Our trip to the Hawaiian Islands was a fantastic vacation where we spent just over two weeks visiting Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island! We spent time in Waikiki but wanted to explore the oldest Hawaiian Island which is Kauai and the island named Hawaii which is the biggest island of the island group which is often aptly referred to as The Big Island, so we quickly flew to Kauai, The Garden Island, and after a week there flew to The Big Island to explore the newest and still growing volcanic big island of Hawaii!
Coming from Canada we found everything about the trip was “Big”! Wow…it was our first trip so far away from home and it was unbelievable!
We had discovered that instead of flying out of Montreal, which was closer to our home in Knowlton, Quebec, it would be much cheaper to fly out of Burlington, Vermont which is only a short drive over the border between Canada and the USA. From Burlington we took a quick flight to Newark, New Jersey where we transferred onto a direct flight into Honolulu. We flew Continental Airlines and, while they weren’t the cheapest, they did have the direct flight we were looking for as we didn’t want to take chances with flights into hubs like Chicago or Seattle or Los Angeles. Continental Airlines also had great service and friendly staff.
We used TripAdvisor.com to help us choose our accommodations. We reserved in advance but sometimes had to find new places to stay because the reserved hotel or bed and breakfast didn’t quite measure up. Most places we stayed at on our trip to Hawaii were awesome and left us wanting to stay longer and linger in the peace and luxury of the friendly Aloha State!
Some of the places we stayed in are the Aqua Aloha Surf & Spa in Waikiki, The Plantation Hale on Kauai, The Resort Quest Islander on the Beach in Kauai, The Volcano Cottages on The Big Island, Aaaah The Views Bed & Breakfast in Waimea, and The Jacaranda Inn also in Waimea on the Big Island. We wrote reviews and took pictures at each place and also promised to put some reviews on TripAdvisor.com since we used them to make our decisions and want to share our experiences…you know…give back to the travel community!
We visited the beaches of Kona and Kapaa, snorkelled with Green Sea Turtles and Butterflyfish, saw the volcanoes and craters of Kilohana and the Calderas of Kilaua, hiked the canyons of Waimea and the trails of the beautiful Na Pali Coast…there was so much to do and see in this vast ecosystem and we absolutely loved it all!
We flew Hawaiian Airlines on our inter-island flights and with Continental Airlines for our long flight to Hawaii and then home again. Both carriers were great!
Both DD and myself wrote diaries on our Hawaiian vacation and took a lot of pictures so you can find all of our favourite places and sights described in more detail here on the website. You can also use the site search to find hotel reviews or specifics on towns and places we visited or any topics of interest including any pictures you may want to see.