Trip Sister

Trip Sister — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:27:00 +0000

Welcome!

TripSister.com is the website of DD and DAMI; partners and friends who both love to travel! We decided to start this website to help document our camping trips, vacations and holidays.

We find that the more we travel the more pictures we have and the more pages of diaries we fill. Each trip we take, whether it is a camping trip to the Florida Keys or a stay in a luxury resort hotel in Hawaii, we end up with hundreds of stories to tell and twice as many pictures to show!

It is tough to share our stories and photos with our families and friends, who are spread around the world, so we decided to start this website so people we knew and friends we met on our travels could come to one website to read and see new pictures when it was convenient.

Visit our travel photo collection

TripSister.com is the name we chose for our website to share our stories and pictures from our travels, holidays and vacations; we chose the name because...well...we like to trip! We're not sisters but at times we can fight like sisters! No...we just liked the name because it's casual, like us!

We love doing everything from backpacking to car-camping to staying in luxury hotels. Every trip we take we try and make different...something new and exciting to a different destination so we can learn more about the world...and ourselves!

DD is a great diary enthusiast and keeps detailed notes on our trips including budgets, sights, special moments and other details that, if they hadn't been written down, would be lost! Both DD and myself, DAMI take pictures, and while neither of us are professional photographers, we sometimes are very happy with the results!

We both like to write and take pictures so we started this website to share our adventures, pictures, hotel reviews or whatever leaves an impression on us with our friends and family.

If you have come to our website by accident we welcome you! If you want to send your comments we'd love to hear your voice! You can post a comment on most pages or send an email to us at dd@tripsister.com.

Our Hawaiian Trip : 3 Islands in 2 Weeks

Trip Sister — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:37:00 +0000

Our trip to the Hawaiian Islands was a fantastic vacation where we spent just over two weeks visiting Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island! We spent time in Waikiki but wanted to explore the oldest Hawaiian Island which is Kauai and the island named Hawaii which is the biggest island of the island group which is often aptly referred to as The Big Island, so we quickly flew to Kauai, The Garden Island, and after a week there flew to The Big Island to explore the newest and still growing volcanic big island of Hawaii!

Coming from Canada we found everything about the trip was “Big”! Wow...it was our first trip so far away from home and it was unbelievable!

We had discovered that instead of flying out of Montreal, which was closer to our home in Knowlton, Quebec, it would be much cheaper to fly out of Burlington, Vermont which is only a short drive over the border between Canada and the USA. From Burlington we took a quick flight to Newark, New Jersey where we transferred onto a direct flight into Honolulu. We flew Continental Airlines and, while they weren't the cheapest, they did have the direct flight we were looking for as we didn't want to take chances with flights into hubs like Chicago or Seattle or Los Angeles. Continental Airlines also had great service and friendly staff.

We used TripAdvisor.com to help us choose our accommodations. We reserved in advance but sometimes had to find new places to stay because the reserved hotel or bed and breakfast didn't quite measure up. Most places we stayed at on our trip to Hawaii were awesome and left us wanting to stay longer and linger in the peace and luxury of the friendly Aloha State!

Some of the places we stayed in are the Aqua Aloha Surf & Spa in Waikiki, The Plantation Hale on Kauai, The Resort Quest Islander on the Beach in Kauai, The Volcano Cottages on The Big Island, Aaaah The Views Bed & Breakfast in Waimea, and The Jacaranda Inn also in Waimea on the Big Island. We wrote reviews and took pictures at each place and also promised to put some reviews on TripAdvisor.com since we used them to make our decisions and want to share our experiences...you know...give back to the travel community!

We visited the beaches of Kona and Kapaa, snorkelled with Green Sea Turtles and Butterflyfish, saw the volcanoes and craters of Kilohana and the Calderas of Kilaua, hiked the canyons of Waimea and the trails of the beautiful Na Pali Coast...there was so much to do and see in this vast ecosystem and we absolutely loved it all!

We flew Hawaiian Airlines on our inter-island flights and with Continental Airlines for our long flight to Hawaii and then home again. Both carriers were great!

Both DD and myself wrote diaries on our Hawaiian vacation and took a lot of pictures so you can find all of our favourite places and sights described in more detail here on the website. You can also use the site search to find hotel reviews or specifics on towns and places we visited or any topics of interest including any pictures you may want to see.

DAMI WRITES:
Burlington Vermont - On The Road To Hawaii
Newark New Jersey - The Stepping Stone
Waikiki - A Day On Oahu
Honolulu Airport - Bound For Kauai
Kauai Arrival - From Heaven To Hell
Kauai Day 2 - Changing Hotels for Resort Quest and Seeking Poipu Beach

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Destination Florida: Ultimate Road Trip

Trip Sister — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:08:00 +0000

There's nothing like a three week road trip to change your outlook and when we drove to Florida for an escape from the winter in Canada we had the time of our lives! The best thing about driving instead of flying is you get a chance to see the changing scenery and as we drove South on I-95, passing through New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, The Carolina's and Georgia we were better able to appreciate the size and beauty of the area.

Of course the highway doesn't always have the best views for sight-seeing but since we only had three weeks for the trip we decided to take the main road and get to Florida where we were planning to do our car-camping and exploring.

When we saw our first palm tree it was really exciting! The temperatures had been steadily rising as we drove South and by the time we hit the free orange juice stand at the Florida Visitors Center we were bathed in sunshine under blue skies and a warm wind we rarely feel up in Quebec in January!

We stayed in hotels on the drive down but once we hit Florida we started the camping! Our Salsa Vibe had all of our belongings and the comforts of home that made this car-camping so different from our backpacking trips. We had our camping gear and coolers and hiking gear and even our beloved espresso machine so we could have a morning Cappuccino at the campsite picnic tables!

