"We got off the plane and went straight to one of my favorite places to eat on the island, Ono Steaks and Shrimp Shack. They have an amazing ahi tuna and shrimp plate. I was dreaming of it during pregnancy."

"Then we checked into our VRBO at one of our favorite beaches, Kailua, which is on the southeastern part of the island. It’s a really popular area, particularly for tourists. It gives me retirement vibes. There’s a trail nearby called Lanikai Pillbox and two little islands you can look out to. A lot of people will kayak between Lanikai and Kailua beaches. It’s an ideal place to stay."

"Once we settled in, we caught the sunset on the beach and grabbed dinner from a little bakery called Kalapawai Market. I got pizza."

"That night, we went down to Waikiki, which is about 30 minutes away, and walked around. It’s super touristy and more of a city. There are tall buildings and malls galore. Even though it’s really touristy, there’s lots of traditional stuff like the Royal Hawaiian hotel. There’s also really good shaved ice and a really good view of Diamond Head. You can get a lot of those postcard-looking beach photos."

"We woke up and got breakfast from this little café called Morning Brew. I got banana pancakes and my husband, Franco, got a bagel."

"I also got a smoothie from Lanakai Juice. It’s an amazing smoothie place that I’ll definitely return to."

"Later we drove to Halona Beach Cove. It’s about 30 minutes away. It was kind of crowded, so we kept driving around the island and headed north. We ended up stopping at a beach we saw while driving called Ka’a’awa beach. Great view."

"Eventually we got hungry, so we headed to Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck, another place that we love. We got married on Oahu in 2018, and we had our rehearsal dinner there."

"After we ate, we ended up stopping at Sunset Beach, a popular surfing beach on the north shore of Oahu. We ended up watching the surfers for a bit, and then we went to get shaved ice at Malia’s Hawaiian Shave Ice."

"We caught the sunset at one of my favorite beaches, Nānākuli Beach Park."

"We did a private boat tour that took us out to the Kaneohe sandbar. It’s an amazing sandbar in the middle of the ocean that you can kayak or boat to."

"Afterward, we stopped at a Leonard’s Bakery truck. It’s very popular there. They make these little fried dough balls called malasadas, and they have cinnamon sugar on top."

"Then, we went to Teddy’s Bigger Burgers, and it was great. It’s a Hawaiian chain. I got the Kaneohe, which has garlic, avocado, bacon, and cheddar. After we ate, we went back to the beach."

"Later on, we were really craving hibachi. We headed to Waikiki and got teppanyaki from Tanaka of Tokyo Central. It was really good and reasonably priced."

"When we got off the flight to Kauai, we were hungry, so we grabbed shrimp at Savage Shrimp. It’s located in the Shops at Kukui’ula, which is a strip mall."

"We also got shaved ice from Uncle’s Shave Ice, which was amazing."

"After, we drove over to Poipu Beach. It’s very popular. Beautiful warm water, lots of people snorkeling. Great views for a sunset. We swam and chilled to watch the sunset."

"Then we got pizza from Brick Oven Pizza. After that, we went home and went to sleep."

"For breakfast, we went to Anuenue Café — they have amazing French toast. We got the Hawaiian sweet bread French toast topped with berry and lemon curd."

"From there, we drove around the island until we found this beach called Anini — it’s located on the north shore. It’s super shallow, clear, and warm. There weren’t very many people, so it was great for social distancing. It ended up being our favorite beach on the island."

"After that, we went to a Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge, which has a cool lighthouse. We went to the lookout. One of the big attractions in Kauai is the Nāpali coast, which are these big, green luscious mountains that run alongside the ocean."

"We, being the explorers that we are, drove to the beach over there, Polihale State Park. In order to get there, you have to drive off road a bit. We saw people driving in regular cars, but I would recommend a car you can take off road. Once you get there, you can walk out to the beach and get great views of the coast."

"That same day we also went to Waimea Canyon State Park, which was epic. There’s a huge canyon and you can drive up to a little viewpoint called Waimea Canyon lookout. You drive up to the lookout and you can see the huge gaping canyon."

"We got takeout at Keoki’s Paradise back at the Poipu Shopping Village, it was very good."

"We slept in and got breakfast at Java Kai. I got their avocado toast with egg whites. It was really good, your typical healthy café vibe."

"It almost feels like you’re in Thailand because the mountains meet the sand. It’s a very locals-only vibe."

"For our last night, we went to an actually nice dinner at Beach House Restaurant. You need reservations. We shared the pork potstickers. My husband got the seafood linguini and I got filet mignon."