stir fry vegetables and mixed greens. It reminded me of the elaborate breakfasts that Japan hotels have, so maybe they’re trying to cater to the many Asian tourists. We checked out the hotel facilities and played a round of mini golf and worked out at the fitness center. We started exploring the north side of Waikiki and shared a poke bowl from Komedokoro $23 and strolled over to Ala Moana Regional Park so that Anson could use the calisthenics equipment to workout his arms, stopped by Foodland to get some more groceries $28 including my favorite buy: 4 kinds of sliced cheese!

After resting at the hotel, we walked over to watch the Kuhio Beach hula show. It’s held every Tues and Sat from 6:30-7:30. Marugame Udon was too packed, so ended up going to King of Thai Boat Noodles (was on my saved list) $51. We then took a romantic stroll along the Ala Wai Canal and surprisingly caught the 9pm drone show along the canal. I always thought it was all just AI, so it was great to see that this is real and so cool. Great way to end Valentine’s day!

Sunday 2/15
Breakfast at the hotel (very busy at 8:50am), rested and checked in for rental car we’ll get tomorrow, then walked over to Waikiki Baptist Church for service at 10:45am. The local congregation was most older and probably the majority of people were visitors. Pastor Joel preached on accountability and people were very welcoming. We talked to 3 of their different pastors including one who originally was from NY and led worship on guitar and has his own YouTube channel. Pastor Joel also prayed for us and our trip and my elder parents.

We then rested at the hotel, Anson worked out at the fitness center while I enjoyed taking a dip in the jacuzzi. We had a late lunch/early dinner at my favorite place, Marugame Udon $29 (previously called Marukame Udon till 11/2023). I enjoyed my beef udon while Anson had a gyydon rice bowl. The last time we were here, Anson still could eat wheat, so he didn’t enjoy as much…but this is still my favorite restaurant in Waikiki 🙂 We then walked to Kapiʻolani Regional Park and did an hour yoga class $19+$1.50 mat rental. I surprisingly liked this as I’ve never worked out on the beach at sunset. We had a romantic walk along Waikiki beach when it started raining (at least we packed an umbrella). Gonna try to sleep early as tomorrow will be a long day…

Monday, 2/16
This morning was a little stressful. After breakfast, we walked over to Hilton Hawaiian Village to get our Enterprise rental car for the next 2 days. It was a little confusing trying to find the office, get the car, get out of the Hilton parking structure, and navigate out of Waikiki. I probably should have put so much pressure to want to get to places at a certain time. We’re on vacation! Plus, Sea Life Park is actually kinda small and you don’t have to be there the whole day to see everything. The highlight there was the Dolphin Show. We were able to go into a bird enclosure to feed birdseed on popsicle sticks to lovebirds. We went to most of the animal talks for the penguins, seabirds, monk seal, and sea lions. My favorite thing was actually something that was not advertised which was when the trainers were just practicing with the dolphins. We were able to get up just a few feet from the beautiful creatures. Regarding parking, we first parked along the highway, but ended up paying $18 to park in the lot so it would be easier to eat/rest. We’ve come to a point that we should just use our money rather than trying to inconvenience ourselves by saving it. Money is a good servant, but a poor master.

Our luau $194 was also at Sea Life Park. We’ve been to one each time we’ve gone to Hawaii, but I think this one was my favorite. We did the different stations like making a lei bracelet, ukulele lesson, hula dancing, fish net throwing, “bowling”, etc. We saw them take out the pig that was in the ground cooking and then proceeded to the buffet line: standard luau food with teriyaki chicken, kaulua pork, lomi lomi salmon, poi, etc. There was a lot of dancing and it ended with the fireknife show. It was a little windy, but I’m happy that it did not rain. We drove back to Waikiki and was also grateful that we found parking on the Ala Wai Canal.

