Travel Tuesday: Waikiki (Sticker) Shock Waves

The good news for Hawaii is that tourism is on an upswing.

The bad news for travelers planning to go there is that tourism is on an upswing. 

As hotel occupancy rates spiral upwards they are taking prices with them. For example, last January (2012), we got a ‘steal’ of  a stay in Waikiki by booking a deal with the online company, Jetsetter. 

Four nights in a premium ocean view room at the Aqua Lotus Honolulu near Diamond Head and total cost: $530. 

Following our stay on O’ahu’s western coast at our KoOlina timeshare, we returned and paid $169 per night (plus taxes) and stayed a couple more nights at the hotel.

Still a reasonable rate, we thought, for a property that sits in the shadow of Diamond Head across from Kapiolani Park and not on the beach.







Our $169 got us this ‘ocean view’ room:

We’d loved the place and planned to return this year. . . but after being struck by Waikiki (Sticker) Shock Waves, we’ve come up with a different -- affordable -- plan.

A quick check of this hotel’s web site (last Thursday), -- using the equivalent days and dates of last year’s stay for comparison purposes -- found that ocean view room available at $351.50 and premium ocean view at $371.50 for the January dates. It costs more in February.

We turned to our trusty Expedia, the on-line booking company where we've often found great discounts, only to be hit with a sticker after shock: the January dates for the hotel were listed at $527 for ocean view and $556 premium ocean view. February dates: $599 and $627, respectively.  (Expedia users rate the hotel as 3.5 out of 5 and TripAdvisor rates it #3 of 81 hotels in Waikiki.)

We are thinking our decision to buy a timeshare at Marriott’s Ko Olina (pictured above) and avoid Honolulu hotels was probably a good one.  In fact, we’ll likely skip Honolulu and Waikiki in 2014 and head directly to Ko Olina.

But since we’d booked flights this year to allow three days in Waikiki, we pulled out the stops on the hotel search and landed at Costco. . .yes, you read that correctly.  (For those not familiar, it is a customer membership warehouse chain that got its start in the Seattle area). So, now in addition to purchasing large quantities of paper goods and food, we also can lay claim to booking our travel there:

We’ll be across the street from Waikiki Beach at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel (one of those on the right in the photo above) on a three-night package that provides a partial ocean view room, lei airport greeting, round-trip transfers, daily continental breakfast on the beach and a variety of half-off coupons.  Package price: $614.  

This hotel has the same Expedia rating as the Aqua Lotus but doesn’t fare quite as well on TripAdvisor.  Will we find our ‘deal’ wasn’t as good as we thought?  Stay tuned. We’ll let you know soon!

Have you experienced sticker shock in Hawaii? Or have you found some good hotel deals? If so, where?

Waikiki’s SPAM® JAM Festival. . .no joke!

 

It's time to celebrate SPAM®. . . the kind you eat, not delete.

A conversation with two blogger buddies earlier this week found us in agreement on spam, those nuisance bulk emails that clog inboxes, but we had vastly differing opinions on SPAM®, the food. 

I’m the lone SPAM® fan in this trio.

Blogger Ann, who normally muses about life, mused about eating anything that slides out of the can in a wiggling gelatinous wrap.  Blogger Dick, whose focus is community and education, simply pondered SPAM® and its relationship to public education. 

SPAM®, we agreed, was a worthy blog topic for us all. Lucky for me, this announcement arrived in my inbox two days later:

10th Annual Waikiki SPAM® JAM Festival

is set for Saturday, April 28, 2012 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki, Honolulu

More SPAM®, according to one of the conference sponsors, is consumed per person in Hawaii than any other state in the United States, which makes it somewhat appropriate for their signature food festival.

SPAM® stands for ‘spiced ham’; a product introduced in 1937 by the Hormel Foods Corporation.  The food cube inside the can is a mix of ham and pork shoulder and now comes in low-salt, spicy and original (simply salty) versions.



Two key statistics in the news release caught my eye:

* nearly seven million cans of SPAM® are eaten every year in Hawaii. (Hawaii’s population was 1.375 in 2011 – that’s a lot of SPAM® per person!)

