3 islands, 2 weeks, 1 amazing honeymoon! COMPLETED 1/14!

[alohamom]

When Jake’s friends visited him here back in 2019, they drove/hiked all the way down that cliff edge to go to the black sand beach down there!! That would be a big fat NO for me, haha!

We did the drive down once and NEVER AGAIN! Our kids were about 8 and 10 and I remember thinking "what the hell have we done, I am the world's worst mom ever, we are all going to die!" The angle of the road down is so wicked and from the passengers side you can look over into where cars have tipped off and crashed down! I am glad you guys had the common sense that we didn't have. A few people actually live in that valley too!

Waikoloa Village had a lot of cute shopping centers to see. This area reminded me a lot of Ko Olina in that way- just WAY bigger!

The shops there are really fun, I love that area!


...and EWWWWW on the roaches! LOL, I am glad to know you could laugh it off.
I know tropical destinations are probne to them but it is still gross.
The worst I ever saw was athe Hyatt Regency in Maui.
I had an open hobo type bag on the floor near the front door of our hotel room. I pick it up and benind it was a cockroach the size of a small chihuaua. I promise you, it looked fake but it was slowly moving toward the door so I opened the door and eased it out with my shoe. It felt surreal, I couldn't believe how calm I was about it. Then I opened the door to make sure it wasn't trying to head back in and it was totally 100% gone. I didn't sleep well that night because I kept thinking it had made its way back in and was going to come for my jugular. LOL, enough about my Maui bug trauma.

 

[Mollydolly334]

View attachment 822447
I love seeing your pictures, reliving being there. We did not cuddle the cows though….maybe we should have.

Thank you!! I am always looking back through our pictures- I love the "live photo" options on iPhones so that you can really feel the ambience! Love that you took a picture of the cow sign

Haha we aren't THAT lucky that could go to Hawaii often, but I wish! It kinda magically happened this year but I'm very happy that we were able to do it. Prior to our Big Island trip, I think it has been 7-8 years since we last went to Hawaii?
Back in July, Alaska Airlines had a BOGO promo for Kona. At the same time, our family had timeshare points that needed to be used and couple of the Kona resorts were available for the dates that we could travel, so it was kinda a no brainer that we needed to go! Then we went to Oahu last month all because we became DVC members earlier this year and we had full 2023 points on both contracts so I said let's use them!

Kauai is the only island we haven't been to, but outta the other three, I would say Maui is probably my favorite because you can be very active and explore the outdoors, but also enjoy true relaxation at some of the nice bougie resorts in Wailea. I'm not sure if it's because I'm older now (20s are way behind me! haha), but after these two recent Hawaii trips, I realized I really enjoy the country Hawaii a lot more. I love strolling through local shops, stop at random country shops to get snacks then go on a nice drive alone the ocean! The charms of country Hawaii...it's a unique vibe...that's Hawaii to me

I have a few favorite spots in Kona/Big Island that I wonder if you guys checked them out! Guess I'll have to wait for the last 2 days of your trip report!

Ahhh gotcha- Well I'm so glad you got to go so much this year and enjoy your timeshare points Love that you are new DVC members!!! Maybe someday down the line we will invest in that... what's your favorite WDW resort?? For me it's like picking a favorite child... I can't decide!!

Next time we go to Hawaii, we are DEFINITELY checking out Maui! Although I'm so happy we got to visit Kauai, I had gotten myself really hyped up for Lahaina, Kaanapali, and Wailea and watched so many vlogs/Youtube videos on those areas! I'm hoping that we still get a change to stay at the Sheraton Maui (where we had originally booked before the fires). That place looked awesome!

Gorgeous pictures in all of these updates!!! I'm so glad you stopped to cuddle cows; it just sounds so sweet and magical. I was horrified about your walking through the sea of roaches LOL so glad you didn't see them while crossing and end up standing frozen among them!!!! Yikes.

Sometimes a little hotel picnic is the best dinner ever. We do that at least once on every WDW trip it seems--pizza pajama party usually

Hahaha we had so many animal adventures on the Big Island I was shocked at the diversity of animal and plant life there!

Also, Disney pizza is the GOAT!!! Here's a little shot of me on the Epic Girl's Trip back in 2019 enjoying my plain cheese pizza like a small child

]

I'm hoping you went to the Seahorse farm on the Big Island! View attachment 822675View attachment 822676r

Ahhhh we did not!! One of my mom's friends suggested it too but we just didn't make it over there! Look at those cute little babies!

Molly! I stumbled upon your trip report and devoured it!!! So so fun, love all the descriptions and funny gifs and overall lightheartedness

I loved how you described Hanalai as finding “our place”, I feel the same! I’ve traveled to Hawaii 14 or 15 times (I lost count but I think 14 lol), my dad lived there for 20 years (the Big Island), I had other family there (Oahu) , I honeymooned there (Oahu and Maui) send didn’t discover Kauai since 2013 and FELL IN LOVE, and have since returned to the same condo in Princeville 3 times, the 4th will be in August. I get the “our place feeling”, there is NOTHING like the north shore of Kauai.
My husband and I actually renewed our vows for our 10 year wedding anniversary on Puapoa Beach, the beach at 1Hotel, the condo we stay at is the Hanalei Bay Resort right above it, next door to the 1Hotel.

We LOVE Tahiti Nui and Tiki Iniki! Next time you go to Kauai, since you guys are such foodies, definitely check out Bar Acuda, right in the heart of Hanalei. Reservations open at 30 days and go fast.

Fun to read about you experiences and take on the Big Island too, I’ve been to Quinn’s by the sea MANY times, also Lava Lava last time and saw that cat sanctuary. That was wild!

Happy marriage!!! Hawaiian honeymoons are the best!!!

P.S. you and Jake looked the absolute happiest in that pic at Quinns

P.P.S while we are not staying at 1Hotel, we will be next door for 10 nights and my hubby and I usually get to leave our daughter with my in laws for a date night or two during our trips, I can not wait to try Melina Terrace!

Hello!! Thank you SO much for reading along and your sweet words Creating these trip reports makes me so happy, and I'm glad that shows in my writing!! It really was a perfect trip.

Yay, another Hanalei lover! I'm so jealous- it sounds like a DREAM to stay there for a full 10 days! So relaxing and tranquil. Hanalei/Princeville/1Hotel is unlike anywhere I've ever been. Those condos right in Princeville also look super nice; I know that we would completely DESTROY the bank if we try to stay at 1Hotel everytime we go there So good to know there are lots of options in Princeville!

Will definitely put Bar Acuda on the list for next time!! Welina Terrace had unmatched ambience; I think drinks and sushi would be a perfect date night! The view is so romantic and unbeatable. Any other Kauai recs?? Sounds like you're an expert and I need all the tips I can get

We did the drive down once and NEVER AGAIN! Our kids were about 8 and 10 and I remember thinking "what the hell have we done, I am the world's worst mom ever, we are all going to die!" The angle of the road down is so wicked and from the passengers side you can look over into where cars have tipped off and crashed down! I am glad you guys had the common sense that we didn't have. A few people actually live in that valley too!



The shops there are really fun, I love that area!


...and EWWWWW on the roaches! LOL, I am glad to know you could laugh it off.
I know tropical destinations are probne to them but it is still gross.
The worst I ever saw was athe Hyatt Regency in Maui.
I had an open hobo type bag on the floor near the front door of our hotel room. I pick it up and benind it was a cockroach the size of a small chihuaua. I promise you, it looked fake but it was slowly moving toward the door so I opened the door and eased it out with my shoe. It felt surreal, I couldn't believe how calm I was about it. Then I opened the door to make sure it wasn't trying to head back in and it was totally 100% gone. I didn't sleep well that night because I kept thinking it had made its way back in and was going to come for my jugular. LOL, enough about my Maui bug trauma.

I am such a scaredy-cat when it comes to things like that!! Sometime I think it holds me back (hence why we didn't do a Napali Coast tour in Kauai), but I'm glad to see that my gut was right on that one

AHHHH! I'm glad that bugs are not high on my list of phobias (snakes and alligators, that's a different story). But, I definitely would not be able to sleep that night either LOL

 

[Mollydolly334]

Aloha guys!!!