Tuesday 2/17
I could have planned another event from the Go City pass besides Fireknife, but thought we could try to do our own things instead of being rushed. We took our time leaving the hotel in the morning, walking to our rental car, then heading out to Punchbowl Crater. I didn’t know that it was actually a national cemetery and it was very well maintained and had a pretty lookout point of Honolulu city. We then headed to Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden where there was a beautiful lake with koi fish. There were a good amount of people there since I guess it got Instagram famous. We hiked a little more inland where it was secluded and the landscape was so beautiful and green. Going to Hawaii this time of year is probably not the best.

There was a wind advisory and a huge storm a couple days before we arrived here. We also had to postpone, then cancel our catamaran sail since 25 mph winds on the water might make us seasick and ruin our vacation. However, I did like the wind on land since it made the humidity a little more bearable, but always checking the weather to see the forecast wasn’t as fun. Thankfully, it didn’t rain during the luau yesterday nor for our fireknife experience $60 today. We drove to Hauula and had to us a Google doc to find where to meet. For the first 15 mins, we learned how to throw and spin the baton, and the 2nd half, we learned how to beat the taiko drums. I had been learning how to spin a baton at home for the last couple weeks, so it helped when learning to do the figure 8 motion. I was able to spin with the fire lighting up both ends (keep spinning and don’t let the stick go vertical) and Anson did some taiko drumming. There were quite a few people in our group, so the experience felt a little chaotic, but I’m still glad we did it. Afterwards, I went to Foodland for poke and Anson got L&L, we got gas to refill the rental car, and returned it at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Wednesday, 2/18
Today, we hiked Diamond Head $40. We got to our pickup area at 9:40 and a shuttle took us there by 10:10am. There are a LOT more people there now. I guess this place has always been popular since it is close to Waikiki. The hike is only 1.6 miles roundtrip (but with stunning views of the city). We were finished by 11:40am, and since the shuttle wasn’t going to pick us up until 12:30pm, we decided to just walk back (40 mins). I was surprised that Marugame Udon had no line! Anson again got a beef bowl and I tried their tonkatsu udon (this was my favorite broth).

We then rested at the hotel, then went out to see the O Na Lani Sunset Stories performance at the International Market Place. We then walked to 7-11 to try to buy a Holo card to take the bus to Honolulu airport tomorrow, but found out you needed cash to purchase (?). Need to put on my travel check list to always carry cash. We bought onigiris though (guess they try to cater to their Japanese clientele since 7-11 is popular there. I liked my spicy ahi roll and Anson had his usual salmon onigiris. We watched half of Ready Player One until we couldn’t stand the slow internet connection. Glad I’m making use of the movies I bought years ago on Google Play 🙂

Thursday, 2/19
Last day! I was able to get late checkout at our hotel, so we were able to take it easy, eat breakfast, go to the fitness center, do Bible Project, and checked out at 2pm. We did our last activity which was a self guided audio tour of Waikiki and learn about the different hotels and points of interest including the banyan tree at the International Market Place and the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Statue. We went to Marugame Udon $32 for the 3rd time this trip where I got a tan tan udon (not as enjoyable as tonkatsu), and then Ubered to HNL. We had to eat our packed dinner of carrots and oranges before going thru the agricultural screening. The 2 lounges at this airport are subpar, but enjoyed some coffee.

I had checked in to our Southwest flight yesterday, and snagged the exit row which has extra legroom for free! Our row mate also switched rows, so we had 3 seats to ourselves. However, because the seats don’t recline, it was still difficult to fall asleep. Hopefully since I paid for our extra legroom seats that do recline on our SAS flight to Copenhagen, it will be more tolerable. We got back at 5:30am on Friday and walked to LAX-IT (in 40 degree weather) and Ubered ($89 + $15 tip) home. Glad we’re home! Happy we went, though I think the first time to Hawaii is always the most magical. The wind was also not something we could control as we had to cancel our Catamaran sail. I can see that Oahu and especially Waikiki is very touristy and crowds just makes things less enjoyable. It’s a fault of their own success. Everybody wants to come here. Do I want to come back? I think so, but maybe in 10-20 years time 🙂