May

Since my trip report is too long to post all at once, I will post them here as segments.

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This is me and my boyfriend's first trip to Hawaii and the experience has just been incredible. I love the sun and the warmth and Hawaii is definitely the perfect place for me. We left NYC on Saturday, May 18th @ 9am to Saint Louis for our connecting flight to Honolulu. The first flight was 2 1/2 hours long and we slept through that. However, the second flight was 9 hours long and it was torture. Mainly because of my anticipation and of course, the hard cushions on the seats! We got to Oahu at around 3:30pm and took the Alamo shuttle to pick up our rental car. We rented a Jeep convertible. Many had suggested that I shouldn't rent a car in Oahu because of the traffic. But I'm sure glad we did rent a car. We were able to see and go to place whenever we want, whereever we want! Didn't have to wait for TheBus or a taxi. We were also able to drive further away from the city to more secluded areas. Traffic is not that bad. Even though it can get congested sometimes, it's nothing comparing to NY traffic. Our hotel, Ohana East, was only one block from Waikiki beach. We didn't want to spend much money on a hotel because we weren't going to be in the room much anyway. It took us about 20 minutes to drive from the airport to the hotel. We had to pay $7 for parking per day, which was ok. We would not have been able to find parking on the streets. Ohana East is a decent hotel. It was clean and homey, but certainly not a five star hotel. It provided us with the essentials and we were satified with it. Everything was within walking distance. Being that we just arrived and it's late in the afternoon, we didn't want to do anything but to relax. We went to Ala Moana mall to do a little exploring as well as had dinner at Bubba Gumps. Bubba Gumps is like a theme restaurant. The food and price was decent. It serves mostly seafood and sandwiches. Our meal came out to be around $70. We had an entree each, a cocktail each as well as an appetizer. After dinner, we visited an ABC store and I have to tell you, there was almost one on every block. I find them a great place to buy souvenirs and necessities. We headed back to the hotel at around 11 because it started to drizzle and went to bed so we can prepare for the full day ahead of us.

May

Day 2
Because of all the excitment, I was up at 5am. I had went online with my bf's laptop to check out the weather to plan the day's activities. We started getting ready at 6:30am. Our plan today was to go to Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head. We wanted to do as much as we can on this trip. We left the hotel and headed for breakfast at a restaurant called Keo's right around the corner of our hotel. The breakfast special was only $2.99 and it includes an egg, bacons and pancakes. Not bad since I've heard that things in Hawaii is expensive. That is another thing I've noticed about Oahu. Things there are cheap! I was worried that I would have to spend too much on this trip. It was nothing! We live in NY and it can't even compare up to the prices in NY. We headed to Pearl Harbor at around 9:30am. There was no traffic. We only had to wait on line for 10 minutes. When we got to the ticket counter (which by the way, the admission is free), we were offered immediate admission to the next showing because the tour group who booked the tickets did not show up. That saved us a lot of time! The memorial was beautiful. There were a few tearful eyes in the room. It started with a documentary showing in a screening room, then off to a boat where they take you to the memorial which is directly on top of the sunken ship. The visit didn't take long. We were out of there by 12:30am. Since we didn't want to climb Diamond head when the sun is the strongest, we opted for the beach instead. We drove back to our hotel, changed into our swimming gear and walked down the block to Waikiki beach. It was packed! The day we were there, there was a festival going on. We had a plate lunch and shaved ice for $8. We sunbathed for about 2 hours and headed back to the hotel, spoke to a wonderful activities representative from our hotel named Mike, he gave us great suggestions to where to go, short cuts to go there and how to plan our time. He also helped us booked the Paradise Cove luau for the following Tuesday. We then headed to Diamond Head. The climb was not that bad. You do however need a flash light, a comfortable and supportive pair of sneakers and water. Make sure you apply sunscreen as well. My boyfriend and I are pretty atheletic so we were able to climb to the top in 30-40 minutes. The view up top was incredible. We took a lot of pictures there! It was also great exercise. We were down the mountain in 25 minutes and headed to Hilo Hatties in Ala Moana mall for some shopping. We then went back to the hotel to change and went to Nick's fishmarket for dinner. Nick's was fantastic. We were the last table to leave and although we didn't arrive there until 9:30pm (the kitchen close at 10pm), we were treated with great service and the food was fabulous. It was not too expensive either. My bf and I both had a different special of the day. His was a 5 course meal and it was so tasty. It was only $39.99. I was not too hungry so I had a sampler's special. It came with four different plates. Cost only $29.99. My bf also had a glass of red wine and the bill came out to be around $80. Since the service was so good, we tipped them $20. We left the restaurant and parked our car in the hotel garage, and walked around. I had never heard of this before but its amazing how the Waikiki area turns into a red light district after 10pm. We walked out and we saw many prostitutes on the streets. They were young and gorgeous. I don't understand why they do that to themselves but I guess its hard to make a living out in Hawaii. Everyone survives on tourism out there! We did a little souvenir shopping, and then headed back to the hotel.

