My husband and I, together with our travel friend couple decided to go to Hawaii for New Years Eve 2014/2015. It's no small deal to go to Hawaii, it's frikin' Hawaii. We were worked-up doing a countdown! Nowadays, when someone decides to travel they don't just pick a place, pack their bags, and ship away to their destination oblivious of what to find there. We meticulously browse the web for tips and tricks to get around the place we visit. So there we were, tipping point in browsing hysteria, from where to eat to shark attack stats. Of course you find the usual TripAdvisor and Yelp reviews, not undermining but still missing a spark of personal connection. Sure we got good stuff for tourist pin points, yet I wanted more. I'm the type of traveler that likes to mingle where the locals do. There is something bout the touristy places that I just don't buy in complete. Sure I go to them, I mean who doesn't, but every now and then I want to notch it down a little to the more desolated virgin places.
So here's the thing, I will share my unique, let me repeat...unique (because not all will experience the same) experience while visiting Oahu, Hawaii during winter time as well as traveling tips we found pretty convenient.
Back to Basics
If you're the type of person that relies on room service and fancy towel formations then this might to be the best blog for you to read. We kept it simple and slim.
We used Airbnb app to book an apartment that would sleep 4. Best thing ever! It was really inexpensive and just what we needed. I'd say we booked about 2 weeks in advanced and still were able to find a good deal. We had some travel changes last minute and ended up needing to book 2 extra nights with a guy that rented his own room and was staying in his basement while we were there. Not my fist choice and try to avoid those...it can get a bit awkward, but worked well for only 2 nights.
Packing Tip
Oh boy! Don't be expecting rising to a shinny 80 degree sun while traveling during winter season to Hawaii. Man it was chilly! Thankfully I had packed a simple jacked that saved my trip. PACK A SWEATER! Other than that, umbrella came in handy since we got tropical rain every 20 min or so. Mostly it would just swift by and was over before I had opened the umbrella.
Getting Around
Car!!! A friend of ours told us not to rent and just take the buses and THANKFULLY we ignored his advise. Sure you can do that, but you'll be limited with time and places to visit. With a car you can get around pretty easy and visit more local hidden areas. And if you're staying in Waikiki, which we were, it takes about 1 hour to visit North Shore, which is a must specially during winter time if you wanna see the stunning high length surf waves.
Grocery
All I ever heard from friends who had visited or lived there was, "jeeesss it's expensive over there, beware!" I took this too literal to a point that I almost sneaked in a cereal bag in my luggage to avoid wallet draining. Thank goodness I ignored my own madness, and to my surprise, if you have the chance to cook, grocery shopping in Waikiki is not bad at all. Walmart and Sams club are in the same building, which makes it pretty convenient to buy your bulk as well as smaller portion of stuff. Milk at $5 was the only outrageousness, besides that don't panic. Beagles, eggs, bacon, bread, OJ, cream cheese, muffins, frozen pancakes, and water bottles came in handy to purchase.
The Fun Stuff
Dinning
We had a strategy. We would cook a good substantial breakfast and back a simple sandwich for lunch so we could dine out! (Tip*: beagles are better than bread for sandwiches since it doesn't get soggy! Holds on your ham and cheese pretty well--your welcome!) I'll just list the places we dinned out and loooved! Inexpensive and great choices!
- Makitti Hawaii : 2380 Kuhio Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96815
Cheapest all you can eat buffet we found in all Waikiki $19 per person. Had a good size of variety including sushi and crab legs. If you come across any tourist panflet look for their Free Lobster* coupon. Includes a Luau presentation--nice add on!
- Kats: 715 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
This was an all you can eat sushi place, which is tiny and very hidden inside a building, but was a great place. Pretty good hand rolls if your into that. Not the tipical roll though, ONLY Nigiri style rolls, which was kind of a bummer for me, sure I know.... Nigiri is the real stuff....well I love cream cheese in my sushi and so what!
- Pioneer Saloon: 3046 Monsarrat Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96815
This place was a hidden jewel! Came across it while stopping by South Shore Grill, which even though I did not dine there prices where great, large food portion, and looked tasty...we were just a little undicisive of where to eat and decided to check out this other eye catching spot. Dang it was good! Super good prices for gooood seafood plates! I tried their fried shrimp portion of 7 and it was sublime. My hubby had their top sirloin and man that was good too. Beautiful Bohemian restaurant.
- Brazilean Acai Bwol Truck: somewhere by north shore towards Pipeline
A tasty but expensive refreshing snack. Acai has it's peculiar taste but together with granola and banana made the perfect combination. Give it a try. $10 for the large and its a good size to share!
- Giovani's Shrimp Truck
Last but not least the one and only Giovani's. Apperantly super popular for its Garlic Shrimp plate...I'ma tell you 12 shrimps seemed like they were never gonna do the job for me, since I was starving but those bad boys were mind blowing! Normally I truly think places so popular and like this one tend to be overrated but naaaa, this place is the bomb for Garlic Shrimp! We ordere Garlic Shrimp at Pioneer Saloon and it was disappointing after experiencing the Garlic shower of Giovani's Shrimp Truck. You'll sweat garlic for 2 days but oh boy its worth it!
