Hawaii Travel Vacations

Obama is taking a vacation in Hawaii to kiss up to his 85 year old white grandma after throwing her under bus?

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/08/11/politics/fromtheroad/entry4341875.shtml

He just took one at Easter at the Virgin Islands and campaigned in Germany. Isn’t that what typical elitist rich people do? Travel all over and forget typical middle class and poor people???

Nope, he can’t, the ol man can out work Curious George in a heart beat. Cindy keeps him in great shape.

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I like to go to New York City or Queens

Hawaii -> Kawai island

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I’m trying to plan a Hawaiian vacation for my husband and myself. It will be my first time to Hawaii, and right now, I’m entirely overwhelmed with all the choices out there. We’re going in August are will be on kind of a tight budget (looking at the air fare alone is stressing me out!) We’d like to stay in a relatively nice and safe hotel and will be there for 7 days.

Do you have any suggestions on where to stay, cheap packages/airlines, and what to do while we’re there, good places to eat, things to see, etc? We’ve decided on visiting Diamond Head for sure and of course at least a day just lounging on the beach, but aside from that, I’m completely lost. Any help or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

As a local resident of Honolulu, I will do the best I can to help you out. First off thanks for choosing to come to the islands. I just hope it’s a warm clear summer for ya.

However, Hilton Hawaiian Village is reasonable around 100 a night and your just minutes from all the major attractions. About 5 mins to Ala Moana Mall, 5 Minutes to Waikiki Beach and 15 minutes to DiamondHead and this hotel is very nice. my friends and I sometimes hang out in the Tiki Room there and order a drink or two. So it’s a chance for us locals to mingle with the friendly tourist.

Check out Expedia.com for some airfair packages. Since you want to visit Diamondhead Waikiki is your best bet.

Continential Surf Hotel is only 50 a night. Parking there can be tight, but it’s a spacious cozy room with a very large bed. My ex-husband and I stayed there one night after we attended a Military Ball.

If you are military you can stay at the military hotels here for about $20.00 a night.

Also, keep in mind there is more to our island than Waikiki and DIamondhead. So you want to find hotels that offer an activities package with your rates. So you can see all the sights and enjoy all of our luaus, polonesian cultural center, and so on. without getting lost or missing anything. You also want to rent a car so you can see things that the package may not offer.

Also, familierize yourself before you get here with our language. I can’t stand watching tv or talking to a tourist (Often well educated) and hearing them pronouce, Kamehameha (KUH MEAH HOWA) the acual pronounciation is, (Kah-Meh-ha-meh-ha)

if you’d like to know more about Hawaii keep up to date on what’s going on here at: http://www.kitv.com so you can get a feel for our news, what’s going on, flight delays, even pick up some Hawaiian words that may be a big help to you once you get here. This site offers the Hawaiian Word of the Day with a Glossery of Hawaiian Words, Phrases and believe me, you will get alot more respect and help from the locals if they see you’re trying hard to learn how to say, Kuhio Ave and Kalakaua Ave and so on, correctly!!!!

In fact, if you’d like. Feel Free to e-mail me at: Diamondheart16@yahoo.com and if a great deal for your time frame pops up, I’ll let ya know. Because I am alsways on the look out for great deals and I hear about them all the time. So, I can help my relatives make a sescision on when to visit.

Last minure Advice, DON"T EAT from room service, you can run up a lot of money really fast. Some of the reasonably priced places at Ala Moana: http://www.assaggioitaliano.com/

I usually walk-in to assaggio’s. It’s a fancy yet casual place to eat with Huge portions of food, so bring your appetite.

Columbia Inn is GREAT for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Alomost everything they have to offer is under 12.00 a plate and again they give alot of food. The average price for a Quality, fresh homestyle meal here is about 8.00. you won’t be disappointed!!!

L&L you have to eat there, just once for experience. Every local here eats at L&L. You have to try a Musubi at least once which can be spam, chicken, hot-dog, beef or anything else you might like. I suggest you try an L&L musibi they make it fresh to order.

Also, yes our RICE STICKS TOGETHER…..Fluffy Rice is not spoken of. Mainland rice SUCKS!!!! Try the local rice believe me if you don’t like rice back home, you may change your mind. Also Jamsmine rice is wonderful and smells good too.

Also, our fish is to die for. If you don’t like Fish, please try Mahi Mahi or Marlin, you may change your mind and find you love fish…..Ocean fish has more flavor than fresh water fish.

Although, I was borna nd raised in Hawaii I have been to the mainland. My first experience was with uncle Ben’s Rice, can’t stand the stuff.

Back to resturants, ther is one specifically, on Kuhio where you can get a Steak and Seafood (Lobster) for 10.95 it’s an in House Special, You’ll see the sign on the window, you can’t miss it.

