ALOHA! We made the journey from Minneapolis on January 10th...another great, safe flight on Delta...we spent our layover at LAX inside the Delta SkyClub which was pretty empty so we felt safe and we got upgraded to first class on our LAX to HNL flight - what a great welcome to paradise. Unfortunately, Delta is no longer serving mai tai's upon take off in first class nor are they passing around the macadamia nut/chocolate treats upon landing....ugh, COVID, hopefully those two treats return in the future.
We spent our first 5 nights on-island at the The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club in Waikiki. We love this spot. We've never stayed here prior to this visit, however, we have frequented the onsite restaurant, Mahina & Suns as well as the adorable boutique/coffee shop, Olive and Oliver on multiple occasions over the last several years on our visits back to the island. Two of our favorite local spots and I highly recommend not only staying at the Surfjack but dining in at Mahina & Suns where they have live music nightly (very socially distanced). Grab yourself a seat at the bar and enjoy my favorite cocktail, Here Comes the Sun with tequila, lilikoi (YUM!), cinnamon, lime and cayenne. I've never met a spicy cocktail I didn't like. The Surfjack has the best (or at least the best I found at the time for a great boutique hotel in Waikiki) Kaima'aina rates! No amenity fees, free parking and pet friendly. More photos of the Surfjack on @thealohastyle instagram.
We are so thankful that we had professional movers on both ends of this trip. Both crews (in MN as well as here on-island) were great. We had an entire cargo container full of our household belongings (in addition to our vehicle being shipped) and after unpacking, purging and finding a new home for everything we ended up with only 7 broken dishes!!! I can hardly believe it, I expected far more broken items than 7 small dishes. All in all a fantastic move and I'm glad that the unpacking is over and done with and we can relax and enjoy the view of Sandy Beach from our lanai. You will never find me in the water at Sandy but I do enjoy watching the boogie boarders.
Jeff and I have spent the last week at home with the exception of a few Target, Safeway, Costco, Goodwill and coffee shop runs.....so more adventures to come starting this week! Thank goodness Island Brew Coffeehouse is less than a mile away.....we had some early 5 am wake up calls to start our day over the last week and the oat milk latte kept me moving right along getting everything unpacked. I can't wait to go for brunch one of these days.....
I think we picked the perfect house for us as our first "home" on-island. We met our neighbors this past weekend and they invited us over to sit outside and enjoy some wine with them.....I love this lifestyle, especially during COVID....we can be outside, socially distanced and still enjoy getting to know our neighbors....I think we're going to settle in just fine in our new neighborhood. We have gone on a handful of run/walks in the neighborhood (sooooo many hills!!!) and it feels like home.
Mahalo for following our journey!
*photo is the view from our lanai to Sandy Beach.