Quick little intermission to share the absolute GEMS I found at Bath and Body Works…



Ube scented 3-wick candle and hand soap!!!!! This was me when I first smelled them...



Ube and B&BW - two of my most favorite things


​

 

[tidefan]

Enjoying your trip report. Did you happen to get to Wilson's by the Bay for shave ice in Hilo? It's not far from Pineapple's. We thought that was our favorite shave ice on our trip this past year.

 

[maleficent55]

Will definitely put Bar Acuda on the list for next time!! Welina Terrace had unmatched ambience; I think drinks and sushi would be a perfect date night! The view is so romantic and unbeatable. Any other Kauai recs?? Sounds like you're an expert and I need all the tips I can get

Definitely not an expert but we have been quite a few times and still remain very much in love.
In 2022 we went to the Big island, it was my husband and daughters first time and I was so excited to show it off to them since I spent so much time there in my teens/early 20’s. They liked it but we all missed Kauai fiercely

Since shave ice is a topic here and you seem to like it a lot, , I can recommend my favorite place I’ve gotten shave ice on Kauai: it’s Wailua Shave Ice
Really naturals and really unique flavors

My daughter is really picky, I’ll never forget the last time we were there and they asked her what flavor and she said plain. They didn’t understand what “plain” was…she only wanted the ice. Just plain shave ice, no flavor

 

[missjackiemcg]

You're the cutest!

Very exciting finding BBW candles and soap that you love!!! That's the best, isn't it? A student gave me a chapstick for valentine's day that smells exactly like the lobby at Pop Century. I only use it a little bit because I want it to last forever!!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Enjoying your trip report. Did you happen to get to Wilson's by the Bay for shave ice in Hilo? It's not far from Pineapple's. We thought that was our favorite shave ice on our trip this past year.

Thanks for reading along!!! Sadly we did not!! Next time we're in Hawaii, I'm hoping to pace myself more so I don't get so burnt out on shave ice I want to try lots of new places!!

Definitely not an expert but we have been quite a few times and still remain very much in love.
In 2022 we went to the Big island, it was my husband and daughters first time and I was so excited to show it off to them since I spent so much time there in my teens/early 20’s. They liked it but we all missed Kauai fiercely

Since shave ice is a topic here and you seem to like it a lot, , I can recommend my favorite place I’ve gotten shave ice on Kauai: it’s Wailua Shave Ice
Really naturals and really unique flavors

My daughter is really picky, I’ll never forget the last time we were there and they asked her what flavor and she said plain. They didn’t understand what “plain” was…she only wanted the ice. Just plain shave ice, no flavor

That's how we felt about the Big Island too! On it's own, it was great. But after Kauai, it just wasn't the same

Hahaha I'm hoping that next time we go, I won't go so crazy on the shave ice and I'll get to enjoy more places!! Love the story about your daughter There's a pumpkin farm by my house that does make-your-own caramel apples. My mom always tells a story that when I was about 6 or 7, I asked for a plain apple (no caramel, no chocolate, no candy coating) on a stick, with just sprinkles. They just gave me the apple and put some sprinkles in a little dixie cup to humor me So I feel like your daughter and I could be soul sisters!

You're the cutest!

Very exciting finding BBW candles and soap that you love!!! That's the best, isn't it? A student gave me a chapstick for valentine's day that smells exactly like the lobby at Pop Century. I only use it a little bit because I want it to last forever!!

Ahhhh I love finding Disney scents out in the wild!!

Did you get a snow day today like we did???? I hope so!! It's been pretty nice drinking my peppermint coffee and writing this in bed at 2:30 PM!!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Day 13


Jake and I were up at 7:00 AM this morning, ready to go for our second and final big excursion day! We were taking a long drive to our destination, so we knew that we would be out and about for most of the day and in for the long haul. We wore swimsuits and sandals with some casual athletic wear over top. It was funny; before bed the night before, I had said to Jake, “Things have literally been too perfect. Everything is going off without a hitch, and every single day has been just so amazing.”

Cue… the least fun day of our entire trip I am not going to say that this was the “worst” day; it was still an engaging day with lots of activities! However, it got a little “comedy of errors”-esque in the afternoon, and at the end of the day, both of us wished that we would have spent our time more wisely and done things differently. Way to leave you with a cliffhanger…

We headed down to the Orchid Court buffet at 8:00 AM. Here was my spread!



Clockwise from the top- breakfast potatoes with salsa, shrimp shumai bun with chili oil, vanilla sprinkle donut, a piece of ube bundt cake, scrambled eggs, and a chicken apple sausage link. Unpictured is a bowl of Frosted Flakes with milk! For some reason, despite my obsession with ube, this was the first day I tried the ube bundt cake, even though it was available on the buffet every day. Boy, was I missing out!! It reminded me of a rich vanilla pound cake. So delish- will definitely be getting this tomorrow too! Jake had been getting a piece of it every day, and was like “Where have you been?” .

We jokingly re-enacted our cockroach saga from the night before at the parking lot (luckily, they were all sleeping), and hopped into the car. Our destination was Punalu’u, which was the southernmost tip of the Big Island, as well as the entire U.S! I was very excited to see the rest of the island and also visit this iconic location.

According to Apple Maps, it was a 2 hour and 20 minute drive away. And boy… we felt all of that drive! The drive to Hilo seemed so much quicker with all of our stops along the way, but we did this drive as a straight shot this morning. It was cool to go all down the coast of Kona and drive along the water! As we neared the south side of the island, the environment changed yet again to grassy hills and fields with lots of sheep! Even though I’ve only seen pictures, it reminded me of what the English countryside would look like.



At 11:15 AM, we reached our first stop- Punalu’u Black Sand Beach!



This was a really cool sight to see! I had seen plenty of beautiful white-sand beaches before, but never a black sand beach, especially one of this caliber!



We even spotted some turtles lounging in the sand!







I loved the texture of this sand! I hate the feeling of dry sand between my toes and the residue that it leaves on your feet. But this sand was very grainy and didn’t leave any powdery residue. It did get very hot when we would step on sand that was in the sun, which was funny, because the water on this beach was super cold!! The waves were also pretty rough here; we waded for a good amount but didn’t go underwater. I have to say that, of the islands that we have visited, Oahu definitely takes the cake for the best beaches in Hawaii.

We stayed for about an hour and a half, just lounging/reading/listening to music and walking the beach. Overall, I’m really happy that we visited here! It was such a cool and unique experience and very scenic!



Hang loose!

We headed out of the beach at 1:00. There was something that I had been really looking forward to checking out! You all should know by now that I’m a huge fan of all things sweet. So, it only made sense to visit the southernmost bakery in the entire United States!



Punalu’u Bake Shop was poppin’ today! There was a long line outside, but that wasn’t going to stop me from getting some treats! Punalu’u Bake Shop is known for their malasadas. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the Leonard’s malasadas during our last trip, I loved the ones on the Fairmont Orchid breakfast buffet, so I wanted to give these a chance too! Luckily, the line moved pretty fast, and I got my treats in about 20 minutes.



I grabbed a package of li hing gummy worms for the room (I loved putting li hing powder on fruit during our trip), as well as a lilikoi frosted malasada and a chocolate cream-filled malasada. I saved my pastries for later, but got a honeydew smoothie to enjoy now.



This smoothie was soooo refreshing, not too sweet, and a perfectly creamy texture. I wish they could have added tapioca boba balls to it- that would have made it perfect!

As we were sitting in the car and I drank my smoothie, I started to feel some reservations about our next planned stop. When Jake’s friends visited the Big Island, they had an absolute blast and raved about a beach called Papakolea Green Sand Beach. It was one of only 4 green sand beaches in the world, and it seemed like quite the excursion. The beach was very secluded, and in order to get to the beach, you either had to walk 3 miles or take a very bumpy 15-minute ride on the back of one of the local worker’s trucks. To be honest, neither option sounded amazing, and I was starting to question whether or not it was worth it.

Our other option was to go back to Kona, check out the Pu’uhonua tiki statues in Captain Cook, and head to Hapuna Beach for the rest of the evening. But, I felt like we had seen a lot of the Kona area in the past couple days, and I wanted to be adventurous! Plus, Jake is usually very go-with-the-flow, and I could tell that this was something he REALLY wanted to do, so of course I wanted to honor that. We made plans to check out the green sand beach, then head back to Kona to eat dinner at Broke Da Mouth Grindz right before they closed at 7:00 PM. Jake had been very disappointed with our plate lunch experience at L&L Hawaiian BBQ in Kauai, and he wanted me to see just how good the local food can be!

