Saturday, March 25 – Flight to Honolulu and staying at Hale Koa
Our flight was scheduled at 9:00 AM. We were still full from a delicious dinner, so didn’t even take time to stop for breakfast in the morning, figuring that we would get something at the airport if we got hungry. We were at the airport early, since we are early risers and really saw no point in hanging around the hotel room. As we had never traveled on Hawaiian airlines, it was a new experience. DS figured out the self-service bag drop pretty quickly, and we checked in pretty easily once we understood the process. It was actually nice to be able to weigh our own bags (one bag was about 5 pounds over-limit after shedding our winter clothes that we had worn out of Denver, but it was easy to swap a couple items into another bag and make it work out). I would have felt bad if we were up at the counter with a line of impatient people behind us, so it was convenient to check bags this way.
We found a comfortable place to sit at our gate, and the guys made good use of plugging in their phones in the outlets by the seats and playing games while waiting to board. DS had decided that he was a little hungry at that point, and there was a Starbucks right there, so he was satisfied. While the guys played phone games, I took $20 over to the slot machines right there and entertained myself for about an hour, which is a pretty good price for entertainment at a Las Vegas airport slot machine! The highlight, however, was having my very first DISmeet with MAGIC4TWO (Tammie). Tammie and her husband Jim had a nearly identical itinerary to ours, beginning at Hale Koa and moving onto Aulani. They were on the same flight, and even in the same row, but on the opposite side of the plane. It was too funny, and quite the coincidence that we met right here on the DIS Boards! Tammie is just as sweet as she seemed when we were chatting on the boards leading up to this trip. The most awful thing is that we NEVER ran into each other once we departed the plane in Honolulu. Tammie and her husband Jim were meeting family there, so both of us had pretty packed agendas, I think. But nevertheless, it was FUN to meet her in person. She gave me a big hug, told me about her trip so far, which included sleeping a couple of hours in the airport USO due to a late travel schedule from their home (and how she looked so good when I ran into her at the gate is AMAZING to me!) I hope she and Jim and their family had a wonderful vacation like we did. So Tammie, if you come back to this forum, please know how fantastic it was to meet you, even though so briefly.
We boarded our flight quickly, and it was nice to turn left instead of right when entering the plane to sit in the extra comfort section, which we felt we needed to pay a bit extra for, due to the long flight. The seats were roomier, and there was a nice entertainment package to choose from, including movies, music and TV shows, and even some trivia games that played on the seatback in front of you.
We were in row 12, seats A, B, C. Since the seats were a 2-4-2 configuration, I let the guys sit by the window, and I took the aisle seat in the middle.
The flight over to Honolulu was not as pleasant as the flight coming back. There was a little girl, about age 1 ½ or 2, I figure, and she was NOT happy to be on the airplane. I think she cried the entire trip (screamed was more like it). She had two dads, and they didn’t seem to know how to distract her and keep her happy. They tried a few things but the only time she was quiet was when the flight attendant took her and walked up and down the aisle with her for a while. I don’t know why one of her dads didn’t take it upon themselves to do that, but it is what it is, and I don’t judge their actions. I remember flying with our son when he was small, and I was always very concerned and nervous about keeping him quiet and occupied on a long trip. They at least seemed to be calm about it, and take it in stride that a six hour plane ride was going to be a trial, and they just went with the flow. And since I’m a pretty patient person, I can mentally shut out a screaming child pretty easily, and I even managed a fitful nap with my complimentary pillow and blanket during the journey to make the time pass more quickly.
The flight crew was very good. Attentive and pleasant. We had a small breakfast sandwich meal, and a wonderful in-flight drink when we were close to arrival, a punch made of POG (Pineapple, Orange, Guava) juice and Koloa white rum. The extra comfort seats also had individual power outlets to plug in our devices so that we could stay entertained. Worked perfectly, especially for my DH and DS. DS was getting excited as we drew closer, and practiced “hanging loose”.
We arrived a little before our scheduled arrival time of 12:40 pm. Our luggage was quickly off the carousel, and we headed to the rental car shuttle. We had decided to rent from Budget, and chose a Standard Elite SUV. I chose a larger SUV, because I had made a mistake on our last trip to Florida, and the “SUV” I reserved had so little cargo space in the back that we wound up with half of our luggage sitting in the back passenger seat next to DS. So I thought this was a brilliant plan. I pictured something like a Ford Escape or a mid-sized SUV, but this was a full-on BOAT of a vehicle – a GMC Yukon. Yes, it was wonderful and spacious, but it was also larger than what should have been responsibly driven and parked in the narrow roads and parking spaces of Oahu. Since at home DH and I both drive SUVs, and the company I had previously worked for owned a GMC Yukon (or something very similar) as a company vehicle, I was used to periodically driving a big car, so I took over as the main driver, and DH (with the help of WAZE, which was very good on Oahu) performed navigational duties.