We did a basic counter-clockwise route through the entire state, stopping first at Fernandina Beach then driving West to Lake City and the Osceola State Park on our way to Apalachicola on the Gulf of Mexico. We camped and explored, hiked and swam and saw so many different birds and creatures along the way that we were constantly stopping to take pictures. In the evenings, as we sat around the campfire or watched the sunsets we could talk about all the sights we had seen that day before we tucked ourselves into our small tent for the night.

We then made our way back East across the Suwannee River towards Bald Point on Ochlocknee Bay and Manatee Springs State Park before crossing Central Florida and driving down the East Coast towards the Canaveral National Seashore. The drive down highway 95 between West Palm Beach and Miami was a bit crazy and while it was neat to pass the colorful homes, surf shops, golf courses, beaches and typical Florida retirement villas in Boynton Beach, Boca Raton, Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale, it was also the most stressful part of the trip due to the traffic and when we got a bit lost in Miami we felt like we could have used the help of Horatio Kane and the CSI team for protection in some of the rough neighbourhoods we accidentally found! Gulp!!

We drove to the Keys and made a short trip to Key West but found it a bit touristy and preferred the snorkeling and laid-back areas near Key Largo where we saw some awesome corals at Pennekamp State Park before heading into Everglades National Park and the Shark Valley Slough where we came face to face with alligators, huge birds,
and incredible lush swampland and open fields!

Our last night of camping the temperatures were unseasonably cold and approaching the freezing level so we were actually a bit glad to know that it was time leave Rainbow Springs to start the drive home to Canada. After that cold night we were glad to spend the last few nights of our return trip in hotels where we could have hot showers and sleep on fluffy mattresses and pillows instead of lying on a thin inflatable mattress and brushing our teeth with pond water!

The drive from Florida to Quebec took us about three days so we enjoyed two nights of hotel continental breakfasts and take-out suppers instead camp cooking and as we got further North we started seeing more and more snow reminding us that even though it's hot and sunny back on the beach, February is approaching and we enter Canada where it is certainly winter and we were back to the land of tuques and mittens!

What a great 21 days we had! The driving was fun and DD and I really bonded as we got to spend a lot of time in the car chatting, listening to the local radio stations and only occasionally coming to blows over map directions!!

Pictures of Northern Florida
Fort Clinch State Park, Ocean Pond Campground, The Big Gum Swamp and Ochlockonee State Park

Pictures of The Gulf Coast and The Panhandle of Florida
Bald Point, The Forgotten Coast Line and Manatee Springs

Pictures of Southern Florida
The Everglades and the Keys

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from the Sunshine State
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Florida that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip!

The Laundry Room Episode

Gringo — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:44:00 +0000

We had a nice relaxing breakfast on the lanai. Dami cooked some eggs with sausage. We also had cheese, strawberry jam and peanut butter. We had our orange juice with pineapple wedges on our glasses! The pineapple was so sweet and tasty!

We had breakfast with pigeons and doves and another kind of bird that looked like a plump sparrow. I can't believe the low price we're paying for this place. The regular price for this suite is 325$usd, three times the Plantation Hell Worst Western and we got it for 208$, the same number as the room!

Today we went for a hike at the Waimea Canyon. I was so glad I had my poles! It was a 4 miles hike with some easy, moderate and strenuous sections. WOW! That was amazing! The red dirt and the big rocks were awesome. I panicked at the end though because I'm afraid of heights and the Canyon is so gigantic. Near the falls, we were so close to the edge with nothing to stop you if you fall. It looked like some scene taken out of the Adventure PC game Myst.

Back at the hotel the evening was so cool and windy. Sassie, the resident cat was following some guests. She actually followed us to our room last night. She can't meow very well which is a good thing. We didn't want her meowing at the door all the time!

We had hot dogs, potato salad and a green salad for dinner. The radio was playing all my favorite hits, it was perfect!

I had some laundry to do and as I went to the laundry room, I noticed a dryer with the door open with a pair of sneakers by itself and another one with 47 minutes remaining on the machine... hmmm I thought, this is very strange. It looked like somebody had its clothes stollen but the shoes didn't fit so the theif left them there. I didn't want to leave my clothes unattended since I hadn't brought enough clothes and everything I had to wear was in that pile of lundry. I wasn't going to take any chances. I put my clothes in a washing machine and went back to the room quickly to get a beer with something to read and told Dami about the whole fishy thing. Just outside the laundry room there was a plastic white chair that I sat on. I took a sip of my beer and put the bottle on the ground next to the chair and watched the action that could have came out of a Hawaii Five-0 episode! There was a guy coming out of a white van, calling his cats out to feed them. Three black cats, about a few months old and very afraid. He bent down in a bush to my left, in front of me, calling the cats to feed them wet food that I could smell from where I was sitting. Did he think I couldn't see him? So he stayed there probably waiting for me to leave but there was no way I was going to. So he waited, and waited and then lost patience and got out of the bush, put the food someplace else and left the cats there and drove his white van out of the parking lot. One cat remained in the bush, to my left, while the second one was ahead of me behind the bar, and the other one to my right, under the stairs of the hotel suites. I was surrounded. This was a very weird experience. I was wondering if there were homeless people in Kauai. I think that guy was. The night was chilly and I was looking forward going back to the room and tell Dami about the whole thing.

DD

Burlington Vermont - Hitting The Road

Trip Sister — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Leaving home is like a dream. There has been months of preparation and anticipation for the vacation and when the morning finally comes and it's time to leave we're literally vibrating with excitement. We kept wondering if we had forgotten anything...but as long as we have our passports and credit cards we should be fine!!

The Holiday Inn in Burlington Vermont was our first hotel as we travelled from Quebec to the Hawaiian Islands. We chose the Holiday Inn because they had a Park and Fly...there might be a Comfort Inn Park and Fly as well but we liked the location of the Holiday Inn right off the highway. It was an easy drive from Knowlton.

