Oahu, Hawaii 2017 Trip: Day 3 - Raining all day on the island, Iolani's Palace, Driving from Honolulu to the North Shore and Dole Plantation
We started the day by checking out of our Airbnb. Afterwards we decided to go for brunch at Sweet - E's cafe. There was a line for this place but since we were only two people, it didn't take too long for us to get a spot.
Once we got into the restaurant my boyfriend ordered a coffee and I ordered an iced tea. Both items were really good and had free refills. For our breakfast I ordered a lox bagel with fried rice and my boyfriend ordered the Extreme Mess which was scrambled eggs, meat. hash browns and cheese.
All the food was really tasty and filling! I highly recommend this place for breakfast and brunch. Also the service was fast and friendly which made our meal even better.
After our brunch, it was raining pretty hard so we decided to go check out Iolani's Palace. This was where the Hawaiian Royal family use to live. Once we got to the palace, we had to find parking. This was where our nightmare started. We soon realized that all the parking requires us to pay in quarters. We had no American currency in change so we tried finding street parking that took credit cards.We had no luck since everywhere requires quarters in that area. It also did not helped that there was rainstorm. Finally we decided to go to Walmart to get an umbrella and paid with cash to get a bunch a change. The lesson here is to always have some quarters just in case the parking meters only took quarters. So once we got back to the palace, we were trying to figure out how to buy tickets to get in. After some help from the employees, we headed to the ticket booth which was in the gift store. Unfortunately, all the palace tours were sold out until 3:00 that today and only the basement tours were available at the moment. Since we had to drive up to the North Shore that day, we decided to go with the basement tour. The basement tour consists of viewing the royal family's jewellery and other treasures, the tickets were $5 each.
Here are some of the photos I took during the tour
Once we got into the restaurant my boyfriend ordered a coffee and I ordered an iced tea. Both items were really good and had free refills. For our breakfast I ordered a lox bagel with fried rice and my boyfriend ordered the Extreme Mess which was scrambled eggs, meat. hash browns and cheese.
All the food was really tasty and filling! I highly recommend this place for breakfast and brunch. Also the service was fast and friendly which made our meal even better.
After our brunch, it was raining pretty hard so we decided to go check out Iolani's Palace. This was where the Hawaiian Royal family use to live. Once we got to the palace, we had to find parking. This was where our nightmare started. We soon realized that all the parking requires us to pay in quarters. We had no American currency in change so we tried finding street parking that took credit cards.We had no luck since everywhere requires quarters in that area. It also did not helped that there was rainstorm. Finally we decided to go to Walmart to get an umbrella and paid with cash to get a bunch a change. The lesson here is to always have some quarters just in case the parking meters only took quarters. So once we got back to the palace, we were trying to figure out how to buy tickets to get in. After some help from the employees, we headed to the ticket booth which was in the gift store. Unfortunately, all the palace tours were sold out until 3:00 that today and only the basement tours were available at the moment. Since we had to drive up to the North Shore that day, we decided to go with the basement tour. The basement tour consists of viewing the royal family's jewellery and other treasures, the tickets were $5 each.
Here are some of the photos I took during the tour
It was interesting to learn about the history of the Hawaiian royal family. I couldn't help to be disappointed in not being able to tour the upstairs. If you are interested in going to the palace, I highly recommend booking the tours online beforehand. We decided to come here on a last minute decision since it was raining. Before it rained we were planning to head to the Byodo In Temple but since it was pouring we decided to skip it.
After Iolani's Palace we started driving up to the North Shore. The traffic was quite busy when we were driving so I would expect to take longer to get to your destination.
Our first stop in the North Shore was the Dole Plantation. I will say that unless you have kids (which we don't), this place won't be too interesting. There are our mazes and other activities you can pay for but we just entered the store itself. The store was packed with people and with other gimicky, overpriced souvenirs. However it is worth getting the Dole Whip from there, which is pineapple soft served ice cream. The line to get this was long but it moves pretty quickly. This was so good, which made it worth coming here.
Also we did watch the pineapple cutting demonstration which was interesting enough.
After the Dole Plantation, we visited a coffee farm which was on the way to the plantation. This shop had a cafe and a bunch of coffees that you could sample. From what I understood, all the coffee was produced at that farm. I did end up purchasing a bag of coffee since I am a caffeine addict. I definitely highly recommend checking out this place.
