Hawaiian Honeymoon: Oahu - Waikiki Beach

Andy and I left for our honeymoon on the Tuesday following our wedding. We wanted a couple of days to rest and relax after all of the wedding events so that we could truly enjoy our honeymoon and all of the fun things we had planned in Hawaii. Two of my wonderful bridesmaids and best friends, Lindsay and Mikaela, picked us up from my parents house to take us to BWI airport for our flight to Las Vegas. We decided to break up our traveling both on the way to Hawaii and on our return by staying a night in Vegas on each trip. While it didn't help much in terms of jet-lag, it helped keep our sanity instead of sitting on planes for 10 hours each way. So upon our arrival in Las Vegas, we checked into our fountain view room at the Bellagio hotel and went out to grab dinner and drinks.

Andy loungin' in our room

More of our Bellagio suite

The view out our window of the strip

We went to the Mirage for dinner at CPK to reminisce about our first trip to Vegas for my 21st birthday. We grabbed a drink and some pizza and then headed out to the strip to check out some of the newer hotels like the Wynn and the Encore.

After walking the strip for a little, we headed back to our hotel to get some sleep. To us, it was about 3am and we had to wake up very early to catch our 6-hour flight to Hawaii.

As soon as we got on our plane, flying Hawaiian airplanes, we were pumped! From the Hawaiian music playing over the loudspeakers, to the pillow and blanket we got for free, to the lunch and drinks we ordered on our flight, we were both SO excited to be on our way to Hawaii and officially kick off our honeymoon!

Excited to be Hawaii-bound

Lunch & champagne on the plane

Cheers to the Saulitis'!

Our first glimpse of Hawaii!

Upon landing in Honolulu, we got our rental car and headed straight for our resort... the Royal Hawaiian! We pulled up, walked out and were taken aback by how BEAUTIFUL the place was. The hotel is the one of the oldest and most famous on the island. It has a rich history of celebrities staying there, including us of course :) As we sat down to check-in, one of the ladies brought us both lei's! We were also treated to some delicious pink lemonade as we went through the check-in process. They handed us several different envelopes, so we took all of our check-in goodies and headed to our room.

The Royal Hawaiian

The digs

Beautiful Floral arrangement awaiting our arrival with a congrats note

Surprise #1!

Lei'd

As I mentioned, we received many envelopes upon check-in, so the first thing we did was open them! The first one we opened was a congratulations card from the Royal Hawaiian and an invitation to attend the manager's cocktail hour that evening for drinks and appetizers! The next surprise was a gift certificate to the spa at the resort! My awesome friends Hogeboom and Cooch had gotten Andy and I a couple's massage at the spa! The third envelope was a $75 gift card to use anywhere at the resort from one of our favorite couples RJ and Justine! We were SO excited! Nothing like arriving in Hawaii and having so many surprises awaiting us! Next, we changed and headed down to the cocktail hour for some Hawaiian Mai Tai's!

The infamous Mai Tai bar- first ever Mai Tai bar

At the cocktail hour

View of Waikiki Beach from the Royal Hawaiian

After the cocktail hour, we headed out for dinner at a local restaurant named Duke's where we received our first of MANY free desserts! Andy and I are planning to tell everyone that it's our honeymoon for every vacation in the future. I love free desserts!

On our way to dinner on the first night

After dinner, we headed to bed. We were pretty exhausted from all our traveling and we had a big day planned, starting early the next morning. RJ and Justine had gone ahead and made plans for us to go snorkeling at Hanuama Bay. He had arranged for a private van to come pick us up from our resort and transport us to and from the Bay. It was amazing! Hanuama Bay is HUGE and the reef itself is gigantic. We had an awesome time swimming around and seeing soooo many beautiful and unique fish.