Day one of the holiday started after not enough sleep visiting with long lost half brother and family for the last two nights in a beery almost heady smokey-gray fog of anticipation of Hawaii and disillusion in the winter and time, the thief of moments... and as I stepped into the front yard with the Salsa Vibe packed and ready for our holiday to Hawaii and ready to take this moment and run into the distance where snow piled in white nylon drifts against the fence.

It was sad to leave our black cat Pauline this morning and we both woke up slightly under the fighting fog of a warm rainy grey morning and little Pauline, if a 16 year old cat can be considered little, was meow meowing all morning not making the state of my membrane any better.

We left around 10 in the morning after a sweet Continental Breakfast or as close as to it that we could muster with the bare fridge and slim toastries available for our morning crunch. As we drove south to Burlington the fog was rolling over the green hills as the snow has melted away in warm weather which had been above 10 degrees Celsius for the last few days.

Finally...even though it's January...we get some warm winds like a Chinook over the Rockies as we prepared for our holiday on the Hawaiian Islands. We drove into the sunshines of beautiful Vermont and had to stop for Tums for the Tummy because DD had stomach acid from the freshly squeezed OJ we drank at home...we had a bag of fresh oranges in the fridge and before we left we squeezed em' all!

Got to the Hotel in Burlington and checked into room 220...now normally checking in to room 220 wouldn't mean much but that hotel room had the same number as our street address in Knowlton, Quebec, Canada so we took that as a sign that this was meant to be...it was like The Secret...it was all happening for a reason!

Hmmm..after 5 minutes being in the room we realized that maybe there was no sign...no meaning...except that we were in a dump of a hotel! The noise and the smell created a cocktail of nausea as we rode the elevator up to the 2nd floor...if there had been more than five floors I swear I would have thrown myself out to the street below!

The room, the infamous room 220, is right beside the ice machine and it was just vibrating from that old Detroit Diesel freon contraption and the room is loud but now not so bad as right now DD and I are watching the weather channel and getting ready for a 7:30 supper which is destined to be some microwave tv dinners or something similar to a Hungry Man Meal but since we've been working out at the Gym it will likely be a low carb Panini!!

We went to the mall, whatever that mall in Burlington is called, and shopped for our suitcases. We had no suitcases and looked around in Granby and Montreal and online a bit but decided it would be easier to buy all our suitcases right in Burlington before we took the flight to Newark.

DD got some undies and I got some sneakers on special for only $11! I love doing this cross border shopping! We had a lovely romantic pre-holiday picnic and we had both had a Subway snack in the mall and you notice a lot of soldiers and military folks here...well not a lot...but more than back home in Knowlton.

After we spent more than an hour at JC Penny going through their luggage and opening and closing so many pieces and brans as if we had a Russian Doll complex we finally chose a Cobalt blue large suitcae for me and a smaller set for DD! As we went to pay there was a wonderful Indian teller at the JC Penny checkout who got us to sign up for a card to save 10% and then we went to the store for some microwave popcorn and those famous boil in the box dinners and now, as I sit on the bed at the Park n' Fry Holiday Inn waiting for the snacks to finish cooking and thingking about Johnny mentioning the Popcorn lungd, DD is having a shower and we’ll likely eat the boxed Space Food and then just take it easy and likely go to bed early.

I’d like to go down to the pool and take some test underwater shots with the camera but may not but maybe tomorrow. I bought a high end underwater lens for my Canon G7 to take underwater photos in Hawaii and was thinking of jumping into the pool to test it...but whew...we are so tired!

Anyway, I checked my emails on the new laptop as we drifted off into a carbohydrate-high due to our microwave din-dins and we’ll likely watch another episode of Hawaii 5-0, since before we left Canada we bought and watch a lot of, the full DVD series of Hawaii Five-O! Tonight, in the stinky noisy Holiday Inn, as we eat our frozen microwaveable dinners and then finish off with some peach pie! Now as we sit on the bed of the Holiday Inn in Burlington with the thick crepe draperies closed and billowing slightly over the grinding and noisy air-conditioner... it’s nine o clock and after watching the Hawaiian Plague visit McGarrett I may need to have at least a small piece of that Peach Pie!

We have to wake up early to catch the plane at 10 am to Newark and then on to Honolulu! There is nothing better than the first day of a holiday...the excitement is incredible!

DAMI

Newark New Jersey - The Stepping Stone

Trip Sister — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Just settling down at the Newark airport looking through sunny tall windows out at the blue and golden globe tail fin of a Continental jet and the Empire State Building beyond the trains in the blue grey sky distant and a red white and blue flag tussling in the brisk wind. The flight was rough due to the high winds so no in flight coffee service as the poor stewardess in her plump black sweetness wouldn’t have been able to make it down the aisles as we were jumping up and down on the flight. We flew from Burlington Vermont as we could catch a non-stop flight to Hawaii instead of stopping in Chicago or LA.

It was an early morning leaving the hotel in Burlington with the alarm sounding at 5:50 AM and then the wake up call recording and I was az bit sleepy after the melatonin and the large supper we ate. Still the room was noisy and too hot even with DD trying to turn down the thermostat it never really got cool enough so both of us tossed and turned a lot and the ice machine grinding and so when we went downstairs in the stinking elevator we called this place the Park & Fry because of the heat...oh well...there was no continental breakfast included which sucked so instead of staying there we took the shuttle to the Airport with the Sheriff and had a breakfast at the One Flight Up I had sunny siders with English muffs and DD had some poached eggs as we watched the radar dish rotating in the distance.

There wasn’t much passenger traffic at the Vermont airport, which is what we wanted, but some guy with a beard who looked somewhat like, pardon any inference of political incorrectness, a cross between a Hippie and a strict Muslim, who first sat down with his older Hippie chick but suddenly didn’t want a table near anyone else so they moved to the “closed” dining room and a minute later the waitress kindly asked them to sit where everyone else was sitting.

