Red Sunburn & Pink Frangipanis: a Hawaiian dream

SMELLTRAVEL
Written By Lila Theodoros

Take me to: The Royal Hawaiian –Waikiki, Hawaii

The smell of frangipani always, without fail, pulls me back in time to a holiday spent in Honolulu, Hawaii. Years ago, inspired by visions of turquoise water, swaying coconut palms, lush rainforests dripping with vibrant-hued flowers, ukulele fuelled dance parties and cocktail dreams served poolside, I booked a last minute flight and took my son to Hawaii.

Words & Photos:
Lila Theodoros

 

I was brought up on a healthy dose of classic movies so my popular culture references for our Hawaii experience were thickly laced with visions of Big Kahunas hanging ten at Waikiki Beach, hibiscus flowers lining the tropical green roads, and, of course, being ceremoniously draped with lush floral leis as soon as we stepped off the plane in Honolulu – Aloha. So, I had very high and specific expectations for our Hawaii getaway.

My Hawaii fantasy proved to be a little off … at first. We arrived in Honolulu International Airport on the island of Oahu, mid-morning after an overnight Hawaiian Airlines flight from Brisbane, Australia (thankfully avoiding any extended stopovers and making travelling with my four year old son as easy as possible). After being disappointed at receiving no leis on the tarmac on arrival, we jumped into a cab and headed straight over to famous Waikiki – a beach-front neighbourhood of Honolulu located on the south shore of the island.

 
 

The Pink Palace of the Pacific is a retreat from the chaos of modern Waikiki – we enter through the sweeping pink archways, are greeted by staff and covered in floral and Kukui seed leis.

Once a retreat for Hawaiian royalty in the 1800s, Waikiki is now a dense and buzzing centre for luxury resort hotels, tourist traps and more high-end retail brands than you can pour your recently converted US Dollars into. Enjoy this if you wish, but to truly capture some of that Pacific Paradise dream, move down to the beach. And that’s what we did.

Waikiki Beach – despite the hype, the crowds, the cost – absolutely lives up to its reputation. It is incredible. Framed by ancient Diamond Head, the bluest tropical ocean water shimmers in the bay while hundreds float on longboards, standup paddles boards, tubes and inflatable unicorns. Thousands lie in the bright yellow sunshine, their coconut oil drenched bodies crisping to a holiday acceptable red-orange glow. And among all of this lies The Royal Hawaiian.

Behind the intensity of Waikiki, the desperation of travellers yearning for that perfect pacific paradise holiday experience and throwing money at anything that might secure that dream, lies an oasis – a pink building protectively cocooned between a lush green coconut grove, a beach-front lined with pink umbrellas and the sparkling, turquoise blue pacific ocean.

The Royal Hawaiian, one of Waikiki’s original luxury hotels, opened in 1927 as a six-story, 400-room structure, fashioned in a Spanish-Moorish style.

The Pink Palace of the Pacific is a retreat from the chaos of modern Waikiki – we enter through the sweeping pink archways, are greeted by staff and covered in floral and Kukui seed leis. Dream come true. Big life goals tick!

We stay in the historic building – the original hotel that still features giant rooms, oversized walk in wardrobes and high ceilings. We embrace the style of travel from days gone by. We move slowly through old coconut groves and long open air hallways, enjoying the beautiful details hidden in plain sight – the way the archways frame the palm leaves found thick in the lush and alive surrounding tropical gardens, the symmetry and soothing simplicity of the building design, the softness of the colour palette, pink perfectly contrasting with nature’s greens.

The experience is an incredible mix of old world, sophisticated Pacific Paradise travel and 1920’s American decadence. I imagine past visitors wearing white linen, strolling through the tropical garden, cooling themselves with lace fans, enjoying classic cocktails while rocking in chairs lined up on the grand covered verandahs.

I take us out into the rush of Waikiki to be a ‘good parent’, exploring places like the zoo, the aquarium, but even my son is more inclined to just relax in what he is now calling “his palace”. So we stay, we relax and we marvel at the famous hotel that sits on the famous Waikiki Beach.

And sure, there are more beautiful beaches and much less crowded towns found all over the Hawaiian islands. But Waikiki Beach and places like The Royal Hawaiian have been flaming imaginations for more than a century. It really is cocktails at sunset, vibrant leis dripping with flowers, the Aloha spirit, surfing with Big Kahunas – the carefree tropical dream. Mahalo.

WANT MORE?

The Royal Hawaiian

@royal_hawaiian

royal-hawaiian.com

Lila Theodoros
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