01-07/08-2020: Waikiki

Tuesday morning we took the hotel shuttle back to the San Diego airport for our flight to Honolulu. It was an uneventful boarding. We were happy to have paid a little more for the comfort seats, meaning just a little more leg room. It did make a difference on the 6-1/2 hour flight.

Arrival in Honolulu was uneventful and we took a cab to the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort. What a place! This hotel is the largest Hilton property in the world. It sits on 22 acres and encompasses about 8 large building towers and a huge conference center. There are 4 pools and a lagoon. There were many man made waterfalls and fish ponds around the property. It was a pretty spectacular place.

We had not reserved a water view room (way too expensive), but during check in they gave us an opportunity to upgrade to an ocean view room for a mere $120 per night. We eventually decided to not upgrade and took a resort view room. When we opened the door to our room we were pleasantly surprised to see this:

Water view without paying a higher price. We could see the ocean from our balcony.

We tried to rest a little, but we were too excited to sleep, so we went out to explore the resort. In addition to all the resort facilities, there are many shops, including a shopping mall, and about 20 restaurants. It is an amazing place.

We had an early dinner at a place right near the beach. It reminded us of Sharky’s at the Pier in Venice, FL, one of our favorite places to go when we’re visiting our dear friend Deeny. After dinner, we practically fell in to bed very early. We were still on east coast time and very tired.

The next day we continued our exploration of the resort.

We also got into the ocean. It was very, very windy and our sheet and towels kept nearly blowing away. After a dip in the ocean we lounged by one of the pools for the good part of the afternoon. I was surprised by how many kids were at the resort and I wondered why these kids were not in school. But it was fun to see the kids playing in the pool. Clearly, all of them were having a ball.

We got a pizza at one of the resort shops and enjoyed a nice dinner sitting on our balcony. We certainly felt lucky to have a view of the ocean, albeit a distant view over a building, nevertheless, it added to our enjoyment during our brief stay in Waikiki. Tomorrow morning we’re off to Sydney!

Beautiful Waikiki Beach with Diamond Head in the background

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