After the coffee farm, we headed to Waialua which was a small town in the North Shore of Oahu. This is was where our airbnb for the next three days was. Our airbnb was located on a farm which had 4 cottages on the property. This airbnb was really nice and quiet which helped with getting great sleeps during our stay.
Once we were all settled in, we headed out for dinner. I was really craving sushi so we decided on Banzai Sushi in Haleiwa. This was probably our worst dining experience during our whole trip. When we got to the restaurant there was a huge wait. I asked the hostess how long the wait would be and her reply was " I don't know". I understand that it is hard to determine how long the wait would be, but her harsh tone was shocking. I brushed it off and we waited for a table. Once we got a table, we ordered our drinks and food. For food, we ordered kobe beef gyoza, California roll, Hawaiian poke, rice and a Philadelphia roll. For our drinks, my boyfriend ordered a Sapporo beer and I ordered a blood orange cocktail.
All our food came out pretty fast but this was where the disaster starts. We noticed that we were missing the Philadelphia roll but we figured it would eventually come. We were done all our food and the roll still wasn't coming. Finally we decided to ask our server when it was coming. She came back after telling us that the one station was very backed up. Honestly we were not buying it and after more waiting the roll came. We were both very angry and annoyed by then from whole dining experience. The bill was quite expensive at around $70 USD, and the service was just horrible. The food was tasty but the service was not impressive. The establishment was quite busy but there were 4-5 servers on the floor. So we just did not understand why the service was so slow and terrible. I would avoid this establishment for sure.
After dinner, we went back to our Airbnb and called it a night. We had a rough day with our stressful parking situation, the rain and our dinner. Even though not everything went our way, we were still grateful we made it to the North Shore safely.
Stay tuned for our North Shore adventures, we had a blast here.
Vivian
After Iolani's Palace we started driving up to the North Shore. The traffic was quite busy when we were driving so I would expect to take longer to get to your destination.
Our first stop in the North Shore was the Dole Plantation. I will say that unless you have kids (which we don't), this place won't be too interesting. There are our mazes and other activities you can pay for but we just entered the store itself. The store was packed with people and with other gimicky, overpriced souvenirs. However it is worth getting the Dole Whip from there, which is pineapple soft served ice cream. The line to get this was long but it moves pretty quickly. This was so good, which made it worth coming here.
Also we did watch the pineapple cutting demonstration which was interesting enough.
After the Dole Plantation, we visited a coffee farm which was on the way to the plantation. This shop had a cafe and a bunch of coffees that you could sample. From what I understood, all the coffee was produced at that farm. I did end up purchasing a bag of coffee since I am a caffeine addict. I definitely highly recommend checking out this place.
After the coffee farm, we headed to Waialua which was a small town in the North Shore of Oahu. This is was where our airbnb for the next three days was. Our airbnb was located on a farm which had 4 cottages on the property. This airbnb was really nice and quiet which helped with getting great sleeps during our stay.
Once we were all settled in, we headed out for dinner. I was really craving sushi so we decided on Banzai Sushi in Haleiwa. This was probably our worst dining experience during our whole trip. When we got to the restaurant there was a huge wait. I asked the hostess how long the wait would be and her reply was " I don't know". I understand that it is hard to determine how long the wait would be, but her harsh tone was shocking. I brushed it off and we waited for a table. Once we got a table, we ordered our drinks and food. For food, we ordered kobe beef gyoza, California roll, Hawaiian poke, rice and a Philadelphia roll. For our drinks, my boyfriend ordered a Sapporo beer and I ordered a blood orange cocktail.
All our food came out pretty fast but this was where the disaster starts. We noticed that we were missing the Philadelphia roll but we figured it would eventually come. We were done all our food and the roll still wasn't coming. Finally we decided to ask our server when it was coming. She came back after telling us that the one station was very backed up. Honestly we were not buying it and after more waiting the roll came. We were both very angry and annoyed by then from whole dining experience. The bill was quite expensive at around $70 USD, and the service was just horrible. The food was tasty but the service was not impressive. The establishment was quite busy but there were 4-5 servers on the floor. So we just did not understand why the service was so slow and terrible. I would avoid this establishment for sure.
After dinner, we went back to our Airbnb and called it a night. We had a rough day with our stressful parking situation, the rain and our dinner. Even though not everything went our way, we were still grateful we made it to the North Shore safely.
Stay tuned for our North Shore adventures, we had a blast here.
Vivian
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