View from Eriko’s apartment

What attracted me to select Eriko’s apartment were 2 factors: price and views.

Going to Hawaii is already expensive (due to the air ticket) and staying in Hawaii is not a cheap affair either.
Although you can spend really good money for an unforgettable honeymoon, I was looking for something that is not breaking my bank too much and also able to enjoy the sights and sounds of Hawaii.

I mean, afterall, I AM IN HAWAII!!

I looked at many options too: Hotels, motels, service apartments, rentals, homestay, or couchsurfing.
Honestly, Eriko’s apartment wasn’t my first choice.
However, travelling, even at the planning stage, everything is still unpredictable.

The other apartment I was looking at was booked by someone else before me; even though the owner had verbally promised to hold on to its availability for me.

Lesson learnt: Never never trust verbal promises for anything now on.

Fortunately, Eriko came to my rescue. Well, sort of.
Not only she was able to accommodate me within my budget, she offered me free WIFI to help keep within my budget too. Isn’t she lovely??

I was attracted to her apartment initially because of the views but the other apartment prices were much lower. Her apartment was the 2nd choice on my list! And because of the unfortunate incident prior, I got such a blessing instead.

Night view (Apologies for the horrible photo stitching)

The apartment owner, Eriko, (you can tell by her name) Japanese and surprisingly, she had previously lived in Singapore too! She lived in Singapore for 3 years living in Toa Payoh when her husband was posted to Singapore for work.
What a small world!

We chatted briefly while she helped me with checking-in to her apartment and telling me the basics around her apartment.

Her apartment is on located within the premises of a hotel (very much like the concept for St. Regis), so you have the security post and the check-in counters downstairs and all the doors and access were pretty secured as we need to use a resident tap button to access the lifts and building.

Her apartment unit not only looks exactly like what was stated online, it was pretty big when I saw it in person.

Eriko’s apartment: My home for a week in Honolulu, Hawaii

Apartment Toilet

Lobby of Island Colony

I’m pretty sure the next question is “How / Where did you find this fantastic place?”

Well, many friends did ask me that question (chuckles~) and also the question why I didn’t select hotels.

Firstly, this apartment is IN A HOTEL.
Secondly, unfortunately, hotel prices in Hawaii was pretty expensive; for a single occupant especially. Unless you are travelling with a friend who could split the hotel expenses with you, I think rentals are the way to go; for USA in general.

I did not say I don’t like hotels. I love hotels, but it’s bit too expensive to stay alone in one of the most expensive places in the world. So I’ll take the alternative.Well, many friends did ask me that question (chuckles~) and also the question why I didn’t select hotels.

Island Colony Hotel

There are some reviews on her apartment online which talks about the trash point just outside the door of the apartment. I cannot lie, there really is a little smell, but not unbearable actually. Once you are in the living area itself, there isn’t any smell at all.The next reason is that, the hotel have a coin laundry place for me to wash clothes.
I’ll share the coin laundry concept the next time as it really helps me to save a lot of luggage space for more shopping; and it’s pretty cheap, considering it’s USD$2.00 per load for washer and USD$2 per load for dryer. Simply said, you can wash a lot of clothes with USD$4.

While I cannot guarantee that if I can ‘tahan’ the little smell, you can too; but my solution was to spray some room spray/air freshener outside and around the main door area. Seriously, with such a price and view, it’s just one in a million. Or many just a handful in Honolulu, and that also depends if you went off peak or peak season. If you happen to be there on peak season and didn’t book early, I doubt you can even get a room that nice and affordable.

Entry way, Kitchen and Closet (behind my luggages)

Overall, it feels like my aunt’s apartment in America. The carpet colour is the same too!! I really felt at home there and was able to enjoy many blissful sleeps.

The most convenient thing about that apartment is that, if you have special diet needs (eg. If you are Muslim, vegan, etc), the is a kitchen you can use to do your cooking.Overall, it feels like my aunt’s apartment in America. The carpet colour is the same too!! I really felt at home there and was able to enjoy many blissful sleeps.

There is a supermarket up in the next street so it was pretty convenient.

Balcony where I did my homework(Yes I did!) and many nights relaxing and day dreaming…

Some owners are very into details. Owners like Eriko provided things from shower gel to even laundry detergent for the washing machines. So, it’s like your own home, really.

I found Eriko’s apartment from Airbnb, which is a website portal where folks around the world lists their apartment or rooms for rent.

So what exactly was the total cost?

WiFi fee was waived compliments by Eriko.
The room costs me SGD$891.00 in total (based on exchange rate of 1.29).

If you are interested, you can check out Eriko’s apartment on AirBNB.
Here’s the link again: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/497782

This review post is purely based on my own experiences.
Expenses were paid by me and is not sponsored or paid for in any kind.

More stories soon!