He got all upset...huffing and grumpin’ on about the “Population Density” being too high in the restaurant. “Population Density”?....ummm...ok dude this is Burlington, Vermont at 8 am so just chill out and maybe grab a coffee and don’t freak out at the airport!

We finished breakfast and made our way through security to the boarding area. Of course Mr. Population Density has to be on our flight! D’oh!

The flight was rough but at least now it’s sunny and DD had her head on my lap the whole 60 minute flight because of her tummy was not appreciating the bumps. The turbulence was aweful and being in the small Continental charter was like some sort of carnival ride! DD was turning paler as we bumped and swayed over the snowy New Jersey landscape below us but she’s having a ginger ale now and feeling slowly better. You Can Do It!

DAMI

Waikiki - A Day on Oahu

Trip Sister — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:51:00 +0000

The birds gathered in the incredible canopy trees below our 8th storey Lanai are chirping and singing for us! A nice change from the symphony of garbage trucks taking out the trash but I guess it is what to expect with the hotels plunked down here between the trees with only a slight view of the hills and maybe if I strain my eyeballs with a telescope between the hotel towers blocking Waikiki Beach I can maybe see the sea. When they say “Partial Ocean View” in the hotel description they really leave a lot of wiggle room on their definition of “View”.

No matter! We are finally on the Hawaiian Islands! After leaving Quebec and driving to Vermont and then flying to New Jersey for a non-stop flight to Honolulu we are bushed, bagged, bent and baked...but the warm humid air perfumed with flowers and sweet ocean surf is intoxicating!!

The flight yesterday was quite a ride that really pressed our asses into pancakes. The flight was an hour and a half late so we were even later in the air but I set my watch immediately to Hawaii time and we settled in....I thought we had booked seats on the window side but we were in the very back row beside a lovely lady from the Philippines who was going to stay in Honolulu for only two days.

The flight was pretty uneventful with no obnoxious people and I played a bit of peekaboo with the little cutie-patootie ahead of me and all the kids on the flight we’re well behaved. There was video games in the seats and we watched some Hawaii Five-O (The episode was “Six Kilos” featuring “Big Chicken” where Steve is undercover...just like us!) And we had some food and basically got stiff legs and finally arrived at around 10 pm at the airport and it was awesome...so many people and we’re walking on this concourse and there are palm trees and the what I thought was the original Honolulu sign I had seen on the original Hawaii Five-O series!

As we walked like kids in a candy store through the open concourse at the Honolulu Airport we were in a sweet cloud that smelled of leis around the necks and happy people coming to the islands! Welcome to Fantasy Island it seemed to say to us with the humidity and the flowers or what we could see of them as it was dark. I had romantically thought that a young Hawaiian girl would bound up to me in the airport and place a Lei around my neck and kiss me on both cheeks and say Aloha but I guess that is only happening in the movies! Isn’t this a movie? It sure feels like it!

DD and I boarded the airport shuttle with a large group and we had to stop at 15 hotels...luckily our Aloha Surf & Spa Hotel wasn’t the last but the driver was fun and we had a nice tour of the Waikiki area...so many people strolling and shopping and even though it was late it was full of activity~!

It was about 11 by the time we got to the hotel Aqua Aloha with the open lobby of lush blue tiles and comfortable furniture and we’re greeted by Angie. She is a big Hawaiian lady with a big smile just as you’d expect...we went up to the room and DD sniffed the pillows to ensure the room was clean, if it fails the sniff test then we have to find another hotel, and we fired up the Air Conditioner and went out to buy some snack s as we were very hungry!

We grabbed some sushi and chips and some Wasabi Macadamia nuts and came back to the room...had a bite and watched some Polynesian Foot Volley Ball game (it looked like a faster and more competitive version of Hake Sack that is played at the Tam Tam Jam in Parc Mt. Royal in Montreal on Sundays) on TV and then drifted off to sleep....we thought we’d sleep past the continental breakfast but the sounds woke us up and so it is now 7 am and DD has had her shower and applied her self-tanning lotion and I’m going to have a shower after my coffee on the lanai and we’ll go and explore the greens bursting into daylight!

Whew it is 7:30 and we’re back at the Aloha Surf and Spa after a gruelling day in Waikiki. We started by heading out into the sunlight after a few sticky buns for our continental...the lobby was full and we had to sit there because all the seats at the breakfast, if you can call it that, we’re taken...we then walked out to the main streets hat were already bustling with people getting an early start to the day.

DD mentioned about having a map so we decided to step into the ABC Store and asked for a map of Waikiki and paid 6.49 plus tax and then half a block later saw a tourist information kiosk where the maps we’re free...D’OH! Anyway we walked along the beach past the Waikiki Zoo and through a small garden area and to some cactus plantation and then up towards the Diamond Head crater park where we wanted to hike up to the top.

A rundown old limo with a scruffy skinny looking biker type asked something likely wanted to get us to take his cab we said no no no and just kept walking then some overly steroid- pumped Gorilla in a 4 x 4 SUV taxi is yelling out the window “Hey you going to Diamond Head?” and I’m like “Yes That’s nice...yeah...we’re going there”... because I didn’t hear exactly the question and anyway prefer not to be asked for a ride from some Taxi driver...back home we like to ask for a ride not to have some “Dude” ask if we want a lift....sheesh I’ll ask you if I want a ride little taxi boy!

Anyway so he drives by hollering that “it was a yes or no questions and I would have given you a free ride to the park!” and so yeah whatever you say freak! It was a lovely day and walking to Diamond Head isn’t a big long walk and we wanted to see everything! I just couldn’t believe this guy...like harassing tourists on Hawaii can’t be a good business practice.

