This is the last Travel Diary from our visit to Oahu, Hawaii. On this day, we visited Aulani – Disney Resort and Spa. Seeing the pictures I took at Aulani made me want to visit the Resort again!! It is destination in itself, and a wonderful hotel for families and Disney fans to stay Continue reading
It’s hard to believe how much time has passed since our trip to Oahu, Hawaii. I am including the photos in separate posts because I had so many beautiful shots that I wanted to share with you. Here are a few more pics from our visit to the island, hope you like them. I fell in love with Oahu and look forward Continue reading
Here are a few more pics from our trip to Oahu, Hawaii. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa, it is located right across from Waikiki Beach in the city center, which was wonderful because these was lots of options for things to do within walking distance, including multiple restaurants. The hotel offered various activities for guests and on our second night, we saw a luau. After the performance, we walked to Tikis Restaurant and enjoyed dinner on the balcony overseeing the ocean.
During our trip we did some sightseeing, but I was also able to get some R&R time! On one of the days, I spent the morning exploring the hotel and enjoyed some time in the jacuzzi, as well as reading by the pool. As a gift, I surprised my hubby with a massage at the Na Ho’ola Spa at the hotel.
Within the Hyatt are the Pualeilani Atrium Shops, a three-level shopping center, which had some nice stores. It made shopping for keepsakes and gifts we brought back for family convenient. My hubby also bought a nice Aloha shirt (Hawaiian shirt) at Rix Island Wear in Pualeilani. The hotel has an amazing open-air atrium. One of the guest activities is a guided tours of the atrium. They also have a number of beautiful parrots, which repeat the words guests say to them, it was cute! They reminded me of the parrot my grandmother had when we were growing up.
Hope you enjoy these pictures. In the next Travel Diary posts, I’ll include my visit to Ala Moana Center (the world’s largest open-air shopping center), the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort (hotel where my sister’s family stays when they go to Hawaii), walk along the Waikiki beach, and our visit to the Aulani – Disney Resort & Spa!
In case you missed it, here is the link to the post from our first full day in Oahu, Travel Diary: Hawaii Part 1 – Flight Over Oahu.
Have you been to Hawaii? If yes, which island? Do you have any hotel or sightseeing recommendations?
Hugs,
Paola
PS – Our trips to Orlando & Germany.
The waterfall in the center of the Hyatt.
One of the beach views from the hotel. The location was wonderful, very central, and within walking distance of multiple shops and restaurants.
Waikiki Beach is located right across from the hotel. Look at the palm trees & clear water – breathtaking!
The Luau performance, presented by the Hyatt.
We enjoyed dinner at Tikis Grill & Bar.
I had a tuna tartar as a starter, hubby had a salad.
Hubby had steak as his entree, I had a salad.
The weather was a nice warm temperature, but more humid than San Diego. I spent most of the vacation with my hair styled back or up, and minimal (if any) make-up. The lei I am wearing, was one of the gifts we received when we checked-in at the hotel. It is made of kukui nut beads, which is the seed of the candlewood tree.
On most of the days, we had breakfast at the hotel. The buffet had a good variety of options.
Hawaiian papaya & pineapple! The sweetest ever! Delicious!
I also tried this fruit.
Hawaii has many visitors from Japan. There was signage in Japanese throughout the hotel. On the islands, there are lots of shops catering to Japanese travelers.
These ABC stores are everywhere in Waikiki! There were three in the hotel!
Do you ever take pictures on vacations and then don’t get around to printing the pictures…..or in my case posting them? That is what happened to me with two recent trips we took: Hawaii & Boston. I think I also missed posting the pictures from our visit to Nancy, in France. With digital cameras, I tend to take hundreds of pictures. As a result, it takes me quite a bit of time to look through the pictures and select which ones to share with you, and then actually do the posting. I did mean to write a blog post with the pictures, but then life got in the way 🙂 You know how that goes.
Recently, a friend asked me why I didn’t post the pictures from Hawaii. When I told her, she replied, “you should still post them now.” It is not like the island or beach have changed, ha! So true! The pictures are recent! So, I’ll post the pictures from our trip to Hawaii.
Before this trip, I had never been to Hawaii. When I was single, I’d travel often with friends. When we would plan a vacation and Hawaii would come up as one of the options, we would end up choosing other locations like Europe, Miami, Cabo, or Northern California. I am not a lay on the beach all day, for multiple days, type of a person. Also, for some reason, to me Hawaii seemed like a romantic destination, which it is, but it is also a wonderful destination for a family vacation, surfing trip, or get-away with friends! And, there is a lot to see, historic locations, gorgeous landscapes, cultural venues, tourist locations, excellent shopping and top cuisine restaurants! And, of course some of the most beautiful beaches in the world…with warm water. Would I go back? Most definitely yes!
We visited the island of Oahu. The weather was warm and humid, but bearable, it reminded me of Miami weather. The first day, we checked in, had dinner, and explored the area around the hotel. We were staying right in front of the beach, but also on one of the main streets, with lots of other hotels, shops, and restaurants, so there was a lot to see – and lots of people! It was fun to walk around and see the shops.
