In February we took our first trip as a family to Hawaii. Steve and I had both been before (not with each other) we were married. We stayed in the Ko Olina Resort area at the Marriott Beach Club Villas thanks to a friend loaning us her timeshare. The Marriott was a very nice resort and we felt extra special staying on the 15th floor because every time we shared the elevator with someone who noticed we were going to the 15th floor they commented something along the lines of “We’ve been members for 10 years and have never stayed higher than the 10th floor!” So, apparently the 15the floor, which is the second to the highest, is pretty special. One of the things that did make it special was the view from the balcony. We did not have a room that faced the ocean our facing was opposite the beach directly looking at the mountains and overlooking the gold course. However, being as high up as we were we could still see the ocean from our balcony when we looked to both sides. Giving us a nearly 360 degree view (kinda) I thought that was pretty cool! Oh, and in that scope was a nice view of the Aulani too. You can read about our one night at the Aulani here. You may also want to read how we saved over 50% off the regular price for our stay at the Aulani in this article. The room was huge and we could easily keep our villa clean and tidy because there was space for everything, which is a plus since maid service only comes once during your stay. I thought I would miss maid service but I actually didn't aside from having to make my own bed everyday. It was never really even thought of and it is amazing how easy it is to keep your living space clean when you have no toys or excess stuff to mess it up.
Leah and I had really been looking forward to getting a real lei as we landed in Hawaii. All she could do on the way there was talk about getting a real flower lei. We were just sure that at some point someone was going to greet us with one. After landing and getting our luggage and finding our rental car and still no lei the Marriott had a lot of pressure on them to deliver this Iconic Hawaiian Tradition. Unfortunately they did not come through and for a nine year old some things are hard to overcome and each day as when out on our touristy sight seeing adventures we looked and tried to find the right place to buy a lei for Leah.
My husband is a planner, a planner of vacations that is. We don’t go on any vacation that he hasn’t thoroughly prepared for and preplanned our sight seeing and relaxing and every minute of every day schedule. Okay, I am exaggerating slightly and with this trip one of the things he had researched and found out about prior was the Go Oahu Card. The Go Oahu Card is a prepaid pass for over 30 different attractions and tourist destinations which is bought and paid for by the number of days you wish to purchase. For our seven day vacation we purchased three days and by our second day of use the card had paid for it’s self and our third day of using it was truly as if we were getting in free to the attractions. I would recommend that anyone going to Oahu for their first visit purchase this card it will save you money but, also give you information about all of the top destinations on the island. There are three ways you can purchase your Go Oahu Card. This first is online where you can download the booklet that gives you the information about how to use the card and the attractions linked with it. This is the most convenient way to use this card. If you do it this way you are able to make all of your reservations electronically and don’t have to pick up tickets somewhere else ahead of time. This is the way I wish we would have done it. The second way is to purchase it online but have them send the book and the cards to your home before you leave. This makes it a little nicer to have them in your hand ahead of time but you are still not able to make electronic reservations. The third way is to prepay for the tickets online thru Costco who offers them at a discounted rate and then pick them up in Honolulu when you get there. This would be more convenient if you were staying in Honolulu. We weren’t and so having to go and pick up our cards was a bit out of the way for us, by about forty miles. So, get your cards but get them electronically if you can it will not only save you money but a lot of time.
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