So, we headed over to South Point, and made it to Papakolea Green Sand Beach at 2:30!



This area of the island was interesting; it almost reminded me of what the Australian bush would look like. It was very dry and grassy with bright red sand! We decided to walk to the beach on the way there, and take the truck on the way back.

It was a crazy walk; it felt like we were on the surface of Mars! One godsend was that it wasn’t too sunny and there was a nice breeze, so the temperature was perfect. I really love taking long walks at home, so I was actually somewhat excited for this.





The red dust was very loose and blowing everywhere! Our shoes and shorts got absolutely covered in it; I was really worried, because today of all days, I decided to wear a white pair of LuluLemon bike shorts . Those things aren’t cheap! So, the walk felt extra long, because now I was worried about how I was going to get the red streaks off of my white shorts.

We finally reached the beach after about an hour-long walk!





Maybe it was because it was a cloudy day, but I was kind of…underwhelmed. The sand looked more of a brownish green than a fully green, and I was disappointed because I felt like that long walk was NOT worth it. As we walked closer, I saw that in order to even access the beach, you had to take a set of super steep stairs (basically scaling a cliff)! I immediately started freaking out, saying “I can’t do it, I can’t do it!” But, my Prince Charming helped me down. It actually wasn’t as scary as it looked!





Once we got down to the beach, I made a beeline for the water so I could try to wash off my shorts and sandals! We thought the waves were rough at the black sand beach, but OMG they were crazy rough here! As I was crouched over trying to scrub the red sand off of my shorts, a big wave came and absolutely slammed into me, knocking me right on my butt!



At this point, I thought I was going to lose it. I immediately said, “I’m done,” and stomped back to our towels!! Jake said, “I’m surprised it took this long for a tantrum to come out” . I took a couple minutes just to sit and take some deep breaths. Luckily, the ocean water did help, and the stains were starting to come out of my shorts. I was finally relaxed and ready to enjoy the beach!

Then, as soon as I made my way over to the shore, it started to rain.



We both just looked at each other and shook our heads- it really was a comedy of errors at this point! The rain was pretty light, and while everyone else scattered the area, we decided to stay a few minutes. It wasn’t thundering or lightning, and we were already wet from the ocean! We stayed for about 45 minutes and looked at the cool sand, but it was already getting late, so we decided to head up the steep cliff and see if we could hitch a ride back to our car on one of the local’s trucks.

We headed up to the top of the cliff right at about 4:15, and the truck was right there! Woohoo!! However, the guy said that he wanted to wait a bit for some other people to ride with us.



And we waited…. And waited… and waited…

Finally, 45 MINUTES LATER, we were on the truck headed back to our car. I was a little peeved, if the guy had let us know that it would be that long, we would have rather spent that extra time down by the beach instead of waiting up by the rocks!

The drive was an absolutely harrowing experience to say the least. We had to stand on the flatbed portion of the truck, and we had some guard rails to hold on to. The locals really soup up their trucks so that the tires aren’t damaged by the lava rock covering the ground, but it was sooo bumpy and we felt like we were going to get flung from the truck! The drive was only about 10-15 minutes, but felt like an eternity! I was white-knuckling it the whole time. At least it was faster than walking!! Finally, we made it back to our car at around 5:15. So, actually, taking the truck took just as much time compared to if we would have just started walking over right at 4:15.

As we trudged back to the car, we were really bummed. At this point, it was too late to make it back to Kona for our dinner, since Broke Da Mouth Grindz closed at 7:00 PM. We were trying to look up other options to eat, but to be honest, we were tired and grumpy and didn’t really feel like going anywhere nice for dinner. So, we just decided to see what we wanted once we got into Kona.

I was starving at this point, so I decided to dig into my malasadas from earlier. I’m happy to report that these were both delicious! I especially enjoyed the lilikoi malasada; it was very tart and the frosting tasted more like lemon, which is great for me because I love lemon-flavored desserts.

The ride back felt long; we did get to see a gorgeous sunset on the drive along the water, which twisted the knife a little bit more. Jake lamented that the sunset would have been great to watch on Hapuna Beach, which was our other option for this evening! We had definitely wished we did different things this day; the green sand beach was a total time-suck, and I personally felt that it was not worth all the trouble we had to go through to see it. Lesson learned!

We reached Kona at about 7:15- ugh, we missed Broke Da Mouth Grindz by 15 minutes!! We were both still in pretty foul moods; I knew that getting some food in me would help, but we were both paralyzed by indecision and could NOT decide on a place to get dinner! Jake decided to just grab some food when we got back to the hotel, while I saw another option in Kona that I thought would be fun to try. I love trying regional fast food joints that we don’t have in Wisconsin, and I saw a Jack-In-The-Box drive through! I have never eaten here before, so I thought it would be interesting to try something new.



This is the only picture that I got of my food. It’s so comically bad, I feel like I have to include it . To drink, I got the seasonal milkshake (artfully pictured above), which was pumpkin flavored with Oreo pieces. It was delish! To eat, I decided to try a smorgasbord of options. One thing that I liked about Jack-In-The-Box was the variety of different options and types of food you can get. I got some mini tacos, curly fries, and jalapeno poppers It was just what I needed actually; we hadn’t really had some good old-fashioned fast food this trip and it hit the spot. If there was any day that we needed some comfort food, it was today! On the way back, we also decided to stop by and check out Jake’s old apartment he rented while living in Kona. This combined with the food lifted my spirits tremendously!

We made it back to the Fairmont Orchid by 8:45 PM, and we were feeling better, but absolutely pooped. We still had our swimsuits on, so we ended up going to the pool and hot tubs for a little night swim. This was so relaxing and the perfect decision; Jake had been wanting to do a night swim all trip, but we had never had the time until now. This finally broke us from our funk! We spent about 45 minutes down by the pools.

When we got back to the room, Jake ordered a kid’s personal pepperoni pizza and a kid’s chicken tender meal from room service for his dinner. We were really feeling classy tonight . He said that it was nothing special, but did the job and cured his hangriness. We hit the hay at about 10:30 PM. Not exactly the day we had imagined, but to be honest, I’m so surprised that this was our only “less than perfect” day of the trip. And if there’s anyone I’d want to have a “less than perfect” day with, it’s Jake


​

 

[NAB]

Thanks for the pictures of the green beach. We actually made it to the parking lot but didn’t want to drive in the back of those trucks and really didn’t have the foot wear for the walk so left. It was really hot that day too.

Wasn‘t the black beach cool. Pictures really don’t show how black it really is. It’s ground up lava rock the turtles love it.

We must have did the same route because we thought it was weird to have ranch land after seeing so much lava rock everywhere.

 

[tidefan]

Did you not head up the hill from Punalu'u to check out Kilauea? The volcanoes are always a must stop for us on the Big Island.

 

[suse66]

We jumped into some athleisure and headed down to the Orchid Court breakfast buffet at 8:50 AM. Luckily the earlier dinner and good night’s sleep last night did me well, and I was feeling 100%!

Yay!

Our agenda for today was to explore the east side of the Big Island! Before our trip, Jake had explained that each side of the island was a totally different atmosphere. Waimea to the north was like a western cowboy town, Hilo to the east was wet and tropical, and Kona was dry and sunny with all of the lava rock of course. I was ready to see all of the lush greenery today!

Two of my friends here visit Hawaii a lot and they LOVE the Big Island.

We took a nice and scenic little hike to get there. Overall, we were much more impressed by Akaka Falls! It was beautiful and very peaceful to hear the water flowing!

So nice!

We decided to make one more stop before heading to Hilo. We had been seeing signs on the road for various lookouts and beaches, and Jake had remembered really loving a hike called the Onomea Trail. So, we pulled over and hiked for about a mile or two to see the sights!

Awesome!

It was so relaxing to just stroll and take in the sound of the crashing waves. We also saw some giant crabs over on the rocks! Definitely take the time to do this trail if you are driving to Hilo! It was my favorite part of the day

That sounds so lovely.

