After a week on the Big Island, we grabbed a flight over to Waikiki Beach on Oahu for four nights. We left our cushy condo for a private room in a funky beachside hostel and it was an adventure!! The flight over was short and beautiful. We could see different islands and the icy blue water below. It took forever to get our rental car though. Apparently there was a shortage and I knew I had reserved the smallest car possible. They tried to give us a big SUV but I was willing to wait because I knew parking was a problem on Waikiki Beach and I did NOT want to be parallel parking a Suburban! We ended up with a midsize car, which ended up being fine! I navigated us through Honolulu to Walmart for a quick grab of supplies and then we found free street parking near the Honolulu Zoo. This would become our daily routine — circling around the huge park looking for a spot and then walking a ways to the hostel. It was worth it for overnight parking though!
We dragged our bags along the sidewalk and checked into our private room at the hostel. It was adorable!! Hostel vibes are just so fun — people milling about, free beach gear, free coffee bar 24/7, cool sitting area, weights, basketball, etc. Our room was basically a bedroom with a door we could lock, an open-air patio, and then shared living room, kitchen and bathroom with the tourists in the bunkbed in the living room. I had hoped that maaaaaybe nobody would be in the bunks but nope, they were full every night. It was basically the most affordable option in Waikiki so in hindsight I’m not surprised!! When we arrived they told us everyone was meeting around 6pm to walk to the Hilton Waikiki for the weekly Friday night fireworks. We couldn’t make that time, but we confirmed where they were going and agreed to meet there. We figured they must have a good spot for fireworks viewing if they’re making an ‘event’ out of walking there!
The plan was to find somewhere small and cute to grab food along the way…. but that quickly turned into McDonalds because we were starving and Waikiki was very much like South Beach, meaning everything was pretty high-end chains or boutiques. It was super cool to walk the boulevard and people-watch but not so great for affordability. We grabbed some McDs meals and headed to the Hilton (which ended up being a pretty far walk!!)
There were lots of people gathering on the beach behind the Hilton, so we knew we were in the right place. There was a DJ playing music, a couple of fire dancers, and lots of people and families sitting in the sand or hanging out. We watched the end of a fire performer’s tricks and then sat down on the sand for the fireworks. And wow!! We’ve literally never been so close to fireworks shooting off. They were RIGHT THERE. It was really a fun, long show!
Afterwards we walked back to the hostel, enjoying all of the people-watching and boutique peeping along the way. We basically crashed after the long travel day, knowing we had our 8am whale watching tour booked for the next morning!
