Aloha!

Hello everyone I hope all is well! As you may know I’m currently on a family vacation in the United States and I thought it would be cool if I wrote a little update on my trip so far :) At the moment we’re finally in Los Angeles but there is no way I could miss our trip to Hawaii!

After an unfortunately uncomfortable plane ride from Sydney to Honolulu airport - I had an annoying passenger sit in front of me who booked an extra seat beside him so he can truly make himself comfortable as he also reclined both seats! We made our way to our first hotel along Waikiki. The Courtyard by Marriott was our home for the first four days; they had amazing customer service with quick and easy room service, an incredibly inviting pool and hot tub and quick and easy access to food and the main strip of designer stores! 

Locals constantly informed us that the best place to shop was at Waikele and Ala Moana - the two have great outlets and impressive, affordable prices considering most things in Hawaii are relatively pricey. For instance at Waikele I bought my first designer backpack at Coach which was at an impressive discount of 50% and then a further 30%! Imagine that! And, I was able to score a couple of pairs of Converse chucks - two for only $60 seems pretty attractive to me!

After exploring the main strip of Waikiki and visit the main outlets surrounding Honolulu we hired our own Jeep for the rest of our stay here so we were able to travel without having to rely on all of the trolleys. With that being said we visited Pearl Harbour. Being a modern history in high school only made me extremely excited to visit the site - I always find tours interesting and not to sound so corny, but seeing the conditions all of the soldiers faced really makes you admire what happened.

Later that day we also visited the North Shore of the island of O’ahu. It was a tourist ‘must-do’ thing to do and it was a shame we didn’t go earlier during the day because it was truly an amazing site to see. Especially for a view of the sunset. In addition to that I was also quite surprised it only takes an hour to drive from the north to the south point of the island.

The next stop we made was to the Hilton Hawaiian Resort in Waikiki. It was absolutely beautiful and like a mini city in its own as you can see in the photo above. With multiple towers located within the premises and their own pool and restaurant we were free to roam around and fall in love with the gigantic pool and own private lagoon. It was so relaxing staying in our suite - check out our view! ... it was just a shame I fell ill, I think it was because I swallowed a tad too much in the fresh, light, saltwater beach. Sad face!

I really began to miss eating food: Denny’s, iHop, McDonalds - they were pretty much the basic places I would spend my days at for a quick and easy feed and I couldn’t eat any of it! I had to survive on a diet of Sprite and toasted bread, as well as anti-biotics. It broke my heart seeing as all I could do was sit on the sidelines and watch my family enjoy. Wah!

After a change in plans (we were meant to go to Maui but discovered it would have been $150 for a plane ticket and even more for accomodation) we decided to relocate to a new hotel to spend the remaining three days. This was when we met the Ihilani JW Marriott Resort and Spa which is located on the west coast of O’ahu. Every room seemed to have a view; secluded from the hustle and bustle it was a perfect way to relax - even with a view like this! 

Waking up and going to sleep at a view like that was a dream come true, I’m glad my parents were able to experience it too. Later during the second evening, and unfortunately towards the end of our trip we were finally able to visit a Luau. Whilst most people would typically visit a Luau hours within their first arrival, we pretty much left it last minute. It really makes you appreciate the Polynesian culture; how they’re so traditional and welcoming. I absolutely loved it. And it made me want to learn how to hula! The dancers are so graceful and omg, it was soo cool. Hehehe.

So, there you go guys! I hope everything is going well with you. Let me know if you’ve been to Hawaii before! It was seriously the perfect way to begin a holiday, I wish I didn’t have to leave though.