In true Karen fashion, I’m writing the last part of my Honolulu blog posts a month after the last one got released. BUT! One good thing about this is that I can now include a video of our trip since the boyfriend finished editing it!

The video is a tad long, but it was made with the family in mind 🙂 However, if you prefer to read, then continue along with me as I recount day 6!

On day 6, we started off early in the day with the Dole Plantation. It was about a 45 minute drive away from our hotel, but a group of us had wanted to try out the activities there. We ended up doing the maze, eating Dole whip, and taking the Dole Plantation Express train ride!

The Dole Plantation brags about having what was once the world’s largest maze. That sounded super appealing to me, and so we all embarked on an adventure through countless identical paths surrounded by shrubs. They have a stamp card for you so that you can try reaching all the checkpoints in the maze. You also can download their online app to time your maze run. To be honest, about 30 minutes in, I was pretty done with the whole thing. In the end, I think we took around an hour and fifteen minutes to complete the maze. Given how hot it was, I was more than ready for some refreshing and icy Dole whip!

The train was pretty neat. It was nice to sit down and just enjoy the sights. While we were there, a lot of the pineapples were just harvested, but you do get to see other plants they also grow on the plantation. They also tell you the history of the plantation, as well as some facts about agriculture in Hawaii on the overhead speakers.

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After the pretty exhausting trip to Dole, we had to rush back to downtown Honolulu for a Glass Bottom boat tour! The boyfriend and I knew we wanted to treat the family to a fun activity we can all go together and in the end, we settled for doing a Glass Bottom boat ride. The two guys who were manning the ship and taking us on the tour were super nice! However, there wasn’t too much to see through the glass bottoms of the boats. BUT, we did see lots of dolphins, who followed our boat to the delight of all of us! They were jumping out of the water and generally just hanging out with us. We did also catch a glimpse of a fairly large sea turtle too!

Afterwards, we all headed over to the boyfriend’s uncle’s condo in Waikiki. They had an awesome view of the water and we all chatted the night away over pizza, spam, and rice!

On day 7, we had some time to ourselves in the morning and afternoon, but we also had to go to a wedding rehearsal. After all, we were here for a wedding! We once again ate at the Shirokiya Japan Village Walk—and we gambled for our food! They have gacha machines where you can get “points”. Each spin of the gacha is $5, and you’re guaranteed at least 5 points (but can get other higher values too through luck). I wanted a lobster hot pot from one of the stalls, and it costed $40. But through the gacha, I ended up only having to pay $30 to obtain 40 points.

We also explored Ala Moana mall for a bit and got some delicious shaved ice from Uncle Clay’s House of Pure Aloha. Arguably, I liked it better than Matsumoto Shaved ice. I was hoping we’d find something I’d want at Uniqlo since they do have exclusive clothes there, but I couldn’t find anything I truly liked. And soon enough, we had to head off to the park to do the wedding rehearsal.

After the rehearsal, we once again found ourselves eating with everyone at the Cheesecake Factory! I was feeling pretty gross, so I didn’t want anything too heavy. But I also didn’t want a salad. I was glad I could order their cheeseburger with a lettuce substitute for the bun! It was a perfect way to wrap up the night.

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The highly anticipated day 8 came afterwards! It was wedding day and we were super excited to celebrate K and E’s big day with them. The boyfriend and I were in charge of making sure everyone got onto the shuttle bus, since the wedding was to be held at the Secret Island beach at Kualoa Ranch. That was roughly an hour away from our hotel. We also had to take a separate boat from the parking lot to Secret Island, so it all felt pretty magical. It rained on day 8, but it stopped just in time for the wedding. Pretty lucky!

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The ceremony was very beautiful. There was an officiant who played Hawaiian tunes on his ukelele, and when K finished walking down the aisle, he then began the ceremony. He talked about the tradition of the leis and K and E bestowed leis upon their moms and dads. The two then shared short speeches about one another—it was super cute! And before we knew it, they sealed the deal with a kiss! Congratulations to them, and I’m so excited for the many happy adventures they’ll have ahead of them!

At night, the bride and groom’s families decided to go for a picnic at the Magic Island Lagoon. We also managed to watch the fireworks once again!

For day 9, we got up early with the family to go eat breakfast at Eggs n’ Things. This place had crazy line ups. We left our hotel at 7:30AM in the morning, and after a 10 minute walk to the breakfast place, we were greeted with a half hour lineup. Lovely.

The food was pretty good. We had a big pile of whipped cream with a small side of pancakes, Hawaiian fried rice with eggs and sausages, and we also had a pork chop glazed with pineapple. They had several syrups you could pour on your pancakes and their speciality was a coconut syrup. It was a little too strong for me, but I can imagine some people loving it.

After breakfast, we caught up on a bit of sleep at the hotel. We then woke up and tried out the McDonalds, since they had some pretty interesting items on their menu. The Saimin noodles were pretty good, but the soup was a little too salty. The spam/sausage with rice was amazing though!!

Afterwards, we hung out at the pool at our hotel with the boyfriend’s little nephew until…the luau!

K and E treated everyone to Germaine’s Luau the day after their wedding. I’ve never been to a luau and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. We took a shuttle there and after arriving, we were promptly given drink tickets and could sit down and enjoy the dancers on stage. They had lots of different types of entertainment going on through the night including digging up the pork meat that was roasting in the sand, fire dancers, songs, and more! A lot of it was also interactive, in which they’d ask for volunteers to participate in the dances. All through the night, we had a buffet of delicious (but very heavy) Hawaiian foods. (Reminder to self: you do not like poi. It’s disgusting, tasteless mush.)

It was sad leaving the luau, because it was also the boyfriend and I’s last day. On day 10, we woke up early to say goodbye to everyone else who was staying on Oahu for longer. A group of the boyfriend’s family drove us to the airport and when we arrived, his little nephew started crying. Which caused me to cry. It was all a little more emotional than I had hoped, but then again, if I really thought I could get away without any crying, I’d be lying to myself.

I was nervous about visiting Hawaii. Firstly, it was such a long trek out from Montreal. I also don’t love hot and humid places, but it turns out it’s not bad—especially during the early mornings and nights with the nice island breeze. When we got back to Montreal, I told my boyfriend: “I hope you don’t love Hawaii. Cause we’re not going back for a long time.” The trip was super expensive. The 9 days of hotel alone costed $3,000 Canadian. Then on top of that, you’ve got the plane tickets and pretty pricey food after you got there. However, I did love the trip. And I also loved getting to spend sone time with family and being able to celebrate K and E’s big day with them!

Catch up with the first and second part of the Hawaii blog posts.