* in the decade since it began, the Waikiki SPAM® JAM, has become one of the most popular festivals in Hawaii. More than 20,000 are expected to attend this year’s festivities.



Waikiki’s main beach front drag, Kalakaua Avenue, will be closed to vehicular traffic. You can see why in this photo from a previous SPAM® JAM.

Some of Hawaii’s favorite entertainers will perform on two stages, and a dozen restaurants are serving up some crazy ono grindz (that’s ‘really good’ in Hawaiian) SPAM® dishes. A sample of the dishes being created and served include:

P.F. Chang’s: SPAM® Lettuce Wraps and SPAM® Lo Mein

Duke’s/Hula Grill: SPAM® Loco Moco with Shitake Mushroom Cream Gravy.

Cheeseburger Beachwalk: SPAM® Babies

Aqua Café: Ono Mac and Cheese with SPAM® and a SPAM® Bento.

Atlantis Seafood and Steak: SPAM® Mahi Carbonara.

Jimmy Buffett’s at the Beachcomber: Will have three dishes including Hormel’s Grand Prize Winning Recipe from the Great American SPAM® Championship. . .drum roll. . .Mini Maple SPAM® Doughnuts (created by Jason Munson, at the Puyallup Fair right here in Puget Sound)!


Admission is free.  But if you plan to attend keep in mind,The Hawaiian Food Bank will also have a booth at SPAM® JAM.  Since 2004, more than 10,000 pounds of SPAM® have been donated to the food bank thanks to this festival.

For more information, visit, www.spamjamhawaii.com.   Ever been to the festival? Tell us about it, or tell your own SPAM® story by adding a comment below or drop us an email.

Note:  Thanks to Wiki Commons and photographer Matthew W. Jackson for use of the SPAM® photo at the top of the post and to SPAM® JAM organizers for the other two photos used in this post.

TP Thursday: When the Lions Dance

The belief is that when the lions dance they bring good luck, prosperity and happiness to every joyous occasion. And such was the case when the lions danced at Ko Olina to celebrate the arrival of Chinese New Year.



Some of you may know that this is The Year of the Dragon –  he didn’t make it out to dance because he’s some 80-feet long and requires some 27 adults to bring him to life. 

We were quite happy having a foursome of Lions come to life, thanks to the youth and adults who make up the Hawaiian Lion Dance Association.

Most of the dancers and musicians were young people being guided by adults, a refreshing demonstration of what wonderful things can happen when elders pass traditions on to the next generation. 

Those of us who attended the dance presentation learned much about Chinese Culture and the role of the dance within it. . .culture and tradition, celebration and happiness – the new year was off to a great start.




With the beat of the drum. . .

 
The lions danced . . .



And then they rested. . .until the drum beat again brings them to life.



It is again Travel Photo Thursday, so be sure to visit Budget Travelers Sandbox, creator of this weekly event.

Aloha Pro Bowl!

In Hawaii  the word ‘aloha’ is used as a greeting, as goodbye and to describe the welcoming, warm spirit of these wonderful Pacific Islands.

It’s a word used a lot this last week when talking about Pro Bowl.

Pro Bowl, that pseudo-football-game that this year precedes the Super Bowl was first played in Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium in 1980 and for 30 consecutive seasons with the only recent hiccup in continuity  being two years ago when it was played in Miami.

Pro Bowl – the game – kicks off a few hours from now, in Honolulu. Pro Bowl - the festival - began back on Monday when banners went up and the hoopla and players began arriving at their Pro Bowl headquarters hotel, J.W. Marriott’s Ihilani, just footsteps from our place at Ko Olina Marina and Resort, some 30 minutes away from Waikiki.

Aloha surrounds this particular game this year. The players were welcomed with great aloha; there’s been a warm aloha spirit surrounding the various street parties, beach parties, parades, fireworks and charity visits that make up the week preceding the game.

But local media report this could also be aloha, as in goodbye, to the game in Hawaii. The two year contract with the NFL expires this year and rumors are afoot that the game will be moved next year.

