Hawaii Vacation Blog

In a strange coincidence, two highly respected sports announcers recently died just a day apart. Both had close ties to Hawaii; both had close ties to Philadelphia. Both got established in Honolulu (as did sportscaster Al Michaels). Harry Kalas, who died on April 12, was the play-by-play man for the Philadelphia Phillies and the narrator […]

Dim sum has become a celebrated culinary tradition in Hawaii, reflecting the state’s multicultural Asian influence. Chinese immigrants brought dim sum to Hawaii in the 19th century during the plantation era, and its popularity has since been shaped by the state’s diverse population, which includes influences from Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and other Asian cultures. […]

Some time back we wrote about Downtown Honolulu’s emerging Arts District, an area where art galleries, theaters and urbane restaurants now are attracting sophisticated residents and vacationers. This is a relatively new phenomenon occurring in a place that has a history of … well, squalor. Adjacent to the Arts District lies the far more traditional […]

There are good reasons for renting a car on your Hawaii vacation. Even if you are part of a group that provides transportation to and from most of the venues on your itinerary, you’ll probably want to go off and explore on your own. Public transportation is pretty grim on the “outer” islands – Kauai, […]

When on vacation in Hawaii don’t be afraid to drink the water. There are lots of vacation destinations that come with built-in cautions about water quality. Hawaii definitely is not one of them. Oahu in particular is blessed with water that ranks with the best quality in the world. Part of the reason is the […]

There surely will be evenings during your Hawaii vacation when cocktails, a nice dinner and then some good music will seem like a good idea. When such an evening arrives, you’ll be wondering just who the hot singers are. After all, the popular local acts are pretty-much unheard of on the mainland now that Don […]

It sounds like a kids’ game today, but in Ancient Hawaii, when kapu (taboos) were the law of the land, it was a desperate race for survival. It was easy then to commit a capital crime. You might have wandered onto land reserved for only chiefs. You might have eaten forbidden fruit or meat. The […]

If you’re very fortunate, you’ll be invited to a private luau at the home of a kamaaina family, people whose families have lived in the islands for generations. The music you hear will be authentic and touch your soul. The smiles you see will be authentic. The hospitality will be heart warming. And the food […]

When they become aware of Hawaii’s petroglyphs during their vacations, visitors often ask us if petroglyphs are “like hieroglyphics.” Well, not exactly. The difference is really basic. Hieroglyphics comprised a means of communication, a language; petroglyphs are art, or if you prefer, graffiti. And while hieroglyphics were rendered in several media, petroglyphs were always carved […]

### UPDATE March 8, 2016 ### “Pot Tourism” is a real travel industry niche, and Hawaii laws have yet to catch up with the statistically verifiable benefits of allowing marijuana to be available to responsible, non-medical proponents. In Colorado, for example, tax revenue from the legal sale of marijuana far exceeds that of the revenue […]

It’s pretty hard to avoid television, even on your vacation, even though there are accommodations in Hawaii with no in-room TVs. With that in mind, here are some observations about TV in Hawaii. As is probably true where you live, local television programming isn’t very good. There simply isn’t enough money for stations or entrepreneurs […]

A true Hawaii tourism hero Uncle Billy will be remembered. His name was Richard Wassman Kimi. He did not do a specific heroic thing, but what he did lastingly affected Hawaii tourism. Back in the mid-1950s, Kimi, who lived in Hilo on the Big Island, noticed that the tourists who came to the island arrived […]