After a long drive from New York, we had just a couple of days to rest, unpack, do laundry, and re-pack, then off to our next destination.

It was our first time visiting, and our expectations were very limited from watching Hawaii Five-0 and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

We had to stop in California for a few hours, and I started getting really excited when I saw Honolulu on the screen. The beautiful “Aloha” sign at the airport was quite adorable.

They were building a Ritz across the street from us, which kind of ruined the view a little bit, but it was still beautiful during sunrise and sunsets. We were jet lagged so we would go to bed super early and wake up at around 4 or 5am and wait for the sun to come back up.

Our condo was only a 15 min walk to Waikiki Beach, however, I wanted to be much closer to the water.

Although our condo was lovely and comfy, I think I would personally prefer to stay in a hotel https://hookupdate.net/pl/chinalovecupid-recenzja/ next time, or somewhere really close to the water

This was our view during our breakfast on our very first morning. We tried the breakfast buffet at the Moana Surfrider Hotel, which was right on the sand of Waikiki Beach. Moana was the first hotel built in Waikiki, also known as the “First Lady of Waikiki”. I originally wanted to stay at this hotel, but I was a bit scared of the size compared to the one bedroom condo, so we chose the condo. Now that I know better, next time I would definitely pick the hotel instead, doesn’t matter if it’s much smaller, but you are right on the beach. I wouldn’t have chosen the size over the location again, unless we are traveling with our family. Not that I didn’t enjoy our condo, I just feel like we would have had a much greater time had we stayed at a beachfront hotel. The breakfast buffet at the Moana was a nice welcome. You’re in front of the ocean, and the quality of food was exceptional, we had to go back again the next day. Waikiki Beach was beautiful, the water looked and felt great, warm, and I was actually able to get in and enjoy it. It was much smaller than I expected, it was quite busy, a little crowded at times, and this was THE spot for tourists.

It was a lovely one bedroom condo that had a cozy living room and a kitchen in case we wanted to cook or heat up left overs

Honolulu was beautiful in its own way. A decent size city right next to the ocean to swim in after shopping – not bad at all.

The first half of our first day was spent shopping at Walmart (I know!). Because I didn’t have the time to pack properly after we came home from New York, we had to go to the store to get some essentials, and to get some drinks, snacks and food for the condo in case we’d have our lazy days and not be in the mood to go out right away. These 100% Hawaiian macadamia nuts covered in chocolate were so delicious. After coming back to the mainland, however, I discovered that they had if not the same thing, something very similar being sold at Ross and Marshall’s. I kinda felt tricked.

Of course you have to try the shave ice in Hawaii. This was from a stand next to Waikiki Beach. It was good, but big and super sweet. I later found out that the the ones outside Honolulu were much better.