There is no wrong way to enjoy to beauty of Hawaii, land, sea and sky are all impressive and have a way of making you forget you are 'in the United States'.
Only a few minutes after booking our flights to Hawaii (about a month or so in advance) we booked a helicopter tour of Oahu. Booking ‘excursions’ in advance is one of Serkan’s favorite ways to plan our trips. He builds the rest of our itinerary around the ‘main events’.
Travel Preparation
“I am your go-with-the-flow kind of travel companion. My job is to research all of the beautiful destinations we visit.”
I am personally no good at planning these things when I travel I am your go-with-the-flow kind of gal. Now combine my need to know everything about where we are going (Serkan calls me Queen Koogle) with his meticulous planning and we have a winning adventure full of exploring and learning!
Building Anticipation and Excitement
Engulfing every image of this beautiful island across social media prior to booking made the decision to take a tour of #Oahu from above a no brainier. Everyone has their go-to booking site, right? You know the place you always look first, #Expedia is that for Serkan and I. We love their bundles and the rewards points are always put to good use! Just like #TripAdvisor, we trust the comments and rating and *knock on wood* we have not been disappointed yet!
Novictor Helicopter Tours
“ Soaring over the turquoise waters, you’ll venture around Diamond Head’s crater, fly past white sand beaches and glimpse landmarks only visible by air such as Sacred Falls and the dense rainforests found on the interior of the island.”
Novictor Aviation was one of the top-rated helicopter tours on the Big Island. Without hesitation, we scheduled our flight! For both of us, it would be our very first helicopter ride. There was a solid high-five and a classic ‘Another one to add to the list!’ from Serkan. Watching him plan our trip is, for me, one of my favorite parts. His excitement is infectious. I had no doubt the #NovictorHelivopters would delivery the flight of a lifetime!
You can’t imagine how much there is to see while floating above #Hawaii. It feels like you are watching a blockbuster film, and in reality, you kind of are. So many motion pictures have been filmed here, 50 First Dates, Jurassic Park, and King Kong just to name a few. Oh, and if you were ever a Gilligans’s Island fan, the actual island used for the filming of the 1960’s classic is just off the north shore of Oahu.
Fly with the Doors Off
We opted for #NoDoors for our flight. Something I was a bit apprehensive of, but you only live once, Right after take off we flew over the Waikiki and Honolulu area. With the As luck would have it, only 5 minutes into the flight we were looking down at a mother and baby #Humpback
Whale from more than 1,200 feet in the air. From that high they look like a child’s toy sunken to the bottom of the bathtub. Regardless of the distance, seeing these creatures in their natural habitat is priceless. Some of my favorite memories from our trips are the ones we didn’t capture on camera. This is one of those moments (we did try, promise).
To the North Shore
As you continue around the Big Island, you come across Diamond Head, a 300,000 year old crater formed by volcanic activity. (No need to worry, this baby has been extinct for over 150,000 years.) Then there is the iconic Hawaiian mountains and the pristine shorelines. If you have the opportunity to explore Oahu from the sky be sure to ask your guide to show you the forbidden forests! There is so much to take in that it can be just a bit overwhelming. Thankfully our guide pointed out all of the movie sets you can imagine, he showed us coral reefs and even pointed out a massive sandbar we explored a few days later! He showed us the #DolePlantation and #PearlHarbor as well. There is so much history in Hawaii, some we were gravely aware of and most was all very new and exciting to learn. The information shared with us in-flight fueled the rest of our day and the rest of our week!
Taking the tour on the first full day of our trip was a smart decision (snaps for Serkan). It gave us the chance to see the entire island and it’s external beauty. The seven days to follow would be filled with exploring its inner beauty! If you are thinking of taking a trip soon Hawaii is just as convenient as it is beautiful! Think #Maldives within the #UnitedStates!
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