We walk to the park and through this massive tunnel that goes through the rim of the volcano and then we’re literally walking on the volcano floor and to the park where a lot of tourists are preparing to make the trip up the hill to the top the trail was built in 1908. It was about an hour return trip and we were like ants going on trails the view was cool looking up from below. So many people with no water bottles or heaving or walking in bad shoes...the tunnels and stairs we’re quite tough actually and I’m glad I had been to the gym as my legs enabled me to want to take two steps at a time. One woman was stopped at the edge of the spiral staircase and she was suffering from claustrophobia and asked if it got better...it likely was not the best place for a claustrophobic but anyway at the top after we crawled out the gun turret sights from 1908 we made it to the top and the view was nice but there were too many little bugs the size of “No see-ums” but not biting but just covering us so we stayed about 5 minutes before we came back down.

We had some Wasabi Macadamia nuts and the chips and a Pepsi we had left-over from last night at the hotel...sitting under the bus shelter on the floor of the Volcano. We walked through the tunnel and took the city bus (as if we’d take a taxi now) from the park entrance and came back home..we ate the left over sushi that was in the hotel mini-fridge and laid down for a nap...nothing like a nap after such a long flight and so much walking in the sun!

We slept like baby turtles for an hour at least deep in a rock solid sleep and then woke up a bit dizzy from the long walk we’d taken so we had a coffee and went to buy postcards and do some shopping...so many shops and people trying to sell you stuff...not their fault...they just have to make a living but sometimes the whole downtown Waikiki scene was a little too aggressive for my sensibilities. We bought our postcards and found the post office and visited some clothing stores and a Ukelele store and then went for supper at the Waikiki Cheeseburger place called “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and we had a window seat and spread out the 25 postcards and ordered a burger with Maui pineapple and a guacamole burgers and there were birds at our feet right in the restaurant and then as we sat writing our postcards home we watched a beautiful sunset and we took pictures and then walked over to the hula show and live music and singing at the Waikiki beach.

I got sprayed by a big wave and then we strolled back to buy a dessert piece at the food mart and now we’re finishing the postcards and just relaxing ready for desert and an early night because we have to catch the shuttle to the airport at 9:45.

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Honolulo Airport - Bound For Kauai

Trip Sister — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:43:00 +0000

Here is a picture of DD singing with pleasure at the taste of a hot apple sticky bun because In Hawaii everything tastes so much better! We opened the sliding door of the Lanai and stood out breathing in the warm moist air watching the palm trees across from the canal. There were birds singing in the air and it was a perfect time for a morning coffee. Oh No! There was no coffee in the hotel room!

There was only one of those small packets of decaf coffee that hotels supply with the tiny machine left in the hotel room so I had to use a little ingenuity to make a morning coffee. I removed the gauze circular coffee pocket, made a small slit with my pocket-knife, carefully dumped out the offensive decaffeinated evilness and then surgically stuffed the filter with some of our fresh ground coffee. I then ran the mini-machine with my custom filter bag and while it still isn’t as good as right now as we sit here in the Airport waiting for our flight to Kauai.

Finally having a good cuppa coffee at the Starbucks in the airport. We were up early at around 6am with the chorus of “beep beep beep” from the backing up garbage trucks that seem to descend on Waikiki and wind between the hotels every morning. At least we were high up in the Aqua Aloha Spa that it wasn’t too bad but no matter....we were in Hawaii and still had a fairly good sleep after our busy day of hiking up to Diamond Head and getting used to time change.

It was 10 bucks for these 2 coffee and a bottled water but since I had to surrender my two Pepsis and my water that I had in my carry-on as they are not allowed through the airport security. Ahh we now could sit down and watch the tourists come and go and watch the planes land and takeoff from the observation gallery of the Honolulu airport. I had time to open my laptop and write more in this diary and could think back to this morning as we had our continental breakfast on the lanai with the little red headed birdies who wanted to get at my apple buns. The continental breakfast is served down near the pool of the hotel and was mostly sweets with fruits and juices but the little apple puffy buns were a nice treat and those birds sure seemed ready to do tricks for them!

The pineapple juice was tasty and as we puttered about the hotel packing we watched a bit of the Hawaiian visitor TV channel which gives a nice presentation of the sights and sounds of Waikiki. In the morning newpaper we read about the lava flows that had been progressing over a mile and a half towards two lone residents who have stayed in their deserted subdivision on the big island. Apparently this entire neighbourhood had been abandoned several years now except for a few hold-outs who preferred to stay in the danger zone confronting the risk of a lava eruption instead of moving out. One guy ran a bed and breakfast from his home and he said that now people only fly in by helicopter and stay for lunch! Since every night the sky is glowing red from the encroaching lava flows it’s no wonder! Cool!

This picture is DD and some happy tourists smiling away during the early morning continental breakfast. The lobby had no real walls and we were all sitting in the comfortable warmth of a beautiful Hawaiian morning! Anyway,back upstairs we had a shower and then DD told me how some of the toiletries in the hotel smelled a little foul! Hmmm...like "poo" I wondered? Well, I don’t have the same sensitive odour detecting abilities as DD but when it comes to determining the cleanliness of a hotel; she is one of the best so, if there was any chance that there was some yucky bumster juice clinging to any surfaces then she would be the first to spot it!

I admit that I didn’t see or smell anything but I am so excited about being in Hawaii and thought the hotel was fairly clean given the steady stream of tourists who must pour into Waikiki every year. But I wasn’t going to investigate any further as I wanted to enjoy this fleeting moment and not pin-point the bad parts of the hotel, so I went back to the lanai with the birds. Oh well, I thought...this room has a non-stop heavy flow of tourists and I’m sure many of them are not as clean as us...I mean DD found an old receipt under the bed which verified beyond a reasonable doubt the receipt had been there since December 29th and so there was likely no vacuum under the bed since then! She would be a good CSI Agent!! Watch out Horatio!

