bigideasjust4u: Again my first time- ALOHA, Hawai'i

After knowing Tony, I have so many "first times"..back in Singapore I have been wanting and dreaming of going to places like Fiji and Hawaii. Fiji is well-known for being an expensive beach resort, airfare alone costs more than S$2,000 and not to mention about accommodation....Fiji is famous for her beautiful beaches....Because of Tony, I got to go to Fiji in May for a week after arriving in Auckland in April...it was indeed a dream came true.<**>

In August, he was going for half a day business trip in Sydney and knowing that I have never been to Sydney he took me along and even acceded to my request of extending the stay to 3 days 2 nights so that I can explore Sydney. It was my 1st time too.

After Sydney in late August, he decided to take me to Hawai'i too.

On 9th Sept 2010, we left Auckland for 6 days and 5 nights trip. After a 8hours and 45minutes flight. We finally arrived at O'ahu. O'ahu is the name of the island, most people are more familiar with Honolulu. Honolulu is Hawai'i's largest city.Honolulu is also the capital of Hawai'i.

The hotel that we stayed in was Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort and Spa at 2424 Kalakaua Ave. It was a hotel in the heart of Waikiki. Waikiki Beach is just across the street. Everything was within walking distance.

There are 2 ABC stores (Convenience Stores) within the hotel and 1 across the street. Lots of shopping, restaurants and fast food places within walking distance along the entire Kalakaua Ave. I would not recommend this hotel and would definitely recommend you to get a hotel that is located in KAKAKAUA AVE.

Our room was spacious with a nice dressing area, however the bathroom was small as compared to some of the hotels which I have stayed. The room and furnishing looked old. The bed and pillows were comfortable.

Dressing area and the bathroom

Rooms get a lot of noise from neighbours opening /closing their room doors as well as noise from room above.

The Room

We were on the 15th floor and stayed a deluxe ocean view king. The view was partially blocked so it was definitely not worth it as we paid for this ocean view room. Instead of full ocean view, we had half ocean view and half city view. If you are luckily, you might get upgraded without having to pay for it.

On the left was the view of the Waikiki Beach and the one on the bottom was the view of the city.

This was the street of Kalakaua Ave where you can find lot of shopping (most of the brands-Hermes, L.V, Prada, Gucci, Polo Ralph Lauren, Salvatore Ferragamo, Kate Spade, Apple Store, Coach, Armani, etc...along this street. Kalakaua Ave is the main street through Waikiki which runs parallel to the beach. This is always lively street. There were a number of hotels located on this street have their own shopping mall within the hotel. one of the them was Royal Hawaiian and the hotel which I stayed.

Hilton Hawaiian Village was another lovely hotel which has a lovely open concept shopping in the hotel, it is further down the street which was about 30minutes walk from our hotel.

These photos were all taken in the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

They can find this ABC Stores literally everywhere you go, these were convenience stores.

If you like to shop just like me, this is the shopping complex in Hawaii you must go. It is called Ala Moana Center.It is the world's largest open-air shopping center.It has 5 departments stores in the center. They are Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstorm (You can get alot of good bargains on branded stuffs in Nordstorm), Sears and Shirokiya. There are also numerous of famous brands in this center . Find out more on this mega center, click here.

It cost about US$10 each way by taxi from our hotel or you can hop on to Pink Line trolleys throughout Waikiki. Cost is US$2.00 each way.

Inside the center, I would like to recommend one restaurant to you if you are a shrimp lover. This restaurant is called Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. The restaurant specialty is shrimp. The restaurant has a causal and yet comfortable ambient with friendly service staff.

The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is a chain of seafood restaurants inspired by the 1994 film Forrest Gump. The Bubba Gump restaurant is named after the movie's main characters Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue and Forrest Gump. Bubba suggested the shrimping business and ultimately Forrest pursued the idea after Bubba's death when they served in the Vietnam War. Check it out here.

Below were the dishes we had...

Lt Dan's Drunken Shrimp

Burbon Street Mahi Mahi

If you are looking for a bargain, the Waikele Factory Outlet Mall is a place you cannot miss. This outlet is 40 minutes away from Waikiki offering brands like Coach, Polo Ralph, Armani,True Religion, Nine West, Levis etc...at great prices with great saving. The cost by taxi is about US$80 each way. However, the hotel which I stayed provides shuttle to Waikele Factory Outlet at US$5 each way per person. Check out here for their schedule/stops. I went there twice during my stay as the bargains were to attempting and I have to make sure that I got everything I wanted so that I leave Hawai'i with no regret. Check it out here. The tax rate 4% in Hawai'i was one of the lowest among all the states.

Lastly, if you are a Cheesecake lover you must definitely visit this restaurant/bakery/bar-The Cheesecake Factory. Check it out here.

Freshly Baked Bread to start off the meal

The daily dinner queue was super long. So if you want to eat at this restaurant, go early else be prepared to wait. There are alot of varieties in their menu to choose from, you are just spoilt for choices.The factory is famous for their cheesecakes as well as their generous serving of their meals. Most importantly, the price was very reasonable. We were surprised by it, it was cheaper than the breakfast we had. As a result, we went there twice for our meals. 1st time was for dinner and 2nd time was for lunch.

Because of their generous serving after the dinner meal which included freshly baked bread, we were so bloated after the dinner but yet we wanted to try their cheesecake so we had the cheesecake packed and had it as dessert in our hotel room.