Also alot of places in Waikiki Have the 2.95 breakfast specials where you can get pancakes with Coconut Syrup, Meat and Eggs (Any Style) add 2.00 for Mac Nut PanCakes.

You can check out the International Food Court at Ala Moana: http://www.alamoana.com/diningdirec.htm as well as some of the stores and finer places to eat.

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The ABBA cartoon of a song called Happy Hawaii.

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http://www.mahinakai.com Gay B&B on Kauai, Hawaii

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This is a beautiful reef that is home to a vast array of marine life and great for snorkeling. During winter, the waves reach soaring heights of forty to fifty feet, and the reef is submerged.Turtles are also frequently sighted in the cove. Sharks Cove can be found on the North Shore in Oahu.

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1. You are married to a man named Joshua and just moved into a 3 bedroom stone craftsman house in Colorado. You have a job as either an author or a singer, which one do you choose?

2. One day you begin feeling sick. You see a doctor and find out you are pregnant, with triplets! You can’t believe it. It is one boy and two girls. If you chose author all first names have to be after famous writers or book characters, if you chose singer, all first names have to be of your favorite singers or have to do with music. All middle names should be the same amount of syllables.

3. You love your triplets, and you love motherhood. When they are 4 you all take a skiing trip to Aspen and have a great time. So great that when you come home you wind up pregnant. This time it is with a twin boy and girl! First names can be your favorite boy and girl names, one of the middle names must be Aspen, and one has to do with winter or snow (you can pick for either the boy or girl).

4. The triplets are now 6, twins are now 4, they all get along pretty well. During the summer you all take another vacation, do you go to Hawaii or to Disneyland in California?

5. Another great trip leads to another great night. You are pregnant again! This time it is just with one, you are relieved. You find out it is a girl. If you went to Hawaii give her a Hawaiian first name and any middle name, if you went to Disneyland give her a Disney Princess name, any middle name.

6. Five years later and six kids later you definitely feel you are done. Your career has also taken off. If you are an author what genre do you write? If you are a singer what type of music do you sing? You are very cramped in the house so you move. Do you move to a large beautiful Victorian house or a modern glass mansion?

7. It is a year later, you are all settled in. The triplets are about to graduate 6th grade, the twins are 10 years old, and your little girl is 6. You are thinking about another trip for just the two of you, until plans change. You are pregnant again! It was unplanned but you are happy. It is twin boys! If you chose the Victorian house give them old fashioned first and middle names, if you chose the modern house give them trendy, modern names and middle names.

8. (Optional) Your kids are all grown up now, what do they do for jobs, where do they live, and are there any grandkids? Thanks for playing!
Mine:

1. Author
2. Nathan Blake, Holden Wes, and Juliet Rose
3. Brody Aspen and Hallie Solstice
4. Disneyland
5. Aurora Claire
6. Young Adult Fiction, Victorian
7. Victor Thomas, Kent Matthew
8.

Nathan- Is a journalist in New York, married and has 2 girls Jocelyn and Emma
Holden- Writes short stories for a living, not married no kids yet, lives in Denver
Juliet- Is theatrical actress in San Diego, married has two boys Jack and Anthony
Brody- Loves the Rocky mountains and works as a ski instructor, married with 2 girls Aimee, Carissa, and 1 boy Brandon
Hallie- Is a weather girl for the 6 o clock news in Sacramento, married no kids yet
Aurora- Has her own clothing boutique in L.A. lives with her boyfriend, they have one daughter named Hannah
Victor- Architect, married 3 children Elizabeth, Cora and Lucas
Kent- Serial dater no kids yet

1 – Author

2
- Emmett Lee
- Alice May
- Rosalie Joy

3 – Nathaniel Aspen & Melanie Eirwen

4 – Disneyland

5 – Aurora Elizabeth

6
- Teen Novels
- Victorian house

7 – Sebastian James & Nicholas Edward

Pictures:
Our old house – http://www.homesalesoftallahassee.com/xSites/Agents/debbiekirkland/Content/UploadedFiles/smCraftsman.jpg

Emmett, Alice & Rosalie – http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-8512625-triplets.php

Nathaniel & Melanie – http://www.ygrr.org/Happily_Adopted/kja1104.jpg

Aurora – http://sharikimmeyphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/carly2.jpg

Sebastian & Nicholas – http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/458315397_01925d4543.jpg

Our new house – http://www.ireland-guide.com/_fileupload/image/1181719137IMG_0006.jpg

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Hey all- I’ve been narrowing down my major choices and I think wildlife and agronomy sound the most interesting to me. In case you didn’t know, agronomy is a branch of plant science that deals with field crops. I must truly say that wildlife is my first love, but i’m not sure if it fits as well into the jigsaw puzzle of the rest of my life. I want to travel and be able to have a good job with good pay and job security- it seems like agronomy is just that. I mean, everyone’s gotta eat and develop new plants to feed the world! I was looking on a job website for it too, and jobs studying sugarcane in Hawaii and Jamaica seemed almost plentiful. And of course I could always come back to study corn back in the boonies. However, I feel really strongly about wildlife and I want to help them, and I love animals a lot. It’s saddening though knowing the jobs are pretty much not there. What’s a guy to do? Do i go for my first love, or something cool that’s also practical? Thanks for the help!

