Hey guys, so I know it has been a while since I've done a blog post but if you haven't already seen all over my instagram feed I was living the high life for a couple of weeks ... which was desperately needed because University is trying to kill me off.
So my family and I took a little vacay to Los Angeles, Hawaii and Atlanta. With Hawaii always been a dream destination for us all, we decided to take the plunge and just go ahead and make it a reality. In order to make the flight a little more bearable we stopped off at Los Angeles for three nights on the way (I mean who doesn't want to go to LA anyway?) and then on the way back home we stayed in Atlanta for a night.
I thought I would share some of the things we got up to in each place and what I would recommend... Firstly lets begin with Los Angeles.
Whilst we were in LA we stayed in the cutest hotel called The Garland, it was located in North Hollywood and each day they would have a free shuttle to Universal Studios which was really convenient because we got dropped off at the metro and explored Hollywood Boulevard. I'm not going to lie, due to the hype behind the 'Walk of Fame' I was kind of disappointed. I wasn't really sure what I was expecting, but at least clean stars so you could see the names and get good pictures? But besides that, I was mesmerised to even be on Hollywood Boulevard.
Before we travelled to Los Angeles my sister had found these Hop-on, Hop-off buses that had loads of different routes around LA. Due to the fact that we didn't have a car and LA is absolutely massive we considered this option a good one and we were right. These buses were awesome, they had headphones which told you about different attractions and gave you history behind them. You could literally get off and get on whenever you pleased and with the sun beaming down on us, the open top double decker offered the perfect view of this glorious city. It took us around Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and really was the best way to explore LA if you're a tourist ... so I would definitely recommend, especially getting off and exploring Beverly Hills - a personal favourite of mine.
With a couple of short but sweet days in LA, we continued our travels onto HAWAII! ALOHA.
We stayed on the Island Oahu and it is fair to say I fell in love. Our hotel was located in Waikiki and was called Luana Waikiki, the staff at this hotel were so friendly and nothing was too much to ask. Waikiki was very much the built up part of Hawaii, so when we pictured an isolated Island with secluded beaches this wasn't exactly what we had in mind.
But I was glad we stayed in Waikiki because there were plenty of shops, restaurants, beautiful beaches (just a bit busier) and a lot of transport to get around the Island. After a couple of days rest to recover from jetlag we booked a few excursions.
Firstly we did took a cruise with Ocean Joy Cruises:
We booked on to the morning cruise because we hoped that it would be less busy with spring break going on and all that shenanigans. As we were staying down South we wanted to explore the rest of the Island that was more secluded. I would highly recommend this cruise, the staff were so friendly and really made this trip for everyone. You set off early in the morning, looking out for dolphins and whales (unfortunately we didn't see any whales because it was the coming to the end of Whale season in Hawaii) and busking in the sun. We then made a little drop off to snorkel, which was absolutely incredible. Everyone got the opportunity to swim with some turtles and little fish ... my sister also saw a SHARK. Once we snorkelled for around an hour we jumped back onto the boat, had a delicious buffet and spotted some more dolphins before returning back to the harbour.
It was a fantastic day out, the harbour and scenery where we departed from was beautiful ...especially early in the morning. You also get the opportunity to buy a USB with all of the photos from that day on including any photos of you snorkelling or diving for only a small amount of money (I think it was $30 dollars).
Secondly we did the North Shore Shark Diving (yep, sharks!):
As soon as we booked Hawaii, this was the first activity I wanted to book because I have wanted to do it for absolutely ages. When we enquired about it, along with the transport and activity it was going to be a pretty hefty amount. Therefore, they suggested to book onto the Surf Bus which gave you two activities to choose from within the cost, as well as providing transport around the North Shore. So we decided to go for this option and pick the shark diving as one of our activities - as well as a waterfall hike and and swim. The North Shore was my favourite place within Oahu, the beaches were crystal clear (including Waimea Bay which has some massive waves), it was very relaxed and chilled (If anyone has been to Byron Bay in Australia it feels like that atmosphere, chillllled) and you could spend all day watching the surfers.
I honestly couldn't recommend The Surf Bus enough, they provided so much information, let you get off the bus at awesome places to take pictures (we got to stop off at turtle bay and actually saw a little turtle chilling on the beach) and the activities were amazing. If you had to do one thing in Hawaii ... DO THIS!
On to the shark diving, I don't tend to get scared when it comes to things like this. I wouldn't say I'm the strongest swimmer but I don't particularly tend to panic in water and it has been a dream of mine to do this (I know it sounds crazy) so I was so excited. It is pretty much guaranteed that we would see sharks because they are attracted to the noise of the engine which gets associated with food (as the fishing boats get rid of all of their dead waste in the sea). So as we went out in the deep sea, we settled in a place and before we knew it we were surrounded by sharks. The sharks we saw were Galapagos sharks which ranged from 6ft-12ft, so they were pretty big fellas ... but not to worry they aren't human eating sharks they like their fish.
