Anyone been to Hawaii? (You lost fans can drool now!)

[Daesania]

We've decided we are going to Hawaii for our honeymoon, but kinda stuck where to go. Debating on going to a travel agent. I remembered tonight that Lost was filmed in hawaii, and found a very highly rated tour that takes you to a bunch of the lost filming locations - not bad prices either - 5 hour tour is $125 and 8 hour tour is 150 per person.

But has anyone else vacationed in Hawaii that has any recommendations? IE Islands that maybe arent as popular/crowded or hotels that you stayed at? Or any island/hotel that really sucked? There's sooo many websites out there for hawaii that i'm just overwhelmed (hence the possible travel agent to do this).

[jeccaneko]

I've always heard good things about this (http://www.amazon.com/Oahu-Revealed-Ultimate-Honolulu-Revisited/dp/097172797X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245067629&sr=8-1) Hawaii book series (linked the Oahu book but they make them for the other islands too). I own the Oahu one and it does seem neat. Maybe it can help you?

[CrazyIvan]

My wife and I went to Kauai, and I would HIGHLY recommend it if you are looking for some peace and romance. Unlike the larger islands, there are no major stretches of civilization... no night clubs... and the beaches are relatively quiet. Some people go to Hawaii to party it up, and Kauai is not the island for that.

The plus sides are non-crowded beaches and incredible stretches of nature (with some amazing hidden gems if you are willing to hike for a bit).

[Daesania]

My wife and I went to Kauai, and I would HIGHLY recommend it if you are looking for some peace and romance. Unlike the larger islands, there are no major stretches of civilization... no night clubs... and the beaches are relatively quiet. Some people go to Hawaii to party it up, and Kauai is not the island for that.

The plus sides are non-crowded beaches and incredible stretches of nature (with some amazing hidden gems if you are willing to hike for a bit).

oh we will have to look into that for sure!!

And thanks for the tip on the books Jecca!!

[DAMdude]

I am getting married next year also, and I've always planned on a cruise through the Bahamas. But just recently we started talking about Hawaii.

I'm mega broke so I just want to know a total cost of the trip would be?

[CrazyIvan]

That depends a lot on where you are flying out of. (East Coast? West Coast?)

Hotel rooms are a bit pricey, but that's to be expected for such a tourist driven economy. I'm guessing you could get a "nice" room for $200+ per night... maybe less if you found a great deal online somewhere. "Very nice" rooms are in the $350+ per night range. If you want a room on the beach... well... that might break the bank.

Food was also kind of expensive, but that is also to be expected because most of it has to be imported (being an island and all). I would say that the average lunch cost us ~$25, and the average dinner cost around ~$40. We splurged on a couple of dinners that ended up close to $100.

Beaches are public and free, as is the parking. You will want to rent a car, as some of the beaches are on the extreme ends of the islands, and you will want to "catch 'em all" if you have the time. Every single beach had something unique to offer.

If you don't want to lay out on the beaches all day, there's plenty of fun stuff to do. We went ziplining down the side of a mountain (very, very cool) and went on a sunset catamaran cruise (which ended up not being worth the money, to be honest). The ziplining cost ~$150 for the two of us.

Of course, you'll also have expenses like sunscreen that can add up to quite a bit after lotioning up 3-4 times per day.

[CrazyIvan]

Oh... and I have to agree with jecca in terms of guide books. We used this (http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Kauai-Guidebook-Revealed/dp/0981461018/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245073268&sr=1-1) one for Kauai, and it was awesome. There were some places so far off the beaten path that we would never have found them otherwise (most of which were free). One place in particular took a couple hours of hiking through some pretty dense foliage, but following the guide we found the "Queen's Bath". Ended up being my favorite place on the island.

[Daesania]

Damn very nice rooms are that expensive? There's a military only hotel near honolulu and the most expensive room - a "Deluxe beachfront" room is only 186 a night. Maybe we should go for that just for the cheaper factor. lol.

[Oscar-Rio]

Hawaii is the only state i've never been to. Perhaps it would be one of the coolest....one day hopefully. Although i want nothing to do with Honolulu.

[Daesania]

Hmm. their hotel is a bit far set back from the actual beach. Their "deluxe beach front" rooms are on the side that faces the beach

http://www.oahubybus.com/images/hkhaerial.jpg

[RockBandRocker]

*sears with jealousy over being able to go on a LOST location tour*

I hear you should make time to go to Kona. They have coffee and beer!

[jeccaneko]

Oh... and I have to agree with jecca in terms of guide books. We used this (http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Kauai-Guidebook-Revealed/dp/0981461018/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245073268&sr=1-1) one for Kauai, and it was awesome. There were some places so far off the beaten path that we would never have found them otherwise (most of which were free). One place in particular took a couple hours of hiking through some pretty dense foliage, but following the guide we found the "Queen's Bath". Ended up being my favorite place on the island.

Definitely gotta visit Kauai when I move after all the recommendations you're giving! I was thinking about picking up the Kauai and Big Island books pretty soon, before I go.

