First of all, thank you all for your suggestions on my earlier thread Hawaiian Tips Needed. I took a print out with me and followed quite a few of your tips!
Here is a follow up on our adventure:
The Big Hawaiian Trip
To begin with, let’s talk about weather.
The Governor of Hawaii was being asked to declare the situation a natural disaster to get Federal funding due to the flooding caused by the torrential downpour over the islands during the week we were there.
On the upside, we still have plenty of suntan lotion to hold us over in Las Vegas until mid-August.
But let’s start from the beginning. At 2:30 AM on Thursday, Hawaiian Airlines whisked us off on a six hour flight to Honolulu and we arrived, sleepless and excited, to be greeted by a lovely woman hired by our travel agent who sweetly embraced us and put purple leis on our necks. Oddly, we were the only people on the entire plane to receive this traditional accolade and as I went to the restroom, one guy said, “See, he got one” and everyone stared at me. Now, in a men’s restroom, having the entire crowd staring at you as you pee while wearing a flower necklace is a bit odd, even for me. I felt like all that was missing was my tiara, but I gamely finished business at hand and went out to our shuttle and off we went to Waikiki. Our driver told us we were lucky the sun was shining as it had rained the day before and they predicted it might rain again. Little did we know.
So we arrived at our hotel, Pacific Beach, and slipped the clerk a few bucks to upgrade our room and it was truly wonderful – ocean front, with a view straight out of a travel brochure. Of course, not having slept for 28 hours, we didn’t really get to view much before taking nap one, of three, that first day.
Honolulu is a big city in a great location. Like all big cities, traffic is a bitch and there are some gritty corners here and there, but at least on Waikiki, they had an army of people cleaning those streets good enough to impress Germans. We never saw a scrap of paper on the sidewalks or the beach. There was shopping galore. Oh, and something called ABC stores. They are kind of like 7-11s on the mainland, just more of them, and I mean, lots and lots of them. They make Starbucks on the mainland look rare in comparison. Sometimes on one city block, there would be four or more ABC stores. If I won the lottery, I would open a chain of stores, call them DEF and place them next door, just to help poor Hawaiian kids learn the alphabet. The ABC stores charge $6.99 for a six pack of beer, and $5.99 for a six pack of Coke.
At any rate, between naps we walked across the street to the beach. It was sunny and nice, but we were tired and said, “We have all week to get sun, let’s just look around today.” We found a nice gay bar, Angles, and right below it was a fantastic restaurant called Seaside that had two lobster tails, with sides of potatoes and corn, for only $16.95. Also Mahi Mahi done Cajun style and it was only $12.95. Great food, good price, nothing fancy, nice mix of locals and tourists.
Speaking of tourists. I am old enough to remember when Japanese tourist traveled in packs, with some lame leader holding a flag, and the poor group looked terrified and very tired. Well let me tell you, those days seem to be over. It seemed that almost half of the tourists in Honolulu were Japanese, and most were young, in pairs or in small groups, having a great time and not shy whatsoever. Slamming down beers, dressed like anyone their age in California, they just were having a grand old time and it was great to see them just having fun and going off on their own. We even saw elderly Japanese couples who were obviously not a part of a tour group venturing into restaurants off the beaten track. I was impressed.
The next day was overcast, so we walked through the Honolulu zoo. Nice layout, quite a selection of animals – from fish to lizards to apes and lions and tigers and bears oh my. Then we came to a field and there was a cow. Amidst all of these exotic animals, a single cow in a field. I thought, “Well, now I know why milk is so expensive here – this appears to be the only cow in Hawaii.” On Maui, milk was going for $6.59 a gallon. More about Maui coming up.
That night we found another gay bar, Hula’s, and it too was fun and, surprise surprise, directly below that bar was Teddy’s Bigger Burgers. What a fantastic place! If anyone wants to open a franchise of Teddy’s on the west coast, they will beat Fatburger and In and Out as the best burgers around! Somebody really should call Teddy and get him to franchise!