Places to visit
(Tip*: ALL beaches in Hawaii are public, every hotel with access to public beaches will have public parking area--normally pretty small--and some even have public bathrooms and showers!)
- Waikiki beach
Not my type of beach, since it's background are all the industrial hotel lines and big city of Waikiki. Not that crowded at this time of the year, but still you'll find a good crowd. Nice to visit if you like to join in to volleyball or just want to pay a quick visit to see the sunset. Other than that there are waaay better shorelines! (based on my taste)
- Lanukai Beach
Someone told us that sometimes the tide was low enough to cross walk to a small island across from this beach, which did not happen in our case, but great place to visit for a bit. Great steady sand to get a good tan! (wink*)
- Pipeline Beach
Loved going here to watch the surfers ride their waves. Learned that this beach is where championships take place.
- Sharks Cove
We visited during a low tide time of the day so the place was pretty dry, buuuut it was pretty awsome to see the rock formations and stand by the edge of the reef watching towards the furious ocean waves hitting against it.
- Kokololio Beach
Directed by a local, we discovered this almost private stunning shoreline. Hubbys went for a snorkle and saw 3 sea turles close to the rocks. The second time here the laddies decided to join and I am almost positive I saw a FIN between the reef of a small shark. I wish I was one of those bravy people who stumble over a shark and gaze in amaze. Instead I swam like a disturbed frog back to the shore barely spelling out the words "shark fin" and leaving everyone behind (haha survival). Worth your while if you are looking for a more nature-like scenario.
- Hanauma Bay
Of course we visited the over priced (since most beaches have no charge) tourist populated one and only crater formation of Hanauma Bay. OKay I made it sound like a bad thing, but its worth one stop...stunning view from up above, but didt really see much fish or anything for say during our snorkeling over there. But its a pretty wide area and I only swam a small portion of it, maybe you'll see better.
- Kulima Cove
In search of turtles to gaze at I found this little cove right beside Turtle Bay (to which I heard public can no longer go into). We got a pretty windy day so the ladies decided not to go into water since it looked kind of rough anyway to see anything while snorkeling. Again hubbys went in, and guess what...oh yeah they saw a turtle AGAIN. Once the ladies decided they would get in the water the turtle was nowhere to be found.
- Laniakea Beach
We were directed by a local at Kulima Cove to visit this place late in the afternoon to see turtles come to shore to feast on the algae over the rocks. To our luck, or may I say bad luck...turtles decided to fast that day because the only turtles in that area was meee since I was so tired of walking and going around looking for turtles. Buuut, I have to say it is the best place to watch a sunset. Took unbelievable sunset photography and had a blast just enjoying it. Definitely a place to see turtles since its covered in turtle food...it was honestly just noot a good day for me.
- Paradise Cove
And it does tribute to it's name! Our last day in Hawaii and we were running away from the stormy weather up in North Shore. I looked at the Google map and saw this little cove close to the area we were driving by. Paradise Cove it said. I could see the skepticism of all since we had been having bad luck finding a good place with sun and nice water to snorkel in. Once we walked through a jungly pathway to the small beach area we were thrown away by its beauty. It had about 4 other families in it and a large pool size cove in front. Tired of looking for places, we decided to settle. While putting our towels over the sand, we hear several kids screaming "sea turtle, sea turtle!" the ladies took 5 seconds to put on their snorkeling gear and jumped into water. We were not loosing our last chance to see one! FINALLY! We were there watching the majestic sea creature we had so longed for. Guess what! We ended up finding 4 other sea turtles all around this little bad boy! Never underestimate the small guys! And right beside, after going through a little stream which seams to be going to the ocean, is actually an even more private cove! No turtles, but pretty serene.
- Ko Olina
Right pass Paradise Cove you can see the beautiful Aulani Disney Resort. Don't get intimidated by its classy looking outsides, its got public parking and access to their public beach, which is gorgeous. Grass hill to set your towels and steady waters to enjoy a relaxing swim. Same goes for all those other fancy Hotels around, just check each public area and decide where to stay.
- Pali Lookout
This lookout was spectacular! Its a must since you get to have the beautiful Hawaiian mountain formations around you! Check it out...you wont regret it.
- Polynesian Cultural Center
We heard both pros and cons. Look even though its pricy, we thought it was worth our time! all you can eat buffet is included so if you count that in price starts seeming reasonable....also this is an ALL afternoon activity. I think they start around 12 pm...if I were you I would take advantage and check out things nearby during the morning...the LDS Temple is a stunning building to see and pretty close to the PCC... You should plan to get there the earliest possible once they open so you can enjoy every show. You will go around this huuge property full of different cultural settings and each place has its own presentation, then you dine around 5 pm. I would leave the Movie for last since they are open till about 6:30 pm. All other shows end earlier. Food was fulfilling, promise. And to end they have the main show at about 7 pm, real good by the way, real good. Won' t disappoint you.
So long farewell--to you and you and you! Mahalo
Muy bien Marce! Hawaii here i come!
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