Speaking of feet, Hawaii’s Governor has place kicked his into his mouth this week with some of the less-than-aloha comments he’s made about the negotiations. He’s been rushing to get back into aloha formation since being tackled by tourism officials.

Hawaii pays $4 million to the NFL to host the game and state tourism folks report that is generates $28.15 million in spending, of which $3.07 million is taxes paid into the state’s coffers.

Players interviewed by local media all say they want he game to stay in Hawaii.  One Seattle Seahawk, Michael Robinson feels so strongly about it, that he flew here on Tuesday to practice, on Wednesday flew to Pennsylvania to speak at Joe Paterno’s funeral and returned to Hawaii Friday (on Mr. Nike, Phil Knight’s jet).

Okay, so I have to mention that five Seattle Seahawks appear on the game’s NFC roster this year – they’ve not been represented in the Pro Bowl for the last two years.

So which way will the trade winds blow for the Pro Bowl? Time will tell. For now, let’s play ball!

Diamond Head: Been there, done that!

  Hula Babe’s and Beach Boy’s Hawaiian adventures began by climbing Diamond Head. As we gazed out over the Pacific Ocean, the only thing we asked ourselves is, “Why did we wait so many years and visits to Hawaii to enjoy this trek?”

Thanks to Kim and Sue, who after reading last week’s post in which I pondered the possibility, encouraged us to ‘just do it!'Their encouragement moved it to the top of my Hawaiian ‘to do’ list.

And then there was our hotel...

Our first four days were spent in Diamond Head’s shadow, at the The Lotus at Diamond Head in a room that provided a postcard view of this decades-old symbol of Waikiki. It felt as if we could reach across Kapi’olani Park and caress its rough hewn sides.  We used binoculars to see the people way up at the very tiptop viewpoint (the point on the right in this photo).

So Friday the 13th we tackled Le-ahi, the other name for Diamond Head; a name given by the goddess Hi’aka because the summit resembles the lae (forehead)  of the ahi fish. . .or at least that is one of the stories told of its name.  Another is that it stands for the wreaths of fire lighted atop it to guide canoes to shore.

We walked from our hotel to the trail head in the midst of the crater of this 300,000 year-old volcano. Entry fees were a very reasonable $1 per person walk in.  Parking fees for those who chose to drive were also minimal.

The trail itself is less than a mile (1.3km) one way and the climb is 560feet (171m) from the crater floor.  The trail, built in 1908 as part of the U.S. Army’s Coastal Defense System, was originally used by those on foot and mules that hauled construction equipment up it. The surface was uneven in many places but secure handrails made it feel safe.  There were steep stairways and dark narrow tunnels – it might not be for everyone. 

 I admit there were a couple of times as I paused to drink water and suck air on the way up that I did wonder why I had been so hell bent on doing it. However we were joined by young and old; fit and fat - a testimony to its popularity. More than a million visit Diamond Head each year.

And then. . .the final flight of stairs and we were at the top. . .paradise literally surrounded us every direction we turned. The views were stunning.

I can hardly wait until next year! It might just have moved even higher on my “must not miss” list.

TP Thursday: Holiday Trees

As the holiday season wraps itself around our chilly Pacific Northwest, we start thinking about our holiday trees.

Not the holiday kind under which gifts are placed, but those trees that bring memories of holidays, or vacations, we’ve taken during the past year.  Instead of ornaments, our trees are decorated with wonderful memories of time spent together, adventures shared, new friends made and destinations discovered. 

There’s  Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach on Hawaii’s island of O’ahu.



And Hollywood, Florida. . .



And Marbella, Spain. . .



And Tenerife, Canary Islands. . .


We are hoping your tree is decorated with wonderful holiday memories as well!

It is Travel Photo Thursday!  Take a trip around the world by visiting Budget Traveler’s Sandbox, the blog where the project began.

Favorite Airports: Savannah's Rocks!

