TravelAge West Magazine has come out with this year’s WAVE awards – that’s "Western Agents Votes of Excellence." You’d have to say Hawaii came out looking pretty good. Travel agents in the 14 states that are considered "western" pick winners from the best-of-the-best selections previously made by the editors.
Hawaii was named "Best Destination for a Beach Vacation" over Jamaica, Mexico and Tahiti. Here in the state, The Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa on the Big Island was chosen Hawaii’s "Best New Property or Major Renovation"; Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa in Waikiki won as "Hawaii’s Beach Resort with the Best Cross-Market Appeal,"; and the award for "Best Resort for a Hawaiian Cultural Experience" went to the Kaanapali Beach Hotel on Maui. The awards will appear in next month’s issue.
TravelAge West is a trade publication that you probably don’t see regularly unless you’re in the travel business, but when the trade press says good things about Hawaii that might interest you, we like to pass them along.
If you travel with children, keep in mind that a whole lot of hotels in Hawaii offer special programs for kids. The sessions are fun for the young people, and they give you the opportunity to enjoy some adult time on your own – maybe at a beachside bar, in the surf, or just on your back on a towel on the beach with no little distractions. In the meantime, those little people can be learning boogie boarding, ceramic painting, fishing and lei making. They can create lava-filled volcanoes that actually smoke. Some learn the hula; others learn to paint Hawaiian tapa cloths.
A number of hotels offer excursions to fascinating attractions and locales on their islands. Night adventures are available, too, so parents can sneak off for a romantic dinner or bawdy show while the kids are crab hunting, decorating cookies or playing cultural games. On top of all that, they can make new friends to communicate with when they get back home. When you talk to a Hawaii-Aloha agent, be sure to indicate that you’re interested in hotel activities for children and you can be sure the accommodations we recommend will be appropriate for you. Pick an agent at our Web site www.hawaii-aloha.com, or call 1-800-843-8771.
Okay, you’ve heard about it and you’ve seen footage on TV and the Internet. Shark encounters! You get into a cage walled with Plexiglas, are lowered into the ocean and you hang out with those toothy denizens everybody’s scared to death of.
We do that here in Hawaii. A lot of people don’t like the idea. They say it’s not a good idea to attract sharks for any reason, but there’s no denying that the adventure is thrilling. Watching a shark swoop up towards you from the depths is primal; you aren’t likely to forget the sight.
The most popular encounters are from Oahu’s North Shore, and there are others. Here’s the drill: You start with a safety briefing. Masks and snorkels are provided, but you can bring your own if you want. The boat’s captain will take you three or four miles out. When you get to the area, you climb into the shark cage, which holds two of you, and the cage is lowered into the water. The visibility almost always is great. You can see the sharks coming when they are attracted – not by you, but by fish bait. Be sure you have an underwater camera with you.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Madame Pele. You certainly will have become familiar with her by the time you leave these islands. Pele, Goddess of Fire, is the most famous of all the legendary Hawaiian gods and goddesses. Lurking in the craters of the Big Island’s Kilauea Volcano, she’s been sending those fiery rivers of lava down into the ocean, adding new land to the island almost continuously for the last quarter of a century. Stories – from perfectly sober and reasonable people – are told about picking up an old woman dressed all in white and accompanied by a little dog along roads in Kilauea National Park; then, when checking the rear-view mirror, the drivers find their back seats to be empty. Visitors have discovered Pele’s face in photographs of eruptions when they get back home, and swear the image was not there originally. Those of us who live in the islands speak very respectfully of the goddess.
These islands, Oahu in particular, have become well known around the world to people who are interested in supernatural phenomenon. As Oahu has grown and developed in since the 1940’s, sacred grounds have been desecrated, buildings have gone up over ancient burial grounds, and roadways have been laid out through rainforests that had been untouched since the beginning of time and through caves of buried and beloved ancestors.