I wonder if range management might be a suitable compromise for you? I am not in the industry and don’t know what the job outlook is, but it seems like it ought to be somewhat more secure because it’s less "cool" job than wildlife biologist (so probably less competition) and there is so much rangeland around the world that needs to be taken care of. Again, that’s entirely my supposition, so be sure to do actual research, but as the public grows more aware of the health and environmental benefits of exclusively grassfed meats, I think there is likely to be growing demand for well-managed pasture farming/ranching operations. Additionally, there are many opportunities to help wildlife by maintaining biodiversity on well-managed range, and I know some organizations like the Nature Conservancy employ range managers for their holdings in the West, which often have virgin or restored prairie with bison herds, black footed ferret populations or similar.

Some related websites:

http://www.rangelands.org/index.shtml

http://www.eatwild.com/

http://stockmangrassfarmer.net/

http://www.americangrassfed.org/

http://www.bisoncentral.com/

http://www.wildfarmalliance.org/index.htm

http://www.landinstitute.org/

http://www.prairieplains.org/index.htm

http://www.americanprairie.org/

http://www.grasslandfoundation.org/

http://www.gprc.org/

If you’re not interested in prairies, agroforestry is another somewhat similar field, especially if you find a program that is more sympathetic to the sustainability and environmental issues involved.

http://www.amfor.org/

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/agroforestry.html

http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/

http://www.aftaweb.org/

http://greenbeltmovement.org/

http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/

http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/

http://www.rewilding.org/

http://www.twp.org/

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We’d like to take a vacation without the kids to Hawaii. But we want to find a resort that is adults only. Nothing crazy, we just don’t want to have to deal with other people’s kids.

How can I find such a place and do they exist?

Hawaii tends to be very family-oriented, especially if you are in the major resort areas. Here are some resorts that have less kids:

* On Oahu, I would recommend the Kahala Resort, about 5-10 minutes away from Waikiki in the expensive Kahala neighborhood.

http://kahalaresort-px.trvlclick.com/

* On Maui, the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua has almost no kids, as it is isolated and far from the Kaanapali and Wailea beach action. If you want the "jungle" outside your door, you can check out the famous Hana-Maui Resort (takes a few hours to get there along the famous Hana Highway along the sea cliffs through a rain forest).

http://www.hotelhanamaui.com/

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/KapaluaMaui/Default.htm?utm_campaign=09039&src=ps

* On the Big Island, check out the Mauna Kea Resort, which is the original and northern-most of the Kohala coast 5-star luxury resorts. Families usually stay close to the town of Kailua-Kona or the Waikoloa planned resort community.

http://www.maunakearesort.com/

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My fiance and I got engaged on the 31st of July. We are kind of in a hurry to get married because we have a baby due in January. We have the wedding certificate all ready to go … but I refuse to do a courthouse wedding in fear that a traditional wedding will keep being put off due to the baby. We were going to have a small backyard wedding but we currently live in Minnesota with his family while he works and saves up money. All of my family lives in Kansas and they cannot afford to come up to Minnesota … his family cannot afford to go to Kansas … so we’re in a pickle. Then I thought, well why don’t we just do a small, private wedding, with just the two of us in Hawaii or somewhere. That way, we don’t have to worry about family, the stress and time crunch of planning, location etc. I’ve been looking online for hours trying to find something like a small civil ceremony type thing in an all inclusive wedding package but all of them require processing of the marriage certificate and they include cake, chairs for guests, reception hall, music etc. That’s way too much. We just want to stand on a beach and have somebody perform the traditional readings and we want to stay there for the honeymoon. Does anybody know of any travel agency that offers that sort of thing?
Would it be called a vow renewal if we’ve already had a courthouse wedding in Minnesota? Should I just look for vow renewal packages instead of marriage packages?

Technically it would be considered a vow renewal (in Hawaii or wherever) if you got married in a courthouse first. Call the travel agencies and talk to them about your situation. Just because it says "cake, chairs etc included" doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t customize your "order." Call. It never hurts to and you might find something extraordinary.

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