Hawaii Trip Roundup
OUTFIT DETAILS AVAILABLE HERE (WEARING XL)
Photography by Love + Water Photography
Hawaii Trip Roundup
After a short few weeks back in the Buffalo cold after our trip to Cabo, we recently headed back out west - this time a bit further west - to the Aloha State of Hawaii. We were supposed to go to Hawaii back in September of 2021 but opted for a California trip instead with all the uncertainty of the past Fall.
OUTFIT DETAILS HERE, WEARING XL
TRAVEL DETAILS
MORE TRAVEL OUTFIT IDEAS HERE
We flew from Buffalo to LAX (there’s one direct flight on JetBlue), crashed at an airport hotel and flew directly from LAX to Honolulu the next day. Hawaii is made up of many islands, the most well known being the eight largest ones. Most people only know of the four largest ones, Hawaii or The Big Island, Oahu Maui, Kauai. Having only a week, we opted to visit the island of Oahu for our first Hawaiian experience. Oahu provided a nice balance of being able to access more developed metropolitan city in Honolulu but also being able to access the quieter parts of the island that were less chaotic and busy.
We stayed at the Sheraton Waikiki right on the world-famous Waikiki for the first half of our trip.
It wasn't our favorite place, but it was nice to see our first time in Hawaii. There were plenty of shops and restaurants along the strip. We did dinner nightly around the hotel and had reservations each time, which are recommended as it was busy. We spent our days in Waikiki either at the hotel pool or on the beach. We rented pool chairs and loungers on the beach each day.
OUTFIT DETAILS HERE - WEARING XL PLUS
After a few days of lounging in the sun
and sIPPING ON Mai TAI’s,
we opted for an activity day which consisted of hiking the Diamond Head crater and then heading over to the windward side of the island for an ATV tour at Kualoa Ranch. If you are a serious hiker (which we are not) it might be better to find something less crowded than Diamond Head. I posted a reel about our day here.
Much like Waikiki Beach, Diamond Head was more or so something to see and say we did to check the box on our first-time-to-Hawaii tourist checklist. It was a bit over a mile uphill and took us about 45 minutes with the human traffic uphill.
HIKING OUTFIT DETAILS AVAILABLE HERE
After we cooled off a bit with a Dole Whip from the Honolulu Pineapple Co truck at the bottom of Diamond Head,
we headed off to the Kualoa Ranch. The ranch is a private nature reserve and working cattle ranch but also doubles as a popular filming location for a ton of Hollywood films, notably Jurassic Park. We opted for the two-hour multi-passenger UTV tour which was definitely a highlight of our trip.
The tour took us through some of the most scenic valleys and some really cool remote areas. BK had a blast driving the trails and the guides did a really great job of making the tour exciting but also safe for guests.
SWIMSUIT DETAILS
Be sure to check out the swim tab of my blog for more reviews and options! I’ve also got many saved to the “swim 22” highlight bubble on IG!
We checked out of the Sheraton Waikiki the next day
and headed to our next stop at Marriot's Ko Olina Beach Club. Ko Olina is a vacation and resort community on the leeward coast of the island and consists of a hand full of hotels and vacation club resorts.
On our first night in Ko Olina, we attended a luau on the resort property.
Dinner and drinks were included in admission. It goes without saying that attending a luau is a must at any stop in Hawaii. The performance was spectacular and the food and drinks were good as well.
For the rest of the trip we remained horizontal on the beach in loungers we rented for the day.
I would rather not have to pay extra to reserve lounge chairs for the day, but it was a bit of a competition as people on the resort were out reserving lounge chairs before sun up. Mina’s Fish House and Monkeypod were a few of our favorite restaurants in Ko Olina.
After a few days in Ko Olina, we headed back to the mainland, flying to San Francisco to stay with our friends Angelo and Phil in San Jose for a few days before heading back to Buffalo.
I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite items that I brought below!
In case you missed it, I’ve also shared some of my favorite Lilly Pulitzer finds here.
Souvenir wise, I definitely wish we brought home more coffee and macadamia nuts. We found a spot on the side of the road that sold both and I wish I bought more. If we ever go back, I would definitely recommend that.
Thank you so much for reading! If you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, I hope this was helpful. Feel free to leave any questions or comments below. If you liked this post, be sure to check out the travel tab of my website for more trip roundups, reviews and outfit inspiration.
