Thanks to a last-minute upgrade offer from KLM that had us flying business class from Amsterdam to LA, we weren’t all too horribly broken when we arrived in Honolulu. Still, we’d been traveling for over 24 hours and I, at least, was tired. I had a bit of a worry in LA as I wasn’t able to print out my boarding pass for the last leg of the trip from LA to Honolulu, but it was sorted out by a friendly attendant in LA and all we had to do was sprint across to a different section of the airport terminal to try to get to the gate on time. We had 1.5 hours to get through customs and get my boarding pass printed and it took so long that we only had about 10 minutes of waiting at the gate before boarding began. Phew!

In Honolulu we caught the Dollar Rent-a-Car shuttle to pick up our car, which was waiting for us - a Dodge Caliber. It was HUGE compared to our little Aygo, but was pretty comfortable to drive. Then it was just up to my TomTom iPhone app to get us to the hotel, which it thankfully did without incident.

The hotel was really pretty. Very asian in decoration and style, and the people were very friendly. I especially enjoyed talking to Jerome and Paul. Jerome was always very friendly and has a knack for making himself seem genuinely interested in what you were up to/had been up to. Not to mention he always seemed to know where everything was and was incredibly helpful! Paul was really friendly and sweet, and, as it turned out, a ukulele player, which was very handy for Lennart. Paul gave some advice on where to go to buy a ukulele and then gave Lennart a quick lesson for free.

If you’re looking for a place to stay in Honolulu and would like a hotel with tasteful asian-feeling decor and a ‘personal’ feel, then I highly recommend Hotel Renew!