Travel Journals Blog

Hawaii Hotels and Vacation Ideas

When you’re shoveling snow off your car this winter, or standing in a busy check-out line doing holiday shopping, or just in the middle of a typical hectic work week, do you ever just long to get away from it all? For many of us, soft sand beaches, warm sun on our shoulders, and tropical breezes are the perfect salve to alleviate our stress. Hawaii is the quintessential winter escape — perfect weather, breathtaking scenery, plentiful attractions, and world-class hotels. Hawaii is also just a hop, skip, and a jump from the continental United States, making it easily accessible to all kinds of travelers. Today we offer you some ideas to plan your next trip. Get ready to catch some rays! Your welcome lei is waiting.

Honolulu

Hawaii’s capital city Honolulu has immense popularity, and all for good reason: its hotels are some of the nicest in the world, and award-winning restaurants combine innovative menus with a dining experience that takes advantage of the balmy Hawaiian climate with plenty of patio seating. Top that with superb nightlife, great shopping, and gorgeous beaches, and you’ll never even have to leave the city! If you do want to experience all the natural wonders of the island, a short drive will get you to volcanoes, waterfalls, mountains, and more.

Check out our Honolulu Hotels page to see the variety of accommodation options available. Looking for another city in Hawaii? Here is a handy hotel guide, listed by city: Hawaii Hotels.

Attractions

Looking for more ideas besides Honolulu? How about swimming, scuba diving, sailing, dancing, or visiting cultural sites and museums? If you’re a surfer, winter boasts the biggest waves. There are no shortage of things to do in Hawaii. While on her vacation to Oahu this past September, Realtraveler Brisbird experienced scenic drives, visited a macademia nut farm, toured a pineapple plant, and saw many sites including the Halona Blow Hole and the Japanese Byodoin temple. In the evening, she saw a great show:

“The Magic of Polynesian Show was a visual spectacular of polynesian dance and illusion show. It had all the regular tricks - disappearing assistant, cut-off head, escape artist, appearing helicopters from nowhere, disappearing magician appearing in the middle of the audience - lots of dancers and a flame twirler. Joe and I both agreed it was a great show. After this we wondered back via the International Market, window shopping and buying souveniers.” (more…)

Spas

Some of the best spas in the world are found on the Hawaii archipelago, especially on the Big Island and Maui. It’s easy to find a package deal that includes accommodations, lavish breakfasts, and soothing spa treatments like massages, facials, and more. Pamper yourself while you’re on vacation!

For Golfers

Many Hawaii hotels have their own golf courses or are in close proximity to one. Hawaii is famous for its spectacular golf, with the rolling greens backdropped by some of the world’s most stunning scenery. Jonathan (of the duo Siobhan & Jonathan) thoroughly enjoyed his time on the Hawaii golf scene:

“The golf course was awesome, perched up on the the hill over-looking the islands of Molokini and Molokai and sometimes we just had to just stop and soak up the view. I had bought these really cool salmon coloured balls, 9 of them, figuring that they would be really hard to lose. I started in on the balls that the guy in the golf shop gave me by the end of the 3rd hold. Oops. Didn’t matter though, we had a blast…difficult to describe the course with words and can’t show you pictures because we forgot the camera but take my word for it, it was gorgeous.”

These globetrotters also experienced another Hawaii vacation must-do: snorkeling! Check out this excerpt from their blog:

“Everyone was meeting down on the beach in Wailea just to relax, swim & snorkel. So, we drove down taking an accidental detour that ended up in a stunning drive along the coast of Maui. The sights were absolutely breathtaking! When we finally met up with everyone else, Mike suggested that we take our snorkeling gear and go explore a little point about a half mile down the beach. Other people had told us the coral was a bit pretty, but we never expected what we actually found! We were lucky enough to come across a group of green sea turtles gnoshing on the kelp that was floating around. I even took a bit of kelp in my hand and had one of the smaller turtles take a nip from it! There had to be at least 15 turtles; they were everywhere you turned! It was truly a ‘Finding Nemo’ moment!” (more…)

This only scratches the surface of the things to do in Hawaii and the gorgeous hotels to be found there, so plan your winter getaway today!