We got a phone call from the front desk because our Airport Shuttle was actually early so we had to hustle down to the lobby and check out in a hurry. We didn’t have much time to take a final look around the lobby and the open air seating area and rich blue tiles behind the wooden front desk. There is a flat screen tv above the eleavators and they keep playing this same old surfer movie not exactly sure what it was but it was vintage surfers and huge curling surf! So the airport bus ride was like a mini tour past the shops we had visited and the marina and it was bustling with people early as usual. It was great to see everyone from the vantage of the bus...we had been walking everywhere so it was nice to have this "roral" tour of Waikiki! The return trip from the airport cost about $15 per person return so it was much cheaper than a taxi! We got to the airport and made our checkout relatively easy since even the airport staff are working with the Aloha Spirit!

The airport security folks are much friendlier here than on the continent: The Hawaiian Security Agent wanted me to tell him when all my belongs had entered into the x-ray machine so I didn’t suffer any separation anxiety! At least they have a sense of humour! I guess I was still a bit anxious about my two Pepsis that had been confiscated because now I have a half bag of last nights microwave popcorn that we brought from Newark, New Jersey and nothing to wash it down with!

As we sit here waiting for our flight to board there was just an announcement on the Public Address system because someone had forgotten there shoes at the security check-through! They forgot their shoes?!I mean you can tell it`s Hawaii when someone goes through security and is so darned comfortable she forgets that they had taken their shoes off! Aaahh... the easy life in Hawaii, where even shoes are just a second thought! Five minutes later there was another announcement that one poor fellow had forgot his fishing rod!

They just announced our flight is ready to board...so we pack up our stuff and slowly make our way to our Hawaiian Airlines flight to the Island of Kauai.

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Kauai Arrival - From Heaven to Hell

Trip Sister — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:46:00 +0000

Approaching the Lihue Airport on the Island of Kauai we were given a spectacular view of the East Shoreline with lush green covered hills and reddish craggily peaks. It was breathtaking as our plane slowly descended and we could see the whitecaps pounding against the beaches of Kuahona Point and Kuwai Point. We saw a large sleek cruise ship sitting in Nawiliwili Harbour which is the cruise ship destination of Kauai.

We got off the aeroplane and by the time we walked from the plane to the main baggage area our bags we’re already waiting for us beside the carousel! Never in my life had I seen baggage get to the carousel before passengers...ahhh...more of the magic of the Hawaiian Islands! There were Leis around some people’s necks and the smell of sweet blossoming flowers everywhere and we made our way outside seeing the palm trees and mountains cradling the horizon to the West of the Lihue Airport.

I am still reliving the flight from Honolulu and seeing the turquoise blue waters below us through the fluffy white clouds and then when we saw the coastline of Kauai it was unforgettable and my head was in a bit of a rosy pink daze as we made our way with our bags over to the car rental area to pick up our vehicle. We checked in at Dollar Car Rentals; we had reserved the SUV vehicle about four weeks before coming on vacation. They were very nice at the kiosk and we signed the papers amongst all the dozen or so others who were getting rental cars from various companies. It felt like something out of that TV show “The Amazing Race” as people checked in for their cars and then made their way to the parking lot trying to find their vehicles.

The sun was beating down and we wheeled out brand new suitcases into the parking lot looking for our vehicle...it was supposed to be a Jeep Liberty, according to the website when I reserved the car, but instead it was a silver Dodge Nitro! Whoa! That is one bad boy!! I took pictures of all the scratches in the exterior just in case we got any extra charges for having scratched it. It was a 2007 Model Dodge Nitro so was in great shape. After having only driven our own car for the last few years it was neat to suddenly be behind the wheel of an SUV which was much much larger than our little Pontiac Vibe...not that I don’t like my little Salsa colored car but this big-wheeled silver bullet was something else!

We got on board, did a few high fives, and merged into the traffic along the palm lined highway 56 North towards Kapaa and our hotel we had reserved which was the Best WesternPlantation Hale which is about two miles South of Kapa’a at a little marketplace called the Coconut Marketplace. Actually we drove right past the turn-off at first because it came so quickly...we had been using a map but we had forgotten that even though the map was big the size of the island was small so we were not used to three inches of a map equalling only five minutes of driving time! Anyway we were glad that the hotel we had reserved, the Plantation Hale, was close to the Airport....we wanted to get checked in as soon as possible and not waste a lot of time driving on our first day.

We pulled into the parking lot and it felt totally like some tropical vacation resort...the lobby was open concept with the chairs and tables under umbrellas and the main check-in office was right outside with no windows or doors. It was hot and sunny and we were very excited!

We checked in with a lovely woman named Elsie; an elderly Hawaiian sweetheart in a blue MouMou. She welcomed us and made us feel very welcome and told us we had a very nice room with a view of the ocean. She said seen away from work because her husband had passed away and she had been working at the Plantation for 30 years. She said we must have been special because we got a good room and DD told her how nice everyone had been to us. She gave us the key to the pool and it was a guitar shaped key chain and I said that DD was a musician and Elsie said her husband was too and then we talked about Anna Milligan, my grandmother who had passed away in 2006 and I told her that I had some of my Grammas ashes with me to spread in Hawaii and she told us about how a lot of her relatives had been scattered here in the Islands. It was a nice welcome indeed...but that was about the last nice moment we had at the Plantation Hale Best Western...in fact...after that the day turned into a nightmare!

We got to the room number 13 at the Best Western Plantation Hale and DD freaked out because it was so dirty. There were cockroaches on the kitchen floor, the carpet in the living room was sticky, there were pubic hairs in the bathroom, crumbs under the cushions of the sofa, cockroach corpses on the bookshelf....the list went on and on.