As a hobby, my hubby is a pilot. One of our favorite things to do when we visit new cities is make (take) an aerial flight. This was a unique flight because it was around the entire island and in about an hour we flew around Oahu. It was amazing! We saw the landscape, beaches, farms, many homes, Pearl Harbor, tourist destinations, and Disney’s Aulani. I work with the Disneyland Resort folks and interview them a couple times per year. When Aulani was about to open, I did an interview and when we went to Oahu, I was very curious to see and visit Aulani. My hubby has a friend who lives on the island and he joined us for the flight. Between him and the co-pilot, they gave us aerial tour of the island.
Here are the pics – an aerial perspective of Oahu. Hope you like them!
Have you been to Hawaii? Did you like it?
Hugs,
Paola
PS – Travel Diary: Hawaii Part 2; Travel Diary: Hawaii Part 3 (Ala Mona Center & Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort), and Visiting Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa.
A quick pic before the flight – next to the plane.
An interesting little fact about Oahu is that private flights also use the same landing strip as major airline flights (we flew out on a small, private plane, on the same landing strip we arrived to the island on – while on a commercial airline flight). Usually, in larger cities, private planes are kept at smaller airports and use those landing strips, not the same landing strips as major airlines. So, in Oahu, we had to wait in line to depart after a huge plane, it was interesting.
You don’t see this type of landing strip everyday, water on both ends (sorry for the dark spots, this is the best shot I could get, the plane’s wing is visible in the right corners of the pic).
So green & tropical!
These homes were nestled among the landscape.
Farms.
This is one of my favorite aerial shots: I like how it represents the three perspectives of ocean, land, and open space – plus the way the sun is beaming through the clouds, and the visible waves in the right side.
Sky, land, & sea.
Nature at its best! Took my breathe away!
I was able to zoom into a catamaran that was sailing in the ocean, look at the clear water!
The Disneyland Resort – Aulani! An aerial perspective. We visited it while we were there, I’ll post those pics in one of the next Parts of the Hawaii Travel Diary. It has the Disney magic, captured in a resort, on its own private beach!
Pearl Harbor.
We landed .
November was a very busy month! I am usually quite busy, but during November we launched a new holiday initiative called Month of a Million Meals at the television stations where I work. I am managing the initiative, it is a large undertaking, starting the campaign from scratch and working with Feeding America San Diego to raise one million meals for local families in need. It has been a true pleasure to work with the Feeding America San Diego staff and to be part of such a good cause! This campaign was huge because it involved multiple facets, promotion on various platforms, a Holiday Celebration Event at Westfield Plaza Bonita and working with multiple departments within the stations, in addition to the external partners and cross-promotion with other media. We started from scratch, from developing the plan, the promotion, the logo, landing pages, promo spots and scripts, to working with the station anchors and reporters (as well as a national TV host & the Azteca America Network reps), and of course, translating everything to Spanish for the Azteca station….and much more! I am glad to say the campaign has been successful! We rolled out the campaign a few days early and even though it has been many, many hours of working late, it has been worth it because we will help so many families! We still have a few more weeks to go, the phone bank this coming week and some more production and web postings, but we are doing well! In addition to the campaign, I had my regular projects and television hosting responsibilities to complete, and planning for 2014, so there was lots going on during November! Anyway, this is the reason, I have not been as active on my blog as usual, but I seem to be getting back to my normal work schedule, so I plan to post on a regular basis again! Thank you for your patience & support!
Instead of doing a “Week in Photos” post, this is “the last weeks of November.” Have you worked on any large projects that have consumed your time and required you to work longer hours?
Hugs,
Paola
The picture posted above is from the first Month of a Million Meals interview I hosted on Azteca San Diego (I also produce these interviews – for both ABC10 & Azteca San Diego). In total, we produced eight interviews for the campaign over a six week period….compared to the two interviews we usually do for station sponsored events – you can see why this is such a large campaign!
Due to my schedule, I haven’t been able to attend too many events these past few weeks, but did make it to Mana de San Diego’s Brindis Gala. The theme was Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and it was a fun event!
Special thanks to my hubby….he’s been very understanding of my hectic schedule, he’s been so supportive, he’s even been getting take-out for us to have for dinner on nights that I’ve had to work late! On this night, he got it at Boston Market…I had the mashed potatoes & corn for dinner, and the chicken for lunch the next day (this is a large piece of chicken).
And he even gets dessert! This was his, but I had two spoonfuls of it, delicious! He knows I try to eat healthy, so I usually only have a bite of his dessert.
In between the other shoots for commercials and community interviews, I also had the pleasure of hosting an interview with Rafael Sigler from Freeway Insurance. He’s a pro & it’s always a pleasure to work with him!
The time changed and it was usually dark by the time I left the office…I did catch this sunset one evening.
Another night, my hubby took me to dinner to Five Guys Burgers & Fries, I didn’t eat a burger, but did enjoy their fries, just the right crunchiness, super tasty! I will definitely be back!
I put out a few Thanksgiving decorations and enjoyed relaxing with a cappuccino at home on one of the weekends!
I had the opportunity to appear with 10News’ Bill Griffith in promotional spots for ABC10 & Azteca San Diego 15 for Month of a Million Meals’ Donation Day at Westfield Plaza Bonita’s Holiday Celebration.
My hubby & I had a trip to Hawaii planned, so in between it all, I took a few days to get away with him. I was replying to e-mail and taking calls – while sitting by the pool or on the beach, so I was able to enjoy the trip!