everywhere you looked was a beautiful view around here
Hawaii was a TRIP. Like literally, very different from what I was expecting. With that said, I’m already ready to go back! Read on to learn more about my first time in Hawaii.
doesn't get much better for me
We decided to go to Waikiki speficially because I heard it was the most touristy area with the most activities. I really wanted to be where the action was and have a lot of options for events and other things to do. The area was definitely action-packed. We were in the area for 4 days and 4 nights total, so ill give a run-down on how each day went.
full moon for my bday ♥
DAY 1
We took two different airlines to and from there because we had to go and come back on very specific days. Going there, we took American, back was united. We treated ourselves and booked first class tickets cause it was only $1000 more than taking a southwest flight which I KNOW would’ve been treacherous for 5+ hours, fighting for my life for a good seat. Going first class was prolly the best decision we made for this trip. American first class was better than united, imo. On America, they fed us constantly throughout the flight, gave us drinks on drinks and were overall just very attentive during the journey. The plane overall was newer than united and I felt the seats were a lot more comfortable because of that. I think the meal we got as better on American too – the recipes were put together by a fellow dietitian so no wonder the food left us energized and satisfied. And nemo had no adverse reaction to it, which means it was super clean and good quality. If youre like me and you hate long flights, you’ll prolly start loving them if you fly first lol. So basically the trip started the second we stepped onto the plane.
real ceramic coffee mugs in first class lol
Once in Hawaii, we were able to score a mustang convertible rental and hit the road to our hotel. The views from the airport (and even on the plane) were immediately breathtaking – peep the pics because my words really cant do it justice. Amazingly vast peaks and valleys, warm/humid ocean air, lushhhh greenery, that feeling of being near the beach always existing, Hawaii really just has a totally different vibe. I guess I expected it to be an extension of the west coast but it is definitely its own island with its own rules.
so much green here.
Side note: ppl in the Honolulu/Waikiki area drive CRAZY! I thought the bay area was bad. The road flow was horrible and the drivers were worse lol! Like you’ll be driving in a lane and all of a sudden your lane is going left, no warning sign or anything lol, and ppl will fight you if you try to merge xD. At one point, an ambulance was trying to get through and ppl took their sweet time moving out of the way. Once the ambulance got through, they turned their lights/sirens off xD. Ill chalk it up to the city being a big tourist destination with many different cultures and driving styles in one area, similar to nyc.
we in hawaii bishhh
Anyway, we get to our hotel and its overall eh (Marriott resort and spa Waikiki). Great location, very close to the beach with an amazing view of the ocean and an open-air lobby. However, the room itself was overall mid and looked dated, and the layout of everything felt like a carnival cruise – balconies very close together with very little privacy, kids screaming all around, overall loud and chaotic. We make the best of that first day by doing a lot of walking – down to the beach and up towards diamond head. We never actually made it to the mountain because it was farther than we thought on foot and it was getting dark by the time we got close. Still, the walk up to the mountain provided some elevation and some crazy cool views of that first sunset.
turtle beach vibes
Back at the hotel, nemo has had enough and encourages us to find a different place to stay for our next 3 nights. Thank goodness for him because we were able to reserve am AMAZING room at the ritz right in town. It was a little more inland, about 10mins walking from the beach, which was perfectly okay with us considering how much we got in return.
the sunsets were on fleek during the whole trip
DAY 2
We start off with breakfast at the first hotel which was actually pretty good - a buffet-style with lots of options including an omelet station. If you stay at Marriott resort Waikiki, definitely get the breakfast package because they were throwing down in there. Thankfully, we were able to check out early without incurring any extra fees.