It was one of the best things I have ever done in my life. You get a snorkel and climb into a cage which just sits on top of the ocean, so you are literally bobbing up and down on the water. However, they did say to get a better view dive down to the bottom of the cage which I did just to get some good pictures and see the sharks swim underneath us. The cage isn't glass so limbs can float out of the cage, therefore it was advised to hold on with both hands and feet (also to prevent from kicking other people in the cage as it was pretty choppy). I cannot recommend this activity enough, even if you are scared of sharks or being in the water do it. My mum done it besides the fact she had never snorkelled before and hates water and she had the greatest time.
One TIP: DO NOT eat a big meal beforehand and if you are prone to sea sickness take some tablets beforehand. At least one person is always sick on the boat, including the time we went (I had the pleasure of it splatting onto my arm - but I did get a free t-shirt) so be prepared.
Lastly, Hanuama Bay:
Wow. Wow. Wow. Before we went I had mixed reviews about whether to go or not. My best friend had told me it was the best place she had ever been too and another friend told me that all the coral was dead, there were no fish and it was too busy so not to bother.
Anyway we decided to go to check it out, we got a local bus at 8am and arrived there around 8.30am. It was busy even that early, but the scenery was just outstanding (I want to cry just thinking about it!).
Before you are allowed onto the Bay you have to pay a small fee and have to watch a video which informs people not to stand on the coral and just informs you more about the fish you could see. It is sad really because the amount of people you see standing on the coral is ridiculous. I can see where my friend was coming from because most of the coral was dead, but there were still plenty of fish to see .... which you can see from my photos.
But definitely check this place out, if you can I would recommend getting there when it opens at 6am if you don't mind paying for a taxi. When we arrived it wasn't packed which was good because we saw loads of fish, but when it hit 12pm/1pm we hardly saw any fish because of how many people were in the sea. Even if you don't want to snorkel, the scenery is just so breathtaking and it is definitely one of the best beaches I have ever seen in my life.
One TIP: Wear waterproof sunscreen when snorkelling because I made the mistake of not wearing any because I thought my body would be in the sea ... I was wrong. I burnt the whole of my back, behind and legs (was not fun on a 8 hour plane journey).
There were much more activites I could of done including a hike up Diamond Head and checking out the East Cost including Lanikai Beach which was recommended by a local. Hawaii had so much to offer and really is a place I would return too.
Although we spent a night in Atlanta, we hardly saw any of it. We arrived at 7am sooo jet lagged and exhausted, which made it even worse when we couldn't check into our hotel room until 11am!! We didn't get up until 6pm, so we just strolled around near a hotel Omni Hotel which was in a really good location as we had the Coca-Cola world and Aquarium just opposite. We took a little tour around Coca-Cola world drinking as much fizzy pop as we could in the taster room before flying back home.
Sorry this is such a long blog post but this trip was just paradise for me. I hope you liked reading through and enjoyed my photos. I will be doing a blog post next on what I purchased whilst in the USA. If you guys have any other questions about what I did, feel free to comment.
Thank you
Chelsea xx
Before we travelled to Los Angeles my sister had found these Hop-on, Hop-off buses that had loads of different routes around LA. Due to the fact that we didn't have a car and LA is absolutely massive we considered this option a good one and we were right. These buses were awesome, they had headphones which told you about different attractions and gave you history behind them. You could literally get off and get on whenever you pleased and with the sun beaming down on us, the open top double decker offered the perfect view of this glorious city. It took us around Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and really was the best way to explore LA if you're a tourist ... so I would definitely recommend, especially getting off and exploring Beverly Hills - a personal favourite of mine.
With a couple of short but sweet days in LA, we continued our travels onto HAWAII! ALOHA.
We stayed on the Island Oahu and it is fair to say I fell in love. Our hotel was located in Waikiki and was called Luana Waikiki, the staff at this hotel were so friendly and nothing was too much to ask. Waikiki was very much the built up part of Hawaii, so when we pictured an isolated Island with secluded beaches this wasn't exactly what we had in mind.
But I was glad we stayed in Waikiki because there were plenty of shops, restaurants, beautiful beaches (just a bit busier) and a lot of transport to get around the Island. After a couple of days rest to recover from jetlag we booked a few excursions.
Firstly we did took a cruise with Ocean Joy Cruises:
We booked on to the morning cruise because we hoped that it would be less busy with spring break going on and all that shenanigans. As we were staying down South we wanted to explore the rest of the Island that was more secluded. I would highly recommend this cruise, the staff were so friendly and really made this trip for everyone. You set off early in the morning, looking out for dolphins and whales (unfortunately we didn't see any whales because it was the coming to the end of Whale season in Hawaii) and busking in the sun. We then made a little drop off to snorkel, which was absolutely incredible. Everyone got the opportunity to swim with some turtles and little fish ... my sister also saw a SHARK. Once we snorkelled for around an hour we jumped back onto the boat, had a delicious buffet and spotted some more dolphins before returning back to the harbour.
