After spending 10 days in Cali for the wedding, we were excited to spend10 more days in Hawaii. This was the longest vacation I've had since I started working full time 6 years ago. We almost postpone our honeymoon to October to celebrate my 30th birthday at the same time. I'm glad that we did it in August. We were exhausted from Colombia, and we were definitely not ready to get back to work.
After flying from Cali to Miami for 3 hours, we drove to Tampa for 4 hours. We were back to Tampa only for 12 hours which gave us time to leave the dirty clothes and pack for Hawaii. We left everything ready before leaving for Cali, but it was hard to pack since we had moved out of our apartment and most of our things were in boxes. When you don't have your things in the normal place, you don't know if you missed something until it's too late. The next morning we flew from Tampa to Miami, and from Miami across the US to LA. We had to stay in LA because of a delay in Miami. We are still fighting with American Airlines to refund our first night in Hawaii since it was their fault that we did not make it. You can read about the whole fight with AA
here.
We finally arrived to Hawaii 16 hours later than scheduled for 9 days instead of 10. We planned to stay 3 nights in Waikiki, 5 nights in Kauai, and then back to the North Shore of Oahu for 2 nights. I loved Oahu when I went with my family 3 years ago. You can see old pictures
here. Andre had never been to Hawaii, so he wanted to see Honolulu. I was OK with it as long as we went to another island. It was hard to decide which island to visit after Oahu, we decided to go to Kauai. If you are looking for help deciding which island to visit, you can read about my research
here.
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| First view of the islands - ALOHA!!!!! |
After arriving in HNL airport at noon, we had to wait in line to report that our luggage did not make it to our destination. We were told they would arrive in the next flight from LAX at 7:00PM. At least the bags were taken to us and we didn't have to return to the airport.
We stayed at the Marriott Waikiki Beach Resort. I stayed here 3 years ago and I liked the location. Based on reviews, prices, and past experience we decided to stay at the Marriott. When we checked in together, the lady at the front desk never asked for my name just a credit card. Later that day, I went downstairs and I forgot my key and my phone. I didn't worry about it since Andre stayed in the room. The problem was that he was in the balcony, and he didn't hear me knocking. I called from the floor phone to the front desk asking them to call the room because I was locked out. Instead of them doing this
small favor for me, they asked me for my name and told me that since I was not registered they will send security!!!! AND that I had to wait on the phone to get transfered to security!!!! I could not believe that!! I hang up the phone and started knocking even harder at the door. Finally, Andre heard me and I missed the guards that were coming to get me. I don't know if they ever sent someone or not. Andre called the front desk and asked them to add me to the room. This is what really upsets me: if they are so strict they should get your ID as you are checking in especially because we were together while we were doing it. I was really upset and started crying, then I got more upset because something like that made me cry. I have stayed in MANY hotels and they never threaten to call security on me because I asked them to call the room. Seriously, I never EVER worried about how many people are staying in the room. As long as they have a credit card a King bed means up to 2 people, and 2 queen beds mean up to 4 people. Am I wrong?
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| View from the hotel "partial ocean view" |
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| Waikiki Beach |
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| Waikiki Beach |
After many bad experiences with lost and delayed luggage I always pack a good carry on bag. We changed and went straight to Waikiki Beach, then we kept walking on Kalakaua Avenue toward the international market place. We had lunch at the cheesecake factory located in the Royal Hawaiian Center. After lunch, we walked towards the Hard Rock Cafe to buy my pins and my sister's t-shirt. We love souvenirs. Then we walked towards the beach to walk in the sand again. We wanted to watch the sunset form the Westin Moana Surfrider Hotel. I read that it was the best bar to watch the sunset. The bar was nice, they had live music and good drinks. However, the sunset was not visible from there thanks to the other buildings. We decided to finish our drinks and head towards the hotel side again where we could watch the sunset directly.
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| Westin Moana Surfrider Hotel |
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| Royal Caribbean Hotel |
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| Waikiki Beach - Diamond Head in the back |
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| 1t of many Lava Flows |
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| First sunset |
That night we fell asleep at 10:00 PM and the bags had not arrived from the airport. We had enough clothes for a couple of days, but I was worried that we were leaving to another island in less than 2 days.
