Anyone been to Hawaii?

I am starting to research possiblilties of things I should do in Hawaii. Right now, it's just in the planning stages and not definite but I like to be as prepared as possible. ;) Has anyone been, and have any advice on MUST DOs? I've found LOTS of websites but most are travel agencies and I don't trust their reviews so much. I did find the travel channels top ten lists, but any first hand experiences would help me out so much! :sunny:

I -wish-. :)

My husband was there his last deployment and loved it. He's got duty tonight so not home but I'm sure he can come up with a list of MUST DOs for ya. :)

Which island are you planning to go to? I've been to Oahu... It's beautiful!!! The beaches, the water... It was great.


There is also a shrimp farm there that will fry them up for you fresh out of the water. It was AMAZING.

My cousin is there right now. Her mom's family live there so they get to go visit.. lucky eh? I've never been there though.. it'd sure be nice with the weather we've been having here.

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Originally Posted by Entropy

My husband was there his last deployment and loved it. He's got duty tonight so not home but I'm sure he can come up with a list of MUST DOs for ya. :)

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AWESOME! I'd greatly appreciate that. :bow:

I'm also getting my sister to ask a friend of hers that is currently living there. My step sister was there last year as well, so I plan on bugging her as well.

I lived on O'ahu for 6 yrs. Tons of stuff to see. Don't bother with the tourist things in the city get out and expore especially the north and windward sides. I miss it so much. Have fun.

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Which island are you planning to go to? I've been to Oahu... It's beautiful!!! The beaches, the water... It was great.


There is also a shrimp farm there that will fry them up for you fresh out of the water. It was AMAZING.

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The plan is to take a cruise around the islands, and do some excursions that way. We also planned to stay a couple extra days to do anything that we missed. We're willing to island hop to get to wherever the best stuff is! :D

Karl's aunt and cousin live in Hawaii, I can shoot them an e-mail and get some ideas from them if you'd like. I know his cousin and wife own an internet cafe on the Big Island. I forget the name now though.

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

There is also a shrimp farm there that will fry them up for you fresh out of the water. It was AMAZING.

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Oh the Shrimp Farm I loved that place. I used to stop there all the time and get some.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Karl's aunt and cousin live in Hawaii, I can shoot them an e-mail and get some ideas from them if you'd like. I know his cousin and wife own an internet cafe on the Big Island. I forget the name now though.

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AWESOME! You rock! :clap:

E-mail sent! I'll let you know what she says!

I'm really wanting to spend the majority of the time on the beach, in the ocean or surrounded by beautiful rainforest. :love: I'm really not concerned with the best shopping areas, as shopping is not my thing.

I'm glad I thought to ask here. You guys are WONDERFUL! http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...grouphugg1.gif

do the zip line tour at princeville on kuai

I was on Maui for 2 weeks. I almost ran away so I wouldnt have to come back to LA. Haha I cried when our plane landed at LAX.

We didn't have a lot of time to sightsee, since ours was a college choir tour but I got the chance to spend a week on Oahu. Most of the places we got to see were where we were performing, but that included the Army & Marine bases, the Elks' Club (beautiful!) and we did get to go to Pearl Harbor.


I'd suggest the Polynesian Cultural Center. I enjoyed the camps and the firedance performances was great!

Didn't get the chance to, but when I make another trip, I want to ride up to the top of Diamondhead.

And the North Shore is SUCH a pretty area!!!!


R.

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Originally Posted by TheDude

do the zip line tour at princeville on kuai

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There is a hike and zipline possibility on my list! I'm compiling the list as I type. Of course I'm a bit tired and things are starting to blur... so I can't remember which island it is on. I'll double check though.

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Originally Posted by sweety314

We didn't have a lot of time to sightsee, since ours was a college choir tour but I got the chance to spend a week on Oahu. Most of the places we got to see were where we were performing, but that included the Army & Marine bases, the Elks' Club (beautiful!) and we did get to go to Pearl Harbor.


I'd suggest the Polynesian Cultural Center. I enjoyed the camps and the firedance performances was great!

Didn't get the chance to, but when I make another trip, I want to ride up to the top of Diamondhead.

And the North Shore is SUCH a pretty area!!!!


R.

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Also on my list. At least this confirms I'm going in the right direction. Thank you so much for sharing. :hug:

I've been to Hawaii twice - once to the west side of Maui (touring with a theatre group - I used to costume), which I enjoyed, and then in Honolulu for work. I brought Rick with me the second time and it was the TRIP FROM H-E-DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS...just some highlights of the low points of that trip: we had to travel on separate flights, Rick fell on an escalator at LAX and ripped open his knee and missed his flight because he was at the hospital, nearly missed his next flight the next morning...I got flipped off (yes the BIRD) by EVERY SINGLE DRIVER IN HONOLULU for no apparent reason (aloha to you too)...Rick had stitches and bandages and we couldn't go swimming...when he finally could go swimming, the next day he had a terrible head cold...it was the most humid week of that entire year, so it was just SWELTERING...


