Kauai: Luxury Travel for Less, Part I

The sky turned golden precisely at 5:55 a.m. then went gray and within 30 minutes was a brilliant blue background to the rising sun's antics of playing peek-a-boo through pink-tinted clouds and palm frond silhouettes.

That was how each day began during our first week in Kauai.

Sunrise in Kauai from our room

We were at the Westin Ocean Resort Villas in Princeville on the island’s North Shore.  Princeville, with its high-end accommodations is nicknamed 'the Bel Air of the island', after California’s similarly ritzy city.

From the deck on our studio condo we’d sip both morning coffee and evening wine – there was no better ocean view to be had in the complex than ours.

 We like luxury.

And we’ve surrounded ourselves in it on this trip.

What we like even better is when we find luxurious accommodations for less!

And that’s what The Scout does best. . .so let me show you what he found and how much it cost.

Our home away from home - week one Kauai

The Westin Villas are ‘time shares’ or ‘interval ownership units’ where a week is purchased (either deeded land or points), maintenance fees are paid annually, and you’ve got your own – albeit, tiny – piece of Hawaii, in this case. (We own such property on the island of O’ahu and Arizona and for those new to the blog, check the links on the homepage for more about those).

Westin Ocean Resort Villas - Princeville, Kauai

Often times owners can’t use their reserved time and choose to trade it for somewhere/sometime else or they rent the reserved time. A number of web sites are designed for just that and that’s where The Scout found this Westin unit for rent.

Bathroom, kitchen and laundry off the entry hall

Our spacious unit had a large walk-in shower, jacuzzi tub for two with a shuttered wall that opened to the ocean view, an en suite washer and dryer and a kitchen that included garbage disposal, dishwasher, microwave/convection oven and was stocked with more dishes and pans than I planned to use! Once a week maid service brought new towels and sheets and a room tidy. And our bed was “Heavenly” the kind trademarked by Westin and used in all their hotel and vacation villa properties. For parents out there: the couch was a sleeper sofa - bedding provided.

BBQs with a view

Food and drink prices were high at this end of the island, so we ate ‘at home’ often. BBQ’s were cleaned daily for use by residents. I tell you sipping wine and enjoying the view while cooking was one of the stay’s high points. . .and it was a better views than many of the restaurants.

Beach at St. Regis Hotel - and its view: NaPali Coast

A real plus was  regular shuttle service to the nearby St. Regis Hotel where we could sunbathe on its beach or dine in its restaurants and bars (rooms at that luxury hotel began at $500+ a night).

So . . .What we paid:
This room is called a Premium Studio, 512 sq. ft. plus 44 sq. ft. balcony. 
Rate per night on the Westin site: $450;
on Expedia $399.
We paid: $150 per night, booking through the owner’s rental site. I’ve listed a few of them below.

If You Go:
The Scout did a quick Google search for ‘timeshare rentals’ and found a number of websites, including Redweek.com, Sellmytimesharenow.com, TUG (Timeshare Users Group)com.

Note: We didn’t expect to have an ocean view as it hadn’t been specified in the rental - it was luck of the draw. “Ocean views” -- should you book one -- can be tricky because some places consider even a peek-a-boo view of water as ocean view.  Do a bit of research and check floor plans.

Common Sense Note:  We rented from owners using two different web sites. We did not send full payment at the time of booking. We made a payment to hold the reservation but waited until confirmations were sent, in this case from The Westin, with our name on the rental and a confirmation number before we made the final payment. (We also called The Westin prior to arrival to make sure we did have a reservation.)

Next week I’ll “show and tell” the luxury for less we found on the island’s other side our second week. Hope you’ll come  check it out~ until then, Happy Travels. And thanks for your visit!

Linking to three incredible blogs:
Travel Photo Thursday – Budget Travelers Sandbox
Weekend Travel Inspirations – Reflections en Route
Mosaic Monday- Lavender Cottage Gardening

E Komo Mai to Our Hale Moana Home

E Komo Mai, (Welcome), to Hale Moana, our home on O’ahu, Hawaii.

It’s not a permanent home, it’s temporary, just a month, 1/12th of a year . . . but far longer than either of us once ever anticipated ‘living’ in this tropical paradise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.



Over the decades we’ve gone to realtor open houses during visits to Hawaii and for decades have declared ownership of what we deemed ‘our kind of places’ to be beyond our budget. 

That was, until we discovered the world of timeshare ownership.  That was five years ago and life hasn’t been the same since. . .

Now, in the second week of our four week stay at Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club; our ‘home’ is on O’ahu’s western shore about 30 minutes from the Honolulu Airport and light years away from the hustle and bustle of that big city.



I’d worried – when we made our first purchase into this short-term ownership world – that we had been here only five days. What if we got bored after a week? Horrors! What if we got tired of returning to the same place year after year? (That part really isn’t a concern because you just trade your ‘home’ for one somewhere else).

My initial fears were unfounded (as they usually are) and we spent the next three years acquiring additional bits of time here. . .

This year we live in Hale Moana, the same building as our previous stays and each year we’ve had a different address within the building but all units are identical.  So E Komo Mai, or welcome, to our Hawaiian home were the temperatures are in the 80’s with sun and blue skies as compared to 'back home' where temperatures are in 30’s and 40’s:

As for what we do. . . well, we live here (and work here, for as much as we work these days).  A typical weekday finds us exercising in the morning, lunching on our lanai and then heading out to the beach or walking, or sunning, or reading or playing in the lagoon, pool or hot tub until it is time to fix dinner.  A far cry from owning homes in Mexico and spending most of our time working on them or making trips to the local hardware store. . .




Still there are those who don’t quite understand the allure of such an ownership. Ah, but those who’ve taken the plunge, all seem to be like us: having a ball at their second home ~ a home that requires no more work than writing an annual maintenance check and reserving our time.

Hope you’ve enjoyed today’s visit – on Travel Photo Thursday I will show you a bit of the island. . .you might be surprised at what lies Beyond Waikiki.  Aloha until then.

High Plains Drifters Kick Off ‘Sun-Seeking Season’

The High Plains Drifters (that’s us) will soon be celebrating ‘Sun Seeking Season'. That’s the time of year when our Pacific Northwest days begin and end with the same gray, dreary weather. . . and we start seeking sunny destinations.

We kick off this year’s Sun Seeking Season in Las Vegas at The Villas at Polo Towers on The Strip (3745 Las Vegas Blvd. S.). 

Polo Towers, just a block or so from the better-known Paris Resort (photo above), will be our base for a week. Our one-bedroom, one-bath condo -- with full kitchen, living and dining areas -- will be one of our sun-seeker  ‘homes’.  We plan to bask in the sun at poolside, read some books, do some cooking ‘at home’ and, of course, explore all that we can.

Then we’ll aim our rental car south, so that we can spend a few days in Scottsdale, watching those magnificent sunrises at the same place we stayed last spring, The Scottsdale Links Resort (16858 N. Perimeter Drive).

Both of these  ‘homes-away-from-home’ are ‘time share’ resorts. We don’t own at either place, but our timeshare ownership at other properties allows us to participate in the exchange management company, Interval International’s  ‘Getaways’ program that offer accommodations at greatly reduced rates, literally, at a fraction on of a cost of a hotel stay.

Although we were reluctant to enter the timeshare world a few years ago, now that we’ve taken the plunge, we are sold on the concept.  It is much like having a second-home, but without the responsibilities of full ownership. The other nice thing is that our ‘home’ can be anywhere in the world . . .where the sun is shining!