Holiday to Hawaii

The beginning of May I went to Hawaii for 12 days for a holiday. This was my first 'relaxing' holiday since I'm an Au pair so I really looked forward to it. I went to Oahu and stayed in a hostel near Waikiki beach, it was only a five minute walk. I was on my own for the first 5 days and after that another Au pair joined me. We had a great time and did lots of activities, like swimming with dolphins and a hike in the rain forest.

It all began on Thursday May 2nd, I took a bus really early in the morning and flew from San Francisco to Honolulu. My flight left at 9.00 am and I arrived in Honolulu around 2.00 pm. I had breakfast before I left, but we didn't get any food on the plane, so I was starving when I arrived. There was a 3 hour time difference, so for me it felt like 5.00 pm, and I didn't eat anything since 8.00 am. But I first wanted to be to the hostel, so I took a shuttle, got to the hostel and checked in. Then I went to look for food and the first thing I saw was subway, so that's where I went. I actually had the food long sub haha, but that was pretty much all the food for the day. After that I went to the beach and that's basically what I did for the next five days. I really took these days to relax, because when Nicole, the other Au pair, would arrive we had a lot of things planned. The only thing I did on Friday was have a look at the university. I was thinking about staying in the US when my Au pair program is finished and was going to take a tour on the Hawaii pacific university campus. Eventually it wasn't really my thing, so I decided not to go there. I will write another post about my plans after the Au pair year ;)

Tuesday May 7th Nicole arrived in Hawaii. She arrived in the afternoon, but I didn't really do anything in the morning and we just walk around Waikiki and lay on the beach.

Wednesday May 8th we took a tour to the East Shore, this was arranged by the hostel and was only $20 per person. Someone from the hostel would drive you around in  a minivan and this was perfect for us, this way we could see a lot in a day without renting a car. The flyer said this:

* Swim and play at Waimanalo Beach

* Eat lunch in Kailua - many local places to choose from

* Set foot on one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world at Lanikai Beach

* Drive trough the scenic Pali Highway

The trip was great, we saw about 4 beaches that day in total, something that would have been impossible if we had to take the bus. It was also very nice that it was just a small group of people, and it's always nice to meet new people from all over the world. I must say Lanikai beach really was beautiful!

Thursday May 9th we took another tour of the hostel, with the same concept, except this one was going to the North Shore. Here we also saw a lot of beaches, I think it were another 4 or 5, it was amazing, but after these two days we saw enough beaches haha. This is what the flyer said:

* Check out the historic surf town of Hale'iwa

* Find yourself at the famous 'Lost Beach' (the main beach from the tv show)

* Look for turtles

* Go to the beach and shore breaks at Waimea Bay

* Watch world famous surfers at the world famous Pipeline Beach

* Enjoy garlic shrimp and haupia pie at Ted's Bakery

This was another incredible day, where we did saw turtles on Turtle Beach, tried our first Shave Ice and saw the sunset on the 'Lost Beach'. Another long day, and mostly with the same people as the day before, which was nice.

Friday May 10th we planned on doing a hike to the Manoa Falls. This was a hike trough the rain forest and was supposed to be amazing. We were picked up and on the way their the tour guide told us a little bit about the area. We all got some walking sticks and of we went to the rain forest, but it wasn't raining. This was a good and a bad thing, the bad thing was that the waterfall was pretty small, because there was no rain. The good thing was though that we didn't have to cross mud pools and floods to get there. It was already pretty muddy and slippery as it was, I have no idea how we should have gotten up there with rain. It was still a great experience, hiking trough a rain forest.

Saturday May 11th was a BIG day, because we were going to snorkel with wild dolphins! This was really exciting, because swimming with dolphins has always been on my bucket list. We were picked up at a hotel at 5.30 am, so we had to get up really early, but it was definitely worth it. When we arrived we had to choose what we wanted to eat and then we went to get the snorkeling gear. There were about 15 people in our group and we went out into the ocean with a small boat. At first they didn't find any dolphins, but we got to swim with some turtles, which was fun too. After a while everyone had to get back on the boat and we found some dolphins. We all had to wear life jackets for the snorkeling with dolphins, to prevent people from diving after them. It was amazing, you could just see them swim by and we even saw a baby! Unfortunately it was over before we knew it and we had to get back on the boat. After this morning of snorkeling we decided it was enough yet, so we went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. This was also amazing, but we found it a bit too close, the water was really shallow and it felt a bit claustrophobic. Still, it was very pretty and a great experience to add to my list.

Sunday May 12th we went on another early trip, this time to Pearl Harbor. This was also a great trip, and got picked up at 6.00 am, so again really early. We went to Pearl Harbor where the tour guide told us about things that happened and we watch a short video about it too. Nicole asked him some questions and then he started talking about World War II and Auschwitz in Austria, uhhhh, as far as I know Auschwitz is still in Poland... That was kind of big mistake from his side, especially because he was acting like an expert. Other than that he really tried to explain everything, we also went to the USS Arizona memorial. We went there on a boat, could walk around a little bit and then we went back. We walked around a little bit more and then went back to the bus. We saw some more historic sights like the Punchbowl and then we were dropped off at the hostel. After this we both had a nap, because we were really tired and then we just relaxed a little bit the rest of the day.

Monday May 13th was our last day and the hostel organized a hike to Diamond Head. It was really warm and we had to walk up a mountain. The higher we got the steeper it got and the last little bit was mostly stairs. When we finally thought we were almost there, the tour guide said it was only two more stairs. When we turned around the corner, we saw a huge steep stairs :0 but we made it, and it was definitely worth it, the view was amazing! We took some pictures and then we had to walk back, and we didn't do to much after that. We just hang out on the beach for a little bit, because our flight back was going that evening. They wouldn't let me on the bus with my luggage, so we had to take a taxi to the airport. Then they couldn't find Nicole in the computer, but we made it on time. We sat on opposite sides in the plane, and I had extra leg space :) eventually I got home at 7.00 am on Tuesday morning.

This was a great trip and I must say social media is awesome. I posted something on a Facebook page. I asked if there where any Au pairs in Hawaii and I found a Dutch girl that is an Au pair close to Waikiki beach. So we met up a few times and it was really nice to actually talk to a Dutch Au pair, because so far I haven't met any other ones here in 'real' life. We also made these plans trough Facebook, this is also how I met Nicole, we only met 2 or 3 times before this trip, and it was still amazing ;)

What is your ultimate relaxing holiday?