Trip Report: Hawaii in November 2016
As I mentioned in another post I recently added -how to plan and book a journey-
I was lucky enough to grab an amazing deal on flights from Amsterdam to Honolulu and back last year for just around 370 USD. Usually similar flights will set you back around 1.000 USD or even a bit more. So this was clearly an error fare which I happily took advantage of since Hawaii has been on my bucket list for a long time anyway.
As this was an Error Fare I discovered on a travel website, I had to act fast because you never know how long those kind of fares are available for booking. So I ended up booking an unintended 7-day holiday in Hawaii alongside my sister.
When the day came, me and my sister met at the International Airport in Amsterdam to spend the next 24 hours on three different flights. Our trip led us via London and Los Angeles to Honolulu and honestly speaking wasn’t as bad as I would have expected it because of the fact that we had a couple of hours each, in London and Los Angeles to switch planes and walk around in the airport terminals. Due to the good weather conditions during the whole journey I was able to take some great photos out of the airplane windows aswell. One of many reasons I prefer window seats are the amazing views you get to see. It doesn’t matter how often you fly, sunsets at altitude never get old. If you’re interested in reading more about flight experiences, feel free to check out my flight reviews on this website.
The stopover at LHR was quite relaxed, as we had three hours until our upcoming leg to LAX. Unfortunately we were not eligible for any loungeaccess on this trip, which would have made our trip even more relaxing. But really, we were definitely not in the position to complain about anything. After all we paid under 400 USD each, for a trip basically to the other side of the world and back.
Stunning London city view before landing in LHR
The ten hour ride from LHR to LAX was one of the smoothest I have ever experienced. We were lucky to fly in one of their Boeing 777’s, basically American Airlines’ flagship within their fleet. On top of that we experienced an amazing sunset view right before landing in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles sunset view before landing at LAX
After another 6h flight from Los Angeles we finally arrived in Honolulu the next morning and made our way to Waikiki which takes about an hour by bus or roughly 30 minutes if you grab a cab or an Uber. If you’re on a budget try to avoid taking a cab, as it will cost you a lot more than taking a bus or an Uber.
Honolulu International Airport HNL
weather forecast for the week we stayed in Honolulu (in °C)
One thing we noticed after booking our flight to Hawaii was that average hotelprices were around 200+ USD a night! That’s when we decided to stay at a hostel right in the center of Waikiki which was the best decision we have made so far!
I love staying at hotels in general. But I really don’t mind staying at a hostel every now and then. You will most likely meet amazing travellers from all around the world, all with different stories to tell, you will never feel alone even though you might be travelling by yourself and most importantly you might make new friends and overall have an amazing time together. And for all of that you will pay a fraction of what you would’ve paid for an expensive hotel room. So if you don’t necessarily need the luxury of a private room all the time, this is the way to go!
Seaside Hostel shared 6-bed dorm Downtown Waikiki
Our hostel was located in Downtown Waikiki, only a couple of hundred meters from Waikiki Beach and we paid around 25 USD/night and per person. Due to our rather short stay, we decided to stay on the main island of Hawaii, Oahu, which has a lot to offer. As I mentioned before, Hawaii in general is not a place for cheapskates, but I found it surprisingly simple not to spend tons of money during this trip.
Waikiki Beach view / view of Diamond Head
Oahu is not as big as I thought it was in the first place. You can basically drive around the whole island within 2-3 hours depending on traffic.
The next morning me and my sister decided to walk around Waikiki and the beach area for a bit to see whats going on. Soon I realized that it seemed to be quite difficult to get around Oahu by foot or even public transportation. There is a way of taking busses all around the island, but a rental car seemed to be the better option. As my sister is more of the laid back kind of person who enjoys hanging out at the beaches, I decided to rent a scooter by myself to explore the island more adventurously. After walking around in the Waikiki area for about an hour, I found a place that rents out scooters and motorcycles. Staff was friendly and provided all the information I wanted without pushing me to rent one of their bikes immediately, so I ended up renting a 125cc scooter for 3 days at that place for around 120 USD in total which was not cheap, especially compared to asian countries like Thailand or Vietnam, where you can get a scooter for just a few bucks a day. But then again, this was Hawaii, the most expensive state in the US and I really wanted to ride around the island with a bike or at least a scooter.
125cc scooter I rented in Waikiki
Day 1: I decided to just ride around Honolulu and the Waikiki area to get familiar with the roads and the traffic. So far I have driven motorcycles, cars and scooters all around the world and one thing I learned is that you need some time to adapt to each country and their driving culture. Compared to asian countries, driving in Hawaii was extremely laid back and only within the first hour I really started to enjoy riding around the island.
First stop was the famous Diamond Head which was easy to reach by scooter. It takes about 10-20 minutes to get there from Waikiki and another 20 minutes by foot to reach the top and it’s really worth it!
view from Diamond Head monument
Day 2: The next day I decided to head to Pearl Harbour, which is roughly 20km outside of Honolulu and was a 30 minute ride with the scooter. Pearl Harbour is known for its II.WW Memorial site and the famous USS Arizona, which sank after a surprise attack from the Japanese in 1941. The memorial is basically a platform on top of the sunken USS Arizona. I was surprised that there was no entry fee to the memorial site itself and also the 5 minute boat ride to reach the platform over the USS Arizona was free of charge. There are a lot of other things to see like old submarines and tankers which you have to pay for though. Overall the Pearl Harbour Memorial was definitely worth exploring and I would recommend it to anybody who is even slightly interested in history.
scenic boat ride to USS Arizona Memorial
USS Arizona Memorial above the sunken USS Arizona
recovered USS Arizona anchor
I decided to head back to Waikiki and on the way back I noticed a nice park with an amazing beach front view. Since the sun was about to set I pulled over to rest and take some pictures. A funny thing I noticed was that there were about a dozen asian couples – I think mostly Japanese – taking wedding pictures while sun was setting as you can see in the picture below. Some were even standing in line side by side in their wedding attire to get the best sunset shots.
sunset view Waikiki area
Day 3: Someone I met at our hostel recommended to check out nearby Manoa Waterfalls, which I did. The ride to the falls north of Honolulu was about 40 minutes by scooter and on the way I noticed a couple of tourists heading the same direction.
When reaching the main entrance of the walking trail I parked the scooter and continued by foot.
Manoa Falls walking trail entrance
The trail was about 3 km long, so nicely walkable. If you like the feeling of being stuck in the middle of the jungle, you might enjoy walking the trail. I did find it interesting at first, but after a while it felt slightly boring walking towards the falls. After reaching the top you get rewarded with a waterfall you can even hang out and swim in though.
After all I enjoyed the trip to the falls, but wouldn’t necessarily do it again.
to be continued…
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