Day 1: Honolulu: Toes in the Sand, Acai in the belly

Over the Christmas holiday, I went on a cruise around the Hawaiian islands with my fiancee John and his family! I love Hawaii so I had a great time. John’s family have been on Kai Kanani Tours before so wanted to step it up another notch and go on a longer cruise around the islands. It was so much fun to get to explore each island, not to mention life as a cruiser! I was so excited to see what the island had to offer us, and I really wanted to take it all in, as this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Unless we enjoy here so much that we want to permanently move to Hawaii, or more specifically Honolulu. Who knows! My friend had sent me this Honolulu property tax information to see whether we could afford to live out here before we had even arrived! It’s definitely something that I’d love to happen in the future, so I’m not ruling anything out. You might think I’m crazy, but take a look at the Kapilina beach homes and you’ll see the sort of luxury they have here! I’m really tempted, but for now, I just want to enjoy spending time on this beautiful island. Before we set sail, we spent the first day on the islands with our toes in the sand at the Waikiki beach because it was close to our hotel and cracked Oysters for pearls at the local vendors because that’s just what mermaids do! 🙂

We started the day off with breakfast at Hiking Hawaii which is so bomb! They have really good acai bowls, smoothies and coffee to get you going,I also stole a bite (or two) of John’s breakfast sandwich which was also really yummy. Another cool thing about Hiking Hawaii, is that they also have really great resources and different information on trails around the island for hiking. I also HAD to get ice cream from Lappert’s, its a family tradition!

Day 2-3: Maui: Hitchhiking, Beaches and Flatbread

Maui has so many beautiful beaches! One of my personal faves is Baldwin Beach in Paia. It has gorgeous woodlands around it, sand and crystal blue waters that fade into a deep blue.

The first day we literally swam and laid around all day, then a few of us headed into town in search of food, shopping and shaved ice. We ate at Flatbread Company which did not disappoint, the ambiance, pizzas and local brews were so yummy! TO be completely honest, I didn’t get the name of too many shops around Paia because I was more concerned with playing in the water but they are definitely there!

Getting around on Maui is pretty awesome too, we took an Uber to town from Baldwin Beach (aprox. $15), but ended up hitchhiking on the way back! I’ve always heard people on the island are super cool when it comes to giving peoples rides, so it was awesome to experience it first hand and makes me want to pay it forward next time I see someone who needs a lift on the side of the road!

Day 4: Hilo: Coffee Farm Tours and Lava Tubes

Hilo was such a RAD experience! We were fortunate enough to have a cousin of John’s and his girlfriend give us a tour of her families coffee farm, Aloha Bean Coffee company! Their property was such a fun and relaxing place to hang and we even got to explore a lava tube on their property! Such an unforgettable experience which I chose to enjoy instead of capture on social media so my pics from this day are semi limited!

Day 5: Kona aka The Big Island: Bikes and Poke

Kona was one of my favorite days around the islands. Initially John and I grabbed a piña colada smoothie and ‘thumbbed a ride’ (aka. hitch hiked – in cool people speak) to head over to Magic Sands Beach for some vitamin sea, but it was SUPER crowded. Luckily there were blue bikeshare bikes so for under $10, we were able to bike over to Da Poke Shack (which was FIRE), then biked all the way back to the pier taking in sites and shops along the way!

Day 5-6: Kauai: Eternal Rainbow Chasing

Kauai is the only Hawaiian island I have visited prior to this trip and I have to say it is still my favorite! Luckily we got to spend two days here which was just perfect because on the first day, we took the bus and met up with John’s friend who knows the island like the back of his hand. ( BTW – The bus is a GREAT WAY TO GET AROUND – $2.50 to head all the way up the coast and the busses are clean and the drive is beautiful!!!)

He took us to a locals beach called Ke’e on the north side of the island that was surrounded by a thick dewey forest. It was so beautiful and by far my favorite beach of the whole trip! While we were there, it began to rain and we literally ended the day in the bottom of a giant tree trunk watching a rainstorm and double rainbow over the ocean.

The second day was spent chasing rainbows as we drove through some really cool view points in Waimea canyon then stopped for ramen at Aloha Ramen in the Kuki Grove shopping center. Good stuff.

Day 7: Honolulu: Hiking, Nachos and Fireworks

After the cruise we also had another magical day here where we hiked to Manoa Falls. Then after some life changing pulled pork nachos at Kona Brewing company, we headed over to yet another off the beaten path local hotspot, China Walls to watch the sunset. It was sooooo gorgeous and reminds me a lot of Sunset Cliffs in San Diego.

The cherry on top of the whole trip was getting to celebrate the New Year with champagne in hand and surrounded by great company. As the clock struck midnight, “Found You” by Kasbo was playing when John got on one knee and asked me to marry him under fireworks. Best day ever!

If you’ve never been on a cruise before then please check out these last minute cruise deals and get one booked up because it is such an amazing experience.

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