May

Day 3
Mike suggested that we go to Snorkel Bob's to pick up our snorkel gear before we head to Hanauma Bay. We did just that. We had breadfast again in Keo's and didn't get to the bay until 10:30am. By that time, parking was already full and we had to wait about 20 minutes for them to allow us in. We walked down the steep mountain to the water and started the adventure. We picked today to go snorkeling because Hanauma Bay closes on Tuesdays and we already had plans for Wednesday, our last day in Oahu. My bf had a blast. He was out in the water for about 3 hours! Make sure you apply a lot of sunscreen on you back since it will be facing the sun most of the time when you snorkel. My bf got a nasty burn on his back. I however snorkeled for only an hour and went to sunbath. We left at around 3:30pm and wanted to squeeze in another activity, so we drove to the Dole Plantation. Had ourselves some pineapple whip, ran around the maze ($5 each to get in the maze). They closed at 6pm and we then headed to Chinatown. The Chinatown there is nothing to brag about. Being that we live in a city with one of the biggest Chinatowns, there really isn't much going on there. We had Vietnamese food which only cost us $28 for the both of us. Food was decent. Headed back to the Waikiki area and did souvenir shopping again! I'm never tired of shopping... yea!!!

May

Day 4
Being that we are going on a Luau today, Mike told us we wouldn't be able to squeeze in Waimea falls (special two for one $25). They open at 10am. We wanted to try anyway. We got there at 10:30am. It was practically empty. We took the tram to watch the dive down the waterfall. Swam a little in the waterfall pool, walked around the botanical garden. There isn't much to do there! It was relaxing and it's nice to be out in the nature. We headed back to our hotel to change for the Luau. The bus picked us up at around 3:30pm a block away from our hotel. We had a funny tour guide named Ryan, we called ourselves "cousins" for the purpose of the Luau! He was very entertaining. Because of the traffic, it took us an hour to get to the Paradise Cove grounds. It would've taken us only 30 minutes if it wasn't for the traffic. We got there and was first offered a free Mai Tai. We purchased the upgraded package ($62 ea) in which we were allowed unlimited free Mai Tais during dinner. We did the activities they offered, made leis, watched the hula dance, saw how they cook their pig underground. We were eating by 7pm. After dinner, we were treated to a show. The best part was the fire dancer. He was great! Although the food wasn't that good, the entertainment was nice. We had a great time. We got back to our hotel at around 10pm, walked around Waikiki again but instead of shopping this time, we went to an arcade and played some games. Then headed back to the hotel.

May

Day 5
Today is the day we fly to Maui. But our fight is not until 2:10pm. Since we bought so many souvenirs, we had to buy another duffle bag to fit them in. I went with 2 bags and ended up leaving with 3. My bf was worst, he's a light packer so he went with 1 bag and left with 3. We went to Macy's in Ala Moana to shop for the bag, they didn't have any we liked. So we went back Niketown which was a few blocks from our hotel, bought 2 duffle bags there, went back to the hotel to pack. We were in the airport by 1pm. Everything went smoothly until we had to pass security check points in the airport. My bf had an expensive lighter on him they wouldn't let him bring it aboard. He flies all the time and he never a problem with it. The security purposely gave us a hard time even though we told him we will not bring it aboard but would wish to store it with our checked luggage. He wouldn't even allow us to do that. So we spoke to the more understanding supervisor of his and he told my bf as long as he let all the gas out of the lighter, then he can carry it. It took my bf 15 minutes to burn out all the gas. Thank God we didn't miss our flight. Our flight there was only 40 minutes. We took the shuttle to Alamo for our convertible Jeep and headed to Kaanapali to our hotel, Aston Kaanapali Shores. The drive would take 45 minutes. During the drive, we immediately noticed the difference between Oahu and Maui. Maui is beautiful. Secluded, mountains and ocean everywhere. No high rises. We drove to our hotel and found it really nice. The hotel grounds were secured, it was beautifully decorated, it has two decent pools, not to mention it was big. Even though we couldn't upgrade to a nicer room since the hotel was overbooked, we were content. I suggest you upgrade to a better room if you were going to stay there. Don't go with a standard room. It was tiny but nice and clean. Parking for the hotel was $9 per day. We checked in around 4pm, dropped down our luggage and went to the activities' desk at our hotel. Pili, our rep told us the most popular activity in Maui is the downhill biking down the Haleakala volcano mountain, second was the road to Hana. We ended up purchasing the biking package (Maui Downhill $99 ea) as well as the snorkeling package in Molokini (Maui Magic $69). We then went to Whaler's Village for some shopping and dinner. We opted for Leiloni's. It was a nice restaurant. It was a little more pricey than Honolulu restaurants but we didn't care, it was our vacation! Our bill came out to be around $100. We had an apetizer, and both had an entree and a cocktail. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, found it hard to find parking because there were so many people staying there. It was, however, going to be Memorial day weekend.