This was the perfect amount of food for me and I inhaled this!! The food here was great; Jake wished he was hungry because everything looked so delicious! Because it was happy hour, it was also dirt cheap!

Yum!

This was another pretty waterfall; we had the best luck with sightseeing on this island! It drizzled on/off a bit on the drive back, but it was an easy ride overall. It was so cool to see the environment change from lush rainforest, to rugged farmland, back to black lava rock!

It's so interesting that there are many different landscapes on one small island.

Lucky for us, there was a Foodland at this shopping center! We picked up some quick eats and couldn’t wait to enjoy a quiet little “picnic” in our room- we were BEAT and looking forward to just a chill evening.

I love doing an in room picnic too!

After parking in the outside lot, we made our daily walk over from the parking lot to the hotel lobby. I led the way and took a “shortcut” way, crossing over a grassy median with dirt and mulch. All of a sudden, I hear Jake shout, “OH MY GOD.” I looked back, and the median that I had just walked through was CRAWLING with roaches. The thing was absolutely COVERED; there was probably at least a hundred of them all frantic and in a tizzy because I had just marched all over their home . Jake was like “CHECK YOUR SHOES!” Luckily, no roaches hitched a ride on me, but OMG, we could not stop laughing at how blissfully unaware I had been while skipping through a sea of roaches We were both doubled over, hysterical, and about to pee our pants for a good 5 minutes! I’m so glad that I had not seen the bugs until after I passed through; I’m pretty sure I would have frozen into a catatonic state with fear, haha!

OMG!!! I would DIE! That's the grossest thing ever!

We made it back to the room by 7:45 PM. Feeling very fancy, we opened the champagne and changed into our complimentary robes. Check out our feast!!

Very nice!

First of all, it was crunchy peanut butter on the inside, which I am NOT a fan of. I’m a purist- creamy pb is the only way! It was also just sooooo thick- the mochi dough combined with the peanut butter literally created a glue in my mouth that was really hard to swallow. Jake tried some and said that it was “unusually viscous,” haha! It was very weird and hard to eat; I would not get this again!! I love strawberry or other fruit-flavored mochi, so I’ll just stick to that next time.

Ugh! Crunchy peanut butter is just wrong!

Ube scented 3-wick candle and hand soap!!!!! This was me when I first smelled them...

Sweet!

Ahhhh I love finding Disney scents out in the wild!!

Did you get a snow day today like we did???? I hope so!! It's been pretty nice drinking my peppermint coffee and writing this in bed at 2:30 PM!!

I wish we had gotten the snow day here. We had snow in the afternoon but it was super wet and heavy. Then it turned to rain again in the evening.

Cue… the least fun day of our entire trip I am not going to say that this was the “worst” day; it was still an engaging day with lots of activities! However, it got a little “comedy of errors”-esque in the afternoon, and at the end of the day, both of us wished that we would have spent our time more wisely and done things differently. Way to leave you with a cliffhanger…

Some days just don't go the way you want but it sounds like you handled all the bumps.

I loved the texture of this sand! I hate the feeling of dry sand between my toes and the residue that it leaves on your feet. But this sand was very grainy and didn’t leave any powdery residue. It did get very hot when we would step on sand that was in the sun, which was funny, because the water on this beach was super cold!! The waves were also pretty rough here; we waded for a good amount but didn’t go underwater. I have to say that, of the islands that we have visited, Oahu definitely takes the cake for the best beaches in Hawaii.

The black sand is cool!

We headed out of the beach at 1:00. There was something that I had been really looking forward to checking out! You all should know by now that I’m a huge fan of all things sweet. So, it only made sense to visit the southernmost bakery in the entire United States!

Mmmmm, baked goods!

Our other option was to go back to Kona, check out the Pu’uhonua tiki statues in Captain Cook, and head to Hapuna Beach for the rest of the evening. But, I felt like we had seen a lot of the Kona area in the past couple days, and I wanted to be adventurous! Plus, Jake is usually very go-with-the-flow, and I could tell that this was something he REALLY wanted to do, so of course I wanted to honor that. We made plans to check out the green sand beach, then head back to Kona to eat dinner at Broke Da Mouth Grindz right before they closed at 7:00 PM. Jake had been very disappointed with our plate lunch experience at L&L Hawaiian BBQ in Kauai, and he wanted me to see just how good the local food can be!

It's hard trying to get everything to flow together.

Once we got down to the beach, I made a beeline for the water so I could try to wash off my shorts and sandals! We thought the waves were rough at the black sand beach, but OMG they were crazy rough here! As I was crouched over trying to scrub the red sand off of my shorts, a big wave came and absolutely slammed into me, knocking me right on my butt!

Oh I would be mad!!

The ride back felt long; we did get to see a gorgeous sunset on the drive along the water, which twisted the knife a little bit more. Jake lamented that the sunset would have been great to watch on Hapuna Beach, which was our other option for this evening! We had definitely wished we did different things this day; the green sand beach was a total time-suck, and I personally felt that it was not worth all the trouble we had to go through to see it. Lesson learned!

Yep!

We made it back to the Fairmont Orchid by 8:45 PM, and we were feeling better, but absolutely pooped. We still had our swimsuits on, so we ended up going to the pool and hot tubs for a little night swim. This was so relaxing and the perfect decision; Jake had been wanting to do a night swim all trip, but we had never had the time until now. This finally broke us from our funk! We spent about 45 minutes down by the pools.

Sounds like a great way to recharge and enjoy some time together.

 

[alohamom]

lilikoi frosted malasada

OH.MY.GOOODDNNNNESSSSSS! sounds so good!

Papakolea Green Sand Beach. It was one of only 4 green sand beaches in the world, and it seemed like quite the excursion. The beach was very secluded, and in order to get to the beach, you either had to walk 3 miles or take a very bumpy 15-minute ride on the back of one of the local worker’s trucks.

Thank you so much for this honest retelling of getting there. We have never been and I have considered it a few times but it just seems like such a hassle to get there. I will say if you two ever get back to the Big Island you have to go to Hapuna Beach. It is just gorgeous and it is rivals many of the Oahu beaches but is more serene. It was so sweet that you did this hike/adventure for Jake, what a great partner you are!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Did you get a snow day today like we did???? I hope so!! It's been pretty nice drinking my peppermint coffee and writing this in bed at 2:30 PM!!

I wish!!! Our weather was mostly downpouring rain until school got out and it immediately switched to big fat snowflakes. It was a lovely commute home--NOT!! But, things are looking up for a Friday snow day, so cross your fingers for me!

Oh a comedy of errors it was, wasn't it!? At least it was just some frustating/annoying things versus anything major. And I'm super glad your Lulu shorts made it through the adventure unstained. This is exactly how I feel about wearing new shoes LOL I wore my new Disney 100 Vans to school on Monday and the first kid who walked in the door stepped right on them. I have a fresh scuff that will NOT come off now!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Thanks for the pictures of the green beach. We actually made it to the parking lot but didn’t want to drive in the back of those trucks and really didn’t have the foot wear for the walk so left. It was really hot that day too.

Wasn‘t the black beach cool. Pictures really don’t show how black it really is. It’s ground up lava rock the turtles love it.

We must have did the same route because we thought it was weird to have ranch land after seeing so much lava rock everywhere.

I loved the black sand beach!!! It was so cool to see all the different landscapes of the Big Island! Good call on skipping the green sand beach- not worth the trouble!!!

Did you not head up the hill from Punalu'u to check out Kilauea? The volcanoes are always a must stop for us on the Big Island.

We did not visit Volcanoes National Park this trip! Jake had seen it once before and said it was underwhelming in his opinion, so we didn’t make it a priority…We’re more beach people than national park people anyways!

Yay!

Two of my friends here visit Hawaii a lot and they LOVE the Big Island.

So nice!

Awesome!

That sounds so lovely.

Yum!

It's so interesting that there are many different landscapes on one small island.

I love doing an in room picnic too!

OMG!!! I would DIE! That's the grossest thing ever!

Very nice!

Ugh! Crunchy peanut butter is just wrong!

Sweet!

I wish we had gotten the snow day here. We had snow in the afternoon but it was super wet and heavy. Then it turned to rain again in the evening.

Some days just don't go the way you want but it sounds like you handled all the bumps.

