Hawaii – Day 1

Day 1 – It was finally here!! The day we get to leave freezing cold Sydney and fly 9.5 hours to beautiful 30’c temperatures of Hawaii. Bags were packed the day before, gopro charged and Im sure there was not much sleep the night before either. We kissed the kids and pups goodbye, jumped on the train and headed to Sydney International airport for our 4.30pm flight. At this time there had been alot of negative reviews online regarding jetstar cancelling peoples flights to Hawaii with 24 hours notice, so Id say this was the only worry I had in the lead up to our trip but I can now say Jetstar were amazing for us! The plane ran ontime, staff were kind and we enjoyed our butter chicken on flight. I do wish though that our checked baggage weight limit was bigger. We each brought the jetstar bundle pack which includes 7kg carry on and 20kg checked. With shopping in Hawaii we each could have used 30kg checked! 
We arrived in Honolulu airport on Thursday at 6am and it only took around 15 minutes to grab our bags and get through customs. We both didnt sleep well on the long flight but as soon as we stepped outside the airport and smelt the fresh island air we were excited and ready to go! The weather was great! He we were rugged up in pants from the cold Sydney weather to arrive in 23’c weather at 6.30am. There are so many taxis and shuttles waiting for you outside the airport, there’s no need to book one in advance. We chose Waikiki shuttle, a large air conditioned coach that took us and a bunch of other people straight to their accomodation. We paid $18US each for one way. 40 minutes later we were in Waikiki! We couldn’t wait to explore. 

Our first stop was to find a coffee for Trent and just down the road was a Starbucks. Yes Im sure the locals could have spotted us tourists a mile away, here we were walking down the main main streets of Waikiki with our luggage, but we didnt care. A food I was dying to try in Hawaii was Acaii. I love Acaii bowls at home and heard they were so much better in Hawaii so we went down a local mall and grabbed one. It was amazing, especially with papaya topping!Many Acaii bowls were consumed on this trip – at all hours of the day.
Dying get get rid of our luggage as the spruikers were all over us on every corner like a fat kid on cake, we arrived to our Airbnb apartments at 10.30am. We knew our check in time wasn’t until 3pm but wondered if reception could hold our bags. Just our luck, our room was vacant already from the last guests so the kind lady at reception gave us a quick run down of the place and let us check in early! Winning! We ripped off our winter clothes and got beach ready and of course our 1st stop was to check out Waikiki beach. It was lovely, sunny, not to crowded and the water was so blue! I was in heaven! Being closer to the equator we were advised to wear sunscreen and reapply alot! By 11.45am we were hungry.. wait us two are always hungry – so you may hear that alot.. no wonder where our kids get it from. So our first food stop was the famous Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki. We must have arrived at a great time as it was a 10 minute wait and we were in. The menu was full of so many choices but from reviews I had heard the Thai chicken lettuce wraps were delicious – so I ordered them and Trent ordered the battered calamari. First lesson learnt! Hawaii’s menus are not at all like Australia’s. They have appetizers, starters and mains. Our meals were on the starters list and wow they were huge! We did not need to order any more! Of course we had to have a cocktail, yeah it was 11am but we were on holidays! The blue hawaiian cocktails are also delicious, we could have had seconds.. actually I think we did. After a great meal, we continued walking the Waikiki strip, so many shops to see. By the afternoon I think not sleeping for 24 hours had kicked in so we enjoyed a rest on the Waikiki beach doing what we do best and people watching. That night we ended up at the yard house for pizza and.. yep more cocktails, we’re sure all this walking will work them off.. In bed by 10pm because tomorrow was an exciting day full of tours and ATV adventures at Kualoa Ranch!