An Oahu Road Trip with Gypsy Guide

The day after we went scuba diving we rented a car to explore the island. Oahu is the third largest island of all of the Hawaiian Islands. However, you can drive around the island, with stops included, in about 8 hours. The night before we downloaded the Gypsy Guide for Oahu – a really awesome self-drive tour iPhone/Android app that provides you with cool historic bits as you drive around the island. It tells you where to stop and what's next (including driving directions) since it's based on your global positioning. You can buy it at the App Store, plug it into your auxiliary port (or in our case, turn up the volume really high) and start driving! We rented a cute Fiat from Enterprise for the day.

We stayed right next to Diamond Head so we started our driving tour there. We were going to stop at Pearl Harbor, but that particular day was sold out. If you plan to visit the Memorial, get tickets well in advance! They sell out fast and there's no guarantee you'll get a free one on site. You can get them here. So instead we got on the highway and headed to the Dole Plantation!

We ate Dole Whip and walked around the gift shop. We didn't take the Plantation tour, we heard it was overrated. If you went, what did you think?

We hopped on the car and drove past so many fields. Hawaii is so beautiful. The weather was breezy and kinda warm – enough to keep the windows down. We headed up to the North Shore. We stopped at Matsumoto for their famous shaved ice. We got the guava-flavored shaved ice. It was delicious and the perfect (first) snack for the drive.

After passing the surf shops, we arrived at one of the many beaches, parked and walked over to the sand. We walked over rocks and around the shore. The cloudy day was definitely feeding my soul. It was the perfect temperature.

As we headed out of the area, I spied a shrimp truck in a gas station and no, it wasn't the famous Giovanni's. It was a giant blue truck that would quickly change our life. [I mean, I just told Alex if he remembers it and he closed his eyes and sighed. It's that good!] We stopped at the Blue Water Shrimp Truck and got a garlic shrimp plate to share. The plate was huge — packed with rice, pineapple and delicious shrimps with an amazing sauce on top. If you're ever in the area, make sure to stop by. You won't regret it! We pondered on getting more, but we knew we had more shrimp trucks after this.

Our next stop was Turtle Beach, where sea turtles hang out by the shore and you can see them up close. There's a volunteer group that keeps an eye on tourists and makes sure that no one disturbs them, but you can still get really close. To get there, you park on the side of the road and cross the street to the beach. It's really easy to get to and the app tells you when you get there as there's no sign.

We stopped at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck for another snack and it was a bit underwhelming. The shrimp were chewy, small and didn't have much flavor. It was much more expensive for way less food. I know this is a popular stop but I personally did not think it lived up to the hype.

My favorite stop of the tour was Lai'e Point. We parked our cars and saw the large islet in the distance with a giant hole in it. The waves in this area are large and powerful. The fog made everything better. I'm a huge fan of cloudy, rainy days so I'm glad it turned out that way.

We skipped the Polynesian Cultural Center and stopped at the Chinaman's Hat. Since it was raining at this point, none of the pictures came out. Our next and last stop was the Byodo-In Temple. It was pouring by the time we got there. Even then, I'm glad we stopped. The temple was built in 1968 to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. It made us nostalgic for our Japan trip.

We got back around 5 p.m. and returned our car to Enterprise. (Pro tip: Just rent your car for one day at a time since parking fees in Hawaii are crazy high! We used Kayak to rent ours for about $35/day) That night we stopped for some ramen at Marakame Udon. It was a delicious and cheap treat! I strongly recommend Gypsy Guide for your Oahu road trip since you can stop whenever and enjoy the scenery. It was nice to see the island without the pressure of a group tour.

Have ever done a road trip in Hawaii or elsewhere in the world? 

Read more about our scuba diving experience in Oahu here and how we found cheap tickets to Hawaii here. 

These pictures were taken on February 2014. You can download Gypsy Guide here.

Scuba Diving in Oahu

I've always wanted to scuba dive and since we were going to Hawaii, I figured no time like the present. After some research, we decided to go with Aqua Zone.

They had great reviews, it was affordable, they offer a free beginner's pool training session and it was walking distance from our condo. We arrived around 8:30 a.m. for our pool session. It ended up being quite fun. Our instructor Christina was patient with us and told us about her underwater adventures and travels while we learned the mysteries of the sea. After the one-hour long session, we headed to the van and off we went to the harbor.

Our first dive was great! We got to see several sea turtles. They are so majestic. It's so sad that they are endangered.

I decided not to go on the second dive due to a mild panic attack I had while in the water. I was just overwhelmed by everything, being 40 feet underwater and all. But I am so glad I did it! My instructor was amazing. She sat with me and calmed me down before they went on the second dive. She even held my hand while we were underwater during the first dive. Really sweet. Alex got to touch an octopus during the second dive so I really missed out (AH!)

While I enjoyed my dive, I'm not sure if/when I'll be going underwater again. Apparently I'm claustrophobic? Who knew. I wrote about it here.

Tip: If you book with them, make sure to book online. They offer a 20% discount if you book online and LIKE their Facebook page.

Thanks to Aqua Zone for a great diving experience. All underwater pictures were provided by them at a low cost.  All images taken on February 2014.

Next up! Hawaii

We are going to Hawaii! More specifically, Oahu.

As usual, I was scrolling through different airfares during my lunch hour when I spotted an airfare I just couldn't ignore. $400 round-trip from Atlanta to Honolulu? That's a HUGE bargain. The flights from Atlanta are usually in the upper $700-$1,200.

Thanks to United Airlines' awesome option to lock your fare for a small fee for either 72 hours or 7 days, I was able to lock two tickets at that price for 7 days for only $20 to discuss with Alex later. We had to go over certain things since we are leaving in just 25 days to Japan. Can we afford the ticket? What about lodging? The trip is in February so we would have a bit of time to plan it out. We slept on it and last night, after thinking about it for a couple of days, we decided we could do it with a bit of money planning. Because if not now, when? Seattle, our original February trip, can wait a bit longer.

So we are going! We already booked an awesome condo for a great price via VRBO. It took us a bit of searching since most places were booked (crazy!) but we found one and it's near everything. If you haven't checked this site out, it's pretty awesome and a great, usually cheaper, alternative to hotels. You can rent condos, cottages or houses through their vacation rental listings. It's safe and there are reviews you can check out. They have places around the world! It's similar to Airbnb, except without the fee.

I will post more about the activities we have planned in Oahu and where we are planning to go. We are only there for 5 days so we have to prioritize what we want to do and make an actual itinerary.

With only a bit of planning, you can make these trips happen. Always have price alerts out for your area, you never know when your dream vacation will go on sale. Use Kayak, Skyscanner or sign up for airfarewatchdog e-mail newsletter.

We are beyond excited. Ready for mai-tais by the beach.