Anywho, I don't like Hawaii anymore...however, I can tell you about the parts we did like. =)
- the beaches on the west, north and east sides...even tho we never went in the water, they were gorgeous and had lovely walk-stumbles (poor Rick) down several of them. There was one on the west side that is known for having special visitors - big sea turtles. They were there the day we stopped by - very freaking cool. =) I'm sure that beach has a name ("sea turtle beach"?) which I'm guessing someone else can give you...
- Wailana Coffee House in Honolulu. Great food and cheap. We ate there a lot.
- Duke's. To placate our misery, we drank ourselves through their tropical drinks menu -- twice. We both stumbled home. :D
- ABC Stores. They are EVERYWHERE. Love'em. 7-Eleven Island style...if they don't have it, you don't need it.

And you gotta go to an evening luau...one is plenty...but it's like a rule or something. =) The one Rick and I went to was at the...um...pink hotel on Waikiki...it was pretty cool.

Oh and if you don't like rum, ask for a "chi-chi"...it's a pina colada made with vodka instead of rum. (Silly people not liking rum, but Rick really got into chi-chi's...the drink was good too)

If you're going to get a helicopter ride or some other package deal like that. Call and see if they have discounts for couples or something like that. (I don't know how many ppl are going). One of the guys I work with got a discount because he was traveling by himself, so he got a single's person discount on a helicopter ride. Obviously, they want to fill up the helicopter each time they go out for maximum profit.

I went to Oahu when I was younger. However my parents lived on the island when my dad was in the navy, so we didn't go do a lot of the tourist stuff like see the waterfalls or anything. (As in, it was free 20 years ago, we're not going to go and pay money for that :P )

We took a trail ride (part of the hotel package), which was really neat and you'll get to see a lot of really gorgeous sites that you wouldn't see otherwise.

We also hiked out to Ka'ena point on Oahu. I Back in the 70's you could drive a car all the way out there, but it's not really driveable for the entire distance now.

We snorkled in Hanauma Bay (using rental gear). It's very cool. We were able to see sea urchins, fish and a few other things while we were out there. Sea turtles will also come in that area at certain times of the year. There may be better places to do some snorkeling, but that was pretty neat.

I got hooked on a cooking show earlier this year, and they had the season finale in hawaii. Based on that, I'd go eat at Alan Wong's restaurant in Honolulu if your travels take you out that way.

We also went out to a pineapple area, not too much to see there, but some places have tours. The Dole canning factory isn't there anymore, so no tours of that.

We also visited the USS Arizona memorial.

We stopped for a breakast on the beach one day at the Banzai Pipeline. This is the one beach on hawaii where you can surf inside the wave. It was pretty cool just to watch people out surfing.

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Originally Posted by cassandra

I've been to Hawaii twice - once to the west side of Maui (touring with a theatre group - I used to costume), which I enjoyed, and then in Honolulu for work. I brought Rick with me the second time and it was the TRIP FROM H-E-DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS...just some highlights of the low points of that trip: we had to travel on separate flights, Rick fell on an escalator at LAX and ripped open his knee and missed his flight because he was at the hospital, nearly missed his next flight the next morning...I got flipped off (yes the BIRD) by EVERY SINGLE DRIVER IN HONOLULU for no apparent reason (aloha to you too)...Rick had stitches and bandages and we couldn't go swimming...when he finally could go swimming, the next day he had a terrible head cold...it was the most humid week of that entire year, so it was just SWELTERING...


Anywho, I don't like Hawaii anymore...however, I can tell you about the parts we did like. =)
- the beaches on the west, north and east sides...even tho we never went in the water, they were gorgeous and had lovely walk-stumbles (poor Rick) down several of them. There was one on the west side that is known for having special visitors - big sea turtles. They were there the day we stopped by - very freaking cool. =) I'm sure that beach has a name ("sea turtle beach"?) which I'm guessing someone else can give you...
- Wailana Coffee House in Honolulu. Great food and cheap. We ate there a lot.
- Duke's. To placate our misery, we drank ourselves through their tropical drinks menu -- twice. We both stumbled home. :D
- ABC Stores. They are EVERYWHERE. Love'em. 7-Eleven Island style...if they don't have it, you don't need it.

And you gotta go to an evening luau...one is plenty...but it's like a rule or something. =) The one Rick and I went to was at the...um...pink hotel on Waikiki...it was pretty cool.

