Where in the world is Kat Kong?: Ringing in the New Year...Hawaiian style! First stop, Oahu - December 30, 2011

Yes, another trip to Hawaii...but it was supersized, with visits to three islands: Oahu, Lanai, and the Big Island. I know it seems like we always go to "Hawaii", but there are multiple islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, each with its distinct personality, so it's not like it's the same place over and over. It would be the first time I had visited Lanai, plus Kaleb had never been to Oahu. The Big Island segment was included because I had received a free night's certificate from the Four Seasons for my cancelled reservation due to the tsunami back in April. It was to expire next April, so I figured I better use it...when would I have another chance to save 50% on a two night stay?

To keep costs down (since I was going to stay at the Four Seasons on Lanai as well), I planned to trade my Marriott Shadow Ridge timeshare for Marriott's Ko'Olina in Oahu. (Plan B was to grab any decent available Waikiki hotel that had vacancies on hotels.com) I had deposited my week into Interval International's exchange system really late, so I only could reserve real-time inventory starting from 59 days out, versus the normal way of putting in a request and having the database search automatically for a match. I logged in very often to check inventory. I had to hope that a Ko'Olina owner would wait too long to deposit his week, and do it when I was logged in. I had help from the Timeshare Users Group, with people checking inventory and posting choice weeks they've seen in a members-only thread. Based on old postings a year ago, I would expect to see a couple of New Year units pop up around 3 weeks before check-in. I kept a browser tab with the database up all day at work and even at night when I was on my desktop. Of course, the one day I didn't check, someone posted that the week with the exact check-in date I wanted showed up! It was gone by the time I logged in. New Year's week in Hawaii was very rare, and I was saddened that I missed my opportunity and had to resort to Plan B. But two mornings later, I popped wide awake at 5am, feeling totally refreshed. (which was not normal) I figured maybe I should check the database. And there it was, the week I wanted, starting December 30! It was also a 2-bedroom condo...an upgrade as I had deposited a studio unit! I couldn't believe my luck...it ended up the only sighting anyone ever saw for that check-in day. Oahu accommodations...check!

We needed a car on Oahu as the Ko'Olina was not on Waikiki, and a taxi ride from the airport to the timeshare had been reported to cost ~$90 each way (ouch). We also wanted to visit the beaches around Oahu as well as Pearl Harbor. I found a great rate using a contract ID found on Flyertalk's National car thread, plus used our free Emerald Club membership to bypass the lines. Oahu car rental...check!

I had bought airfare in middle of November after giving up on waiting for prices to drop. Good thing I didn't wait too much longer because the prices continued to increase after purchase. Christmas and New Year's prices are premium. Fortunately I had some credit vouchers to apply to the tickets. I got the vouchers when I noticed the United flights I bought to go to Kauai last February went down in price. United issues credit vouchers for the difference; just go to your itinerary online and there is a button to "Change Itinerary" and an option to check for a lower fare. If the fare is lower, click through and United will mail you vouchers for the difference. The bad part about these vouchers is that you have to go to the airport to redeem them, so I bought the tickets when I was returning from a business trip. Airfare...check! Good to go!

The flights were on United (surprise surprise) so Kaleb and I would get a chance to get upgraded to the front of the plane, thanks to UDU. We were upgraded to first about a couple of days before departure so it would be a great start to our vacation! However, it wasn't all smooth sailing. Thankfully, there were no mishaps with Kaleb's flight from visiting his family back East to get to Sacramento on December 29th evening...it probably would have been best to have a day's buffer in there. However, I feared that the 4:30pm flight on the 30th from Sacramento to San Francisco would be delayed; when I bought the tickets at the airport, the agent warned me that the SMF-SFO flights were usually delayed and that one hour was not enough transit time to make up for it. I decided to press my luck, and hoped for no whammies. I had monitored flight delays a few days before our departure; sometimes they were delayed, sometimes on time. As I watched today's flights get delayed, I got anxious and called United to see if I could get a same day confirmed stand-by for an earlier flight. The reservations agent said that the flight was full, but it wasn't yet marked as "delayed", even though I knew that earlier flights were reporting at least 45 minutes late. I decided that we head to the airport early and physically stand by for the 2:30pm SMF-SFO flight in case seats open. I was pretty stressed by this point (though I had a good laugh while going through security; after going through the X-ray body scanner (aka nude-o-scope), Kaleb needed to have his armpits frisked!). Then, we hear the sweet voice of the gate agent calling our names...we cleared stand-by with one seat to spare! The flight was already 1 hour delayed. We were very fortunate to get on board as our original flight ended up 2 hours late and we would have missed our 6:45pm connection to Honolulu. Whew! (I did wear my Lucky sweatpants that day...)

