Here is the second part to my trip report on Kauai. We got into Kauai on sunday and wanted shabbos with a minyan so we went to HNL for shabbos. My thoughts and doings for the weekend:
Shabbos in Honolulu:
I again found flights $12 cheaper on Hawaiian Air so i got another $100 credit from Orbitz so it sort of defrayed the $50 cost of 3 bags I paid (less bec i signed up for their mileage program). We got a CTS from Hertz HNL upgraded from a Maxima.
The second I pulled into traffic in Honolulu, I could feel all the relaxation from Kauai melt away and the tension in my neck and shoulder muscles tense up. Welcome to the big city. Originally we made reservations by the Ala Manoa hotel where the Chabad is. The rabbi told me they don't do shabbos accommodations anymore so the Modern and Prince hotels are the shabbos friendly one’s.
We had a voucher to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. This place was a zoo. It’s like 5 hotels in one with one check/lobby area. Soooo many Japanese. Seriously, I would say about 70% of the whole Waikiki Beach was Asian (not that there’s anything wrong with that #seinfeldreference). I called ahead and the manager said they are familiar with shabbos and would accommodate. They put us in the 5th floor of the Diamond Tower which helped, and the stairwell had no sensors and constantly lit. The hotel was 15-20 min walk away from Chabad. Chabad was $70pp for the whole shabbos, I guess it’s a small price to have all minyanim and hot kosher food in the middle of no where. Motzi Shabbos, we just chilled at one of the hotel bars with nice live music.
Sunday: we were on the north shore getting a surf lesson from Buttons Surf School by 10am. We got lessons from a groupon. It was ok and our instructor, AL, was eh. The waves were better in a reefy area so we got a little scraped up so maybe bring water shoes just in case. My back and neck were killing by the end from staying in the position and paddling so much. My wife got up on the board a few times and I kinda did once. Happy I did it, but maybe it was just the waves or our particular instructor. Tip: drink a lot before hand and use ALOT of sunscreen.
From there we went to tripadvisors #1 beach in America and #8 in the world, Lanikai Beach. Parking here too was horrific but my NY ninja parking skills once again came in handy and we got a good spot. The water was a special type of green/blue that I've never seen before and the mountains in the background really make it something unforgettable.
From there we went to Pearl Harbor. We weren't gonna be from the first ones there to go on a tour, so we just walked around the plaza, read a few signs, saw a few missiles and left. It just felt too unAmerican to go and not see Pearl Harbor.
Then we went back to the hotel to chill by the pool. We made good use of their hospitality room (reservation required), got yummy chicken sandwiches from Oahu Kosher and off to the airport for our 9:15pm flight.
They were asking for volunteers to be bumped ($400+free night at hotel and economy comfort on next flight) and I imagine the 915 to LAX is always the busiest. Had we not been away from our kids for a week, we probably would have taken the bump offer. Our flight back was uneventful other than getting Kosher for Passover meals on our business class flights from LAX-JFK. Nothing a $50 Delta voucher cannot solve…..