Oh and if you don't like rum, ask for a "chi-chi"...it's a pina colada made with vodka instead of rum. (Silly people not liking rum, but Rick really got into chi-chi's...the drink was good too)

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Being college students, we didn't have much spare, but I learned about the Pai-ai (sp) <pie-yie> drink, that when I go again, I want to order and try.....

It was described to me as a pineapple that's been cored, and then filled w/diff. things. SUPPOSED to be really good..........I'm not one for the alcohol flavor. :puke: I prefer sweeter drinks, so this was a suggestion to some of us. lol:rolleye2:

My husband and I went for our anniversary 2 1/2 years ago. We traveled to the islands of Maui and Kauai. Both were very different but lovely.


On maui, we stayed in a private cottage in Huelo surrounded by a flower farm. It was awesome! While on the island we enjoyed snorkeling the molokini crater, the drive up to the summit of Heleakala for sunrise (wear very warm clothes), the great beaches, bars and restaurants around Ka'anapali and we loved the drive on the Hana hwy (drove ourselves so we could stop when we wanted to) - especially the black rock beach at Wai'anapanapa and stopping at a roadside vendor to buy a whole pealed and cored fresh pineapple.

On Kauai we stayed at a private condo at Princeville - it was beautiful. We really loved the helicoper ride over the island, but my most memorable treat was driving the Waimea canyon road (remember I live in Florida so big mountains and canyons are amazing to me) and the look out over parts of the NaPali coast.

Two books that came highly recommended to me by several friends that had been are "Maui Revealed" by Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman and "The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook" by the same authors. Both books were published by Wizard Publications inc. They have a great website at http://www.wizardpub.com Both the authors have lived in Hawaii for years and give all the local info - not the touristy (sp?) stuff.

Keep us in the loop about your trip. I am so excited for you.

p.s. one thing I found very funny . . . those that grew up in Hawaii love spam. It is the first thing to disappear from the store shelves when a storm is coming and is served for breakfast, even at McDonalds! Go figure. :)

Wow! Thank you all so much. Lots of great info! :clap: You guys are GOLD! :love:

Well I've been lei-ed. My husband brought one home to announce that our trip is officially on! Woo hoo! http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...e/wootwoot.gif

So I'll be taking a 2 week hiatus from the forums, for that glorious beach vacation. (with no kids to boot!) 100 days, until I'm basking in glorious paradise. :clap: I've still got to decide the activities but I'm much closer to making those decisions. :yes:

Can ya tell I'm a teensy bit excited? http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ulke/blush.gif

Congrats Christie! Well deserved vacation! And pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee take lots o f pics! :D :D :carrot: :sunny:

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Originally Posted by iceman25

Congrats Christie! Well deserved vacation! And pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee take lots o f pics! :D :D :carrot: :sunny:

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Thanks. Pictures are such a given! Hopefully I'll come across some awesome wildlife, and I know the scenery will be awe inspiring. :D

two weeks without kids? make sure you have LOTS of birth control girl... or you'll be taking home an unexpected souvenier :eek:

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

two weeks without kids? make sure you have LOTS of birth control girl... or you'll be taking home an unexpected souvenier :eek:

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Bite your tongue woman! :O :bolt: (where's the quivering under the bed in fear smilie when you need it?!)

hahahahahaha when your belly begins to swell we'll all know what you did on vacation :P

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

hahahahahaha when your belly begins to swell we'll all know what you did on vacation :P

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You're an evil, evil woman! :evileye: I've had too many people say once you give away all the baby clothes/accessories you wind up pregnant. I've done that, so I'm still a bit nervous. This oven is closed for business!!! :bolt:

my kids are 20, 13 and 8... each time i gave everything away... i began to swell!

trust me... you are doomed girl! :P start practising those lullabies again.

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

my kids are 20, 13 and 8... each time i gave everything away... i began to swell!

trust me... you are doomed girl! :P start practising those lullabies again.

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No, no, no.... I refuse to go back to diapers. Nuh uh, no way, no how! A week after we signed the papers for our first house I found out I was pregnant. After we bought our second house, I took a pregnacy test the day our stuff was delivered - positive. Our third house we were fortunate to break the cycle.... Of course my husband feared to even look at me. :giggle:

ya, sleeping in different rooms and not even looking at each other does tend to stop the pregnancy train LOL

My husband twitches if I even mention 'the urge'. :rolleyes: Of course, I'm torturing him right now. I wish I could post my evilness, but it's just not family friendly. :devilish:

I think you should get lei-d by a local...

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I think you should get lei-d by a local...

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I'm sure that can be arranged. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

I'm sure that can be arranged. :rolleyes:

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:D