The black sand is cool!

Mmmmm, baked goods!

It's hard trying to get everything to flow together.

Oh I would be mad!!

Yep!

Sounds like a great way to recharge and enjoy some time together.

I hope you got a snow day Friday!! We got over a foot and lots of people lost power

Day 13 wasn’t exactly the day we imagined but we made it work I would rather be at the green sand beach than in this nasty blizzard any day!!!

OH.MY.GOOODDNNNNESSSSSS! sounds so good!



Thank you so much for this honest retelling of getting there. We have never been and I have considered it a few times but it just seems like such a hassle to get there. I will say if you two ever get back to the Big Island you have to go to Hapuna Beach. It is just gorgeous and it is rivals many of the Oahu beaches but is more serene. It was so sweet that you did this hike/adventure for Jake, what a great partner you are!

The lilikoi malasada was great- one of my favorite baked goods of the trip!! The green sand beach was definitely a bust for us we were a little bummed to miss Hapuna Beach but there’s always next time! I know I would have regretted not seeing the green beach anyway- you win some, you lose some

I wish!!! Our weather was mostly downpouring rain until school got out and it immediately switched to big fat snowflakes. It was a lovely commute home--NOT!! But, things are looking up for a Friday snow day, so cross your fingers for me!

Oh a comedy of errors it was, wasn't it!? At least it was just some frustating/annoying things versus anything major. And I'm super glad your Lulu shorts made it through the adventure unstained. This is exactly how I feel about wearing new shoes LOL I wore my new Disney 100 Vans to school on Monday and the first kid who walked in the door stepped right on them. I have a fresh scuff that will NOT come off now!

Did you get your snow day Friday??? We did!! Although I’m ready to get out now after being cooped up a few days- be careful what you wish for

The day was a bit anxiety-producing but could have been a lot worse- I’m SO thankful that Jake is really laid back and easy to travel with

 

[Mollydolly334]

Hi again!


Ok, I PROMISE that I will finish this baby up in a couple days But I have to show you just a couple more Bath and Body Works finds!!

Please don’t judge me- I’m more than aware that I have a problem I’m at that store about once a week! I have a strong olfactory memory and nothing brightens my mood more than my favorite scents!



Although it’s called “Meet Me In Miami”, this body spray smells exactly like the Royal Hawaiian hotel in Waikiki!! Remember at the beginning of my TR how I said I loved the smell there?



And THIS candle smells exactly like the Riviera resort at WDW!!

So, if you’re missing vacation and need some Hawaii/Disney World smells in your life, I got you

Back to regularly scheduled programming next week!

​

 

[Mollydolly334]

Days 14 and 15


Can you believe it? It’s our LAST FULL DAY of the honeymoon!! Although Jake and I were bummed, I must say, I was kind of ready to come home. I thrive on routine and structure, and I was starting to get really tired of all the eating and time in the sun. Jake, not so much We really did feel the length of this trip though! We had both never been on a vacation this long before, and I feel like generally when we travel together, trips never seem long enough and absolutely fly by. However, we both felt like the trip dragged by slowly (in an amazing way) and we were really able to enjoy and savor every day.

I was awake by 7:15 AM to check us into our flights 24 hours early. We were flying out of Kona at 7:15 AM the next day, and had a 1.5 hour layover in Las Vegas before arriving in Chicago at 11:00 PM. However, I typed the confirmation number wrong at first, and it took me a couple extra seconds to check us in. I was HORRIFIED when I saw our boarding group!!



Well, we pretty much accepted that we would not be sitting together on this flight Luckily, we at least got a good position for our Las Vegas to Chicago flight.

We went back to sleep for a bit, but were downstairs for our final breakfast at Orchid Court at 9:00 AM!

I was SO tired of the buffet (and food in general) at this point, haha. Jake and I are foodies and tend to be very food-focused on all of the local eats when we travel. We had really indulged on ALL of the things this trip, and while it was amazing to enjoy all of the treats, I felt like I needed a 3-day juice cleanse . I grabbed a small plate, but didn’t even come close to finishing it.



Clockwise from the top- mini pancakes with syrup, fruit, a piece of ube bundt cake, a Portuguese sausage link, avocado toast with eggs/ham/feta, and ube custard (to put on top of the ube bundt cake and pancakes). Also unpictured was my daily bowl of cereal (Frosted Flakes I’m assuming, haha)! Ugh, looking at this, I CRINGE at the scrambled eggs getting in the ube custard!! This is one thing I hate about buffets, I don’t like my food to be all piled on top of each other.

Since today was our very last day, we knew that we wanted to spend it enjoying the resort, beach, and pool. We peeked in the resort gift shop for a bit, then found a spot over at the adults-only pool area! It was an overcast day but still felt very warm.



So many of my friends replied to this Instagram/Snapchat- “You guys are STILL in Hawaii??”

I really don’t have too many pictures from today at all. We were all pictured out! I do remember that the Fairmont Orchid had a nice smoothie bar, so we got some tropical smoothies by the pool for our “lunch.” We swam and hung out for a couple hours by the pool, then moved over to grab some beach chairs at about 1:00 PM. I also finished my book!



At around 2:30 PM, I was starting to get antsy. Part of our package with Costco included free beach rentals for the duration of our stay. Now, I’m not a big snorkeling person at all; I tried it once in Mexico about 10 years ago and it wasn’t really my thing. However, the Fairmont has a really nice lagoon area as their beach that you could snorkel in (it was almost identical to Aulani), and I had seen so many people with snorkel gear this week. I figured I should give it a try, especially since it was our last day and it was free!

When I signed out for my goggles and mouthpiece, I used my new last name . Jake’s last name sounds very similar to the name of a popular candy bar, and the employee joked, “Molly, your last name is my favorite chocolate” . I imagine that I’ll be getting this comment A LOT for years to come

I strapped on my gear, and swam out to the deep end by the rocks. I just swam peacefully for about 5 minutes, when out of nowhere, a large figure came directly in front of me, startling me…

A SEA TURTLE!!!!!

It was literally 6 inches in front of my face. I was DELIGHTED!! I had never seen a sea turtle so close or swimming in the water before, and it was mesmerizing. I seemed to be the only person to see it, and I was able to swim alongside it for about 10 minutes!! But then, it swam a little too far past the lagoon. I RAN over to Jake back at the beach chairs. He was so surprised to see me so animated and out of breath I was like, “YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!” So, he quickly ran over to rent some snorkel gear of his own!

We swam for about 25 minutes, and I was starting to get worried. We saw needlefish, schooling bannerfish, and lots of other beautiful tropical fish, but there were no sea turtles to be found. I knew that Jake was going to be really bummed if he didn’t see one, so I vowed that we would NOT leave this lagoon until we found one!

Luckily, not too long after, I saw a crowd of people start to form on the left side of the lagoon. We followed the other snorkelers, and sure enough, came face to face with the same sea turtle I saw earlier

Surprisingly, people lost interest in the turtle rather quickly, and Jake and I were the only ones who stuck around. We stalked this turtle (at a safe distance of course) and swam alongside him for over 20 minutes. It was soooo magical! We saw him swim, eat moss off of the rocks, and even come up for air a couple times! At one point, he surfaced for air literally right between Jake and I!! I’m sad that we didn’t have a camera or any way to take pictures/video of it. But, at the same time, it’s kind of cool to just have it in our memories and not share it with anyone else.

Our jaws were starting to hurt from the snorkeling mouthpieces, so we headed out of the water at about 3:45 PM. Of course, I had to update social media on our snorkeling adventures!



Jake and I were on cloud nine, excitedly calling our parents and talking all about our amazing turtle sighting. I wanted to cry with happiness, WHAT A WAY to end the honeymoon! This was for sure a top 5 highlight of the entire vacation. This really sealed the deal as the best trip ever, and as weird as it sounds, was a perfect “kiss goodbye” to Hawaii.

We stayed at the beach until about 4:30 PM, just enjoying the last of the blissful daytime views.



I had been craving an acai bowl all day, and the acai bowl place I wanted to try in Waikoloa Village closed at 5:00 PM. However, I didn’t really feel like rushing to get there, so we decided to just head over to Foodland again to grab some snacks. In retrospect, I really regret this! There just isn’t a good acai bowl place in Milwaukee and I have been craving one ever since this day Can you believe that the only acai bowl I had this entire trip was on our very first full day in Kailua??

