A Canadian on Oahu - trip report Feb 4-20 2022!

[Inga]

Part 9 - Tues and Wed @ Aulani

Beachy/pooly days right now. Really sinking into vacay at days 10 and 11

Bullets:
- had ressies for Monkey Pod on Tuesday - was great. I know it can be on and off sometimes, but tonight it was on. Had ressies for 3:30pm and they sat us on the 1st floor patio. Got to see the rooster go by a number of times. Loved it all. Mai Tais were great. Great service, nice music, good food.

-walked down to the ‘Secret Beach’ - there were lots of folks there so not sure how secret it is anymore. It is quite nice and pretty, and saw lots of turtles but painful to watch folks get too close to the turtles. So didn’t stay long. Enjoyed walking along past the 4 Seasons, very pretty, worth the walk along the shoreline.
- AI staging coming down but still much of it there. Will be happy to see it gone
- Happy hour at Mia’s Fish House on Wednesday- loved it!!! Beautiful view if you ignore the take down of the AI stage to the left. Happy hour menu limited but very good. Service excellent! Would go back if there was more on the menu that we loved as the atmosphere/view incredible.
One view from Mina’s

Another view from Mina’s -leftover AI stage under deconstruction - less compelling

-Lazy river floating was great today (Wednesday), not busy at all.
-hung at the ‘pool previously known as the adult pool’ - was quiet but loads of families come in at lunchtime to eat? Not sure why as there were lots of table seating areas to dine, but anyhow…had moments of peace there In the morning
- most folks wear masks inside, saw a few lining up for elevators without. Folks are pretty good either declining or inviting you to come into their elevator. We haven‘t waited long for elevators here. Find folks are respecting everyone’s needs at the elevators for the most part. Some folks are just oblivious…

 

[Inga]

Part 10 Aulani Thursday and Friday brekkie

We got off to a later start as we needed to connect in to get our Covid RT-Lamp tests completed for our departure on Saturday night. I’ll be honest, the instructions made it way more complicated than it needed to be. Basically all you need to do is log into the Switch Health portal, take a picture of the testing device with the QR code affixed to it, then a person appears on your screen to watch you take the test. The RT Lamp test must be done on a phone, not an iPad weirdly enough). You do the nose swirling, then put it in the solution, swirl a few times, then snap it into the testing device (which comes with batteries) and wait 30 minutes, then upload the test picture once it is completed to the same account. We got our pdf within the switch account within minutes. But all of this did take a few hours. I am looking forward to the no-test-required period of travel, hopefully when we head to France in May!

We arrived at the beach to float around noon. Things felt substantially busier on Thursday at Aulani. Always easier to find a chair at the beach but difficult to find anything at the pool. We eventually found a spot to have lunch (every lunch table occupied) at the adult pool (this was why the few days before everyone was eating at the adult pool! Aha!). The coconut shrimp are huge, and really good. Wish we could have switched out the fries but at the Mamas Snack Shop, no substitutions. When we ordered chicken fingers at the pool-formally-known-as-the-adult-pool (PFKATAP) a few days earlier, I was able to change out fried for pineapple chunks - which is a nice change.

After leaving the PFKATAP, we sought out a less dank and populated spot - found one, believe it our not, just outside the entrance to the grotto, just in front of a reserved cabana area. There was lovely Hawaiian music playing, nice shade, and little traffic. We hung out and had a drink here.

We decided to get to the ‘Oleo room at opening (5pm) on Thursday, to get a great table and settle in. We sat front row for the music and right next to the Koi pond. Bad idea on both fronts: 1) koi pond is a kid magnet, so we were swarmed by free range kids the entire time and 2) the music was terrible! No ukulele, no beautiful Hawaiian music. Lounge singers. It was so bad, but didn’t stop the little kids from dancing everywhere. It just wasn’t our scene. I understand we are at a family resort, but not sure why everyone else’s kids are in my space when I’m trying to have a drink and enjoy (terrible) music . We will not be back. We had the gratin pork dip which was good - very cream cheesie. We also shared the Peking duck roll which was ok. It wasn’t the food that drove us away .

View from the table before the onslaught

Mickey chop sticks

Peking duck roll


Friday morning we headed out to our first breakfast out of the room (we’ve been eating my egg sandwiches all week - which were DELICIOUS BTW). We headed out with the masses across the street and saw the long line at the coffee place (Island Vintage Coffee) so headed over to our first experience with Eggs and Things. We were a bit concerned about the size of the crowd out front, and when we registered they said 35-55 minutes (you register and they text you when your table is ready) but I think we only waited 15 minutes. The fellow managing the line is absolutely engaging and hilarious - we loved him. DH got the French toast and I got the pork eggs Benedict. Both were delicious. We loved it there. A bit chaotic at the checkout but otherwise, great!

We headed over to the ABC store to get a few provisions, it is noticeably busier everywhere. I also notice that the ABC store is quite a bit smaller than the ones in Waikiki….much less selection so if you are in Waikiki you might want to load up there for better selection of everything. They also have one on every corner so if you don’t find what you want in one, check the other!

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Just want to let you know I absolutely love your trip report so far

 

[coconutsunshine]

Loving all your posts! Can't wait to hear about the end of your trip

 

[Inga]

Part 11 Friday afternoon, and Departure day Sunday at the Spa!

Friday afternoon was going great. Spent a long afternoon on lounge chairs we were able to grab luckily. Ate and drank from the poolside menu. Went out on our floaties at sundown to see the sunset from the water - marvellous! Unfortunately between the dole whip, poke natchos, flat bread, and multiple Mai tais, my stomach took a bit of a turn. A night of Imodium and water sips was very healing!

