Hawaii is my favorite
travel destination. I just love this paradise. I have been there only once for
2 weeks but I would love to go back there to see the rest of the state that I
missed the first time.
My husband and I spent a
wonderful 2 weeks in Oahu and the Big Island during the fall of 2009.But the
memory of that time passed is still fresh. Whether it was the beautiful clean,
untouched beauty of it lands or the clear blue seas or the amazing delicious
Polynesian food or the fresh pineapples and macadamia nuts or the happy and
friendly locals or the soothing refreshing tiki drinks or the gorgeous sunsets
or the clean beautiful white and black sand beaches or the ethnic traditional
dances of the luaus…Hawaii has a special place in my heart.
We first flew to Honolulu
and spend 3 days there. We stayed at a hotel on Waikiki beach. Honolulu looked
like any other city in the continental United States with more greens I think.
Other than the occasional slight showers, the weather was perfect. We mostly
just walked a lot along the Waikiki shoreline. Did some shopping at the
Kalakaua strip and international market..spent time exploring by foot. Most of
the time we were on the beach..just laying there,enjoying the weather the
ambience and the sea. We even took our breakfast to have on the beach.It was
great. The second day we went for the Submarine atlantis ride that took us on
the ocean floor.It was a reverting experience, very unique than any other….it
was a small submarine accommodating few
people at a time which was very comfortable.We had our v own window to look
from….this under the sea experience was amazing. We could see the
fish,crabs,squids swimming around but the main attraction was however the
remains of the world war II aircrafts, ships and tanks. Just seeing these
remains seated there since Pearl Harbor took me back in history.
We took a guided tour of
Oahu as well that covered all its beautiful beaches,sightseeing hot spots and
plantations. We ate a lot of pineapple and items made of pineapple like
pineapple icecream and upside down cakes at the dole plantation.We also had
various local nuts at another macadamia nut plantation. We got a lot of nuts
and Hawaii coffee for our friends back home. This tour also took us to the USS
Arizona Memorial. We spent few hours
there learning about the Pearl harbor and watching a documentary about it. It was amazing how this ship sat there under the waters.It was a once in a lifetime opportunity
definitely to be able to see the pearl harbor history so closely.
Evenings, we took sunset
cruises along the Honolulu coastline.It was great watching the gorgeous sunset
from the deck. There was a luau in the boat itself and an awesome spread of
Polynesian delicacies including an amazing assortment of fresh fruits, poi,
kalua pua, salmon, lau lau…the works.
After Oahu we flew to Kona
in the big island.This was where our relaxed laid back vacation actually began.
We did not include many physical activities in our trip, rather kept it very
relaxed -just eating, drinking, afternoons on the hammock and we also did catch
up on a lot of quality sleep. We rented a villa by the beach in Kona.It was
fully furnished with a kitchen.We also rented a wrangler for driving around the
big island.
So it was relaxed walks by
the beaches, eating seafood at the quaint local restaurants at the coconut
grove marketplace,luaus, a lot of kona coffee and spending time at the local art galleries.My husband indulged in
some snorkeling while I laid back at the beach sipping a wonderful local
coconut drink.
We spent a day at hilo as
well just driving around.It was fantastic.We went to the various waterfalls and
the botanical gardens there.The tall beautiful colorful age old trees were
breathtaking….
The 3 thrilling experiences
that we had in the big island were zip lining,a 45 mins hike to Kilauea volcano and driving up to Mauna kea observatory.
We opted for the kohala
zipline experience.It had lesser zip lines as we were told…and the altitude was
also comparatively low. It was an exciting experience for me. Usually I am not
an extreme sports kinda gal…bungee diving, skydiving all these….not for me:)but the zip line experience was great !!!There were
9 ziplines total I think, also suspension bridges that we had to cross. We had a great time.There were localmade snacks
and breaks inbetween and we got an up close and personal feel of the North
Kohala mountains.
Another day we drove upto
the mauna kea observatories. Was able to view the volcano from far.That day it
was a bit foggy and misty up at that elavation so the view was not that clear
but still we got to see parts of the red hot lava….amazing. Also while driving
down we caught 2 beautiful rainbows in the sky. So clear and pretty. On the
drive back we saw the solidified lava
rocks all along the roads. It was so strange to see lava like that by the road side.we also saw 1 of the US military bases in Hawaii on our way back.
We went to the
Hawaiian volcanic observatory at Kilauea as well. There were craters with smoke coming
out everywhere and ofcourse the red hot lava!!!It was such an exciting experience.we actually hiked for an hour or so and were actually standing on the solidified lava!!
It was the best relaxed
vacation ever!!! I am usually very particular about what I am going to wear, my make up, hair for nice vacation
photos but I guess the laid back life in Hawaii just made me completely at
peace with myself…no make up no worries about what to wear…just complete
relaxation.
We did not want to come back:)But all good things must come to an end..that way
it means something and it stays with you forever.