The next day was Saturday. Cloudy and windy and to make the day just perfect, I had bone chills, aches and pains and spent most of the day in bed. Luckily, I felt better on Sunday just in time to catch the flight to Maui.
Arrived in Maui, overcast and windy, and waited for almost two hours for the shuttle bus to Kaanapali. The ride took another hour and fifteen minutes due to traffic, but we got to see whales off in the distance and the drive was really beautiful. We got to Kannapali Villas and went to our condo. We lucked out, had another great view of the ocean from our patio and the apartment was really very nice, despite it being a somewhat older complex. We were quite happy in that apartment. Good thing too. We spent most of our time in that apartment.
Sunday – overcast, windy, light rain at night.
Monday – drizzle, cloudy.
Tuesday - drizzle, cloudy, windy.
Wednesday – no rain, but no sun either.
Thursday – SUN! We dashed off to the beach. Got into the water! Swam! Laughed and splashed and took photos. Should have applied suntan lotion to legs. Burned skin, didn’t care.
Friday – MORE SUN! We had enough lotion on us to grease a pig. Back in the water, walked up and down the beach, this was the Maui we were expecting.
Saturday – sun went away again. Cloudy, windy.
While we were in Maui, we had ample time to do a luau, go to Whaler’s Village, a small mall with shops like Tiffany and Rolex (and yes, an ABC store). Some restaurants on the beach. Also went to Old Lahina – a beach town with restaurants like Bubba Gumps and Hard Rock Café. We tried several restaurants in Maui – Kimos, BJ’s Pizza, Leilanas, Cheeseburger In Paradise, Hula Grill, Castaways. They weren’t cheap, but in all fairness, they were not outrageous either. You would pay the same in a decent restaurant in Las Vegas. The only problem was the food in every restaurant was almost the same – mediocre at best, and a very limited selection. Not one of those restaurants would last a month on the mainland.
We had planned on doing lots of other things while we were in Maui, but the weather played a major factor in us not doing it. The Queen Mary II pulled in while we were there and got some great photos and briefly spoke with some of the crew while we were having lunch.
On Sunday, we left Hawaii (it was sunny and beautiful that day) and flew back to Las Vegas.
So, impressions of Hawaii:
Really nice people. Every Hawaiian we met was courteous and friendly – although almost every one said, “you are from Las Vegas?! That is where WE go for vacation!” One woman said, “You are the first people I have ever met from Las Vegas who have come here!” I cannot say enough how nice the locals were, and they felt bad we got stuck in that weather while we were there.
Hawaii really is as beautiful as on the postcards. The photos we took on our two sunny days in Maui look wonderful. The hotel in Honolulu was perfect; the condo in Maui was great. We did go next door to the Westin Resort that was selling timeshares. Nice apartment – they wanted $68,900 for a 1/52 share! It wasn’t THAT nice, trust me.
Maui – I fully understand why someone would want to move there. Peaceful, beautiful, laid-back. However, I personally would go stark raving mad if I lived there; the one, crowded highway with a speed limit of 40-45 miles per hour; supermarket prices that are ridiculous; a nightlife that is veritably non-existent. Granted, the weather sucked, but it did show me that even without that weather factor, Maui has some limitations that would not be a good fit, at least for me.
Honolulu – I would definitely like to go back there. Yes, the beach at Waikiki is jammed full of tourists, but I am sure there are other beaches a short drive away that would be quite nice. Plus, because Honolulu is a large city, the prices are more competitive, the selections are wider and you have the best of both worlds – beautiful beaches and a big city life.
All in all, it was a wonderful 25th anniversary trip for Mr. and Mr. DMark. Thanks again for all of your tips and suggestions, and we hope to visit again someday! Aloha!
We tell tourist that rain is how the gods bless us. This is partly true because on many islands drought can be a problem, but we would have made it up anyway. 
Did you guys experience our liquid sunshine? Surprised to see that rain doesn’t always come from clouds? Or are the cloud so thin they are virtually invisible? Or is the rain coming from distant clouds? :dubious: