Honolulu for two wet days

View from the Modern Honolulu

Although our initial plans for Hawaii were to have us here in the lovely sunny weather of May - we were here instead in February, a winter month known for being cooler, having more rain and being quite windy. For the first two days of our trip the weather was just as we were dreading - heavy rain and extremely strong winds! We had our hire car and had planned on going swimming/snorkelling and exploring the north shore but it didn't make sense to do any of that in such weather so we decided to use these days to do our shopping instead.

Our flight from Australia had landed at the awful time of 7am! Of course too early for any form of check in at a hotel. We luckily had our hire car and loaded our luggage into that for the day. Driving from the airport to the Waikiki Beach area took quite some time as this was the peak hour for local traffic, once we arrived though we found a place to park our car and popped into IHOP for a pancake breakfast.

I have never been to the US before, and have never experienced anything like IHOP (International House of Pancakes) before. I thought it would be fun to try it out and hey, I LOVE pancakes - what could go wrong? WELL. As soon as I opened the menu I was already scared. There were no options for pancake stacks with fresh fruit and icecream. The options were more like 'strawberry pancakes with whipped cream and a side of turkey bacon, substitute eggs and toast'. I tried to rort the system by ordering a pancake stack and then asking if they had any icecream. But all in all it was a pretty disappointing experience. Now I know I guess!

During breakfast we people watched everyone outside getting drenched and blown about by the wind so we both agreed that yes, it was definitely an indoor shopping day. Once we finished our pancakes we headed back to the car and drove to Ala Moana Shopping Centre. Originally we intended to spend our last days shopping and stocking up on things but it ended up working out quite well that we used the wet rainy days at the beginning instead as on the last three days of the trip the weather was perfect!

People visiting Hawaii from the mainland might not understand the fuss, but if you are coming from somewhere like Australia - the shopping is one of the highlights. A stick of my favourite eyeliner costs $32 in Australia - I can get it at Sephora for $20. My favourite foundation? $72 in Australia - $44 in Hawaii! The savings are ludicrous and that is for items not even on sale! Factor in clothing items etc on sale and that is the reason you see so many Australians going absolutely mad in these shopping centres. True to Australian form I went mad. Unfortunately I couldn't fit in many clothes being pregnant and all, but the baby certainly scored with an overload of outfits and I stocked up on so much makeup I instantly qualified for a VIB at Sephora. Whoops!

After all our shopping it was finally time to check in to our hotel. We were both absolutely exhausted to the point of being almost delirious. It had been a long flight, and then a looong day waiting around shopping until we could get into the hotel. We had booked at the Modern Honolulu which was not too far from Ala Moana - up the top end of Waikiki Beach.

The Modern Honolulu was an 'ok' experience. I was a little disappointed from the get-go at check in as I had booked directly through their website for a promotional rate in which I paid for a partial ocean view room for three nights, and the promotion would automatically upgrade me to an ocean view room instead. On arrival they said there were no ocean view rooms available, but that they would move me to a higher floor. Then there was a lot of waiting around while they tried to find out if they could only get me a king bed or two doubles. After even more waiting they exclaimed they had in fact been able to find me a king partial ocean view room! I wasn't as ecstatic as they were because that is exactly the room I had paid for and not an upgrade at all - if I knew the upgrade was not going to happen I may have looked to book somewhere else in the first place! The worst part about all of this is that if I had simply booked the room and got what I paid for I would be perfectly happy. However making out that the promotion would get you upgraded and then not delivering on that promise just sets guests up for immediate disappointment! Not the best marketing strategy if you ask me.

After checking in we headed up to our room which was a good size, clean and modern. There was a clothing tag left on the bathroom bench and for some reason no mini bar available (just an empty fridge) but besides that the room was quite nice. We discovered over the next few days (and even during the whole trip) that housekeeping in Hawaii was not up to the same standard as I am used to (even though we have to leave them a tip as well!) I am used to the room being cleaned spick and span daily and all toiletries being replaced, bathroom swept/mopped etc. Throughout our trip we noticed that only certain toiletries were replaced, some that we had completely used up were not replaced at all, cleaning was inconsistent, bathrooms were not swept etc, sometimes the bins were even not fully emptied? This was all a bit strange!