Saturday morning, got all packed up and asked bell services to pick up our bags…done! Checked in online to AC. Down to the pool, not a chair pair anywhere. Adult pool was wild! We decided to go to off the hook seating area for some breakfast/lunch and peace. It was quite enjoyable actually, I had some ginger ale and a pbj (mainly the bread as I was still feeling queasy), DH had burger and fries.

We waited out the time to our spa appointment at 3! We could go an hour prior to the appointment to use the small outdoor pools/showers/hot tub. It was like being on another planet compared to the property….quiet and serene. I got the 80 minute massage, DH got the fascial (first time!!!). It was glorious. We asked whether it was possible to enjoy the outside pool area after our treatments and as it wasn’t busy, they said yes. I was so relaxed after the massage, it was awesome to spend time in this serene setting. Loved this time here, in such contrast to the chaos happening at the pool! Great shower and changing facilities to get us ready for our flights home. Lockers provided where you create your own pass number. We left around 5:30ish to grab a bite and go see the sunset. The pool area was much less frenetic at this time. Grabbed a roast beef sandwich to share from Ulu cafe (I was starting to feel my hunger coming back).

We got to watch our last sunset, then dash off to bell services to get our luggage for our limo pick up at 7pm.

Our flight only leaves at 10:55pm and we are way early here at the airport. So checking was relatively easy, through security, and here we sit at 8:20pm at the Ko Olina Club lounge! Just go down past the food court and take the stairs down to the garden level. We did a full circle around to find it and almost gave up hope but there it was! We forgot we had made ressies but they let us in anyhow. Had to do a health questionnaire, provide vaccine documentation and ID, and our reservation number. So here we are now, it closes at 9 but it is a nice place to rest before our long day of flights. Provide free water and coffee tea. I appreciated the mint tea as it is a lifesaver to many of my GI gaffs of the past. My DH asked the lady working here - who pays for this? She was not sure of the funding structure, but indicated it was a dream of a gentleman, was not familiar with his name. He also asked whether there were any plans for new resorts at Ko Olina. I guess Atlantis was on the plans but it fell through (imagine!) and some discussion as to whether the marina would be further developed. Interesting.

Nighty-night all - see ya on the flip side.

 

[mort1331]

Thank you for the detailed TR. Great to read. Safe flight..

 

[dreamit]

Thank you for the great live trip report! I really enjoyed it and learned a few tour tips for my upcoming trip.

 

[Inga]

Home and in bed at 12:00pm midnight Sunday (6pm Hawaii time- not yet sunset time yet on Oahu!). Departed Aulani for the airport at 7pm Saturday night, Hawaii time. Our flight left at 11pm Sat night, so in total I guess that’s 13 hours of airplane/airport travel? No sleep really during that time. Hope we sleep tonight, back to work Tuesday!

For those Canadians, although it will be somewhat moot I think after the end of Feb, we did get randomly selected at Vancouver airport for take home Covid tests. They are to be taken within 24 hours of arrival to Canada, so we thought we could do them virtually on a 2-3 hour layover in Toronto, but it’s just too hard. It’s noisy there, it took us forever to figure out the instructions (partially sleep deprivation but not all), and somehow we need to fedex the results back tomorrow (a holiday). Just a real pain in the butt, frankly….but the price I guess of travelling during a pandemic.

But that’s for tomorrow! Nighty- Night from Halifax, Nova Scotia!!

Thanks for following!

Inga

 

[mort1331]

We have the same home flight booked in July. No issues leaving at 7pm with traffic? Trying to judge how long ahead to leave to get to airport with enough time.
Glad you made it home safe and sound. Now to relax in peaceful Halifax, hope to be there this summer.

 

[Inga]

7pm from Aulani was pretty early for that flight time, there was traffic but nothing to be concerned about for sure. We have Nexus cards which normally really help with security but for some reason mine wouldn’t load on my boarding pass, so we went through the general line. It was hectic, as usual, but no issues with timing.

 

[tntstults]

Did you get the refillable drink mugs? If so, are there multiple refill stations operating? Thanks!

 

[Inga]

We

Did you get the refillable drink mugs? If so, are there multiple refill stations operating? Thanks!

We didn’t get mugs, however, we didn’t see any ability to do so either, and no refill stations that I saw.

 

[JBRB828]

Enjoyed reading your TR. We haven’t been back to Oahu in 2 1/2 yrs. thanks to CoVid! We usually go every year, 18 times and counting on Oahu in 2023. We would have went this year if we didn’t promise our GD a trip to Disney.

 

[Inga]

Enjoyed reading your TR. We haven’t been back to Oahu in 2 1/2 yrs. thanks to CoVid! We usually go every year, 18 times and counting on Oahu in 2023. We would have went this year if we didn’t promise our GD a trip to Disney.

We had to decide if we were to go somewhere warm in Feb from Canada, where would we go? We stuck with the US because we knew we could get adequate healthcare (compared to Caribbean countries or Mexico) and if we got stuck due to a positive test we knew we wouldn’t be out in an isolation facility. We weren’t up for a busy Florida trip so…need to spend some DVC points? Aulani it was!

 

[Lew]

PS bring after-bite and bug spray with you….we are getting bitten +++

You must be much sweeter than us. We've been here since February 23rd and haven't seen one insect.

 

[Inga]

You must be much sweeter than us. We've been here since February 23rd and haven't seen one insect.

Probably . Haha. We didn’t see any insects, but we definitely got bites!

 

[Lew]

Probably . Haha. We didn’t see any insects, but we definitely got bites!

Aaaahhh...no-seeums! We have those back home in Vermont too...

 

[Inga]

Aaaahhh...no-seeums! We have those back home in Vermont too...

Probably not in February tho

 

[Inga]

Should have shared this awesome Aulani view before now….

 

[Inga]

And another