If I were giving awards, my 'Airport of the Year Award' would go to. . .(drum roll). . .Savannah!
Well,technically it's the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.  But by whatever name, it has to be one of the easiest airports to navigate and I love it because it rocks!
Actually the travelers rock, using the wooden rocking chairs provided.  No joke. Wooden rocking chairs. . .in an airport?!  It was a great introduction to the Southern Hospitality that was to follow during our week long stay in Savannah.



Savannah/Hilton Head Airport
Jackie Smith photo, 2010

 Whoever designed the place is to be commended and whoever furnished it is to be complimented.  Between the concourse and check in counters/baggage claim areas, you pass through a large open area designed to look like a southern square, made user-friendly with wooden park benches and rocking chairs.  They even have rocking chairs placed periodically along the concourse. And security was a breeze - no long lines  in the early afternoon when we passed through.

Another favorite airport is Honolulu's. Maybe it is the warm ocean breezes that envelop you as you step out of the Jetway in this open-air terminal or the aloha greeting of hula dancers who often perform in the airport's common area, but it also has a welcoming ambiance.  Its Asian-themed garden, a lush green oasis in the middle of the airport, provides a last-chance stroll through the tropics for those waiting to board flights.

The shops were so enticing when we landed at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in October that I actually asked to go there early the next morning to make sure I had shopping time prior to boarding our flight to Seattle.  Flower shops sell tulip bulbs in kaleidoscope of colors and quantities and those stores with blue and white porcelain were irresistible. And then. . .while exploring the stores, we discovered the airport's casino. Yes, a real casino, where Joel is already planning to spend his time the next time I go 'shopping'.

All travelers have a supply of airport horror stories. But what about the good airports? Do you have a favorite? Tell us what makes it so.  Are there any that you'd like to put in the 'losers' category?  Tell us about them below:

A toast to the tropics. . .

There is something about a glass of wine at sunset in the tropics that can't be matched anywhere else on earth. We toasted our arrival at the Outrigger Canoe Club, a Honolulu institution since its founding in 1908.

Palm trees swayed, the sky moved from its cloudless blue to gold and pinks as we ended our first day on the island. Temperatures have been in the low- to mid-80's with a 'cold spell' expected to drop them into the high 70's today and this evening (I know, none of you mainlanders have any sympathy for suffering through such temperature drops here).

Our room at the Hilton provides a sweeping view from Diamond Head out over Kuhio Beach. We had wondered what a $99 rate would get us: 31st floor, six from the top and our deck provides the best deck dining venue in town. More on that next blog.

For those armchair travelers out there who want to envision yourself here, I suggest you try
KINE FM turn up your computer's sound, stand up and do a little hula.

Heading to Honolulu

It's mid-January in Puget Sound: gray and rainy, most days. And there are good deals to be had in Hawaii. With that combination, it should be no surprise that our bags are packed and by the end of the week we will be in Waikiki soaking up the sun, basking in 80-degree temperatures taking long walks on sandy beaches under a canopy of swaying palms.

As I noted in a November blog (Honolulu: Surf's Up and prices down), Joel, the researcher half of this travel duo, found an incredibly good rate: $99 a night for ocean-front room at Hilton's Prince Kuhio in the heart of Waikiki. The hotel is a block back from the famed beach and two blocks from Kapiolani Park. We noted this weekend the prices have gone up considerably since we booked it.

The good news is that for those who didn't nab a room back then, the deals are still out there. We saw a big spread on O'ahu today that offered Endless Escapes at Starwood properties starting at $119 and a 99 days of Winter sale at Aqua Resorts with prices at $99 or less per night at their participating Waikiki hotels.

Developers and property owners have put more than $2 billion into the Waikiki neighborhood in recent years. The end results are new upscale restaurants, shopping malls filled with high end stores, rennovated historic hotels and a beautiful beach walk. It has become one of our favorite spots in all of the Hawaiian Islands.

If you can't take advantage of the deals, mix yourself a mai-tai, put on a floral shirt and stay tuned. For the next few weeks we will take you with us as we head to our favorite off-the-beaten-track finds. Aloha!