Jaunted

Waimea Bay:
Besides your hotel beach, which is easy to escape to, we loved the calm and not so busy Waimea Bay. Check it out in the video above.

Restaurants, cafés & refreshers:
A 5-minute drive from Waimea Bay, is Haleiwa’s Breaker’s Square, which has got it all. Stop by Café Haleiwa for a morning treat or caffeine break during the day. If you want surfer-style Mexican food, Chollo’s is the go-to spot. For something lighter, Bonzai Sushi is a local pick too.

Haleiwa Joe's Seafood Grill
We opted for a sit down restaurant on the water, Haleiwa Joe’s. Of course, you can’t go wrong with an afternoon Mai-Tai to accompany your lunch either.

Food Trucks and Huts
Since many of us are on a budget, another great meal alternative are the local trucks or huts. Giovanni’s Aloha Shrimp and Romy Shrimp Hut serve fresh garlic shrimp and prawns too for $5-$10. Food for Thought is a lunch wagon serving up organic plates for those on-the-go, including a dish with your choice of rice, veggies, meat and/or fish.

Shaved Ice
If you go anywhere in Hawaii you’ll notice a theme- and we’re not talking about the palm street, hot surfers and super chill attitude, but the shave ice signs everywhere. The refreshing treat is made up of ground ice and flavored syrup. We stopped by the oldest one on the island, Matsumoto, where owner Stanley gave us the all-star shave ice treatment.

Nightlife:
We were entertained at Sheraton Waikiki’s Rum Fire with cocktails and music by Grammy-nominated artist Makana. Then we were welcomed by the Honolulu twitter community with a “tweetup” at Tiki’s Grill and Bar down the street. For those twitter virgins, a tweetup is basically a twitter meetup. We sipped on the special tweetup cocktails while listening to local musicians perform during their Thursday open mic night.

Also only 10 minutes away is Chinatown, where you can enjoy local dive bars, restaurants, karaoke & live entertainment. Indigo is low-key Chinese Mediterannean restaurant, which has special DJ nights Thursday, Friday & Saturday. It also happens to be a favorite hangout for our very own President Barack Obama. Word has it that he likes hang out in the “Red room”. How Hawaiian chic!

Here are a few other places worth checking in Honolulu:
· Bar 35: This place has a huge selection of beers and great thin-crust pizza.
· ThirtynineHotel: Don’t be fooled by the name, it’s not a hotel but rather a slick outdoor bar/lounge space with DJ’s spinning nightly, art exhibits, martinis galore and a fantastic choice of tapas to munch on.
· Side Street Inn: We hear that Side Street Inn is the local dive stop where celeb chefs and foodies like Anthony Bourdain head for a late night bite.

Related Stories:
· Jaunted in Hawaii [Jaunted]

Full Disclosure:
So Much More Hawaii provided transportation and lodging for Shira's trip.