May

Day 6
Today is the day for the road to Hana. We woke up late. We didn't start going until 9:30am and didn't get back until 7pm. It involves the whole day. On our way there, we passed by Mama's fishhouse. The roads gets windly and narrow. We didn't find it a problem because we're good drivers. The view was amazing. We stopped whenever we can. We swam in the waterfall pool from the last of the seven sacre pools. Visited the Garden of Eden, fed the birds and hiked. On our way back, we didn't care about the car rental agreement which states that we can't drive on the unpaved road that leads us back to where we came from. It would save us time to just go and since we have a Jeep, we went for it. The unpaved parts of the road does get rocky, narrow and bumpy. I suggest renting a Jeep if you want to do this. I also saw many other cars there and they seemed to be doing ok. However, they were not able to go as fast as our Jeep. My bf had a blast driving that road. I'm not too big on scenic views, I thought the road to Hana was ok, my bf loved it. He snapped so many pictures. On our way back to our hotel, we stopped by Costco's, picked up some Macadamia Nuts to bring home. We went back to our hotel and went to Front street for dinner. If anyone had ever been to Key West, Front street is like Duval street in Key West. Stores after stores on a strip of blocks. Very relaxing enviornment. We chose Fish Co. for dinner. Our waitress was great. Had great seafood there and our meal cost us around $80.

May

Day 7
We are going on a snorkel trip today with Maui Magic. We had to be there at 6:30am. The boat took us around the island and introduced us to some of Maui's history and landmarks. It was a fun tour. We stopped at two locations to snorkel. We also had bbq onboard. What was great was that we saw a group of dolphins jumping out of the water next to our boat. They were so cute. We also saw sea turtles, about 145lbs each. After snorkeling, we wanted to jump into a pool because the sun was scorching hot. We ended up sneaking into the pool in Hyatt. They have a wonderful pool with caves and waterfalls. Since we didn't stay there, we couldn't get the wrist band that allows us to slide down the water tube. But we still had a blast! Since we started our vacation with Bubba Gumps, we wanted to end our vacation with them. So after we bathed and got dressed, we went to Front street again to Bubba's and had a full seafood dinner ($60).

May

Day 8 - last day
We booked the Maui Downhill bike ride with Pili the first day we got to Maui. Make sure to make all reservations in advance. They get packed quickly. The van picked us up at 3am. Yup, early!!! We were still in a dazed. We had 10 people going from our hotel alone. There were probably more than 10 vans all together up the mountain doing the bike ride. They suggested that we layer our clothing and wear long pants because the temperature on top of the mountain is about 30 degrees less than ground level. Haleakala is 25000 ft high. We drove for about 30 minutes to the station where the vans are hooked up to a trailer of bikes. We were fitted with helmets and jumpsuits to keep us warm. Grabbed a quick coffee and muffin and was on our way. We had a fantasic bike guide named Thom, our great van drive, Jason. We started driving up the mountain which would take around an hour. It was still dark and we were all tired. But Thom kept us energized by telling us all the cool facts about Maui and Haleakala. By the time we went up the mountain, we had to put on our gear to keep us warm. It was cold up there! We left the van and they gave us time to see the sunrise from up top. It was beautiful. We climbed a trial to look down the crater. Supposely, the crater is so big that it can fit Manhattan in there! We then drove again to a nearby stop where we can saw this extinct plant that only lives up on Haleakala. It's a silver plant, I don't remember the name. Took some pictures and headed back to the parking area where we would get our bikes, and start our adventure. We lined up with the shortest girl being first and the tallest guy being last. The van also follows us in case cars needs to pass us. We were going to bike down a one lane narrow windly road. Thom was the first person because he had to guide us with turns. The ride was amazing. The view was spectular. And not to mention when you're going down the mountain at 20mph without peddling, it was such a rush. We stopped at different places to take pictures. at around 9am, we biked down to this country club to have an all you can eat buffet breakfast, we were on our way in no time again. By the time we reach our destination, we already shedded all our layers of clothing, leaving just a tank top and shorts. It gradually gets back to the warm temperature as you bike down. The whole bike ride experience is incredible. I would do it again! After we got dropped off to our hotel, we jumped into the pool for an hour, changed and was time to head home. It was sad to realize I have to leave such a wonderful place. We took a flight from Maui to LA, then LA back to JFK. We broke up the fight this time more evenly. It wasn't as bad. We had a little jetlag. I was glad we had Memorial day to recover!

