Exciting to be looking at that kind of trip. Such a unique place with sights, eats and memories a plenty.
Great to hear from someone that’s lived there. I can’t give you that perspective or one of a solo traveler but we stayed at Waikiki for a week last year. Before we went I’d read some of the stories about crime and was wondering what to expect but we didn’t have any issues. So crowded during the day it was hard to imagine anything too serious even though I’m sure like anywhere it can happen. Have read about some of the off-beaten-path places and all the signs and reminders to not leave valuables in your car and will keep that in mind on our next trip if we get a vehicle.
The homeless can be a bit of an eye opener. We didn’t have any issues but ran into one tourist that had their vehicle hit up with an egg in what I guess you’d call a dispute with one of them.
We booked an Airbnb around the same time we booked flights. Seemed more reasonable than what the hotels were asking and as long as an Airbnb has enough reviews you can usually get a good idea what you’re getting. Someone with a better perspective on traveling solo might have a different view on Airbnb vs hotel.
Rented a Jeep for one day and did a loop around the island to get a better sense for where we were. So glad we did, some great stops along the way that we’ll remember forever. At one point we needed lunch and did stop at a town on the East side of the island that was surprisingly run down looking/feeling. Got out, picked up our food and got back into the vehicle in pretty quick order as it didn’t feel the safest but maybe that was just my brain switching from waikiki mode!
As far as how many days, I try to factor in how much travel we’re having to do and how much adjusting we’ll be doing on the first day from the time zone difference and in our case a late arrival. We had 7 days total plus our travel day on either end. Could never get enough of that view but probably could’ve done everything we wanted in a day or two less if we had to!