Luckily, we found a good alternative at Foodland- Spam Musubi!! We really got our fill of it on this trip- I would eat this stuff every day if I could!



We had some leftover tortilla chips and li hing powder from a couple days ago back at the room, so we grabbed a jar of salsa and I got some more mango slices. We also got a pack of Chips Ahoy cookies and some toffee for the plane tomorrow. If you are in Hawaii, you MUST get this toffee- it was like crack! Jake and I were fighting over the bag the entire way home



We rushed back to the Fairmont with our goodies- we wanted to watch our final sunset in Hawaii! How fitting- this was how we started the trip as well



We found a comfy lounger right at the shoreline, and enjoyed our chips/salsa and some fruit while watching the gorgeous sunset.



It was really fun to people-watch; there was a conference going on at the hotel (I believe it was for lawyers?) , and it was funny to watch all of the business people “mingle”. It was so blissful, we just snuggled together and talked about our amazing trip and memories made. It was a perfect full-circle moment compared to watching the sunset on our first night at Aulani.



Can you tell that we got some sun this trip??

Once the sun dipped down and it got dark, we headed back to the room to start packing up. We ended up packing in record time! I always feel better on a travel day if I’m freshly showered, so a shower was also definitely in order.

We chilled and watched Friends for a bit, and I’m not going to lie, I was absolutely BEAT. This vacation was the adventure of a lifetime, but I was tired, bloated, and really dreading the long travel day tomorrow. Jake was in the camp of “I’ll do whatever you want to do” tonight, and I was really considering just having us stay in the room and order room service.

But, NO! This was our LAST NIGHT IN HAWAII!



So, we got dressed and dragged our butts out of the room for one final dinner on the Big Island! Luckily, we didn’t have to go very far . We decided to go back to the pool bar, Hale Kai, for dinner (we ate here on our first night on the Big Island too)!

We started out with some drinks. We were both totally alcohol-ed out, so Jake got a water and I got a Shirley Temple!



I really was not that hungry at all, but a fresh salad sounded good. I got a chicken Caesar salad, and Jake decided on some fish tacos.



I’m sad to report that this salad was absolutely ABYSMAL. The chicken was dry and unseasoned, and the little amount of dressing that was on the salad was watery and flavorless. NOTHING like my Caesar salad at 1Hotel in Kauai, haha! I was lucky that I wasn’t that hungry and it didn’t even matter too much. Jake really enjoyed his fish tacos; he had much better luck here with food than I did!

It was a really relaxed and quiet night on the resort grounds. Perfect for our last night! The lawyer conference ended up having a huge private party over on the other side of the resort, and I’m guessing that was where most of the resort guests were. Jake and I did sneak over and watch the party from a distance for a bit; it was poppin’! They had a live band playing and the drinks were definitely flowing!

I wasn’t feeling dessert, but Jake decided to order a slice of the rainbow coconut cake!



This dessert was beautiful! I snuck a bite, and it tasted just as good as it looked! I love the coconut cake at House Without a Key on Oahu- if we hadn’t had such a bad experience there this year, I definitely would have ordered it again.

Luckily, we had no problems with our bill this time, and we were headed back up to the room by 9:00 PM. Even though I didn’t enjoy my food, I was really glad that we got ourselves up and out of the room to enjoy our last night in paradise! It was great to sit with our feet in the sand and enjoy the last of the tropical weather.

We immediately brushed our teeth and jumped into bed at 9:20 PM, with our alarms set for 4:30 AM . Even though we got an adequate amount of sleep, it still wasn’t fun to wake up 7 hours later when it was still dark outside. We were a bit concerned about traffic near the Kona airport due to the Iron Man competition happening that day, but it was so early that it ended up completely being a non-issue. We returned our rental car and checked our bags in no time! One of my bags was overweight (surprise, surprise), so I had to do some rearranging at the check-in gate. The sweet Hawaiian lady working the gate was cheering me on, she was so precious! She was like “Almost there, Molly! Just a couple more pieces of clothing, you can do it!” She made my morning

Just as I anticipated, we were not able to sit together for the flight from Kona to Las Vegas It ended up not being a big deal though; I think we were both ok with having some alone time after 2 straight weeks of togetherness . We both had aisle seats across from each other and Jake was just a few rows behind me. I must have been tired; I normally don’t sleep well on planes, but I slept for 2.5 hours straight during that first flight! This flight was 5.5 hours, and it actually flew by.

We had our layover in Las Vegas, and I passed the time by doing some shopping. I had to laugh; back at the Kona airport that morning, I bought a pre-packaged PB&J sandwich and a bag of Doritos for $8. At the Las Vegas airport, I bought a magazine and a bag of beef jerky, and it was $19 . That’s just wrong!!!



I posted this to my social media, and got about 10 “yes” responses! But, I actually didn’t really feel like playing a slot so I passed

Jake and I were able to sit next to each other on our flight from Vegas to Chicago, and this one also flew by; I mostly just snacked and watched some more Dance Moms. We had this same situation on our last trip- the flights to Hawaii seemed to drag by, while the flights home went by so fast!



Sad to be leaving our amazing honeymoon!

We landed a little early, and were at baggage claim by 11:00 PM. We landed at the exact same gate that we left from on the way to Hawaii! We got our bags quickly (no lost luggage on this trip, yay), and my sister Haley swung by to pick us up and drive us back to their house, where Jake’s car was located.

Jake and I had been worried that we would be too tired to drive back home tonight, and that we’d have to stay at Haley and Ryan’s for the night. After two weeks of traveling, all I wanted was my bed!! It was midnight by now, but only 7:00 PM Hawaii time, so both of us were actually pretty awake. So, we decided to rip off the band-aid and drive back to Milwaukee that night.

We passed the time on the drive home by listening to some Hawaiian music. For the entire two weeks we were in Hawaii, I collected songs that we had heard on the radio/by the pool/in restaurants/etc and made it into one big Spotify playlist to look back on and remember our honeymoon! I’m so glad I did this; it’s such a great keepsake and brings me back to that Hawaii bliss whenever I listen to it.

As we entered the Milwaukee area, we realized that we were starving. So, before we headed back to the apartment, we picked up a (super late) dinner of…



Taco Bell! Another full-circle moment (we had Taco Bell the night before we left for Hawaii as well). Jake loves T-Bell, but I eat it MAYBE once a year at most, so I thought it was funny that I now had it twice in two weeks . Also, don’t mind my dead bridal bouquet in the background . I couldn’t bear to part with it- it’s actually still sitting in a vase in our apartment to this day!

We walked through the door at 1:45 AM, quickly ate our food, and took our time getting to bed since we were surprisingly still not too tired. It was nice; since we flew back on a Saturday, we had the whole next day to sleep in and recuperate before going back to work on Monday.

And with that, my friends, is the end of the honeymoon!!!

We truly could not have asked for a better two weeks. It was the absolute perfect amount of time; it felt so nice, long, and relaxing. We had incredible weather and absolutely no snafus or delays regarding travel, which was so lucky. We left with no regrets; we both agreed that we did absolutely everything we could and savored every second of this honeymoon.

Since we’ve been back, SO many people have asked us what our favorite island was. We both agree that, without a doubt, 1Hotel and Hanalei in Kauai was our favorite place to stay for the entire trip. I hate to say it, but I think my least favorite island this trip was the Big Island. It was strange, because I liked all of the excursions on the Big Island (well, except the green sand beach) and we had so many great memories there!! My biggest qualm was that it felt like everywhere BUT Hawaii. There were parts of it that felt like Montana, Mexico, England, Australia, Texas, South America, THE MOON, MARS… but I didn’t really get “Hawaii” or “Aloha” I don’t really think I ever need to come back to this island, at least not for a while. I think Oahu still might take the cake for my favorite overall island. It has so much variety, fun things to do, and definitely the most swimmable and beautiful beaches that we saw the whole trip.

So, what’s next? If you’ve read my signature, you’ll see that I am traveling back to WDW in May!!! We will be in the World from May 9-19; it will be a huge family trip and my niece and nephew’s first trip (free before you’re 3)! We are planning for slow-moving park time with lots of pool breaks, and tons of character meets/meals!! I am SO excited and over the moon to see Disney World through their eyes! I actually just started a PTR for this today if you'd like to check it out

Our biggest WDW vacation yet (but with the littlest guests)- A May PTR!

