[Honolulu] Till we meet again, Hawaii

Hawaii's beauty and scenery contains many historic hiking trails, stunning coastal views, as well as military history. One such recognized landmark is the 'Diamond Head State Monument'! To avoid more sun burns, we decided to go for a hike early in the morning. We woke up at 630am and arrived at 7am to begin our hike!

The weather was pretty chilly in the morning, and hiking Diamond Head can universally be found on most visitors’ to-do checklists, as it offers one of the best ways to get breath-taking, 360-degree views of Oahu. The Diamond Head trail is pretty interesting, as it began with a gentle slope which was was easy to walk on. The trail gradually became steeper as we made our way to the top!

There were various wonderful lookouts around the half way point to the top of the trail, where a couple of them allowed one to lean right out for an incredible photo over the amazing terrain.

You can reach the highest point by taking the set of stairs for the best panoramic views of Honolulu! 

After the hike, we made our way back to our apartment to freshen up, and change out of our hiking gear for our next stop, a visit to Pearl Harbor.

We had got some tips from Meryl, where she recommended us to visit the memorial early in the morning in order to obtain general entry tickets that had no cost! These naturally were subject to while stocks lasted, so we wasted little time to head to the place. Thankfully, we managed to get some complimentary tickets, and to our amazement these included a boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial.

The Arizona Memorial was closed for maintenance at the time of our visit, so we did not have a chance to disembark. Rather, we completed a small circle around Battleship Row. The staff provided more details about the ships and the crew that were lost on the vessels. It was very moving to hear about the experiences of those who lost their lives during the attack, as well as those who survived and have come back to Pearl Harbor for their final resting place.

After we disembarked from the boat tour ride, we were back at the main area. There were two gallery exhibits, which we leisurely went through at our own time/pace.

It was definitely an incredible experience, and I was glad we took time away from the pool and beach to experience such a historic venue. It was very emotional, yet was a great history lesson! Don’t miss the most dramatic and important historic sights on Oahu!

Baby surprised me for my birthday, and booked a buffet dinner at 'Aulani', a Disney Resort and Spa as part of my birthday celebrations. He knows I have a fondness for anything Disney, so this was a real treat for me!

The Aulani Resort is an approximate 60 minute drive away from Waikiki. I was decked out in a fancy Sun Dress from Desigual which Baby got for me to dress up in, and I think I fit right in easily as per the Hawaiian setting/atmosphere! Baby had booked this online prior to our arrival in Hawaii, but most of the late dinner slots had already been taken up. Hence, we took the slightly early dinner slot instead at 5.30pm.

This dinner actually had a Disney Character show during dinner service!! I had a great evening indulging in the impressive food spread, as well as mingling and taking photographs with the live Disney Characters!

What really made my day was when the Restaurant noted it was my birthday, and gave me a special cake!! Disney FTW!!  

I picked up a Hawaii themed Stitch Tsum Tsum plush from the retail store, which had many unique Hawaiian themed Disney goods that were unique.

We made our way back to our apartment for some last minute packing, as it was our last night in Honolulu. Till we meet again Hawaii, I promise to be back soon!