Having settled in a little bit with a quick snooze we had a little wander down to the Waikiki Beach area. It is a fairly long walk - The Modern is not really located in the best area if you want to have the convenience of strolling straight to the beach/shops restaurants. It was also terrible weather that night with high winds and downpours - in the end we walked all the way back to the Modern and had a little light dinner by the pool. For a poolside menu (and this goes for their room service menu as well) the food is actually very good quality - we were quite happy with everything we ordered. The pool area is also quite nice but didn't have much atmosphere that night with the weather being like it was.

The next day was another wet and windy day. We decided early that there was to be no snorkelling or outside activities and made up our minds that we would venture to the Waikele Outlets instead. We started off the day with breakfast at Cream Pot, a little japanese-run cafe off Ala Wai Boulevard. Luckily they had a parking deal with the hotel as well where you could pay for your parking for a discount rate in the cafe. The cafe itself is super cute - it has that french inspired japanese look, and the staff emerge from a little hobbit hole in the corner of the room. I ordered the Souffle Pancakes with Banana and Caramel while my partner ordered Maguro Eggs Benedict. Both our meals were delicious and we wanted to go back the following days - there were quite a few things on the menu that sounded great! Just an aside though - apparently the place can be a bit hit and miss, it can get very busy (we arrived at a good time, a queue started soon after we were seated), and the food can take quite awhile to arrive. The kitchen itself is situated above the cafe, so they take a bit longer to get to your table and I guess some people are unlucky and the meal arrives lukewarm. None of this happened to us though and we had a lovely meal there!

Here are some other reviews with better detail & photos:
Tasty Island Hawaii Cream Pot Review
Honolulu Pulse Cream Pot Review

Maguro Eggs Benedict

Souffle pancakes!

Following breakfast we headed straight to the Waikele Outlets which took us about half an hour to drive to. The outlets are open air and of course it was raining so we spent a lot of time ducking for shelter and running from one shop to the other. We picked up heaps of bargains, and being pregnant I spent most of my time in Osh Kosh and Carters. If you are planning on going to the outlet make sure you sign up online for the VIP Club, and when you are at the Outlets drop in to the Information Centre to pick up your VIP Coupon Book.

Below is the link to sign up to the VIP Club:
Waikele Premium Outlets

Once we finished shopping we freshened up back at the hotel room before heading to dinner downstairs at Morimoto Waikiki. Morimoto is located on level 1 of The Modern Honolulu which was extremely convenient for us, and I couldn't pass on the opportunity to dine in an Iron Chef restaurant so I had booked a few weeks ahead. The restaurant itself is very modern and impressive, it looks beautiful. It can be a bit hard to find things to eat out when pregnant but the waiters were extremely helpful - they made me wonderful virgin cocktails and suggested things on the menu that were safe to eat. We tried a few dishes - I had some Kakuni and Takoyaki for entree, while my partner had Morimoto Sashimi. The Kakuni was just so delicious! We have buta no kakuni quite often and were getting a bit tired of it but the way it was prepared here on a bed of congee was wonderful. According to my partner the Sashimi was amazing - it looked amazing! Each 'piece' of sashimi was a layer of Tuna, Salmon, Yellowtail and Eel with five different sauces presented in little tubes. For our mains we had Seafood Toban Yaki and the Braised Black Cod, for dessert we had the Chocolate Peanut Bombe and Vanilla Roasted Pineapple. Everything was wonderful and to top it off it was a friday night so the friday night fireworks from Hilton Hawaiian Village went off while we were tucking in! Ultimate dinner!




Food

Breakfast: Cream Pot
Price: $9.50 - $14.50
Location: Inside the Hawaiian Monarch Hotel, 444 Niu Street, Honolulu, Hawaii
Website: Cream Pot Cafe

Dinner: Morimoto Waikiki
Price: Entrees average $20, Main average $30, Desserts $12
Location: Level 1 of The Modern Honolulu, 1775 Ala Moana Boulevard Honolulu, Hawaii
Website: Morimoto Waikiki

Accommodation

Hotel: The Modern Honolulu
Price: $319USD
Location: 1775 Ala Moana Boulevard Honolulu, Hawaii
Website: The Modern Honolulu

Activities

Waikele Premium Outlets
Location: 94-790 Lumiaina Street, Waipahu, Hawaii
Website: Waikele Outlets

Ala Moana Center
Location: 1450 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu, Hawaii
Website: Ala Moana Center

Duke Kahanamoku Statue