Hawaii Adventure part 3

Day 3 Oahu Adventure

Another early day. First on our itinerary for the day was the Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. We went there early because I read in some website that there's always a lot of people visiting the historical landmark even on weekdays. 

Tickets to Arizona Memorial is free but limited. They distribute tickets on a first come first serve basis. 

I'm not a history buff but I was moved when I watched the video of how everything happened back then. I found myself thanking heavens that I wasn't born yet at that time. There were a lot of people but the atmosphere was pretty solemn. 

USS Arizona Memorial Wall 

There was a 23 minute documentary film that presents a detailed unbiased narrative of how the conflict between the Japanese and Americans started and the Pearl Harbor Attack. After the film, we proceeded to the boat which took us to the USS Arizona Memorial, the sunken battleship which served as the final resting place of thousands of soldiers who died during the attack. 

After our self guided tour in Pearl Harbor, we drove to Waikiki Beach and had a nice al fresco lunch in Duke's. 

Waikiki Beach was crowded with tourists. We saw all sorts of restaurants and sports equipment rentals around the area. Cool sea breeze, turquoise water, two rounds of fruity cocktails and fresh seafood for lunch. Was that perfect or what?

We were supposed to go to a Luau for a cultural presentation and dinner but we got lost so we had to reschedule. We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking and wandering around Honolulu.

Wine, Beer and Tequila to get the party started

And before we know it, we were starving.. again..

For dinner, we decided to try the one of the food trucks near our hotel. And boy, that was amazing! Grilled steaks or shrimp with rice were available for $6.95. If you can't decide between steaks and shrimp, you can get a combination of two for $11 friggin dollars! My tummy jumped with joy.

After dinner, we were so not ready to retire. I felt guilty about eating too much. Yeah.. just a lil bit. So Peter and I decided to stroll along Waikiki Beach.

Waikiki beach at night

The beach was deserted but the bars along the beach weren't. We sat on the beach, gazed at the stars and talked about life. For me this was a perfect way to cap of  a very long day.

Hawaii Adventure part 1

This is a really..really.. REALLY late post. But as they say, it's better late than never. Hawaii has always been on top my bucket list ever since I can remember. It was December of 2010 when I decided to exhaust all the resources I have to cross this out of my list. I was fully aware of how much damage it would cost me since I wanted to fully enjoy myself without worrying about every penny. So I became obsess with finding the best deals online. I spent a number of sleepless nights scouring the web for the best value deal I could find. Luckily, I stumbled upon BeachDestinations.com. It's an online travel agency which provides tons of options for a variety of famous beach destinations at any price range. [Note: They are not paying me to do this. The website is just so awesome that I wanted to share it to anyone interested.] For a little over $1200 per person, We bought an airline ticket from Chicago to Oahu and Maui to Chicago via United Airlines. An inter-island flight from Oahu to Maui via Mesa Airlines and our accomodation in a three star hotel in  Oahu as well as the condo units we rented out in Maui were also included in the price. It helped that we traveled on May because the shoulder season in Hawaii was from mid-March until May. I also found awesome car deals from Hotwire for both islands. And so our adventure began.



                                                        A quick snapshot after touchdown in Kauai.



I immediately felt a sense of belongingness as soon as we landed. Aahh. I felt so close to home.



Enjoying our cocktails

 After a 15 hour flight from Chicago to Kuaui, we were starving so we immediately asked around for the nearest food place in the airport. We took the shuttle from the airport to Marriot Hotel and headed to Duke's.  A couple of drinks and some fresh seafood appetizers were all we need to reenergize after a grueling 15 hour flight, not to mention a three hour drive from Wisconsin Dells to Chicago and waiting time in between flights.

After a quick snack and picture taking in Kalapaki Beach, we're off to the airport once again for our flight to Oahu, where we stayed for four days. [ to be continued..]