There now are tours on Oahu of some of the most haunted places. The guides know how to tell spooky stories, and they know their stuff. They claim all the stories they tell are true, and will assure you that all the sites they take you to are real based on historical and ancestral information and eyewitness accounts. Some sites may simply be reputed hotspots where ghosts have made homes and paranormal activity is unexplained. Both walking and driving tours are offered. The tour operators caution that, while kids are welcome, some of the stories and the intensity with which they’re told might not be suitable for some young children. If you’re interested in ghosts or paranormal phenomena, Hawaii-Aloha Travel will set up a tour for you while you’re here. Call us at 1-800-843-8771, or go to the home page Hawaii-aloha.com and select an agent.
If you haven’t noticed, airfares to Hawaii are on the rise. And keeping up with the increases is practically a full-time job. Now here is tip to help you save money on your Hawaii Vacation
Did you ever consider big-game fishing? If you’ve never tried it, you probably don’t understand the lure of the excitement and satisfaction involved. Seasoned anglers come to Hawaii from all over the world for tournaments — or simply to fish in our waters, where they can go after Blue or Striped Marlin, Sailfish, Swordfish and Spearfish. A little less exciting and challenging, but every bit as fulfilling, are the Yellowfin and Big-eye Tuna, Mahi-Mahi and Wahoo. The islands’ steep dropoffs and deep marine canyons provide the hunting grounds for these big predator fish, and a huge benefit is that you don’t have to go far to reach them. In most game-fishing areas worldwide, you can expect to travel for hours to find your spots, but here it’s just a matter of minutes. You actually can spend most of your day in action. During your trip, you may see any number marine mammals –perhaps humpback whales, spotted dolphin or spinner dolphin, and the views of the islands themselves are spectacular.
The most popular fishing areas are Kona – on the West coast of the Big Island — and Oahu’s North Shore. Fishing boats (and their captains and crews) can be chartered in Waikiki, as well. All the tackle and supplies you’ll need are provided. Some of the charter companies offer combination trips that include deep sea-fishing, snorkeling or whale watching if you ask for them, as well as taxidermy services so you can send your mounted trophy home. The Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament is held in Kona every year – this year on the last weekend in July. It’s an icon among big-game fishing tournaments — the grandfather of them all.
You should try the sport; it’s an extraordinary experience. Even if you’re a practiced sport fisherman (or woman) – or especially if you are – you’ll find sport fishing in these islands unlike anything you’re ever experienced. Let your Hawaii-Aloha agent (hawaii-aloha.com) arrange a charter for you, wherever you might be staying. Or call us at 1-800-843-8771.
The bon dance season here in Hawaii starts in June and goes through August, with two or three dances in September. Everyone is welcome to come – and to dance. There are dances every Friday and Saturday night somewhere on Oahu during the summer, and several are held on the outer islands, as well. Statewide, there are as many as 90 scheduled each year, about half of them on Oahu. You have to try at least one while you’re in the islands this summer. You don’t need to know the history or the custom (Japanese-Okinawan); just enjoy yourself.
Bon dances are just plain fun, laced with good food. You don’t have to know how to perform any of the dances. It’s perfectly all right to jump in without any experience and follow the more experienced dancers. Food is key to the bon dance experience, especially since most of the dances start between 6 and 7 p.m., the dinner hour. All the sites have food booths with standard fare of Spam musubi, some kind of plate lunch and stir-fry noodles. Some serve barbecued beef or chicken sticks, and andagi (Okinawan donuts).
Many of the dances are held at Buddhist temples, where there are host dance troupes with people who belong to and take lessons at that temple. Each group has its own unique, beautiful kimono ensemble. When they are dancing at their own temples, these groups have the privilege of dancing around the "yaguras" (music towers) in the innermost circle. Everyone else dances in the outer circles. Usually, there are three circles going at the same time, the degree of experience lessening with each. You actually might find yourself dancing to crowd pleasers such as the mambo, salsa or country-western do-si-dos. And, of course, it’s okay to just watch.