Dinner was offered on our flight. We started our meal with drinks, warmed nuts, and a hot towel to freshen up. Entrees were a choice of a chicken stir-fry or sea bass. We got one of each. Dessert was a freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookie. Kaleb ended up playing lots of Plants vs. Zombies (on the new Kindle Fire I gave him for Christmas) while I finished reading The Tipping Point on my regular Kindle.

yay, (fuzzy) warm nuts!

chicken stir-fry was not good

sea bass was very good

warm cookie

We arrived in Honolulu around 10:20pm. Passengers waited by the baggage carousel for quite some time before it started moving. That got everyone excited, but the bags came out a long 5 minutes later. I suppose to be efficient, a second carousel started moving as well with no indication of flight; our bags were on that one. We then walked over to the National rental car facility across the street from the United terminal. Even though we were Emerald Club, we still had to go to the counter, plus there was no Emerald Aisle where you could choose your car. Instead, Kaleb was presented 3 sets of keys; he chose the least beat-up, which was wise - we ended up getting a two week old 2012 Toyota Camry with 650 miles on it! It still smelled of new car, and had a touch screen to control everything.

no GPS though

It took about 30 minutes to get to the resort, located in West Oahu. The Ko'Olina exit sign was almost too small to notice. There was a security gate monitoring people coming into the resort area; we told them we were heading to the Marriott and the guard waved us through without checking anything. It was already past midnight when we checked into our 2 bedroom lockout unit (a 1 bedroom and studio with a connecting door) and found that our keys did not unlock the studio side. We were too tired to return to the lobby and address the issue as I had 2 hours of jet lag, and Kaleb had 5 hours' worth, so we went to bed.

The next morning, the front desk fixed everything so we were able to open up the studio side of the condo. (that 2nd bathroom helped a lot! ;) ) I wasn't impressed with the floorplan as you had to either go through the bathroom or through an awkwardly placed space near the balcony to get to the master bedroom, but I'd still take the condo any day over a regular hotel room!

master bedroom

separate master tub (no jacuzzi jets though)

separate master bath (which was also the "public bathroom")

full kitchen

dining and living room with sofabed

king bed and sofabed in the studio portion

kitchenette in the studio (microwave and bar fridge in the cabinets)

combo bath/shower in the studio bath

"island view" from our balcony

We headed off to Costco and Safeway to pick up some food for the next three days...pre-cut papaya, pineapple, poke, breakfast items, local beer and snacks. After lunch, we walked around the resort and along the pathway between the lagoons to check out the rest of the hotels. Aulani (a Disney resort) was not there the last time I was in the area, so I had to go check it out. There was a locked gate leading from the beach to the resort, requiring a guest room key card for access. We waited until a big group of people unlocked it and we followed them in. The property was true to Disney fashion with attention to detail in all aspects...including the crowds. There were people everywhere, not as relaxing as their website photos depict, but it may have been because it was the holiday season. We got a shave ice from Papalua Shave Ice, which was located next door to the snorkeling pond, and ate it in the cave that had an underwater view of the snorkelers, perfect for parents wanting to get a shot of their little ones in the water.

a view of the resort

this shave ice was meh, more like a snowcone :(

nice architecture

Hawaiian touches

very nice public bathroom with fully enclosed stalls

automated drinking fountain

Tonight was New Year's Eve and the Ko'Olina resort sponsored a fireworks display. After dinner in our condo and a two hour nap (still jet lagged!), Kaleb and I headed out to the beach where people were already gathered. It had been 11:50pm last time I checked my iPhone. What seemed to be a short moment later, we heard a few folks blow some noisemakers at the nearby restaurant...sure enough, it was 12am. No countdown to midnight?!? I guess they don't really get into that in Hawaii! A minute later, the announcer introduced the fireworks show, and we were treated to a 15 minute display of pyrotechnics over the lagoons. It was nicer than I expected, with some exotic fireworks I had never seen before. Happy New Year!

boom boom boom

rings inside each other

flowers

big closing - sorry so blurry!

For New Year's Day, we headed out to do some sightseeing. I highly recommend "Oahu Revealed" as a guidebook to all things to do in Oahu. (I own every book in the entire "Revealed" series; let me know if you want to borrow one)

The maps in the book help to navigate the roads as it can be a complicated mess if you don't have GPS. (bring a GPS if you have one!) Today's stop would be to Waikiki Beach as my friends Michelle and Nunzio and family were vacationing at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, so we planned a visit at their hotel. Kaleb and I got to Waikiki early, relaxed at a shady park, and did a stroll around. There were people everywhere. Parts of the beach were very shallow, and it felt strange to walk on the main beach path and pass inches away from people sunning on towels...I don't see how that would be relaxing, and possibly get sand kicked in one's face.

at the park

view of Diamond Head

We met up with Nunzio and Michelle at their hotel pool and caught up on goings-on. Nunzio told us of a local supermarket called Don Quijote half a mile from where we were that had a nice selection of poke, so we drove there after the visit. We were bombarded by the smell of dirty gym locker upon entering the store! I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to shop there, but the smell disappeared once we ventured deeper into the building. There were a lot of funky things sold there like Japanese housewares and alien-like food. We picked up poke and other treats and headed back to the resort to enjoy them, plus watch the sunset.

"Monsters Inc"-themed, or could be a moldy sponge, bleh (did not buy this!)

fresh soft mochi, mmm

brown rice musubi with Spam, yum!

sunset on the lagoon

Monday was our last full day in Oahu...where did the time go? We headed over to Pearl Harbor. The movie and the boat ride to the USS Arizona Memorial were free; you just picked up a ticket from the counter, first come first served. The official website warned that tickets could be gone by noon, so we got there around 11am and got a ticket for 1:30pm, with 3pm being the final showing. (you can reserve tickets online starting February 16, 2012, for a convenience fee) To pass the time, we went through the museums, walked around the area, and munched on a bag of taro chips from the snack bar.

At 1:30pm, we queued up to enter the movie theater. The film depicted the days leading up to the fateful attack on December 7, 1941. After the movie ended, we were directed to a ferry which took us over to the memorial, which was built on top of the remains of the USS Arizona. Oil from the ship continues to bubble up to the surface.

ships parked around the harbor

"You are here"

can't imagine diving with this on

ferry parked up to the USS Arizona memorial dock

70 year old oil

After our visit to Pearl Harbor, we headed to the North Shore to see if there was any surfing going on. The Hawaii highways don't always have symmetrical exits on each side, so we ended up having to double back to get on the North Beach exit. (need GPS!) Once on the correct road, we ran into traffic heading into the town of Hale'iwa. I heard about the awesome shave ice to be had here, either at Matsumoto's or Aoki's. There were lines down the street at both places, so we skipped it as we didn't want to stand around for an hour. The highway rounded North Shore, passing Turtle Bay Resort; we eventually turned around before reaching the town of Kahuku as I saw several shrimp stands on the side of the road. (food!) The Oahu Revealed guidebook suggested to try Romy's, so we stopped there and were elated to see no lines. However, looks were deceiving...turned out there was an hour wait. One hour for shrimp?!? Were they catching them in the pond in the back? It was only 5pm too, so not exactly dinner time. Disappointed, we left and headed towards Sunset Beach as the sun was starting to set. There were a few surfers out there, not as many as I'd hoped, but the waves were probably higher in the morning.

beautiful beach

as the sun sets

We headed back home after watching the sunset, giving us a second opportunity to pass by the shave ice places in Hale'iwa. Matsumoto's was closed, but there was a short line at Aoki's! We stopped and stood in line less than 10 minutes, which was enough time for a few mosquitoes to sample my blood. Not the best shave ice I ever had (Ululani's), but this batch was still tasty! Finely shaven ice drenched in three delicious cane sugar syrups plus condensed milk, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and sweet azuki beans on the bottom. Delish!