Hawaii Hotels and Vacation Ideas
by: Carrie Katz

Add comment May 11th, 2008

Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan: Lenin’s Birthday

On April 22, Vladimir Lenin would have turned 138 - and quite a few Russophone bloggers still remember the date.

Oleg Panfilov - LJ user oleg_panfilov, director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations - chose to write (RUS) about his native city - Khujand, Tajikistan - which was known as Leninabad from 1939 till 1992:

You know, [Soviet/Russian scholar Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachev] once supported the idea - put forward by myself and my colleagues - to return the ancient name to my native city. And it successfully made it back into history as Khujand, not as Leninabad, which it had been for over 50 years, even though Comrade Lenin had never visited it.

To me, April 22 is now the day when I can smile sarcastically - perhaps he lived and used to be alive [allusion to these lines by poet Vladimir Mayakovsky], but he’ll no longer be in my city. Thank God!

Mark Grigorian - LJ user markgrigorian, a London-based Armenian journalist and political analyst - posted his reflections (RUS) on Lenin and his legacy from Shymkent, Kazakhstan:

For some reason, I continue to notice his statues, busts, portraits.

That typical pointed goatee, a huge bold spot, “an eagle’s look” - or, depending on the customer’s demand, the “kind eyes” - which painters and sculptors from different countries tend to portray in their own ways.

Or, to be more precise, used to portray. But in such quantities that even now, nearly a whole generation since the Soviet Union disappeared from the map, you can run into him anywhere. Or, nearly everywhere.

And here, in southern Kazakhstan, not far from the city of Shymkent, formerly known as Chimkent, there is a monument to the former leader, with one leg and one arm missing, at the warehouse behind the Mankent boarding house. […]

This monument used to stand [in front of] the boarding house. But times have changed, and it has been replaced with a stylized yurt that holds three busts of the leaders of three Kazakh […] tribes, who are looking at a stone cradle with this inscription in blue on it (translation may be imprecise): “If you want to be the nation, start from the cradle.”

Many people here speak of Lenin and his monument with affection.

“My son is a third-year student now,” a warehouse worker told me. - “When he was in the second grade, I placed him onto Lenin’s lap and took a picture of him. Now this photo is in my album at home. Could I have known that this monument would ever be spoiled like this? What had he done to them? Could be left standing…”

Of course, this was a cult similar to religious worship. Many people have noted this: among the elements of worship were the holy trinity [Lenin, Marx, Engels], and devoted disciples who were spreading “the light of the true teaching,” and holy books, and cult-like celebrations… And, of course, what I see now are the remains of the cult.

Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan: Lenin’s Birthday
Posted by Veronica Khokhlova

Add comment May 11th, 2008

Resorts of the Mexican Riviera

In my opinion, absolutely nothing on this planet more fully embodies hassle-free travel than a nice long stay in one of the world’s many resort towns. The popularity of these all-inclusive resorts is definitely on the rise, as many find themselves wanting that spectacular beach getaway, without all the trouble of booking accommodations, researching destinations and planning itineraries, and instead just want a great, relaxing vacation without feeling like they have to put in the work equivalent to a second job to plan it.

One of the most popular places for travelers from the U.S. to visit when they get the itch for all-inclusive, no-stress travel is the Mexican Riviera. With such great (not to mention famous) destinations as Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, this locale offers an abundance of simple options for some of the most easygoing travel you’ll ever experience. Plus, if a little more activity is what you’re looking for, you still have to look no further, as a huge variety of daily excursions and adventures are easily planned with the help of resort staff.

RealTravelers FreqTravelers recently visited Cabo San Lucas as quickly fell in love with their hotel during their stay:

“We arrived at the hotel and immediately was greeted by the bell men and was given a complementary margarita (which wasn’t very good). We knew we may be early to check in, but decided to try. They said our room wasn’t ready, so we went to have lunch at the Sunset Pool Bar. The food was pretty good.

Add comment May 11th, 2008