Nickel and Dime on Island Time - Aloha Oahu; From Cali to Maui!

Aloha! “You never come out and visit us,” said Uncle Robert at my cousin Victoria’s wedding. Little did he know! We sure showed him. When the opportunity came up to visit friends in Hawaii, those words found their way from the dark recess of my brain to the forefront. Fine, let’s do it. We booked a flight on Hawaiian Airlines to visit Honolulu and Maui. Thank God we booked our flight when we did because soon after gas prices skyrocketed and our affordable flight became ridiculous!

On the day of the flight, we got up, headed to the airport, and were up in the air before I could even remember what island we were going to first. My wonderful Aunt (Gigi) was there to pick us up when we landed and immediately got us leid. Thanks, Gigi! She had leis ready for us to start our experience on the right foot! Then we were off to start our 24-hour adventure in Honolulu. We had been there before, but we were excited to see it from a local perspective.

Our first stop was Ramen Nakamura, which serves ramen, fried rice, and gyozas This tiny restaurant has very limited seating and usually a very long wait. We lucked out with the timing and only had to wait a short while. My aunt knew the people working there and they already had her order mapped out. The food was stellar and I even ordered an extra helping of gyozas. Unfortunately/Fortunately, everyone was too full to help me eat the order so I had them all to myself.

Stuffed and more than satisfied, we wandered over to Waikiki Beach where we posed for some pictures and even saw where Conner proposed to Victoria.

With limited time we had to make some tough choices about what to do next and we decided to do a hike. Where was the big question? Gigi is an expert hiker and with this hike would register her 177th on the island. Grant jokes if you have to climb a mountain holding on to a vertical rope while wearing no safety harness Gigi would classify it as a moderate-level hike. ;) But to be fair she's hiked about 172 times more than us! The combination of wanting to see a waterfall and the rainy weather made our choice for us. We headed to Manoa Falls Trail to do an easy hike up to see a waterfall.

Poor Gigi planned on taking us home first, but with everything moving around she was a trooper and powered through using my sandals. I put on Grant’s sandals and we were off. As I am writing this— I am realizing that I had tennis shoes and chose not to wear them because they had gotten wet at the beach. But, I was going on a hike in the rain. Why did I wear Grant’s oversized shoes when I could have worn my tennis shoes? That was dumb on my part but made it more fun to jump in the puddles. After making it to the top we stopped and snapped a few photos before hiking back down.

Afterward, we set out to check out a few other sites. The gardens were closed and we had a run-in with an unpleasant local, but we did make it to Nu'uanu Pali Lookout, which had an amazing view of the islands. The wind was ferocious in this area, which served as a dryer for our clothes we had gotten wet in the rain. Dry and feeling refreshed, we headed back to the car and drove to Pearl Harbor where both Robert and Gigi live. Gigi really should be a tour guide! We saw and learned so much from her!! Like that we're really out of shape. But other stuff too. Like Hawaiian history and culture lessons. It was a fascinating drive around Oahu that we enjoyed very much!

Gigi cooked an amazing steak dinner and Robert made Mai Tai's. We sipped, enjoyed the view, sipped some more, watched Daddy Yankee music videos, sipped again, met the neighbors, and refilled. The drinks were so good that even a baby lizard wanted to try some. I am sure he passed out somewhere after consuming all of that! Their back patio sits along the Pearl Harbor Channel and had magnificent views of the water. Grant needs to send Robert a bottle of rum because he drank most of his!

Being on California time (3 hours difference), not at all because of the cocktails, we were ready for bed by 10 pm. And the next morning we got up early (around 6:00 am or 7:00 am) but still missed the sunrise hike we had talked about doing. Instead, we got breakfast on the beach and strolled around snapping a few photos.

Afterward, we squeezed in the Makapuu Lighthouse trail, which lead us to an amazing view of the lighthouse, ocean, and even Obama’s new compound. This was the final stop on our quick trip and we sure did make the most of it.

We hopped on what had to be the quickest flight I have ever taken and were in Maui in no time. We followed the instructions to get to the rental car and were pleasantly surprised when they offered us a jeep instead of the mini-van we had booked. DONE! After that was all settled, we took the top of the jeep and cruised to our hotel.

Do not stay at Kamaole Sands Hotel. If my one-star review on any site that would take my opinion wasn’t enough—I will happily post it again here. I am a tad bitter. We booked the hotel/condo. It was a crummy little 1 bedroom/2 bath unit, but of course prices in Hawaii were ridiculous so it ended up being $300 a night. We were told in advance that it was going to be an extra $75 to check in because of the resort fee. What we were not told was that there was an additional $155 cleaning fee. We disputed it, they couldn’t find anywhere that said we had to pay it but refused to waive it. Fortunately, the site we went with gave us a credit, but it started us out on a sour note for the evening.