We made our way to the Hale Koa, on Waikiki beach. This is a military resort, so the room rates are reasonable, and although it is largely without any special theming, the view and the property were gorgeous, the room was comfortable, and the eateries and amenities were great (particularly having the base exchange on the ground floor). We checked in and were delighted to find out that our room (#874) was ready. We drove down to the bottom of the hotel property, crossed the street, and parked in the free parking garage, using our room key for access to the garage. We had booked one of the Deluxe Ocean Front rooms exactly one year in advance to the day. The Hale Koa charges by rank, and is available for both active duty and retired military members. Guard, Reserves, and Department of Defense Civilian employees are also welcome, and the rates for each rank and category are explained in detail on the Hale Koa website, along with the rates offered. It is quite a bargain for the Waikiki area, and we know several people who have vacationed here and recommended it to us. The Deluxe Ocean Front rooms are a little hard to come by, as they are corner rooms facing the ocean on the upper floors, and there aren’t many of them. The balcony outside wraps around the corner, forming an “L” shape, and there are a variety of chairs and loungers outside. Here is the view from our room, as well as some photos of the balcony and the main pool below.
I loved the lounger on the narrow side of the “L”, and made good use of it throughout our stay to sunbathe or relax in the shade. This room had one queen-sized bed and a sofa bed, and DS never minds sleeping on a sofa bed, so we didn’t mind booking this room instead of a standard. The balcony, the views, and the spacious floor made the decision of which type of room to book very easy for us.
I had read about the buffet restaurant at Hale Koa, “Koko at Kalia”, which served a surf & turf dinner buffet on Saturday nights, with all you can eat snow crab legs – yum! So at 5:00, we headed that direction, and explored the resort as we went. There is a huge banyan tree in the courtyard, and the entire area was beautiful, and smelled heavenly. We also passed the luau lawn, which we would see on Monday.
At the restaurant, there was quite a lineup to enter the dinner buffet. Apparently it is VERY popular with the locals as well, and there were obviously several regulars that were being greeted by name, especially some older folks. The restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating, but even the indoor seating is open-air, as we discovered is very standard on Oahu, and probably all of Hawaii.
We settled in at a lovely table in the center of the indoor area, and I promptly ordered a Hale Koa Signature Mai Tai made with light rum and a dark rum float, to start things off right. DH tried the “Tropical Itch” which came with a mini back scratcher (not pictured, as DH took it out before I could snap this photo, LOL!)
There were 4 varieties of Mai Tais on the menu, and the next one I tried was called the O’ahu Mai Tai, made with Coconut Vodka.
Everything we drank was tropical and delicious! And all the drinks were reasonably priced – around $8 to $10, as you can see from the menu. DH got a virgin daiquiri or some such, so we all had tropical drinks on hand.
There were lots of choices for dinner – particularly dishes with an oriental flare, such as fall-off-the-bone spareribs, sticky rice, peel and eat shrimp, fish, roasted duck and some delicious poke. They also served a couple varieties of fish, and a beautiful prime rib.
There were varieties of house-made ice cream and other desserts, and the entire family’s favorite: snow crab legs!!! They were served warm from bamboo steamer baskets, and there was drawn melted butter to accompany it. I prefer my crab warm and dripping with butter (sorry,
Disney Cruise Line, as enticing as your huge crab claws are, I can’t enjoy the chilled way they are served). Here we are at dinner, along with a plate of delicious crab legs.
We just look like we’re having an awful time, don’t we?? This was another great family vacation meal.
DS made a special friend at dinner, and named him “Kiwi”. This funny little bird was just hopping around the restaurant, having a grand old time. He was very entertaining. I’m sure he was waiting for a spare crumb to drop. I feel sorry that the restaurant probably has to clean their carpets daily with all the visiting birds. The funny thing is that we kept seeing “Kiwi” following us all during our vacation. He was out at Kualoa Ranch, followed us to Aulani, and we even think we spotted him back in Wyoming as well. I guess he got pretty attached to us. J
After dinner we walked down the path to the ocean, and checked out the open air bar on the beach (Barefoot Bar) and each tried another drink while we listened to the surf and watched the sun set. As it’s a public area, everyone was welcome, but the military patrons enjoyed a couple dollars off their drinks by showing their room key or military ID. We tried the “Blue Hawaii” and “Hawaiian Punch”.
We sat there for a while, and listened to the waves crash, and then headed back to the room, since we had a busy day ahead of us on Sunday.