It was a fantastic day out, the harbour and scenery where we departed from was beautiful ...especially early in the morning. You also get the opportunity to buy a USB with all of the photos from that day on including any photos of you snorkelling or diving for only a small amount of money (I think it was $30 dollars).
One of the pictures the photography captured on Ocean Joy Cruises
Secondly we did the North Shore Shark Diving (yep, sharks!):
As soon as we booked Hawaii, this was the first activity I wanted to book because I have wanted to do it for absolutely ages. When we enquired about it, along with the transport and activity it was going to be a pretty hefty amount. Therefore, they suggested to book onto the Surf Bus which gave you two activities to choose from within the cost, as well as providing transport around the North Shore. So we decided to go for this option and pick the shark diving as one of our activities - as well as a waterfall hike and and swim. The North Shore was my favourite place within Oahu, the beaches were crystal clear (including Waimea Bay which has some massive waves), it was very relaxed and chilled (If anyone has been to Byron Bay in Australia it feels like that atmosphere, chillllled) and you could spend all day watching the surfers.
I honestly couldn't recommend The Surf Bus enough, they provided so much information, let you get off the bus at awesome places to take pictures (we got to stop off at turtle bay and actually saw a little turtle chilling on the beach) and the activities were amazing. If you had to do one thing in Hawaii ... DO THIS!
Turtle Beach
On to the shark diving, I don't tend to get scared when it comes to things like this. I wouldn't say I'm the strongest swimmer but I don't particularly tend to panic in water and it has been a dream of mine to do this (I know it sounds crazy) so I was so excited. It is pretty much guaranteed that we would see sharks because they are attracted to the noise of the engine which gets associated with food (as the fishing boats get rid of all of their dead waste in the sea). So as we went out in the deep sea, we settled in a place and before we knew it we were surrounded by sharks. The sharks we saw were Galapagos sharks which ranged from 6ft-12ft, so they were pretty big fellas ... but not to worry they aren't human eating sharks they like their fish.
It was one of the best things I have ever done in my life. You get a snorkel and climb into a cage which just sits on top of the ocean, so you are literally bobbing up and down on the water. However, they did say to get a better view dive down to the bottom of the cage which I did just to get some good pictures and see the sharks swim underneath us. The cage isn't glass so limbs can float out of the cage, therefore it was advised to hold on with both hands and feet (also to prevent from kicking other people in the cage as it was pretty choppy). I cannot recommend this activity enough, even if you are scared of sharks or being in the water do it. My mum done it besides the fact she had never snorkelled before and hates water and she had the greatest time.
One TIP: DO NOT eat a big meal beforehand and if you are prone to sea sickness take some tablets beforehand. At least one person is always sick on the boat, including the time we went (I had the pleasure of it splatting onto my arm - but I did get a free t-shirt) so be prepared.
Lastly, Hanuama Bay:
Wow. Wow. Wow. Before we went I had mixed reviews about whether to go or not. My best friend had told me it was the best place she had ever been too and another friend told me that all the coral was dead, there were no fish and it was too busy so not to bother.
Anyway we decided to go to check it out, we got a local bus at 8am and arrived there around 8.30am. It was busy even that early, but the scenery was just outstanding (I want to cry just thinking about it!).
Before you are allowed onto the Bay you have to pay a small fee and have to watch a video which informs people not to stand on the coral and just informs you more about the fish you could see. It is sad really because the amount of people you see standing on the coral is ridiculous. I can see where my friend was coming from because most of the coral was dead, but there were still plenty of fish to see .... which you can see from my photos.
Hanuama Bay
But definitely check this place out, if you can I would recommend getting there when it opens at 6am if you don't mind paying for a taxi. When we arrived it wasn't packed which was good because we saw loads of fish, but when it hit 12pm/1pm we hardly saw any fish because of how many people were in the sea. Even if you don't want to snorkel, the scenery is just so breathtaking and it is definitely one of the best beaches I have ever seen in my life.
Some of the little fish we saw snorkelling in Hanauma Bay
One TIP: Wear waterproof sunscreen when snorkelling because I made the mistake of not wearing any because I thought my body would be in the sea ... I was wrong. I burnt the whole of my back, behind and legs (was not fun on a 8 hour plane journey).
There were much more activites I could of done including a hike up Diamond Head and checking out the East Cost including Lanikai Beach which was recommended by a local. Hawaii had so much to offer and really is a place I would return too.
Although we spent a night in Atlanta, we hardly saw any of it. We arrived at 7am sooo jet lagged and exhausted, which made it even worse when we couldn't check into our hotel room until 11am!! We didn't get up until 6pm, so we just strolled around near a hotel Omni Hotel which was in a really good location as we had the Coca-Cola world and Aquarium just opposite. We took a little tour around Coca-Cola world drinking as much fizzy pop as we could in the taster room before flying back home.
Sorry this is such a long blog post but this trip was just paradise for me. I hope you liked reading through and enjoyed my photos. I will be doing a blog post next on what I purchased whilst in the USA. If you guys have any other questions about what I did, feel free to comment.
Thank you
Chelsea xx
No comments:
Post a Comment