We don’t have another Hawaii trip on the immediate horizon, but when we do travel back to Hawaii, we are thinking of doing 4 nights in Kaanapali on Maui and 4 nights in Hanalei on Kauai (at 1Hotel if we can swing it). We are hoping to at least do another trip in the fall just the two of us for our first anniversary, since Jake’s PTO resets in July (that’s the month he was hired in a couple years ago). We are tossing around Florida, California, Colorado, Arizona… somewhere in the continental U.S!

Thank you so much for reading along!! I’m so happy that I will now have this blog as a memory book of our once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon. I couldn’t be more lucky to have such a wonderful husband, who is now my forever family







​

 

[NAB]

What a beautiful bride! Thanks for sharing your honeymoon.

I‘m with you the Big Island was fine but Honolulu was my favourite. We cruised over from Vancouver and stayed at the Royal Hawaiian on the 15 th floor had a great veiw and beach. We were there a week before moving to Aulani . Running joke for us was all the ABC stores. I well have to pick up one of those candles!

Can’t wait to read your next trip report.

 

[TEK224]

Days 14 and 15


Can you believe it? It’s our LAST FULL DAY of the honeymoon!! Although Jake and I were bummed, I must say, I was kind of ready to come home. I thrive on routine and structure, and I was starting to get really tired of all the eating and time in the sun. Jake, not so much We really did feel the length of this trip though! We had both never been on a vacation this long before, and I feel like generally when we travel together, trips never seem long enough and absolutely fly by. However, we both felt like the trip dragged by slowly (in an amazing way) and we were really able to enjoy and savor every day.

I was awake by 7:15 AM to check us into our flights 24 hours early. We were flying out of Kona at 7:15 AM the next day, and had a 1.5 hour layover in Las Vegas before arriving in Chicago at 11:00 PM. However, I typed the confirmation number wrong at first, and it took me a couple extra seconds to check us in. I was HORRIFIED when I saw our boarding group!!



Well, we pretty much accepted that we would not be sitting together on this flight Luckily, we at least got a good position for our Las Vegas to Chicago flight.

We went back to sleep for a bit, but were downstairs for our final breakfast at Orchid Court at 9:00 AM!

I was SO tired of the buffet (and food in general) at this point, haha. Jake and I are foodies and tend to be very food-focused on all of the local eats when we travel. We had really indulged on ALL of the things this trip, and while it was amazing to enjoy all of the treats, I felt like I needed a 3-day juice cleanse . I grabbed a small plate, but didn’t even come close to finishing it.



Clockwise from the top- mini pancakes with syrup, fruit, a piece of ube bundt cake, a Portuguese sausage link, avocado toast with eggs/ham/feta, and ube custard (to put on top of the ube bundt cake and pancakes). Also unpictured was my daily bowl of cereal (Frosted Flakes I’m assuming, haha)! Ugh, looking at this, I CRINGE at the scrambled eggs getting in the ube custard!! This is one thing I hate about buffets, I don’t like my food to be all piled on top of each other.

Since today was our very last day, we knew that we wanted to spend it enjoying the resort, beach, and pool. We peeked in the resort gift shop for a bit, then found a spot over at the adults-only pool area! It was an overcast day but still felt very warm.



So many of my friends replied to this Instagram/Snapchat- “You guys are STILL in Hawaii??”

I really don’t have too many pictures from today at all. We were all pictured out! I do remember that the Fairmont Orchid had a nice smoothie bar, so we got some tropical smoothies by the pool for our “lunch.” We swam and hung out for a couple hours by the pool, then moved over to grab some beach chairs at about 1:00 PM. I also finished my book!



At around 2:30 PM, I was starting to get antsy. Part of our package with Costco included free beach rentals for the duration of our stay. Now, I’m not a big snorkeling person at all; I tried it once in Mexico about 10 years ago and it wasn’t really my thing. However, the Fairmont has a really nice lagoon area as their beach that you could snorkel in (it was almost identical to Aulani), and I had seen so many people with snorkel gear this week. I figured I should give it a try, especially since it was our last day and it was free!

When I signed out for my goggles and mouthpiece, I used my new last name . Jake’s last name sounds very similar to the name of a popular candy bar, and the employee joked, “Molly, your last name is my favorite chocolate” . I imagine that I’ll be getting this comment A LOT for years to come

I strapped on my gear, and swam out to the deep end by the rocks. I just swam peacefully for about 5 minutes, when out of nowhere, a large figure came directly in front of me, startling me…

A SEA TURTLE!!!!!

It was literally 6 inches in front of my face. I was DELIGHTED!! I had never seen a sea turtle so close or swimming in the water before, and it was mesmerizing. I seemed to be the only person to see it, and I was able to swim alongside it for about 10 minutes!! But then, it swam a little too far past the lagoon. I RAN over to Jake back at the beach chairs. He was so surprised to see me so animated and out of breath I was like, “YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!” So, he quickly ran over to rent some snorkel gear of his own!

We swam for about 25 minutes, and I was starting to get worried. We saw needlefish, schooling bannerfish, and lots of other beautiful tropical fish, but there were no sea turtles to be found. I knew that Jake was going to be really bummed if he didn’t see one, so I vowed that we would NOT leave this lagoon until we found one!

Luckily, not too long after, I saw a crowd of people start to form on the left side of the lagoon. We followed the other snorkelers, and sure enough, came face to face with the same sea turtle I saw earlier

Surprisingly, people lost interest in the turtle rather quickly, and Jake and I were the only ones who stuck around. We stalked this turtle (at a safe distance of course) and swam alongside him for over 20 minutes. It was soooo magical! We saw him swim, eat moss off of the rocks, and even come up for air a couple times! At one point, he surfaced for air literally right between Jake and I!! I’m sad that we didn’t have a camera or any way to take pictures/video of it. But, at the same time, it’s kind of cool to just have it in our memories and not share it with anyone else.

Our jaws were starting to hurt from the snorkeling mouthpieces, so we headed out of the water at about 3:45 PM. Of course, I had to update social media on our snorkeling adventures!



Jake and I were on cloud nine, excitedly calling our parents and talking all about our amazing turtle sighting. I wanted to cry with happiness, WHAT A WAY to end the honeymoon! This was for sure a top 5 highlight of the entire vacation. This really sealed the deal as the best trip ever, and as weird as it sounds, was a perfect “kiss goodbye” to Hawaii.

We stayed at the beach until about 4:30 PM, just enjoying the last of the blissful daytime views.



I had been craving an acai bowl all day, and the acai bowl place I wanted to try in Waikoloa Village closed at 5:00 PM. However, I didn’t really feel like rushing to get there, so we decided to just head over to Foodland again to grab some snacks. In retrospect, I really regret this! There just isn’t a good acai bowl place in Milwaukee and I have been craving one ever since this day Can you believe that the only acai bowl I had this entire trip was on our very first full day in Kailua??

Luckily, we found a good alternative at Foodland- Spam Musubi!! We really got our fill of it on this trip- I would eat this stuff every day if I could!



We had some leftover tortilla chips and li hing powder from a couple days ago back at the room, so we grabbed a jar of salsa and I got some more mango slices. We also got a pack of Chips Ahoy cookies and some toffee for the plane tomorrow. If you are in Hawaii, you MUST get this toffee- it was like crack! Jake and I were fighting over the bag the entire way home



We rushed back to the Fairmont with our goodies- we wanted to watch our final sunset in Hawaii! How fitting- this was how we started the trip as well



We found a comfy lounger right at the shoreline, and enjoyed our chips/salsa and some fruit while watching the gorgeous sunset.



It was really fun to people-watch; there was a conference going on at the hotel (I believe it was for lawyers?) , and it was funny to watch all of the business people “mingle”. It was so blissful, we just snuggled together and talked about our amazing trip and memories made. It was a perfect full-circle moment compared to watching the sunset on our first night at Aulani.



Can you tell that we got some sun this trip??

Once the sun dipped down and it got dark, we headed back to the room to start packing up. We ended up packing in record time! I always feel better on a travel day if I’m freshly showered, so a shower was also definitely in order.