You won’t find bon dances promoted at your hotel or in the papers (except in the activities listings), but you can find one. You can call your Hawaii-Aloha agent while you’re here to find out where the weekend’s dances are. Or you can call us now (1-800-843-8771), or select an agent on our home page (hawaii-aloha.com). We’ll e-mail the whole summer schedule to you
When you vacation with kids on Oahu (or anywhere that isn’t associated with a certain mouse), it can be hard to find things to do that were created especially for kids. Here’s a suggestion:
Not far from Waikiki (in Kakaako, on the Waikiki side of Downtown Honolulu), the Children’s Discovery Center is a world-class children’s museum that encourages children to use their senses of touch, sight, hearing, and smell to gain a better understanding of the world around them.
The Center follows the precept that the most natural, important and successful way for a child to learn is through play. Last year, more than 11,000 kids visited the center through its school visit program, and the Center is expecting to see about 100,000 delighted visitors in all this year. Once inside, children can explore mock-ups of a human heart and lung and visit mini-homes (complete with furniture and artifacts) as they would be seen in places such as the Philippines, China and Polynesian islands in the South Pacific. They can "go shopping" in a supermarket, "do business" at a bank, swing by a fire station and fill up at a gas station. They also can try a wide variety of fanciful interactive learning toys – playing volleyball with a robot, for example. Every subject from physiology to sociology is explored. So, should your kids whine the inevitable "There’s nothing to do!" while you’re heading for the beach, you can always take a two- or three-hour side trip to a children’s wonderland.
You live on the East Coast, up north. You’re on vacation in Hawaii. What do you do when you’re ‘way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you get an irresistible urge for a New-York-style pizza, a Nathan’s hot dog or a Philly Cheese Steak?
If you’re on Oahu, you can satisfy that urge. You head east from Waikiki to Antonio’s New York Pizzeria, which you’ll find across Waialae Avenue from Kahala Mall.
Antonio’s is run by two "New York" Italian guys from Connecticut, cousins Anthony Romano and Joe Tramontano, who moved to Hawaii a few years ago, opened their modest place in upscale Waialae-Kahala and started making and selling "authentic" East-coast pizzas, sandwiches, pasta and desserts such as New York cheesecake and imported (from Ferrara’s in New York) cannoli.
According to the cousins, real New York Pizza is made from a secret, handed-down-recipe dough (flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, and who-knows what else, to make athin-crusted, lightly sauced crust that’s crisp on the bottom with just a bit of flexibility, topped with a selection from pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, meatballs, spinach, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, jalapeno, sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies, ricotta, Genoa salami, grilled chicken breast, and pineapple.
Visitors from Philadelphia attest to the authenticity of the cheesesteaks (which the cousins also make with chicken) and hoagies.There’s a large and growing local clientele, so you East-coasters must be onto something pretty good. Antonio’s – a slice of home in Paradise.
While most men might be curious mainly about golf, activities or entertainment when they consider Hawaii vacations, most women certainly want to know about the shopping.
When thinking of the world’s great shopping districts, the Champs-Elysées in Paris, Oxford Street in London, Fifth Avenue in New York and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills usually come to mind. Here’s a caution: Things change. Champs-Elysées, for example, has degenerated into a neon strip of fast food chains, banks, offices, malls, and film houses. Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Avenue Montaigne, Rue du Cherche-Midi and Rue de Grenelle now are among the fashionable shopping destinations in Paris.
Oxford remains Europe’s busiest shopping street, and Rodeo Drive is still the most famous shopping district in America (and probably the most expensive three blocks of shops in the world). Fifth Avenue also continues to be one of the world’s premier shopping streets.
But suddenly, Waikiki – yes, Waikiki – has joined the ranks of those elite and influential shopping locations.