We met up with our friend Lara and her sister Lisa who were in Maui as well. We lived our White Lotus Fantasy (HBO TV Show) in Wailea where we attempted to make our version of staying in the Pineapple Suite. We first started with drinks and appetizers at the Grand Wailea to watch the sun go down and watch their Tiki Torch Lighting Ceremony. Then we wandered over to the Four Seasons where the show was filmed during COVID. We ordered more food and drinks. In the end, I asked the waiter if he was around when they filed, and told us he was actually in the show! He had his scene/clip ready to roll and we remembered the scene. We paid the check and after a quick drive back — the lights were out.

I was all sorts of screwed up with the time change (again, being 3 hours behind California) so by 5 am I was up and ready to start my day while Grant was ready to go back to sleep. My first stop was the Cinnamon Roll Palace. At 5 am— there was no one there, but I passed this place later in the day and the line was out the door.

The rental car agent told us not to waste our time with the Road to Hana because there was a beach with black sand way closer to Wailea called One’uli Beach. At first, I was the only person there but was joined by a strange girl rummaging through the sand. I later talked to her and she shared that she has been coming here every morning for the last five years picking out shells. She even gave me one. I shared this weird encounter with Lara and Grant later that day and they joked that I am now married to her. Ekk… Grant jokes everywhere else the weirdos come out at night but in Hawaii's time zone they, instead, come out in the early mornings.

I kept driving down the road and ended up in the lava fields. After a quick stroll around the fields, I doubled back and picked up a few souvenirs at a gift shop. By then Grant was awake and so we met up with Lara and Lisa at their condo. After a quick dip in the ocean, we rinsed off in the pool and then dried off for lunch. We ate at Waikiki Brewing Company, which was a restaurant at The Shops of Wailea.

On a full stomach, we decided to trek the Bamboo Forest Trail, which was at Mile-marker 6.5 on the Road to Hana. Cruising in the jeep with the top down, wind in our face, gave all of us the Hawaiian vacation feel. Next came the fun part, getting to the waterfall. The hike wasn’t too strenuous at first, but then we got to a point where we had to cross the river. With bamboo sticks in hand, we traversed the slippery rocks and all successfully crossed without anyone breaking an ankle. In no time, we heard the raging waters and made it to the falls. A few photos were snapped and then we made our way back to the car.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a beach that had giant turtles just sitting around sunbathing. It was fun to see because in San Diego we have a similar seal beach. As a reward for completing the hike we stopped and got a Hawaiian Shave Ice. We went back to our hotels and then attempted to order a pizza. The pizza parlor’s phone was off so Grant drove over. There he was told that they intentionally took the phone off and Grant wasn’t able to order for another 20 minutes. Then he would have to wait another 20 minutes for them to make the food. Is this what they mean by "island time"? So…Plan B was needed. We ate a Moose McGillycuddy and then called it a night. Their food is really good if you're drunk or have long-Covid and still can't taste/smell anything

On our final morning, I had some classwork that I wanted to get done, while Grant swam in the hotel’s pool. Before we closed out our time in Hawaii we had to make one more pit stop at a beach so I took Grant to the Big Beach or Makena Beach. Nearly 2/3rd of a mile of undeveloped land made this a must-stop. Easily our favorite beach on the island. After a quick swim and nearly getting knocked down multiple times because of the strong waves, we called it a trip. Packing took a while because of the souvenirs and laundry, but we did it. We stopped at a diner called Zappy’s which was like an Asian-inspired Marie Calendars. Strange, but it worked. Grant said it looked like a Golden Corral where all the buffet counters have been removed.

We took the car to the rental return and dropped it off without any issue. The girl hid in her car after we gave her the keys and told us she would send us a receipt. It was strange, but nothing alarming. When we got to the airport, I got the receipt and they had charged us $60 for a cleaning fee/detail. I immediately called as this was another “hidden fee.” The girl on the phone said that it’s usually charged because of excess sand. I just laughed at this one. There were rubber mats that collected all of the sand and a quick rinse/vacuum would have cleaned everything else. A manager was supposed to call me but they still haven’t gotten around to it. We did get an email after the call that had weird numbers that didn’t add up so we hope that they are going to reverse that charge.

The trip was a memorable one and I am glad we got to spend time with family and friends. Between all of the hiking and cleaning fees, our legs and wallets need a bit of a break from traveling for a bit! :) Aloha!

P.S. Grant is really bad about accidentally responding to an "Aloha" with "Hola."