Our First 48 Hours In Hawaii

Aloha from Hawaii! I have been super inactive the last few weeks on my blog, but we have been super busy moving to Hawaii! This is our third full day here, so I wanted to make my first Hawaii blog about our first two days here on Oahu.

On Friday, we flew from Nashville Tennessee to Honolulu Hawaii. The entire trip took about 10-11 hours. More if you include the layover we had in Los Angeles. Arriving in Hawaii was almost dream-like. As we were landing, we passed rainbows in the clouds and the water was an incredible shade of blue. As I was staring out the window at our new home, I just had to pinch myself to prove it was real!

Stepping off the plane and into the airport was unreal. Through the windows you could see the large, lushly green mountains in the distance. The sound of Ukuleles could be heard echoing in the hallways along with the voices of excited families arriving for a tropical vacation. We were greeted with Leis and brought to our “home” for the next few weeks. While we look for a place to live, we will be living in a hotel. We settled in that evening  and checked out the pool, gift shop, and the wonderful restaurant at the hotel. The first night, I chose to try Loco Moco, and it was SO GOOD! The little restaurant is right next to the pool and mostly outdoors, and you would think that it would be too hot, but it seems like there is always a nice breeze. After dinner we stayed up until 9 (which was incredibly difficult being that it would be 2AM where we used to live. Unfortunately, our internal clocks still woke us up at 3AM.

The next day, we spent at the hotel pool. We needed a day to relax after all our traveling and spending the day at the pool was the perfect solution. We ordered Pizza Hut for lunch, and went to the restaurant for dinner again. The restaurant provides military families with meal vouchers, so not only is it good, but its also mostly paid for!

That night we woke up at 3:30AM which is a tiny better than the night before. We decided to go out Sunday and explore. But first, we stopped for some breakfast at a neighboring hotel. We were super nervous about navigating the public transportation, (our car won’t arrive for awhile) but Google Maps was a saving grace. It told you exactly what bus station you needed to go to, walking directions to that bus station, which bus you needed to get on, how long the bus ride is, how many bus stops between you and your  destination, and walking directions on how to get to your destination from the closest bus stop. Without using it, I would have been a nervous wreck.

We went to Ala Moana Beach Park, which was incredibly gorgeous. The water was so blue and clear, the beach vibe was completed with the sound of Hawaiian music playing in the distance. We walked around the park and took pictures of the city and Diamond Head Crater in the background. We then went to Ala Moana mall and got peach lemonade before walking around gazing into Gucci and Balenciaga windows, before finding an Old Navy and doing a little shopping. I loved the styles there! The clothing in Hawaii has a different style than that in Tennessee and I learned about it in school, but it was interesting seeing it in person. I already want to head back and do some more shopping!

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Before heading back to the hotel we found a 3 story Target (I was in heaven) and got some groceries for breakfasts. Hawaii has a plastic bag ban which is super awesome, so we bought some reusable bags. The whole experience of grocery shopping in the city was so much fun and I could definitely get used to it!

We got back to the pool and I soaked up the sun for awhile before getting ready for dinner.

Hawaii so far has been amazing! I love it and cannot wait to travel more and explore the other islands during our time here. Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more insight on what its like moving to Hawaii.