Honolulu Airport Tour | Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) | Hawaii [4K]

Today we are transiting through Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. It is the largest airport in the State of Hawaii. The airport is located in Honolulu on the island of O’ahu. We are landing around 6:40 AM, which means it is still about 25 minutes before sunrise.

The airport is named after Daniel Inouye, Hawaii U.S. Senate representative from 1963 to his death in 2012. It is the main hub of Hawaiian Airlines. Besides many inter-island flights it also offers direct flights to North America, Asia, and Oceania.

We took the earliest flight from the Big Island. So, we start with getting some coffee from the Starbucks conveniently located right next to our arrival gate. Now we can start our tour by checking out a souvenir shop next to the Starbucks. We got all our presents on the Big Island, but we have plenty of time, so let’s still check it out.

These Lilikoi Cakes are really good, but they are not from Hawaii.

Most of the other food products here seem to be made on the islands. You can also grab a pineapple here. Let’s explore the rest of the airport. We arrived at Terminal 1 that contains A and B gates and serves inter-island flights. The Hawaiian Airlines “Premier Club” and “Plumeria Lounge” are located in this terminal.

The video about these lounges will be posted on our channel shortly. So, make sure to subscribe to our channel if you want to see it. But let’s check the most unique feature of this airport…

Four cultural gardens that are located inside both terminals. That’s by far our favorite place in this airport. This is the C.B. Lansing Garden.

It is located between gates A and B. It was was constructed in 1995 and named after chief Aloha Airlines flight attendant, who died in the line of duty on April 28, 1988. It is a really nice garden with many typical Hawaiian plants and a great place to relax waiting for your next inter-island flight. It is rarely crowded since most people prefer to wait for their planes at overcrowded gates for some reason.

But our next plane is international, so we are heading to the terminal 2 of the airport.

Let’s check the map. Terminals 1 and 2 are connected by a walkway. Many flights from Terminal 2 are leaving for the mainland. So, in order to get there you need to pass the agricultural inspection. So, yes, you will have to put your carry-on bag through the X-Ray machine here again.

Now we are in the Terminal 2 The first gates in Terminal 2 are C gates This open air walkway leads us there. This is where ANA, Korean Air and some Asia-bound Hawaiian Airlines flights are departing from. There are 6 Starbucks in this airport, ensuring that you can get well caffeinated before your next flight. There only one Dunkin’ near A gates in the newest part of the airport that we, unfortunately, skipped on this tour. This is where the ANA lounge is located.

We visited this lounge during this trip. We will post the review of this lounge shortly. Meanwhile let’s go back and continue exploring the airport.

We are now back to the main walkway and continue our walk from gates A to gates H. Many areas of the terminal are open allowing fresh breeze to come through.

So this airport is part a botanical garden and part a Daniel K. Inouye museum. You can find exhibits like this in different areas of the airport It is also a bit of a shopping mall, but this part didn’t fully recover yet after the travel disruption in the last two years. Terminal 2 has some unique items on sale that are not present in the Terminal 1 shops You can even get a frozen pie here! But that’s enough shopping, let’s check the rest of Terminal 2.

As we continue walking from C gates towards G gates… we encounter a small sign pointing to cultural gardens. And this is where we are heading.

There are 3 cultural gardens in this area: Chinese, Japanese and Hawaiian.

We are starting with the Chinese Garden. It’s calm and peaceful here and only occasional TSA announcements remind us that we are still in the middle of an airport terminal. There is a koi fish pond in this garden. You can also find plenty of benches and even a pavilion where you can sit and relax.

.. …

in a company of a few resident ducks. Let’s check other gardens. The Hawaiian Garden is the biggest of the three and we will check it last. Let’s now explore the Japanese Garden. It is still quite early in the morning.

But in the evening these stone lanterns glow softly illuminating the area. This pagoda was donated by Hawaii’s Japanese community on the Centennial Anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. There are numerous sculptured pine and weeping willow trees here.

There is also a koi fish pond,..

. a waterfall, numerous sculptures, and… a wood shingle-roofed shelter with a zig-zag bridge leading to it.

Such bridges are said to focus the walker’s attention to the mindfulness of now. Some also say they keep away evil. Finally, let’s check the Hawaiian Garden. Here you can also find lagoons filled with koi fish Some kukui nut trees, ginger and ti plants Some birds of paradise and banana plants. It’s hard to even remember that we are in the middle of a busy international airport.

And there is a taxiway behind this building. Beautiful white ginger lily next to a waterfall. What a great place to wait for your next plane to depart! I wish we could stay here longer, but we need to continue our airport tour. We are now walking from the Cultural Gardens towards G and H gates.

More shopping space, but as you can see many shops are still closed. The airport is quite big – the walking distance between new A gates and H gates is about 1 mile (1.6 km). So there is a bus called Wiki Wiki Shuttle that runs between gates.

We are almost at the end of the airport.

This open air walkway leads us to the last gates – G and H And here is that Wiki Wiki Shuttle I mentioned before. Qantas, Asiana Airlines, and United Airlines planes depart from these gates. This is also where the United Club is located. We visited the United Club here and will post the video review shortly. That completes our tour of the airport, but it is only the beginning of our journey.

More videos will be posted shortly. So, if you liked this video, please 👍 and subscribe. Until next time!.

Sell your Home for a $5000 flat Fee Full service Soldier to Soldier