Flying from San Jose to Honolulu to look for condos. What's this chicken image for?
Ah, the first San Jose flight had a bunch of baby chickens.
We got lucky and had an empty seat in our row, so Ogii could lie down to sleep.
Arriving in Honolulu.
Cute turtles.
Mural at the Honolulu airport.
This lei stand is closed, although it's already 9:30am.
Nobody in line at the car rental.
My favorite blue skyscraper, Anaha, with the alternating chunks of floors and the glass-botton pool that extends over the edge.
Nauru Tower, which is round with a section sticking out the back.
Hawaiki Tower, also with pieces sticking out.
The Moana Pacific Towers, which Ogii likes. Wikipedia actually has a list of these tall buildings with pictures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Honolulu
Stopping at Walmart.
They also sell leis, but they only have the pretty ones, not the ones that smell really good.
Tourist section.
An entire aisle of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts.
Mural of a surfer.
The store is open 6am to 11pm. The vision center is also open every day, still fairly long hours.
Although the optometrists are only there 9am to 4pm Monday through Saturday.
We rented a storage unit for a month so we could bring over some of our stuff now in our luggage.
All clothes we put into trash bags to keep it clean.
It's not too expensive, although they do charge you for their lock and you're required to purchase their insurance. Also various other fees.
Lunch at a little brewery.
Nice inside.
A fair number of beers.
The bar.
They actually have a club you can join, although you'd have to drink a few times a week to make it worthwhile.
Events.
One TV with soccer.
And another with surfing.
Our food and drinks.
We were planning on looking at five condos to rent.
The first one was in Waikiki.
View from the balcony.
Living room.
A view of the harbor and canal.
I like stone showers.
A shared area on the upper floor.
Wraparound view.
Also a gym.
And a pool.
It was pretty rainy for a bit.
Some of the roads had water built up.
Hitting a big puddle.
Our hotel.
It had a little convenience store.
My socks and shoes were wet from the rain, but it was still very warm, not cold, so I didn't mind.
Italian for dinner at Bravo.
Fairly busy.
Great food.
We didn't look at this place, but the number is fun.
These two are both 2 bed, 2 bath, but the one is much more expensive.
That's partially because the more expensive one is in a nicer building, but also the cheaper one is leasehold, where you only temporarily own the unit. So buying that is basically expensive renting, and most people don't recommend it. Although if you plan to die before the leasehold expires, you don't plan to sell before then, and you don't want to leave anything to surviving relatives, it can be cheaper than renting for the same period, as the lease won't go up. Leaseholds are also more common in the more expensive and therefore nicer buildings.
A little area with lots of Asian stores.
Breakfast at BLD.
They don't take cash, only credit.
Whereas the boba place across the street...
... is the opposite. So good to always have some cash and some credit cards.
Neat murals and a neat tree.
Second condo we looked at, also in Waikiki, along the canal to the east.
We like the laminate flooring.
View of the canal from the lanai.
Pool below.
The same realtor had another place he hadn't put on the market yet nearby, so we looked at that, too.
It was a lot bigger.
Bedroom and work nook.
A block away from the canal.
The next place we visited, Waipuna, was the one we were most interested in. It had many small stores just across the street: A 7-Eleven, an Irish pub, massages, and a little cafe.
Some other units for rent and for sale.
I like the map that shows where each unit is.
Living room.
Bathroom.
Checking the water pressure.
The kitchen appliances are a bit old.
Although they do have air conditioning, which not all places have.
We were mostly in love with the lanai.
A great view of the coast and Diamond Head, especially because the unit is very high. Lower floors don't have nearly as good of view.
They also have a ton of amenities, including a library.
Saunas.
A small exercise room.
Putting green and driving net.
Squash courts.
Pool.
Parking is very hard to find around Waikiki, but there's a garage nearby.
And a little area with various shops, Eaton Square.
There's even a small post office.
Open area.
A Japanese cake shop and small grocery store, too.
Ogii by the north section of the canal.
Someone kayaking.
Then we looked at 1676 Ala Moana Blvd.
Sliding doors.
A bit cramped in the bathroom.
The lanai.
View of the harbor.
Cool building.
Ke Kilohana, another blue skyscraper, with huge yellow squares.
Corvette repair shop.
Next we looked at 801 South St. There is a huge public garage nearby, but it's not open on nights and weekends, so not that useful, although the condo complex itself has a huge garage.
Lobby.
It's always good to check out the bulletin board to see what's going on.
The unit.
It has A/C.
The lanai.
Looks east.
Other rooms over here.
Which look south.
And another A/C unit, which is nice.
Two bedrooms.
They're fixing it up.
The Ala Moana mall.
Lots of birds here.
Target and Saks Off 5th.
I want to buy some linen pants, so we're price checking them in different stores.
Awesome door and entry way.
Glasses store and optometrist.
Big Aloha sign.
Surfboards and coolers.
Ogii loves Anthropologie.
This place has large, wrap-around corner lanais.
The next condo we looked at was Ala Wai Plaza Skyrise.
Nice view from the walkway.
It's two stories but small.
Lower lanai.
Looking south.
A/C.
Upper bedroom.
We like the name of this highway: Likelike.
Our favorite mural: from shaka to heart.
Breakfast at Max & Lucy's.
They're open until they run out of food.
Inside.
Meats.
Bakery items.
We got a breakfast bento, which was really good.
Thomas Square, with a huge tree in the center.
Statue.
Quote.
There are many homeless here.
All up the sidewalk.
According to the New York Times updated rent vs buy calculator, we're basically indifferent between the two. We had spent the last few days looking at rental units, so we decided to look at a few places to buy before we flew back home.
There were two units available at The Town House, 1415 Victoria Street. The first one was larger.
Although it was in really bad shape, and we're not really interesting in fixing up a place; we just want to move in.
Nice lanai.
Rooftop.
Pool.
We were interested in this other condo in the same building because it was #1411.
The lanai has nice tile on it.
Off to another building just across the highway. There are so many realtor lock boxes.
Bathroom.
This lanai has storm windows.
A view of a lot of the blue skyscrapers.
And the Tripler Army Medical Center, a giant pink building on a hill. The problem with these last three is they're all right by the highway, so even with the windows closed, it's very loud.
Love this whale mural by the airport.
The airport has some nice wall art.
Thank you for visiting.
Leaving.
The island.
Another island.