We chilled and watched Friends for a bit, and I’m not going to lie, I was absolutely BEAT. This vacation was the adventure of a lifetime, but I was tired, bloated, and really dreading the long travel day tomorrow. Jake was in the camp of “I’ll do whatever you want to do” tonight, and I was really considering just having us stay in the room and order room service.

But, NO! This was our LAST NIGHT IN HAWAII!

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So, we got dressed and dragged our butts out of the room for one final dinner on the Big Island! Luckily, we didn’t have to go very far . We decided to go back to the pool bar, Hale Kai, for dinner (we ate here on our first night on the Big Island too)!

We started out with some drinks. We were both totally alcohol-ed out, so Jake got a water and I got a Shirley Temple!



I really was not that hungry at all, but a fresh salad sounded good. I got a chicken Caesar salad, and Jake decided on some fish tacos.



I’m sad to report that this salad was absolutely ABYSMAL. The chicken was dry and unseasoned, and the little amount of dressing that was on the salad was watery and flavorless. NOTHING like my Caesar salad at 1Hotel in Kauai, haha! I was lucky that I wasn’t that hungry and it didn’t even matter too much. Jake really enjoyed his fish tacos; he had much better luck here with food than I did!

It was a really relaxed and quiet night on the resort grounds. Perfect for our last night! The lawyer conference ended up having a huge private party over on the other side of the resort, and I’m guessing that was where most of the resort guests were. Jake and I did sneak over and watch the party from a distance for a bit; it was poppin’! They had a live band playing and the drinks were definitely flowing!

I wasn’t feeling dessert, but Jake decided to order a slice of the rainbow coconut cake!



This dessert was beautiful! I snuck a bite, and it tasted just as good as it looked! I love the coconut cake at House Without a Key on Oahu- if we hadn’t had such a bad experience there this year, I definitely would have ordered it again.

Luckily, we had no problems with our bill this time, and we were headed back up to the room by 9:00 PM. Even though I didn’t enjoy my food, I was really glad that we got ourselves up and out of the room to enjoy our last night in paradise! It was great to sit with our feet in the sand and enjoy the last of the tropical weather.

We immediately brushed our teeth and jumped into bed at 9:20 PM, with our alarms set for 4:30 AM . Even though we got an adequate amount of sleep, it still wasn’t fun to wake up 7 hours later when it was still dark outside. We were a bit concerned about traffic near the Kona airport due to the Iron Man competition happening that day, but it was so early that it ended up completely being a non-issue. We returned our rental car and checked our bags in no time! One of my bags was overweight (surprise, surprise), so I had to do some rearranging at the check-in gate. The sweet Hawaiian lady working the gate was cheering me on, she was so precious! She was like “Almost there, Molly! Just a couple more pieces of clothing, you can do it!” She made my morning

Just as I anticipated, we were not able to sit together for the flight from Kona to Las Vegas It ended up not being a big deal though; I think we were both ok with having some alone time after 2 straight weeks of togetherness . We both had aisle seats across from each other and Jake was just a few rows behind me. I must have been tired; I normally don’t sleep well on planes, but I slept for 2.5 hours straight during that first flight! This flight was 5.5 hours, and it actually flew by.

We had our layover in Las Vegas, and I passed the time by doing some shopping. I had to laugh; back at the Kona airport that morning, I bought a pre-packaged PB&J sandwich and a bag of Doritos for $8. At the Las Vegas airport, I bought a magazine and a bag of beef jerky, and it was $19 . That’s just wrong!!!



I posted this to my social media, and got about 10 “yes” responses! But, I actually didn’t really feel like playing a slot so I passed

Jake and I were able to sit next to each other on our flight from Vegas to Chicago, and this one also flew by; I mostly just snacked and watched some more Dance Moms. We had this same situation on our last trip- the flights to Hawaii seemed to drag by, while the flights home went by so fast!



Sad to be leaving our amazing honeymoon!

We landed a little early, and were at baggage claim by 11:00 PM. We landed at the exact same gate that we left from on the way to Hawaii! We got our bags quickly (no lost luggage on this trip, yay), and my sister Haley swung by to pick us up and drive us back to their house, where Jake’s car was located.

Jake and I had been worried that we would be too tired to drive back home tonight, and that we’d have to stay at Haley and Ryan’s for the night. After two weeks of traveling, all I wanted was my bed!! It was midnight by now, but only 7:00 PM Hawaii time, so both of us were actually pretty awake. So, we decided to rip off the band-aid and drive back to Milwaukee that night.

We passed the time on the drive home by listening to some Hawaiian music. For the entire two weeks we were in Hawaii, I collected songs that we had heard on the radio/by the pool/in restaurants/etc and made it into one big Spotify playlist to look back on and remember our honeymoon! I’m so glad I did this; it’s such a great keepsake and brings me back to that Hawaii bliss whenever I listen to it.

As we entered the Milwaukee area, we realized that we were starving. So, before we headed back to the apartment, we picked up a (super late) dinner of…



Taco Bell! Another full-circle moment (we had Taco Bell the night before we left for Hawaii as well). Jake loves T-Bell, but I eat it MAYBE once a year at most, so I thought it was funny that I now had it twice in two weeks . Also, don’t mind my dead bridal bouquet in the background . I couldn’t bear to part with it- it’s actually still sitting in a vase in our apartment to this day!

We walked through the door at 1:45 AM, quickly ate our food, and took our time getting to bed since we were surprisingly still not too tired. It was nice; since we flew back on a Saturday, we had the whole next day to sleep in and recuperate before going back to work on Monday.

And with that, my friends, is the end of the honeymoon!!!

We truly could not have asked for a better two weeks. It was the absolute perfect amount of time; it felt so nice, long, and relaxing. We had incredible weather and absolutely no snafus or delays regarding travel, which was so lucky. We left with no regrets; we both agreed that we did absolutely everything we could and savored every second of this honeymoon.

Since we’ve been back, SO many people have asked us what our favorite island was. We both agree that, without a doubt, 1Hotel and Hanalei in Kauai was our favorite place to stay for the entire trip. I hate to say it, but I think my least favorite island this trip was the Big Island. It was strange, because I liked all of the excursions on the Big Island (well, except the green sand beach) and we had so many great memories there!! My biggest qualm was that it felt like everywhere BUT Hawaii. There were parts of it that felt like Montana, Mexico, England, Australia, Texas, South America, THE MOON, MARS… but I didn’t really get “Hawaii” or “Aloha” I don’t really think I ever need to come back to this island, at least not for a while. I think Oahu still might take the cake for my favorite overall island. It has so much variety, fun things to do, and definitely the most swimmable and beautiful beaches that we saw the whole trip.

So, what’s next? If you’ve read my signature, you’ll see that I am traveling back to WDW in May!!! We will be in the World from May 9-19; it will be a huge family trip and my niece and nephew’s first trip (free before you’re 3)! We are planning for slow-moving park time with lots of pool breaks, and tons of character meets/meals!! I am SO excited and over the moon to see Disney World through their eyes! I actually just started a PTR for this today if you'd like to check it out

Our biggest WDW vacation yet (but with the littlest guests)- A May PTR!

We don’t have another Hawaii trip on the immediate horizon, but when we do travel back to Hawaii, we are thinking of doing 4 nights in Kaanapali on Maui and 4 nights in Hanalei on Kauai (at 1Hotel if we can swing it). We are hoping to at least do another trip in the fall just the two of us for our first anniversary, since Jake’s PTO resets in July (that’s the month he was hired in a couple years ago). We are tossing around Florida, California, Colorado, Arizona… somewhere in the continental U.S!

Thank you so much for reading along!! I’m so happy that I will now have this blog as a memory book of our once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon. I couldn’t be more lucky to have such a wonderful husband, who is now my forever family







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I enjoyed reading your trip report and picked up a few tips! I'll be going to the Big Island and Oahu next month (for a total of 17 days). Can't wait!

 

[alohamom]

I just loved reading your honeymoon report Molly.

Once again, congratulations and cheers to many happy, healthy years together!

 

[EllieBride]

Thanks for the amazing trip report. I really enjoyed following along. It sounds like it was the perfect honeymoon. All of your pictures were so cute.