Hawaii - September 2014
Aloha!
A group of 19 of us headed to Hawaii in September 2014. It was my first trip and so we concentrated on doing all of the 'must do' things on the island of Oahu. The location of the hotel was amazing with everything at our fingertips. The first night we arrived there was a street fair for the Aloha festival so it was great to wander the blocked off main street and feel the holiday vibe.
Second day was a trip to the Arizona memorial. This was a great experience. Not being quite old enough to know the history I really enjoyed the short film presentation. Our time was limited and while some of the group toured the various museums my husband and I took our daughter onto the Bowfin submarine. This was great and gave you a great perspective on what it would like to live and work on a sub. We then took a boat ride across to the Arizona Memorial where the boat still lays on the floor of the harbour. A sombre place with a memorial wall but even the kids enjoyed this. We didn't get to do the USS Missouri ship tour and next time I would definitely book the extended tour that included this.
After we left Pearl Harbour we did a quick tour of the city which I think is a must in any new place you are visiting. We had a couple of rest days including a trip to Ala Moana shopping centre and swam in the famous Waikiki beach. The next day we hired a jeep and travelled up the East coast to the North Shore - highly recommend stopping for some prawns sold out of a bus on the side of the road... lemon buttered prawns were just beautiful! A day trip to the Polynesian Cultural Centre was great. We enjoyed presentations from the different island nations and learned that the centre is actually run by local university students.
Near the end of our holiday we did a quick trip to the outlet malls (nothing like holiday bargains!) and the kids learnt to surf. Ask me where we got the lessons from as we only paid $40 per child not the $100 quoted to us by vendors on the beach! I look forward to my next trip back to Hawaii to experience the other islands - really want to visit Volcano National Park on the big island.