Of course for me, being just a knuckle dragging guy, at first I thought the place was good enough because I was so excited to see the ocean view from the lanai but as DD started pointing out things that were dirty like a pubic hair on the bathroom floor and stains on the floors and mammoth dust bunnies on the wall and a the dead cockroaches I began to think that maybe this was a dump! It looked exactly like we saw on the website but I recall reading reviews on TripAdvisor and don’t remember anyone saying this place was a dump but we were standing there with our luggage with a bad feeling in our stomachs because we had booked the room for five nights and by the look on DD’s face she didn’t even want to stay one night!

At that moment, as we stood there in shock, Elsie from front desk called to ask how everything was and DD told her it wasn’t as clean as she would like and Elsie said that wasn’t acceptable and apologized and sent up 4 cleaning ladies to the room to make things right. I sat on the Lanai watching happy couples wander towards the beach and was feeling a little queasy as I heard DD and the cleaning ladies in the room...I mean...this is no way to start a holiday! When they left I went back in the room and DD told me the cleaning crew was like a gang of complete nincompoops...they were like “What’s the problem?” as if they couldn’t see anything wrong! They actually sprayed cleaning fluid on the carpet and were mopping up the floor with a rag they dropped on the floor! They did such a half-assed job and we were like having a nervous breakdown because we didn’t know what to do!

Elsie called again and DD was very upset saying the cleaning crew was inept and didn’t really help and the room was still a mess and Elsie said she’s send them back but we didn’t want the cleaning people here so Elsie said she would send the head of cleaning and so Debbie came up to the room with her cleaning products and she seemed very nice and agreed that the room was a mess. Since both DD and I were like practically in tears of fury I decided to go and get some groceries because we did have a full kitchen and stove so maybe once they finished cleaning the room we could have a nice meal.

At the food store in Kapaa I bought a frozen pizza, some ice cream, some fruits, cereals, English muffins, peanut butter...all the essentials for starting a holiday but then I was like buying Mr. Clean, J-Cloths, Bleach and other cleaning products! Something isn’t right with this picture! Why should we be buying cleaning products? I mean, I just wanted to get the room up to standards and then go snorkelling and to the beach and all that fun stuff...from what we saw on the website the Plantation Hale Best Western had everything we needed, a big lanai, a fully stocked kitchen, a separate bedroom with two beds and a large floor plan that was over 600 square feet but the place was so filthy that none of that seemed to matter!

I got back to the room and DD said Debbie had been very nice and had agreed that she had no reason to apolgize to me or to anyone for the place being dirty and for her not accepting a hotel room that was below standards. I unloaded the groceries and went for a walk on the beach because my head was spinning, my hyper-tension was at an all-time high, and I was trying to come to grips on how our vacation suddenly seemed to be going in to the toilet!

I came back to our room from my short walk and had a beer and some Maui chips to take the edge off. DD was still busy cleaning up with the products I had bought. We cooked the pizza but the stove was dirty and we had to pre-wash the dishes and cutlery because they didn’t look clean. We ate at the table but the carpet was still sticky and there were finger prints on the lamps and smudges on the windows! It was horrible! We didn’t spend $6000 and come all this distance to be in Hawaii only to have to scrub our hotel toilets and do housework and then watch CSI on TV because we were too upset to talk to each other!

It must have been at that point we decided to rename this place the Worst Western Plantation Hell! Even the bedroom, while it was big and likely was nice 20 years ago when it was new, was gross and the two beds weren’t exactly conducive to romantic evenings. We slept very poorly with a big space between us...both of us sad and almost thinking we should cancel our trip! Yep it was that bad! I guess we learned after that when we are confronted with an un-clean, pig-sty of a hotel room that we need to leave immediately and not try and be so nice and saying it will all be ok! It’s not OK and the fact they were nice to us at check-in doesn’t take away from the fact that the dingy complex of the hotel reminded us of a rundown ghetto and not the vacation resort our first impression had revealed.

Although we were treated to a wonderful sunset and tried to make the best out of a walk from the hotel to the beach which was very close and did see some wonderful surf and nice mountains and things we still felt cheated and can’t understand how there were so many favourable reviews for this hotel on TripAdvisor because we hated it and will never stay there again. We checked out the next day and were glad we did because we found something much better than this grungy old run-down roach motel! Ack! I wouldn’t recommend this hotel to anyone! Maybe the number 13 is cursed because room number 13 at that Worst Western Plantation Hell almost sent us into a voodoo death trance!

The next day...even though we were given the choice of other rooms...we looked at some others and while they were marginally cleaner we still had enough and wanted out of the grunge!DAMI

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!

Kauai Roosters - A New Day in Hawaii

Trip Sister — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:46:00 +0000

The new day rises with the sounds of the roosters of Kauai! These little feathered fiends are everywhere like the pigeons we’d find back in our big cities but somehow they remind me of being down on the farm! So after our night of Hell at the Plantation Hale we woke up and DD and I decided that the best thing we could do was to look for another hotel because we just weren’t happy there and every day on our vacation was precious. Both DD and I work all year on very different schedules, her days-off start on Monday and mine on Friday or Saturday, so we never really have days off together!

So DD and I really, really really look forward to the few weeks in January when our day jobs enter the "slow season" and we can both take our vacations together. So with that in our minds we realized that when we spent all year planning our Hawaiian Vacation there was no chance we would waste one moment! Yesterday, staying in a dirty hotel room, ruined our day!

So we woke up and basically decided like good troopers that we had to pack and find other accommodations. Since we had literally spent a night in the dirty ole' dog house we were somewhat amused as we left the hotel in search of proper accomodation and saw this little fluffer strolling on the sidewalk...his face seemed to say to me "You can do better!" Sheeesh...we had booked our hotel rooms for the entire two week three island vacation online and had checked other hotels on Kauai and either they were all booked or they were too expensive.

It was sunny in the morning and we went to the front desk and told them we hated our room; that it was really disgusting, and that we could not stay another day at the Plantation Hale. We hopped into the Silver Dodge Nitro, our Bad-Boy, and drove along the Coconut Grove to the closest Hotel...we had no intention of circling the Island of Kauai to find a good, inexpensive hotel since there were a few right in the area.

