Hawaii 2023 - Journal

Travelers: Jason, Lucy (12) & me (aka "the LTs") Zack, Jessica & Sophie (11) (sometimes called "the K's") 

Reason for travel: summer vacation, and to celebrate Jessica's 50th birthday 

Location of trip: Oahu, Hawaii Day 1: travel day, Seattle to Honolulu 

Our 11:20 am flight left a bit late, but spirits were high with the three in our party. The flight was smooth, nothing exciting to report, but we did notice the two house cats, one dog and two babies on the flight who seem to call to one another from row 6 to row 20. "Are you still here?"..."Yes, I'm stuck back here, am unhappy. You?", "Heck yeah, I'm pissed." 

With the time zone change, we arrived 6 hours later at 3pm. My only complaint about the whole day is that the Honolulu airport has very little signage as to the location of the rental car wing. It wasn't until I was at the door to cross the street to the rental cars that I saw the first sign for the rental cars. With the key fob to the sexiest, no frills Dodge minivan we loaded up our luggage and headed off to the Marriott Ko' Alina to meet our friends. They were already at the pool, so we found our gear and plopped ourselves into the water to cool off, and begin the process of "un-pleugging" 

Small segue: On our Disney cruise last spring with the K's, the adults took part in a Mojito tasting. The gentleman who was leading the event had an interesting accent and told us that it was so great that we were all there to unplug. However, it sounded like "un-pleuge". Un-pleuge has become part of our friend lexicon. It is used in many ways, such as "my toilet is pleuged", "Did you un-pleuge the iron?", and of course "It it so wonderful to un-pleuge in this pool." 

We opted for a no frills dinner at the pool café, and Lucy said that the pork sandwich was the best she's ever had and hopes to eat it every day. (We're on day 4 now and we haven't been back, but there is still time.) Our room at the Ko' Alina is a "one bedroom villa" which means we have a king bed in a separate zone, a dining table for 6, and a pretty functional kitchen with zero storage, but a dishwasher and washer/dryer. Lucy, sadly has to sleep on the couch pull out, but she's not complaining and sleeping well. She is aware of the fact that these amazing vacations are in our budget, but sometimes the cost of an extra room, or the suite with multiple real beds is not. 

Day 2: Sunday We awoke at 3 am local time and did our fair best to go back to sleep. Later, but still early, we popped out to a grocery store to pick up beverages, and things that should not be purchased at Costco when you're only around for 7 days. At 10, when Costco finally opened the adults went to gather supplies. With a haul in hand, we unpacked our treasures and ate a hearty lunch in our villa. We estimate that each meal we eat here will save us at minimum $80 or more. We aren't on a room PB&J budget, but it's supper nice to be able to scramble eggs in the room. Costco has begun to test out fresh sushi in certain locations, and we were excited to see it in the store. The sushi makers are sort of caged in a mini-kitchen and are rolling Japanese treats for the masses. Zack picked up a platter of sashimi, and I grabbed the platter with the dragon roll and California rolls. Between the 6 of us, we made quick work of it. With all caution aside we skipped the 30 minute waiting requirement for swimming and popped down to the pool for the afternoon. As adults, we now know that the 30 minute waiting period was just a plot to let the adults un-pleuge for a tiny window between the effort to feed kids and the next activity. 

Dinner that night was at a place that Jason's colleague suggested "Monkey Pod". I had the boring fish and chips, which were fabulous. Sophie, who had reached the end of her energy ordered a noodle soup that the adults loved, but she was not impressed. It was unfortunate for her. She is an adventurous eater, but her food critic ratings see a dramatic decline when she is exhausted. 

Day 3: Monday Zack & Jason, the big breakfast fans took themselves on a man-date to the Four Seasons to try their breakfast buffet. One of the many great things about traveling with friends is that there's usually someone who wants to play your game. I don't mind going out for breakfast, but I'm more of a lunch person and for sure, I'm only going to eat one egg and never come close to justifying the cost of a $60 buffet. While the boys had fancy eggs (and probably a bloody mary or two) we packed up an overnight bag because we all were going on a sleep over to the Disney A'ulani resort (which is next door to our Marriott resort.) Jess used some vacation club points to get us each a small room for one night. This allowed us two full days on property to enjoy the pool and amenities. We didn't check out of the Marriott, so we only had to deal with stuff for one night. This was a bit more work that we thought, so I'm very glad we chose do to this activity early in the trip. People can write entire articles about the A'ulani experience, so I won't go into it too much but it was wonderful. The pools are nicely done, the lagoon is superb, pool food is probably the best we've ever had. Finding 6 deck chairs together was not easy, but we did it both days. The second day we were in the shade and it was delightful. Goofy stopped by while we were eating breakfast to let Jason know his food looked yummy, ran into Moana while we were in the lazy river and had to dodge a gaggle of tiny humans who were trying to get hugs from Pluto. It was cute. The room was more fancy than our Mariott villa, but far more compact. I could never live in a place that has shutters for doors between all the spaces, including the toilet. It's hard to un-pleuge when people can hear you. 

We planned to attend the Paradise Cove luau, that was next door to A'ulani that evening, so after a fun day in the water we cleaned up and headed over. It was a short walk and when the show was over I know we were back at A'ulani before some of the folks were out of the parking lot. The show was great, Sophie got pulled onto the stage by the fire eating guy and was a great sport about it. Jason and I privately noted that the Feast of LeLe in Maui was a much more elegant event but the K's seemed to have a great time, which is all that mattered. No need to go on an on about a different event. Back at A'ulani we settled in for a good night sleep. 

Day 4: Tuesday 3:30 a.m. the unmistakable whoop of the emergency alarm woke us up, and we were instructed to leave the building due to an emergency. We grabbed phones, the car key, and our wallets and headed to the nearest exit. Because we were on the ground floor, this meant we exited to the pool area and were met with 4-5 other families. we convinced ourselves that it was all nothing and that we should go back in to bed but decided to hold off once we heard the sirens. We do know that in certain situations the fire department must clear any alarms, so we didn't think the hotel was going to burn down, but it did make the event a bit more real. Once we got the all clear we headed back in and were able to go back to sleep. We were up at an later, but still early hour and were at the pool before breakfast. That's it for now, I'm on the lanai (Wed am) and am out of coffee and need to either put on sun screen or step inside.