Hawaii Vacation

Hawaii may be a once in a lifetime trip but I am determined to return. To see the Whales!

Our flight from Newark to Honolulu took almost 11 hours!

We spent a week on Oahu - Waikiki beach to be exact. The resort was not exactly on the beach but about a block off. We stayed at the Imperial Waikiki in a one bedroom, two bath, resort room. We exchanged into Interval World to get a week at this resort, so technically we didn't pay for it.. lol..

Hawaii has a daily tax rate regardless if its a hotel or timeshare. So depending on the size of your room daily tax can be $2 - $10 per day! This is above the regular tax you would pay in a resort.

While on Oahu we hiked up Diamond Head - it took about an hour and a half round trip. And it was treacherous! Rocky, slippery, lots of steps, a dark tunnel and then we had to duck to thru a small hole to get to the top! But it was beautiful! We visited the North Shore - not to far where Lost is filmed. The Dole Plant is also out there, fresh pineapples are so good! Snorkeled, sort of, in Hanama Bay. I was to much of a dork to wear the mask and I could not coordinate the breathing part correctly. Visited Germaine's Luau! A first for me! Amazing how those women shake those hips. We also took a tour around the island and got to see where the filmed a lot of the scenes from Pearl Harbor and Jurassic Park.

We also visited the beach a few times. Watching the sun set seemed to be a nightly event for us as well.

We then traveled to the island of Maui - it was about a 30 minute flight! I think Im getting better with flying, not freaking out too much..lol

While on Maui we spent a lot of time on the beach. Drove the road to Hana, which is about 56 miles long, with over 600 hair pin turns and over 50 single lane bridges. Man it was scary. We found a black sand beach, a red sand beach, a lava tube and a bunch of waterfalls. We traveled all the way out there to see the seven sacred pool but didnt not get to them it seamed the road was closed. Boohoo. We drove up to Haleakala crater. We stood above the clouds! The temperature changed on the way up down to 55 but once we drove higher then the clouds it got hotter... so strange. We saw Molokini crater, took a boat to see the coral reef, saw some amazing animals in the water and relaxed.

It seems like we did more but I guess we really didnt.

Our flight back was horrible. We got on the plane, the plane backed out of the terminal and stopped. Seems that they engine could not be turned on or something. After 4 hours the cancelled the flight, put us in a hotel over night, fed us breakfast, and took us back to the airport for the next plane. Thank GOD we got home, I was never so nervous in my life!