Hawaiian Airlines’ night flight finally took off from a flashing Las Vegas airport. Destination Osaka with a two days stopover in Honolulu. The plane was full of sounds of Hawaiian traditional songs and views of lush mountains, waterfalls, and lava flow. The sounds that made flashing and bursting Strip slot machines noises go away. When I woke up I was in full-on Hawaiian mode.
Day 1
We reached the islands when they were still sleeping, before dawn. At 6 a.m. found a city bus stop and in 20 minutes we got on super AC-ed bus No. 20 to Waikiki. One hour later, I got off the bus frozen to my bones. Coming back to Waikiki after 2 years felt as if I had never left and it was just another morning walk to the coffee shop and the beach. I managed to postpone my jet lag tiredness till noon when we agreed with the hotel for an early check-in. We chose Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki Beach and it was very central and close to all the places we ended up going to.
Waikiki was already wide awake. People were running with takeaway coffees and juice. We got into a line at a coffee shop called “Kona Coffee” and in half an hour we joined the others walking to the beach with a beautifully made artisanal coffee from locally grown coffee beans and almond croissants. Lines mean quality.
Waikiki Beach. The sun was up and warmed up the leftovers of AC freeze in my bones. The water was ten shades of blue and refreshing for the body and mind. Just before we got a sunburn (yup, it’s quick in Hawaii), we decided on lunch and went back into another line. Luckily, it was ten minutes wait only and we were awarded yummy bowls of Udon noodles and some tempura at “Marugame Udon”.
After a nap and a short stroll through the busy streets in the evening, we ended up getting a to-go dinner at another place with the line “Maguro Brothers Hawaii Waikiki”. They do poke bowls with freshly caught local fish. Well, I am not sure if salmon was local to Hawaii but it melted in my mouth and that was good enough for me.
Day 2
After breakfast and some work done, we walked out of our hotel and headed to the Diamond Head State Monument. It was an easy 45-minute walk through a private house neighborhood. The great part of this trip was the tunnel that led to the inside of the crater. At this time the whole crater was lush with greenery which happens only in the springtime due to the low amount of rainfall it gets around the year. At the gates, we were stopped and asked for the reservation which we didn’t make prior. However, the lady gave us a Wifi password to book the time and pay there (hikers pay 5 USD). The rest of the path was uphill and there were pretty impressive steep stairs at the top. The funny thing was to bump into a thick cloud of bugs on the very top – the place where you’d want to hang out and admire the view. Not possible.
After quick photos, we went down spiral stairs inside of the mountain and walked to bus No. 3 which took us all the way to “Don Quijote” shopping center. It is a Japanese supermarket that has all sorts of affordable things and food. Before heading in, we stopped by “Hokkaido Ramen Santouka” to eat lunch. It was our third time there and it was still good. “Don Quijote” had some nice salad, sushi, and poke bowls that were made for dinner later.
The final stop of the evening was a full moon gaze at Waikiki Beach. The water was warm to swim and there were fish jumping out. I also got a gift from the ocean – sunglasses that came out to the shore with a wave.
Day 3
The Hawaiian Airlines flight that continued to Osaka was bound at 1:45 pm. So we made time to go back to the beach and have a last swim and sunbathe. Quick breakfast and we were off on Uber to the airport. There we saw another line… Luckily, we could check in via machine (online didn’t work for some reason) just to see that the lines to the customs were also at least half an hour wait. The staff advised going to checkpoint 3 to go through quicker. One of us didn’t have TSA Pre-check, so it made things longer. But managed everything on time, including visiting Hawaiian Airlines’ “Plumeria” lounge for a quick hand full of macadamia nuts in chocolate – another Hawaiian specialty.
It was a quick stop in Hawaii and I think I got a cold from that AC on the bus. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every moment of it. Some places are just too good to be not enjoyed even with jet lag or cold.
Windrose Travels 
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