ALOHA !!! (Day 1)

HAWAII here we come!!! We went on a 6 Days 5 Nights vacation in Oahu, Hawaii. It was by far my most dreamt of holiday vacation. I was beaming ear to ear when Daddy sent me his Expedia itinerary options,…New York, Yellow Stone National Park or Hawaii! I couldn’t stop smiling when I saw the word HAWAII…and what made it more attractive…was the word ‘Resort and Spa’ followed by the name of the hotel! For once, I do not have any 2nd thoughts about the trip and I knew for sure my holiday will not be spoilt by the bitter cold weather!

My impression of Hawaii before the trip was limited to Waikiki beach, surf, sun and sea, oh and volcanoes…hmm to me, Bali is like a mini Hawaii and we had been to Bali a few times. Our last trip was when Mal just turned 1. We love the sea, the surf, the sun, the nature, the food and the imitation surf wear in Bali I digressed.

We woke up at 5 plus to go to the airport as we need to catch the 8.15 am flight. It was a direct flight and took about 6 hours to fly from Phoenix to Oahu. We had mentally prepared Mal for the trip as we were afraid that he might get grumpy waking up so early in the morning. He was tired, but was not at all grumpy and was so excited, cheerful and chatty when he woke up. I guess he was very excited about the trip. Though it was not his first time flying, it was the first time that he was so aware about what was happening around. He was so chatty and asking loads of questions, must be the airplane books that he had been reading recently. Boarding and flying the plane seem more meaningful to him now as he began to piece up all the puzzles in his little head. What is a plane, how the engine looks like, how the wings look like, how the airplane lands, what are the wheels for etc he was curious about EVERYTING and luckily Daddy sat right next to him throughout the whole journey and that helped to answer all his WHYs, HOWs, WHEREs blah blah blah.

We stayed in Waikiki beach, supposedly the most expensive stretch of land in Hawaii. Other than hotels, there were lots of condo and I was surprised to find out that a lot of Asians live along this stretch of land. I guess they are the rich people there. We were however rather disappointed during our drive from the airport to the hotel. For a while we thought we were in Singapore! The weather, the high rise building, the highway that cut through high rise residential buildings. Are we back in Tiong Bahru or Havelock Road?! Traffic was bad and it was not what we were expecting! Where were the sun, sea, surf and greenery?!

The drive to our hotel seem forever with the jam and a few wrong turns…we finally made it to our hotel. Upgraded to a partial sea facing room with free breakfast every morning at an additional 25 bucks. We soon realised that the free breakfast was one of the best thing for the trip

So after checking in, we were all excited to check out the famous Waikiki beach which was right across our hotel. Hmmm…again…not very impressed by what we saw. Sand not very white (they got the sand from Molokai island as the sand erosion in the recent years had washed away most of the sand along Waikiki beach), water not very clear and what made it worse was they had these algae infested rocks to block up the ocean so as to make a lagoon at the beach area, so much for the natural beauty…

So after a 6 hours long flight, we were greeted by urban landscape, condos and high rise buildings that sprung out in disorder, bad traffic on the highway and beach with a lagoon that looks like East Coast! Aloha…Singapore??

I guess that is what happen when the expectation is too high. Luckily the disappointment was only contained within the first day…for the next few days, as we travel out of Waikiki…we soon found the beauty of the island and hidden jewel that made the place one of the most sought after holiday destination…

bright and cheery at Phoenix Airport