Hawaii - Day 1 & 2 Arriving in Honolulu and Hiking Up Diamondhead
For many of you that might not know, our honeymoon was originally scheduled for the week after the wedding. Because of some issues that arose after Kris' dad passed away we had to delay it until the end of April/beginning of May. Since its not even our 1st wedding anniversary yet, I don't feel so bad not finishing the honeymoon since I still have 5 months until we reach a year on it
The first day of our honeymoon was basically spent traveling. We had two layovers on our way to Honolulu . Our first stop was in Minneapolis where we had a little bit of time to walk around and enjoy the shops; I love this airport it is really nice! We also bought a couple of pops for the flight since our airline only served Pepsi.
Our layover in LA was a lot longer, so I had made reservation at the restaurant that is outside in the center of all the terminals, The Encounter. There was some construction going on with its arches, but it was still pretty cool. We just had burgers, but the food was pretty good. Plus, how else would we have killed 5 hours at that place. LAX is the worst airport I’ve ever been to in my life. The terminals are so small and aren’t connected to each other. I’ve had several bad experiences there over the years and try to avoid a stop in LA whenever possible!
With such limited options inside the terminal at LAX and a 5 hour layover I thought what the heck! It actually wasn't too bad. We just had burgers, but they were tasty and the atmosphere is cool too. Here are a few pictures:
Finally after nearly 20 hours of traveling we landed in Honolulu around 5:30 pm local time. The open air airport terminal reminded me of Jamaica.
Since daylight savings time had just kicked in back in Michigan we were dealing with a 6 hour time difference which was killer! We were met by a guide from our travel company who was a college kid who lead us outside to where our van would be picking us up to take to our hotel in Waikiki. He was really friendly and tried to keep us from falling asleep while waiting for the van.
The drive to Waikiki was pretty uneventful and we checked into the Outrigger: Waikiki on the Beach without any problems. Hotel lobby:
We trudged up to our room which was really nice and decided to crash for a nap.
After a few hours I got up and was starving; Kris wasn’t too happy about getting up but I convinced him to walk around a little and to get some food before turning in for the night. It was around 8:30 pm their time so it was pretty seeing the streets all lit up. I was surprised how commercial the Waikiki area is nowadays. I remember seeing pictures from my parents honeymoon 30 years prior and it was nothing like that back then. We walked to a few shops and finally headed back to the hotel. I decided to get takeout at the restaurant. I just got a quesadilla and then we headed back to the room. We fell asleep by like 10:00 pm.
With the time change we were wide awake by 7:00 am, so we decided to go ahead and get an early start. View from our room:
We were out the door by 8 and headed to breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant on the beach.
Afterwards we headed out to explore the area.
Inside a hotel’s lobby:
Only a few stores were open, but we managed to find a few things to buy including a new swimsuit for Kris. After a while we headed back to the hotel walking along the beach. In the distance we spotted Diamondhead and decided that it was the perfect chance to climb it that day since we didn’t have any definite plans.
We went inside to the concierge desk to find out about the bus schedule to get there since it was several miles away and then headed up to the room to pack appropriately. We grabbed more sun block and bottled water then headed out. The bus ride took us through some neighborhoods and past the Honolulu Zoo before dropping us off at the bottom of a hill. We didn’t realize that we had to hike like ½ mile up the hill just to enter the park!
We finally arrived at the entrance:
Let’s just say the hike up was pretty brutal. When you see people who are coming down looking like they’re reading to pass out; you realize that you don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into
There was a snack truck near the base of the climb, so we bought a couple of bottled waters for the hike up.
It took us over 2 hours to get to the top if I remember correctly. The path zigzags up the side of the crater. Sometimes you literally have to pull yourself up some of the paths since the stairs created in the dirt are pretty steep. I really don’t have a lot of pictures from this climb. It was the middle of the afternoon and extremely hot. I ended up taking a pain pill halfway up because of my hips and back and Kris had stripped off his shirt because he was so tired.
As you get towards the end of the climb, there are staircases of cement. This area was used as a lookout during WWII.
After you finish climbing 3 or 4 sets of these stairs you go through a series of tunnels and then end up in a small room. You actually have to crawl through this opening to go up to the top. Some people couldn’t get through because you really had to stoop down, almost on your hands and knees, so they just peeked through the crack at the view.
It was a beautiful journey though and I thank you for sharing it. I can't wait to see the at home reception pics! From the way you described it...it so sounds like something I would have done myself! I also can't wait for the Hawaii portion of your report...it is so beautiful there.
As soon as I find out if and when they will strike I can make final arrangements, but that is around the time we were thinking of going. Did you get the $200 gift card and the 3 days free deal?
There were several of us Disney brides there at that time then- we ran into 3 other brides during our trip! 
We were there Feb. 29-March 9. Were you already engaged at that point?
I can't wait to see and hear about Hawaii and your at home reception!!
I was amazed how many performers there were there. It was interesting and disturbing at the same time if that makes sense. There are also a lot of homeless and people handing out flyers for gun places. They have all of these shooting gallery type places set up. Apparently a lot of the foreign tourists love to go to them. I’m sure some of the Americans go too. It reminds me of when you’re given the brochures for ladies revues when you’re walking in Las Vegas.
There's no way I could have done it. My inlaws have been to Hawaii 3 times and go to Diamondhead everytime, but I don't think they've ever made it to the summit. I'll have to tell them I know someone who could do it!!!! 
). I feel like we accomplished a lot now 
sent your way for a quick resolution, so you can make it to WDW again soon!
