Kraig and I left for our Hawaiian honeymoon two days after our wedding. We ended up using a travel agent named Mindy to help us with our trip and I’m very happy that we did. Mindy helped us plan out our trip during all the wedding planning chaos to make it as stress free and easy as possible. We flew into The Big Island and spent about a week there, then spent 5 days in Kauai, a week in Maui, and 24 hours in Seattle.

After landing on The Big Island, we noticed all these jacked in shape people waiting for their luggage at the airport. It’s because Ironman was going on while we were on the island. Athletes were on the island from all over training for their big event. It was pretty cool to see them biking on the streets during the day.

When we went to pick up our car rental, we were upgraded to a Camero Convertible. We drove over to our hotel at The Marriot for check in and were greeted with free chocolates because it was our honeymoon. It was late at night when we got there, so we quickly grabbed a light dinner at the hotel bar of pork nachos and then went to bed.

The next day we headed over to my favorite beach that we went to on The Big Island named Hapuna Beach.  There is a place named Three Frogs Cafe there where you can grab lunch or shaved ice. We split the fish tacos and they were fresh and tasty.

After the beach, we went to Waipio Lookout.  I couldn’t believe how beautiful it is there. I didn’t realize The Big Island had such amazing beaches and sights because usually when I hear things about Hawaii it’s regarding Maui, Kauai, or Oahu.

We went to Sansei for dinner that night to get sushi. It was busy, but pretty good with unique flavor combinations.

I got a ton of wear out of my Mara Hoffman Maxi Dress on the trip (Similar Here).  It’s a perfect tropical dress to wear to dinner or a luau.

The next day we went to Makalawena Beach. We had to go through a short hike to get to it. I would recommend wearing water shoes like these instead of flip flops if you want to go here.

The beach had a couple of hand made looking huts on it that was definitely my savior. Otherwise there would have been no shade. I need shade or else I turn lobster red in minutes. I also saw a few nude people on the beach which surprised me. Other than that, it was serene with no crowds. We had Dinner at Merriman’s in Waimea. The food was good and our nice waiter liked to use phrases like Groovy and Far Out which added an element of interest to the experience. The third day was spent at Mauna Kea beach where there was plenty of shade. This beach was nice, but we liked Makalawena Beach and Hapuna Beach more.

The view at The Marriot. Sunset from our hotel.Dinner that night was at Sushi Rock which was our favorite place to eat on the big island. The sushi was so delicious, the cocktails were yummy, and the service was wonderful too.

The next day we had lunch at the beautiful Four Seasons property.

After lunch was our stargazing excursion at Mauna Kea with Hawaii Forrest & Trail.

   

We completed our tour late at night then finished our drive to The Volcano House for check in. We had a view of Pele from our hotel room.  All of these pictures are taken from within The National Park or Hotel Property.

We stayed at The Volcano House for two nights.  I would only recommend staying at this hotel for one night, but it was great staying in the park to be able to explore. The hotel is very peaceful and a great place to read a good book outside your room while watching Pele’s smoke rise.  I have a very bad sense of direction and had a semi-embarrassing moment where I went outside my room in the early morning to take some pictures. When I tried going back into the screen door of our hotel room, it was locked. I knocked on it a few times and said “Kraig” and then received a response of “No” in a man’s voice I didn’t recognize. So creepy and embarrassing.  I’m really glad they had their door locked. I quickly ran to the next room to open the screen door to my correct hotel room. Oops!

Next up, our favorite island Kauai!