Here is some recent testimony for that observation:
Tokidoki, a global phenomenon with boutiques offering their cutesy printed bags, apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, jewelry and toys are appearing just about everywhere. Italian designer Simone Lengo, who created the brand (Yes, Tokidoki is Italy-bred), recently appeared at the Ala Moana Nordstrom to launch a new shoe.
Manny Mashouf, founder of bebe, the high-trend women’s wear chain, appeared at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center to launch a new flagship store cum art gallery. Local artists and designers actually can work there and display their products.
John Fussell, Chanel’s national make-up artist, offered free consultations at Nordstrom, which houses one of only three Chanel makeup studios in the U.S.
Clinton Kelly, he of the TLC network’s “What Not to Wear,” appeared at Macy’s in Ala Moana to host a fashion tutorial and a runway show and to showcase emerging trends and wardrobe essentials.
So exactly where are these marvelous brands and outlets? Well, Waikiki actually is a pretty-small area. It’s an easily-negotiated walk from the Diamond-Head end to the Ala Moana end, and you’ll pass several outlets – Nike, Louis Vuitton and Chanel, for example – that are stand-alones (not in shopping centers or malls).
Here are the centers you’ll want to browse for sure:
Ala Moana Center is Hawaii’s largest and most comprehensive shopping destination with 230 stores and restaurants, entertainment and an international food court, and it’s the largest open-air shopping center in the world. Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom are in there; so are Sears and Macy’s.
The Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center offers you famous-outlet shopping, local stores and international outlets, multi-ethnic dining and local entertainment. You can get involved hands-on with complimentary cultural enrichment classes including ukulele, lei-making, hula, and Hawaiian quilting.
The International Market Place, created more than 50 years ago as a central pedestrian shopping village under the shade of an historic banyan tree, has grown into a busy, exciting bazaar of small shops, food stands, Polynesian entertainment, restaurants, art galleries and a storytelling theatre. As Waikiki continues to evolve, the sense of its Hawaiian heritage is sustained here.
DFS Galleria Waikiki’s ambience is a recreation of the Waikiki of the 1920s and features one-of-a-kind theme shops. There’s an impressive walk-through aquarium and usually live entertainment. If you’re on your way back from Asia (or are an international traveler) on your visit, there’s duty-free shopping for the world’s best brands.
And here’s the current star of the neighborhood. Nearly eight acres along centrally-located Lewers Street has been completely rebuilt and the made-over area has become a colorful and spirited showcase known as Waikiki Beach Walk. It’s full of world-famous shops and distinguished restaurants, and can honestly be characterized as a world-class leisure destination.
Bring an extra suitcase or two with you. You’ll be able to fill ‘em in a day from the venues in Waikiki.
TravelAge West Magazine has come out with this year’s WAVE awards – that’s "Western Agents Votes of Excellence." You’d have to say Hawaii came out looking pretty good. Travel agents in the 14 states that are considered "western" pick winners from the best-of-the-best selections previously made by the editors. 
Perhaps you’ve heard of Madame Pele. You certainly will have become familiar with her by the time you leave these islands. Pele, Goddess of Fire, is the most famous of all the legendary Hawaiian gods and goddesses. Lurking in the craters of the Big Island’s Kilauea Volcano, she’s been sending those fiery rivers of lava down into the ocean, adding new land to the island almost continuously for the last quarter of a century. Stories – from perfectly sober and reasonable people – are told about picking up an old woman dressed all in white and accompanied by a little dog along roads in Kilauea National Park; then, when checking the rear-view mirror, the drivers find their back seats to be empty. Visitors have discovered Pele’s face in photographs of eruptions when they get back home, and swear the image was not there originally. Those of us who live in the islands speak very respectfully of the goddess.
You live on the East Coast, up north. You’re on vacation in Hawaii. What do you do when you’re ‘way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you get an irresistible urge for a New-York-style pizza, a Nathan’s hot dog or a Philly Cheese Steak?