Sorry for the long post but hope this will help some of you with questions you might have. Excuse me if I mispelled any words. I had to do this in a rush, I'm at work. Shhhh.

Ally

Hey, great trip report. Reminds me of my first trip to the islands when I did the same things you did...but I did have to laugh when you said that Haleakala (SP?) was 25,000 ft.
It's just under 10,000 actually.
As comparrison, Mr Everest , tallest mountian in the world is 29,034. No way you'd be able to go up 25,000 ft then bike down! But, I did enjoy your post!

May

I swear I could've heard the tour guide say that it was 25000 ft to us. Hmmmm, I have to do a little bit of research. When I say biking down, we weren't going straight down. They were windly roads so it basically circled the volcano. Or else we would be flying down! LoL.

May

Ally, you're right, it's about 10100 ft from the summit to the sea level.

Sarah

Hi May glad you had a great time.

Would you yourself have driven the backroad home from Hana. I have done it but like yourself with a heman boyfriend (heman on that drive anyway). I seem to remember cringing at the lack of guard rails on that first bend of the regular road. Also remember being on incline. Was that me or was my BF just being dramatic. This year may take my sister but don't want to walk her into anything too hair raising but just love that drive back.

BJ

May, thank you SO much for the excellently detailed trip report.
Reports like yours take a LOT of time to compose and -- I know because I've done it!
I'm one who surely appreciates your efforts and am so glad you had such a great time on 2 of the Hawaii Islands.
Thanks again.

May

Sarah, if I haven't experienced taking the back road from Hana, I wouldn't do it myself. Mainly because the way the rental companies describe it is too scary. I was nervous at first thinking that our car was going to break down in the middle of nowhere. After seeing how many people are doing it, I felt more comfortable. I have to say that now that I know how the road is like, I wouldn't mind doing the back road. But I do agree, it gets pretty narrow and bumpy.

BJ, thanks for reading the longggg review. Even though it did take a long time to compose, I felt that it was necessary because not only do I want to treasure my own memories of the trip, I also want to help out fellow fodor posters who might have questions on what I've experienced. I was on this board for 2 months trying to see what I have to look forward to. Many had helped me and now its time for me to help others out!

Sherrie

May: Thanks for taking the time to post your trip reports. They were really informative and great to read. I'm counting the days until my September trip! Thanks again.

cc

Bear in mind that if you have an accident on the backroad you may have to assume full liability since you are in violation of the rental agreement.

Lakesha

May, you said that the Waikiki area turns into a red-light district at night. Please clarify that! There's only a small section of Waikiki that is a "red-light district" after dark, not all of it! I think you're giving the wrong impression there!

Bill

May,
Thanks for a great report - brings back memories of many similar experiences from our recent trip.

May

Lakesha, you're right and let me clarify myself. At night, the area around the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and International Market Place is where it turns into a red light district after 10pm. I was staying at around Kuhio Ave. and Kaiulani Ave.. I just wanted to give some of you who have not been there a heads up because I've done a lot of research before I went and I had never read anything about that subject.

Sarah

Wow May are you talking about Prostitutes? I thought Oahu handeled that problem, so disheartening. Doesn't the city know how this hurts the economy? I actually have written about this but I have not commented on it in a year thought the city of honolulu got involved and changed this.