[pong0814]

It was also my first time going to Hawaii with my wife earlier this year. We only stayed for a week so we weren't really able to go island hopping and mainly stayed in Oahu, which I assumed where you would be spending some of your time since the tour of Lost locations is in that island. (I wanted to go on that tour, but time constraints prevented us from doing so)

Regarding hotels, it depends on whether you are finicky with your room, bed, size, etc or are more concerned with the budget. With me and my wife, we always just look at hotels as somewhere to stash our bags on our trips and a place to crash when we're pooped, so we really don't go for the high end ones. We stayed at the Waikiki Circle hotel directly in front of Waikiki beach, which, admittedly was pretty small compared to the other beach front hotels, and had a tiny room, but it had two queen beds and a shower, so it served its purpose. And having a balcony on the 8th floor facing the beach is a plus. I was able to take beautiful sunset pictures with my camera every day we were there.

I can't remember the travel book me and my wife got before the trip, but my advice is to get one, and choose which sights or activities you want to do then plan accordingly. If you prefer guided tours, there are tons available and your hotel concierge will usually be able to help you regarding that. But I STRONGLY (STRONGLY!) recommend that you just learn the bus schedules/routes and just bus it to your desired destination. This way, your time is your own, and you won't have to worry about tour schedules and such. Thebus.org (http://thebus.org/) is your friend.

If you want to go around the island and taking the bus will take a really long time, plan to rent a car just for the day(s) that you will need one. The whole time we were there, we just rented a car for one day, just to circle Oahu. The rest of the time, we just used the bus. The only time we called a cab was going to and from the airport.

Places we went to that we enjoyed:
- Diamond Head State Monument - this is a relatively easy hike (I think 1.5 hours going up and down, not including stopping to take pictures and stuff). There's a steep stairway near the end of the hike going up, but once you get to the top of the crater, it is well worth it. BRING. A. CAMERA.

- Hanauma Bay Marine Preserve - if you are a novice at snorkeling, stay near the shore. Or if you are a bit more adventurous, go a bit further to see the big sea turtles. Bring an underwater camera.

- Arizona Memorial/Pearl Harbor - even my wife got choked up watching the short film that you had to watch about the people who died in USS Arizona prior to going to the memorial itself. Plus, there's a sub you can go into which (don't take my word for it, I just overheard it) apparently, is where they film the sub scenes in Lost.

- Manoa Falls - the waterfall itself at the end of the trail is just a teeny little thing, but the hike was fun. 1.5 hours going up and down, a bit steeper than the Diamond Head Crater trail, but what made it fun for us was that it was raining really hard the day we went there and we were drenched going up the trail, which was really muddy and kind of slippery. You'll really feel like an "Other" going up and down that trail. I wouldn't recommend this hike though if you are a bit claustrophobic, as the trail feels like the trees are just closed down on you, and it kind of feels like if something happens, no one is there to hear you call out for help (come to think of it, I think there really is NO ONE there to hear you. That's what it looked like when me and my wife went since we went really early and we were the first one there. By the time we got down though, we passed a lot of hikers who were just going up).

- Honolulu Zoo - the zoo may or may not be your thing, but the main reason I enjoyed this one was I just bought a fancy new camera and lens and it was the first time I got to play with it outdoors.

Me and my wife did lots more, but the ones above are the ones that stood out for me and what I can remember off the top of my head. Other places we visited were the Turtle Bay Beach Resort (the setting for Forgetting Sarah Marshall), the Dole Plantation (There's a nice big maze there that you can go into; Once again: not recommended if you are claustrophobic. And it was kind of worth it just so I can pose next to a sign that said, "Pineapple Express"), Chinatown, etc.

As for beaches, we didn't really go to any other beach than Waikiki Beach. It wasn't crowded the time we went there (early April) so we didn't feel the need to go look for another one.

Oh, and another bonus for me when we went to Hawaii: I have been looking for a copy of Amplitude for the longest time (and I didn't want to pay like $30+ they were charging at ebay), and found a used copy at a Gamestop there for $10. :)

Hope this wall of text helped.

[Daesania]

Awesome thanks so much for everyone's suggestions! I imagine it's going to take us a few weeks to figure out where we want to go, but now atleast we have some ideas based off of your guys' experiences. Thanks so much!

(Then again, who knows how long we'll actually be outside of our room since it is our honeymoon and all) ;)

[jeccaneko]

Oh, Daes, if you like smoothies you should visit the Dole Pineapple Plantation. I've been told the pineapple smoothies there are super good! I plan to try one when I go on my house hunting trip early July.

[Daesania]

Oh, Daes, if you like smoothies you should visit the Dole Pineapple Plantation. I've been told the pineapple smoothies there are super good! I plan to try one when I go on my house hunting trip early July.

OMG I <3 smoothies!! mmmmmm!

[J3st3r 360]

I have been to Hawaii' for a football game, championship, but I really wasn't able to really tour it... It messed up my cycle a little bit, but overall, we had a pretty decent time there... Food was great, people were awesome, hotel was just as nice as they come... So...

[bermuddy]

Oh, Daes, if you like smoothies you should visit the Dole Pineapple Plantation. I've been told the pineapple smoothies there are super good! I plan to try one when I go on my house hunting trip early July.

you can only get them there and disney world.

lemme tell you, theyre fantastic.

[Renrock]

I wanna go!

(I can sleep in the hatch and hit the damn snooze button every hour.) :p

[kiggidykev]

Watch out for lizards, but eat the pineapples.

[ArchangelZero]

I was born there. Kauai is very nice, also, if you'd like a bit more civilization to it, I would also suggest Maui. It's very beautiful this time of year, especially Hana's black sand beaches.

[SteveoKnievo]

ZOMG that's awesome! Make sure to get a picture with the big statue foot. :D