Just got back this week from Hawaii (photos here)... Needless to say that going back to work after a week plus of not doing anything in particular is a bit of a shock to the system.
Neither of us had ever been before and here's a few of my impressions or things of note from the trip - yes I probably should have known some of these from the books/guides we had read.
- We were only on Oahu and despite everyone telling me there were too many people, etc. it was still quite possible to head out from Honolulu and find places that were remote/quiet.
- Traffic is insane. I read a stat that there are 600k cars registered on Oahu and 1500 miles of road => 400 cars for each mile of road. And I believe it. One of the days we went up to the north shore it took two hours to get back because we sat in Honolulu traffic (stop-n-go on the highway getting in) for an hour.
- Hawaii can be really really expensive. Or more specifically, Waikiki can be really really expensive. The rest of Oahu was just expensive.
- It's amazing what some people are willing to pay for a rental car
- There are “exotic rentals“ - ferraris, porsche, mercedes, etc. - all around and they're ~400 a day starting. Clearly there were enough of them that somebody is actually renting these things
- Everyone should join the AAA. The amount we saved on the rental car from the discount paid for the membership.
- Don't rely on maps from a travel guide book. Buy or get a road map locally. On the west edge of Hawaii one of the main roads looks like it turns at the point of the island and continues up the north-west coast. Except that it kind of does. At a certain point, it stops being a paved road and turns into a hazardous dirt road (literally - there was a sign advising that it was hazardous going beyond that point). To make this discovery even easier, there's not a direct way to get over to the other road - you have back track quite a ways before you head up another road.
Now the good stuff:
- If you go, definitely go snorkeling somewhere. We went to Hanuama Bay which is very busy but it was still an incredible thing to do. Plus it wasn't super-deep and with all the people that were around, you have the feeling that if you start to have a problem someone would be able to notice & help you - this is handy for people like me that had never snorkled. Coolest part was when we were going along and all of a sudden these two huge blue fish just swam past.
- Surfing - we never tried it. We did try boogie boarding and I'm not sure what it was but weren't able to catch any waves. It was still really nice to just be relaxing in the warm ocean.
- Golf - I played at Turtle Bay on the Fazio course. This was probably one of the fastest rounds that I've ever played in my life. I was on my own and no groups in front of me - all 18 holes in about 2.5 hours. The course was nice but I don't think that I'm a good enough golfer that it makes a difference yet (other then it being really cool to look from the green and see the waves crashing in). This weekend the Palmer course at Turtle Bay is hosting an LPGA event.
- Spectator version of surfing - I have much more respect for surfing and surfers now that I've seen them on the huge waves of the north shore of the island. It's a very athletic and dangerous sport.
- Polynesian Cultural Center - one of the two educational portions of the trip. The people giving information at it are actually from the island (or island group) they're talking about and are students at a nearby university. The night-show after the luau was adaptations of traditional dances along with people playing with fire. Recommended if you have a lot of time on Oahu - probably not if you're trying to do a lot of things in a short time - this place takes a good half-day or so of the trip.
- Pearl Harbor - we saw both the Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Missouri. Clodagh didn't know much about the attack on Pearl Harbor so I think it was kind of a perspective into America for her, and for me it was something that I had wanted to visit for a long time. If you visit the memorial I definitely recommend paying the few bucks for the audio-headset. It adds a lot more to the experience. The Missouri was interesting because I have so little idea of what takes place in the military and while nothing can ever be the same as being a part of it, seeing the ship you get some idea of the conditions the sailors are living in while they're out to sea...
Last comment - do not ever stay at the Waikiki Resort Hotel. The location is quite good in Waikiki but the hotel is not good. For the same money surely there are better (cleaner, more responsive to guests requests) places to stay.