hawaii | exploring waikiki

Before our trip to Hawaii, if you had asked me which Hawaiian island would be my first choice to visit, I'm certain I wouldn't have said Oahu. Not that I was complaining - I was ecstatic to get to vacation on any Hawaiian island (or any island at all for that matter!), but given my pick, I would've been more attracted to Maui's famed beaches, Kauai's natural beauty, or the Big Island's active volcanoes than the reported crowds and tourism on Oahu.

Oh, how wrong I was. I had heard that traffic was terrible on Oahu and that everything on the island was overpriced and ridiculously expensive. I found that both of these rumors were untrue, though it probably has a lot to do with the fact I've spent most of my life in the DC area. Honolulu traffic? Ha ha, Washington traffic kicks your butt! Many people in the DC area commute further than the entire distance across Oahu on a daily basis (and they don't get to look at palm trees while they're driving, either). $9 resort cocktails? They're $12 in DC.

Yes, Waikiki (where we stayed during our first week on the island while Larry was working) is crowded and touristy, and typically the kind of place I like to avoid on vacation. However, I had no problem keeping myself occupied during the days while Larry was in meetings.



There were plenty of people out and about: shopping, walking down Kalakaua Avenue, and taking pictures in front of the Duke Kahanamoku statue, but if you walked far enough, there were also places to get away from it all. (And cool off with a fruity cocktail!)

Waikiki Beach with a view of Diamond Head. Bonus view: Accidental Butt Crack!

As for the famously crowded Waikiki Beach? (Who hasn't seen the photos of this beach, with beachgoers packed so tight that not even the sand is visible?) It wasn't any more crowded than any public beach I grew up going to along the mid-Atlantic. It was definitely less crowded than the Jersey Shore, Rehoboth, and Virginia Beach. And also? It has a view of a volcanic tuff cone. You can't see that in New Jersey!

That being said, we were happy to leave the Waikiki area after that first week as we are both secluded beach/hiking/get-away-from-it-all types and neither of us has any interest in shopping on vacation. Luckily, the rest of the island is pure beauty and has much fewer tourists.

But back to Waikiki: I had five days to myself to explore the area on foot. My plan for these days involved lots of beach time and a stack of books. But on my first day, I set off with the only two things I needed for my favorite way to explore a new place: my camera and my feet (preferably with comfortable shoes). I spent the day walking along the beach, watching the surfers, checking out the resorts, admiring the banyans and palms, and taking photos along the way:










By day two I was done with sightseeing and was ready to head to the beach to start the beach-towel-&-books part of the week. I wore my bandeau-top bathing suit to prevent tan lines. I lathered up with sunscreen. I swam in the Pacific for the first time (there were fish!). I gazed at Diamond Head and people-watched from my spot on the sand. I didn't want to expose my pasty-white alabaster skin to too much Hawaiian sun, so after two hours I headed back to the hotel.

Too late - I was already pink.

And that was the beginning and end of my Five Days on the Beach with a Stack of Books Plan. With our wedding just a week away, I imagined myself as a lobster bride (or worse: a peeling snakeskin bride!) and chided myself for being so foolish. Luckily, it was a very minor burn and it faded away before our nuptials. But the rest of the week, I stayed off the beach and stayed covered up and coated with SPF 45. (Spoiler: This is why I came back from two weeks in the tropics with skin still the color of virgin snow. And also why I didn't read a single page from my stack of books.)

No worries though, there were still plenty of other things to keep me occupied in Waikiki. Most of which involved rum...

hawaii | 5,000 miles to paradise

It was Saturday, February 23rd, and we were off! The flights and hotels were booked. The secret wedding was planned and our bags were packed. After two crazy weeks of last minute vacation/business trip/wedding/
honeymoon planning, Larry and I were on our way to Hawaii. Only 5,000 miles in a plane and then we'd arrive in Oahu!

I'm usually a fan of direct flights, but in this case I wasn't sure I could sit still for 11 straight hours on a plane, so I welcomed the layover at LAX as an opportunity to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat. (And continue my 21 year streak of not using an airplane lavatory!)

But there was a delay. Our quick pit stop in LAX turned into six and a half hours. It was brutal. Between getting almost no sleep the night before, a stressful week, time zone changes, a long flight, etc, I was delirious with exhaustion. We kept ourselves entertained for the first couple hours in LAX with a mini bar crawl: beers at Home Turf, Bloody Marys at B Grill, white wine at Wolfgang Puck's. However, the alcohol didn't help our exhaustion and we quickly ran out of ways to stay occupied. We did crossword puzzles on our phones, but we were too tired to even read. I think it was after 10 pm PST by the time we finally boarded to spend the night flying across the Pacific. It was pitch black when we arrived in Honolulu and the car rental place was closed so we had to take a taxi to our hotel in Waikiki. By the time we arrived at the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio, it was 2 am, Hawaii time (or 7 am EST). Ouch. It was too dark to see our new surroundings, so we called it a day (or was it two days?) and tumbled into bed.

When we woke up the next morning, we were blown away by the view from our room on the 31st floor:




On Sunday, we had brunch at MAC 24-7, which was in our hotel and actually turned out to have some of the best food (and cocktails!) that we had in Waikiki. (I was obsessed with the Guava Lemonade and Guavalicious cocktail.) We took a quick walk to check out Waikiki Beach before heading back to the airport to pick up our rental car.