top-down in hawaii was cool until we learned that they don't rly check for smog out here. its hella free radicals in the air
While waiting to check into the ritz, we do some driving towards Eisenhower beach towards the west of the island. That drive and that area was a really nice change from the chaos of Waikiki – no traffic, easy roads to drive, gorgeous hills/mountains on the skyline and just an overall chill vibe. We do a little bit of shopping (thank you nemo for the airpods ♥) and head to the beach. Or maybe we did the beach first and then went shopping? That beach area was so chill. I was surprised that no one, not even the hotel staff, were familiar with that beach. Maybe because the area was towards military-affiliated people and their families. That beach was prolly my favorite that we visited. Hardly any people, easy to park, and it was so nice and hot and humid with calm, warm waters. Unfortunately, we weren’t prepared to have a full beach day there but it will definitely be at the top of our list of places to visit when we return to the island.
feeling myself on the beach lol
So I call the ritz a few hours before were supposed to check in and luckily our room is ready. One thing I noticed is that the ritz had a lot of vacancy even at the last minute on this busy weekend. I appreciated that because it implied that the hotel would prolly not be very crowded/loud and staff would be more likely to tend to the customers.
loved this place
We get to the ritz and its amazing! Such a nice upgrade compared to where we were. Peep the pics and vid for the view we had! This place was a 10min walk from the beach but also 10mins away from the riff-raff which was a nice change. Upon checking in, valet took our car, we got some sweet necklaces (I got a leigh, nemo got some cool black beads), we got some welcome champagne and some ice cream, and they took our bags up to the room for us so we could just take the elevator up with no baggage and settle in easily.
the ritz was rly eating with their views tho
The room was really nice. Very big with a whole separate bedroom with an actual door. The bathroom has this open shower concept where it was this big tiled area around the shower head with no curtain or door or whatever, just this open area large shower room with the mirror/sink/counter on the other side of it. It was kinda cool. They also had a bidet in the toilet! First time ive seen this at a hotel. The whole space reminded me of our home and made it so much easier to settle down there and get comfortable.
had to pull out the hot girl summer orange bathing suit
Oh I forgot to say, before we went to the beach and changed hotels, we traded our convertible for a sudan audi with a sunroof because the lack of smog regulation out there was not cute while riding with a drop-top lol. So basically it felt that the vacation part of our vacation actually started on the sedond day lol.
thanks nemo for always driving us and keeping us safe
That night, we ate room service dinner at the hotel which was super good (I asked for extra fries with my chicken nuggets and I actually got them lol, nemo had this super yummy burger with fried mozzarella cheese and sundried tomato sauce) then we walked down to the beach to watch the fireworks show. Every Friday night, the Hilton down the street does fireworks over the water. It was a nice viewing experience – we smoked half a blunt under some palm trees, watched the sunset and right as the sun was down the fireworks started. I also liked how communal the event was – lots of people came down to watch.
nemo + pretty palm trees + pretty sunsets = happy me c:
DAY 3
We started off w/ breakfast at the hotel which was super good. If you get the hotel package that includes breakfast, then you get the “full American breakfast” for free. The dining area was also gorgeous with an elegant design and a gorgeous view of the city and ocean. it was a great way to start my BIRTHDAY MORNING :D.
this cruise was dusty but the views were chef's kiss
The hotel offered free beach chairs to the customers so we copped a couple of those and planned to have a beach day before the dinner cruise we had planned that night. We stopped by this cool indoor-outdoor mall to do a bit of shopping before hitting the beach. Unfortunately, it was so dang packed on the roads and on the nearby beaches that, after driving around for like 2hrs, we decided to say fuck it and just chill at our super nice hotel. Nemo had homework to do so he did that in the room while I chilled at the infinity pool, ate some lunch and had a drink. They have an adult-only pool area with city and ocean views. This hotel also had an “ice cream social” every afternoon so I got to enjoy some caramel gelato by the pool as well. It ended up being a very chill afternoon. Once again, it was nice to get away from the chaos and just chill while still being immersed in the city/ocean vibes.