Se started by visiting the Courtyard by Marriott Kauai. WOW! This was about 10 steps above the Hale! Of course it wasn’t the same sort of accomodation; the Courtyard Hotel was a classic hotel with a lovely high lobby with great flowers and plants and deep rich lush decor and furniture compared to the more rustic and vintage old-style run-downess of the Best Western we had ran screaming from.

We asked to visit a room and were escorted to a choice of rooms on the third floor; one overlooking the parking lot facing inland and one facing the water and mainly overlooking the pool of the Courtyard. The rooms were brand new with thick clean royal blue carpets and dark cherry wood furniture. The rooms were small with small balconies but still they looked very clean and even the price was higher by about $80 per night we still looked at each other and felt much better here than in the roach motel we stayed in last night!

We then went to the Resort Quest Islander on The Beach at the other end of the Coconut Grove and asked to visit a few rooms to see the difference. Now this is what I’m talking about! We had looked at this place online and had read good reviews of the hotel on TripAdvisor.com but it appeared booked solid and over our budget so we never looked further. But speaking with the front desk we learned we could have a better rate because there were a few rooms available with walk-in rates.

The room we finally took was one of the suites! A large lanai overlooking the pool and pool-bar, a full kitchen and fridge with all pots and pans, a reserved parking spot and one of the best decorated hotel rooms we’ve been in! The room was about $100 more than the Plantation Hell but it was so lovely and perfect that we had to stay...after all this was our one holiday of the year and we deserved the best!

So after a fairly exhausting day we are now in the new hotel room and DD is making supper, a delicious stir-fry of fresh seafood and fresh fruits and it smells great! I made a fruity rum drink that I called a Kauai Kaboom full of fresh Pineapple, Cocounut Milk, Papaya Juice, Ice and dark rum and we sat outside in the sun on the Lanai feeling like royalty overlooking the people splashing in the hot tub and sitting at the thatched roof of the poolside bar! Ahhhhh! Finally some good time Hawaiian relaxation!

Yepper! As we sit here sipping our rum delights we look back on the day where we moved out of the Plantation Hale due to irreconcilable differences and it feels good even though we sort of wasted a whole day by being uncomfortable in the last place and then spending the morning looking at hotels and packing and moving. This morning it just wasn’t working out with the dirty fingerprints and the crusty crumpets on the carpet so we had breakfast and then DD and I were just like to opposite poles and last night she had said shew wanted to go home...so if it is that bad then I guess she finds it somewhat of a problem.

I admit now, after checking in to this room that it is much much nicer but it also close to a hundred dollars per night more isn’t it? But hey it is a suite with nice tiled floors and all new furnishings and a stereo system with dual airconditioners and two awesome TVs and wireless Internet connection so it is definitely a step up!

Anyway...as the rhum finds it’s way into the sunshine of our minds, we look back on the nice sunny day we had driving South on Kauai to Poipu which is a short drive, about 12 miles from Kapaa...we went to Poipu Beach for some free snorkelling...there was a big crowd on the sand bar near the rocks and crashing waves and we thought it must be some sort of guided beach tour but as we approached and heard the voices singing and saw the foreheads being dipped into the Pacific we realized it was a baptism ceremony going on!

There were also hundreds of sunbathers, surfers, snorkellers and so we went for some snorkelling in the rather strong currents...we didn’t expect to see any fish since there was such big waves and so many people but we were surprised to see a lot of fish...nothing like off of the Keys in Florida but still it was nice to see them. I tried my underwater waterproof camera housing for my new Canon G7. I had wanted to do some underwater filming on this trip since our Florida trip I only had bought those disposable underwater cameras and wasn’t too impressed with the quality. I bought the G7 with the underwater camera case that is waterproof down to 100 feet and it was great! As I walked on the beach everyone was like saying "Oh hey! What kind of camera is that!" They were all impressed but since it was my new camera I was a bit unfamiliar and as I went into the water and started splashing with the fish after about 10 pictures the disc told me it was full...ARGH!

I had to fiddle with the camera for ten minutes under water breathing through the snorkel until I had deleted enough pictures to carry on! It must be from those videos I filmed on the air plane as we landed in Kauai that take up so much space!

Sitting on the lanai now...laughing about the fun at Poipu Beach I decide that I am going to transfer the pictures to my laptop now! We are listening to a local Hawaii Radio Station that is playing fun music that is right out of the best hits of the 80's and 90's...it’s great to hear the music coming from behind us through the screen door as we watch the palm trees swaying and people carrying their evening drinks as they settle near the flaming lanterns around the pool! Room 208 at the Resort Quest Islander on The Beach is our Paradise! This night is turning out to be spectacular! We’ve gone from Hell back to Heaven in a few hours!

After chatting on the Lanai for a while we watched the sun set and went to bed hearing a gentle breeze in the palm trees and the occasional Kauai rooster singing the joys of living on the Island of Kauai! There is such a difference when you fall asleep in a clean room with nice new furniture and we drift off into dreams of Pineapple Fields and Sandy Beaches and Bright Yellow Fishies knowing that the Kona Coffee in the morning on the Lanai will be simply amazing! DAMI

Pictures of Kauai
Kauai, The Napali Coast, Waimea Canyon, Kapa'a. All our favorite hikes and sights on Hawai'is oldest island.

Pictures of Oahu and Waikiki
Honolulu, Waikiki & the sights we saw on our short trip to Oahu.

Pictures of Hawai'i The Big Island
Volcano, Mauna Kea, Waimea, Kona, Hilo & the incredible Big Island of Hawai'i.

Unusual, odd and strange pictures from Hawaii
Strange and unusual pictures that need a special category. Fun stuff and the beauty of Hawai'i that is hard to define. The artsy side of our trip to Hawai'i!