We had wheels and a few free hours that afternoon to zoom around to the windward side of the island. I thought of turquoise water and palm trees when I imagined Hawaii, but I was really blown away by the mountains - unlike anything I've ever seen on the mainland and impossible to do justice to with a photo. Driving through Oahu's Ko'olau Range really must be experienced in person to be truly appreciated.

We wanted to quickly check out Waimanalo Bay Recreation area - the beach we planned to get married on, since we had selected our wedding location entirely thanks to Google. Luckily, it was perfect! In fact, by the end of our two week trip and after visiting many other beaches, we still felt that Waimanalo was the prettiest beach on the island and we couldn't have picked a better location for our wedding. I also really loved that this beach had pine trees (I think they are Ironwoods?) instead of the typical palm trees - something about it just felt more natural and secluded. Everything about it was gorgeous:

We spent a few minutes walking down the beach, scouted out a spot for our ceremony, took a couple pictures, and admired my ring. The rocks in these photos are actually the same rocks in my favorite photo from our wedding day.




Then we drove north up the windward side and I admired the Pacific from the passenger seat of our little red VW before we headed back to Waikiki for the evening.

The next day was Monday - the beginning of Larry's week of meetings, which left me five days to explore Waikiki on my own...

hawaii | how to plan a wedding in 10 days

So...after booking flights and hotels for our upcoming two week trip to Hawaii, we decided we should tie the knot while we were in paradise.

It was February 13th - 19 days before the date we thought would be a good day to get married: Monday, March 4th. However, it was only ten days before our flight and we wanted to have all the details worked out before we got on the plane. I didn't want the stress of doing any last minute wedding planning on the island, and Larry would be in meetings the first week we were in Oahu, so we wouldn't have a lot of free time. So we had ten days to plan a wedding AND do all the regular stuff that is required before going on vacation: packing, stopping the mail, taking the dogs to the sitter, researching activities and places to eat, last minute shopping for toiletries and beach wear, paying bills ahead of time, etc. (I had TWO dentist appointments during that time span, too.) Could we pack for a two week trip and plan a wedding in ten days? Was it even possible to get an officiant and a photographer on such short notice? What about a dress? And rings?

Ten days, LET'S GO:

On February 13th, I contacted officiants and e-mailed a photographer, who I knew didn't photograph weddings anymore, but I hoped she'd consider shooting an elopement. She responded right away and said yes! (I may have done a happy dance!)

On February 14th, I ordered four cheap wedding dresses online, a pair of wedding flip flops (something blue), and ahem, some undergarments. I had them all overnighted - a last minute wedding is definitely an occasion to pony up for next day shipping.

On February 15th, the first two wedding dresses arrived. One was fugly and one was way too big. FAIL. That evening, Larry surprised me with an engagement ring and a proposal on our front porch. WIN. (I said yes.)

On February 16th, we went downtown to our favorite jewelers (and the shop where Larry bought my engagement ring and several other gifts for me over the past ten years) to look for wedding bands. They asked if I'd like to have my engagement ring cleaned while we shopped. I told them I didn't think it needed to be cleaned since we'd just gotten engaged the night before! The bad news was that the wedding rings would take several weeks to arrive. They offered to let us use "loaner rings" for the ceremony. That was discouraging and it seemed kind of lame to take vows using fake rings. We went to celebrate our engagement over drinks and dinner at Rasika West End, researched other options that evening, and seriously considered ordering rings online. But before we took the huge risk of buying rings on the internet, we decided we'd spend the next day looking at other local jewelry stores to see if by chance they had something we liked in stock...

On February 17th, we went to jewelry store #2. They had rings in the case that we liked and that fit us both! We bought them. Whew - what a relief that we wouldn't have to get married using fake wedding rings! We also bought Larry a wedding shirt. Things were falling into place. Since we were already spending a ridiculous amount of money that day, I bought myself an iPhone 5, too. (My 3GS was nearly dead, so it was a necessary expense.) Rings? Check!

On February 18th, I started getting worried because the remaining two dresses still hadn't arrived.

On February 19th, the third wedding dress arrived. It was snug, but it zipped. It met my criteria for a wedding dress (it fit and it's white), so I'm going with it. Dress? Check!

On February 20th, I contacted a hair/make-up artist.

On February 21st, we decided on a beach venue and booked our photographer. I stopped by a friend's house to borrow jewelry and a clutch for my wedding day (something borrowed) and drink a celebratory glass of wine. She was the only person I told of our secret plan. I also learned that the fourth dress was on backorder and cancelled the order.

On February 22nd, I booked a hair/make-up artist and we decided on an officiant. I mailed the two loser wedding dresses back for a refund. Also, day before our departure = frantic all night packing.

On February 23rd, we took our bags to Dulles Airport (including a carry-on full of wedding attire and my purse that had a little red jewelry box nestled in the bottom) and got on a plane headed to Honolulu via Los Angeles...

We had the rings and a dress. We had someone to marry us and someone to take pictures. I had something old, new, borrowed, and blue. And most importantly, I had a guy I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But were we really flying to Hawaii to get married? Had we really just planned a wedding in ten days?! Every night during the week before our departure, I went to bed giddy with excitement and dreaming of getting married on the beach, but every morning I woke up to the stress of all the things that needed to be done and wondering if we were crazy to try and pull this off. While we had the details mostly arranged before we left, I don't think I was convinced we'd actually end up married until the night before the wedding.

But first we had to make it to Honolulu and spend a week in Waikiki...