After a wonderful day of snorkeling, we headed back to our resort. We had a few hours to kill before dinner time, so we decided to do a short 2 mile hike that we had read about in our travel guides. Manoa Falls is only about 20 minutes from Waikiki Beach and it is incredible to see such a drastic change in climate from one area of the island to the next. Little did we know that Manoa Falls would be our favorite hike of our entire trip. It was very rustic, tropical and beautiful. We were even able to see them shooting some scences in the park for the new series Hawaii Five-O that will be airing on NBC this fall! It was a great hike and worked up our hunger for dinner later that night.

Us at the top of Manoa Falls

The most dramatic waterfall we saw on our trip

For dinner that night, we went to a delicious Italian restaurant called Arancino's that was recommended from on of our guides. It was a little Mom & Pop restaurant and we had some more delicious pizza and pasta, and another free dessert for the newlyweds! I even got to wear one of the new dresses Andy got me as a wedding gift!

The next day, we decided we would take a trip up to the North Shore of Oahu. We ventured out early in the morning because we knew we'd be making several stops along the way. Here's just a few of the amazing sights we got the chance to see during our drive.

Stop #1 at the Dole Plantation

Pineapples at the Dole Plantation

Stop #2: Hike up to Waimea Falls

Stop #3: Romy's roadside van for delicious shrimp (a Hawaii must-do!)

Stop #4: Randomly found the Pirate's of the Caribbean filming site

The Black Pearl from the 4th installment of The Pirates of the Caribbean

Stop #5: Pipeline where the serious surfers compete

Stop #6: Turtle Beach to see the infamous sea turtles

After a busy day, we had a nice dinner at a local mexican restaurant. Again, it was a small mom and pop restaurant and it was DELICIOUS! Probably the best fajitas I have ever had... and we enjoyed several margaritas before walking to the International Marketplace for some shopping! Then we went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for a few drinks. We were wildly entertained by the locals dancing to a band that was playing that night! We even made a few friends and had a great night.

On our way to Cha Cha Cha's for dinner and shopping

The next day was our last full day on Oahu, so we decided to get up early and enjoy our last AMAZING breakfast at the Royal Hawaiian.

Breakfast on the Beach

Each morning we ate here, and the menu was amazing! We enjoyed everything from eggs, bacon and toast to Macadamia Nut & Banana French Toast (my fav!), to Blueberry pancakes, to an egg-white mexican omelette. Every option was delicious! Then we got in our car and headed to Pearl Harbor. We were able to take a tour of the USS Missouri, a battleship introduced during WWII but used primarily during Desert Storm. The deck of the USS Missouri is, however, the location where the treaties were signed to end WWII.

We of course then visited the USS Arizona Memorial. It was an eerie feeling to recall what took place here so many years ago. From seeing the mountain range that the Japanese flew over to bomb Pearl Harbor, to seeing over 1,400 names engraved on the memory wall at the memorial for all those lost, to standing over the sunken ship where so many men lie entombed. A somber visit during our honeymoon, but something we couldn't have left without visiting.

After finishing up at Pearl Harbor, we headed straight to Diamond Head National Park to hike up for the best view of Waikiki. Andy and I wanted to see how quickly we could climb to the stop so we timed ourselves. It only took us about 20 minutes to get to the top, and although it's only a little less than a mile hike- there are  ALOT of steps! We busted our butts to get to the top for the incredible view and then actually ran back down for a little exercise during our trip.

Pre-Hike

At the top! View of Waikiki Beach in the background (the little pink resort is the Royal Hawaiian)

After showering and getting ready for dinner, we headed to Andy's favorite restaurant of the trip: Cheeseburger. That's it. That's the name. He fell in love with their cheesburgers! After dinner, we did a little more shopping and then went back to the Royal Hawaiian for one last visit at the world famous Mai Tai bar!

A statue of one of the first teachers on the island

Infamous Mai-Tai's

Last Night in Oahu at the Royal Hawaiian

The following morning, we got our fabulous massages at the resort spa thanks to Hogeboom and Cooch and then hopped on a plane for the second half of our fabulous Hawaiian Honeymoon. Next up: Maui!