my happy place
After this, we get ready and head out for our dinner cruise. We almost don’t make it to the boat on time because valet takes a while to get our car and it takes some time for us to park. Luckily (unluckily) we make it, but the overall experience left a lot to be desired. Dinner was luke-warm at best for all of the plates and not very appetizing. They also had no alternates or food allergy information which made it hard for nemo to eat. The boat itself was dated and not very clean. Imo definitely not worth the $450 that nemo spent for both of us. The saving grace were the views which were gorgeous (peep the pics). The moon was almost full that night so we got a sunset and a moonrise at the same time. Sunset was pretty as usual and we got lots of nice pics. People on the boat were cool but we all seemed to have that look of “this boat sucks” on our faces during the drip xD. The experience built character lol. Peep the pics and nemos face xD
nemo was not havin' it on this dusty boat cruise lol (sorry star of honolulu but your dinner cruise was trash)
That night after the boat, we decide to play it safe and get food from safeway (because we hardly ate at that dinner) and cook our own food. Well, nemo did most of the cooking lol. We planned to attend an afro-beats dance club event that night but we wanted to get to bed early so we could beat some traffic and get to some beaches the next day. This safeway had some different selections than the one back home, like two different flavored salmon plates. We got some fish, chicken, greens and fruit. Nemo made us a nice chicken + greens plate and we just chilled at the hotel, admiring the view and the moon, lounging in the hotel-provided spa robes. Lucky for us, this hotel had a full kitchen so we were able to cook and not have to do dishes! This place also had a washer/dryer in-unit so we could do laundry anytime. They really went all out to make this hotel a comfortable place to actually live and I was there for it!!
pretty views everywhereeee
DAY 4
We start off with our second (and last, since we had to check our super early the next day) breakfast and hit the road early to drive around, see some sights and finally have a proper beach day. We first tried to hit lanikai beach but dang that area was super damn packed. The town had a nice whole foods so thankfully we were able to get some snacks cause we’d have a lot of driving to do. The town overall was cute but just so many damn people with 0 parking anywhere. So we leave and head west for esienhower but then on the way, we decide to head north because might as well see as much as we can while were here.
everyone was locked in for these fireworks
The driving might’ve been my favorite part about this day – SO MANY AMAZING VIEWS. The peaks and valleys on that island are crazy. It was breathtaking and the camera hardly did it justice. We ended up going to turtle beach hoping that it would be less crowded with less traffic and thankfully it wasss. It was a cool beach day minus the dead seal we saw washed up on shore . Ill say again that Hawaii is definitely its own island with its own rules. The water was a bit rough and choppy so we didn’t really swim, just kindof hung out near the edge with the water washing over us.
music was alright ig
As it got darker, we made our way back to the hotel, cooked the rest f our food, did some laundry and just chilled and enjoyed our room during our last night. I spent a lot of time just sitting on the balcony and enjoying the views/breeze. We had a full moon that night which added a nice brightness to the sky.
love him sm.
DAY 5
We check out early to catch our 8am flight. Going back, we flew with united which was a good flight overall in first class, but def not better than American. I will say breakfast was good – I had a mushroom omelet over brown rice and some other random sides. Nemo got a tomato quiche type of thing. We also got some free goodies including Ua Body perfume, chapstick and lotion, along with an eye mask, ear plugs, a toothbrush and toothpaste.
such a nice vibe on the beach that night
Best part about flying united was having access to their lounge during our layover at lax. We fucked up and ate at this dusty burger spot before finally checking out the lounge. Turns out it only costs 60 bucks to get a one-time pass. They had all kinds of free food, free alcohol as well as other drinks, outdoor seating and lots of inside seating with so much room. Like in Hawaii, it was so nice to put some space between us and the chaos of the rest of the airport. I paid like 30 bucks for a burger and fries when I could paid 60 for a whole buffet of much fresher food items and free drinks!!! So moral of the story – be sure to explore all of your options and consider paying a little more to get a lot more bang for your buck.
the full moon on my bday was crazy
We got home safe and sound and are already planning out next trip back :D. so that’s it, we had a great time overall and will be trying to visit the island again soon, especially now that we have an idea of how to navigate it. If you have any questions about this review, or you want to chat for other reasons, feel free to leave a comment on the home page or hit me up in instagram @bunnygoestoshows.
keep scrolling to see some more of our pics/vids <3
