WHERE TO STAY
We loved our stay at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. We actually booked it through a travel agent, which meant that we got a much better deal than we could have ever found online. Then, something incredibly awesome and lucky happened - the girl at the check-in desk offered us a free upgrade, so we got a room with a balcony that overlooked the ocean and Kalakaua Avenue! I'm not sure how or why it happened, but thanks, Hyatt Regency! (Side note - we never pay for a luxe room online. We always try to book the cheapest room that we wouldn't mind staying in, and then ask about upgrades when we get there if we're feeling fancy. It tends to be cheaper, and apparently, you never know when you might get upgraded for free!)

HOW TO GET AROUND
If you don't rent a car on Oahu, you're going to be limited to Waikiki and wherever the extremely slow city bus can take you. We decided to save money by only renting a car for three days. On the days that we didn't have a car, we laid on Waikiki beach, bummed around at the pool, took a shuttle that we booked through our hotel to Pearl Harbor, and hiked Diamond Head (a $20 taxi will get you there). Dolphin Excursions offered transportation from our hotel for $15 a person or so, which saved us the cost and time of renting a car that day as well. When we needed a car, we booked through the Enterprise car rental a few blocks away from our hotel. There were several car rental chains with offices at our hotel, but they were double the cost...like $280 or $300 per day! Because our hotel had a $30 overnight parking fee, we simply returned the car each day and rented a new one every morning. (Except for the day we needed to get up early to go the surf competition.)

Oh, and if you're planning to rent a car, bring your own GPS system or a car phone charger so that you can use the directional system on your phone without running low on batteries. We had to pay an extra $12 per day to use the same Garmin we had at home.

DINING ON A BUDGET
Food on Waikiki is so expensive! It's easy to spend $50 on hamburgers and sodas for two. Luckily, we're not big eaters (not to mention the fact that spending time in the sun and being in a swimsuit all day kind of kills your appetite), so we just did one big meal a day. The rest of the time, we happily ate granola bars from the ABC market, frozen yogurt, or other random snacks.

Hands-down, our favorite place on Waikiki was Duke's - a great restaurant if you're looking for an old-Hawaii vibe and don't mind splurging (in budget and calories). Once we got off Waikiki, the food was much more affordable and I felt like we had more non-chain restaurants to choose from. My favorite meal was actually the spinach-and-black bean burrito I ordered from a food truck outside the surf competition.

 ACTIVITIES
We rented paddle boards from Tropical Rush Surf Co. in Haleiwa and loved it. The guys were super friendly and you get a free shave ice with every purchase. We paddled up the nearby river and saw dozens of huge sea turtles swimming around and basking in the sun. The river is right next to the Tropical Rush parking lot, so we didn't need to worry about hauling the boards around or trying to strap them to the top of our rental car.

We also tried to rent snorkel gear - with less success. Keep in mind that if you go to the North Shore in the winter, the surf is going to be high and it might be tricky to find a safe place to snorkel. Learn from our mistakes and save your money until you check the surf conditions!

We really can't say enough good things about Dolphin Excursions. Everyone involved was incredibly nice and seemed just as excited as the tourists whenever they spotted dolphins or turtles. Dolphin Excursions headquarters is located an hour's drive from Waikiki in Waianae, so I'd recommend paying a little extra for the shuttle service. It's hard to find, plus you can sleep all the way home like I did! Also, don't bring anything on the boat that can't get wet. There's a compartment for cameras and shirts, but I noticed water pouring in every time they opened the lid.

MARA HOFFMAN

I've spent every spring for the last 15 years trying to make myself look decent in a bikini. The unavoidable truth is that the more clothes I wear, the better I look. If corsets and ballgowns ever come back in style, I am going to be so hot.

Anyway, I'm loving this Mara Hoffman suit. Basically, I love everything that Mara Hoffman makes. We don't have any Madewell shops in town (shocker, right?), so if anyone tries it on in person, please let me know. Be honest - did your ladies fall out? I don't want to pay $200 if I have to worry about pulling a Janet Jackson every time I wear it.

> Oh, and the bikini is pretty awesome too.

PACKING FOR OAHU: DON'T FORGET YOUR...

1. SUN HAT Tanning used to be one of my favorite guilty pleasures, but I gave it up in college so that I won't look like an old leather bag by the time I'm 40. Now, I wear sunscreen and try to keep my face, neck, and chest shaded whenever I'm at the beach or pool. This hat definitely made an appearance in most of my pics.

2. SWIMSUITS I bought an adorable swimsuit from JCrew, but shipping was delayed and it arrived at my front door about the same time I was landing in Oahu. I thought it would be easy to buy a suit in Wakiki, but all the beachwear shops seemed to carry the same half-dozen swimsuits...in sizes XL or XXS only. I finally snagged this suit at the Victoria's Secret in Waikiki, but even they had slim pickings. Moral of the story - if you're picky about swimwear or have a hard-to-fit figure, start swimsuit shopping well in advance and don't count on finding something you love on the island.

3. SELF-TANNER I have tried just about every tanning lotion under the sun, and this is my hands-down fav. I can even wear it to bed without complaints from my husband, who usually banishes me to another room because he hates the smell of self-tanner so much. Also, it's easy to apply, didn't make me break out, and turned my skin noticeably darker. Win, win, and win.

4. GO PRO We had so much fun with our Go Pro. Even if you're not doing anything super daring (we certainly didn't) it's nice to have a camera you can take to the beach without fear of ruining it. Make sure to get the LCD screen so you can see what you're filming!

5. OAHU REVEALED The must-have book for any Hawaii vacation. We loved Kauaii Revealed for our honeymoon and got just as much use out of Oahu Revealed. This book will tell you everything you need to know, from how to get to secret beaches to where to find the best shave ice (Matsumoto's!)

6. SUNSCREEN Save yourself tons of money and stock up on beach essentials at home. The sun screen you can get for $7 at bottle at Target is going to cost twice that in Waikiki. It's a pain to fit them in your suitcase, but you're left with lots of extra room for souvenirs on the way home.

OAHU - DOLPHIN EXCURSION

Our big activity of the trip was the Dolphin Excursions tour. This website promised that we'd get to swim with wild dolphins and see a bunch of other marine life. I was worried that it sounded too good to be true, and was a little nervous about paying in advance. Oh, and our trusty guidebook was kind of "meh" about it, which also made me wonder if we were getting scammed. Luckily, it was more amazing than we could have hoped! The chance to swim with wild dolphins was one of  THE COOLEST experiences of my life. I've swam with dolphins at a marine park in Mexico, but they seemed bored to death and were only interested in the fish the trainer was bribing them with.

These wild dolphins actually seemed to like hanging out with us. We weren't feeding them, but they kept circling back for another look. Maybe they liked the company, or maybe they were just curious about a bunch of clumsy, two-legged mammals swimming in the middle of the ocean. Once we were back in the boat, we headed to a different spot and got to see a humpback whale surface for a split-second. We got back in the water two more times to snorkel with sea turtles and fish. Needless to say, by the time the boat headed back to shore, we were exhausted from all that swimming and definitely felt like we'd got our money's worth.

I I can't say enough good things about these guys. Everyone on the boat was incredibly nice and knowledgeable about the animals. All of the pics in this post were taken by the boat's photographer. He takes photos during the trip, and then you have the option of buying the CD for $50 afterward. It's money well spent, especially considering that our GoPro videos and photos turned out awful.

If you're headed to Oahu and want to give Dolphin Excursions a try, you may want to read my tips here. Matt and I highly recommend it and definitely think it was the best day of our vacation!