(update, I've fixed that link...)
I had a great time in Hawaii. Mostly thanks to the great company (Thanks again Akane and Dave for Organising most of it, and Yuka too of course for the car rental). I feel kind of bad that I couldn't really organise much so next time I'll make a bit more effort.
Trip highlights included: a surprising amount of rain, volcanic wastelands, golf lessons, beautiful golf courses, great food, lack of extreme tourist nonsense (as expected in European resorts), sea turtles and of course the volcanoes.
Hawaii really wasn't what I expected. That despite the research I did on-line. Most of the stuff I looked up was focused on surfing (which I didn't do anyway) and golf. The thing that shocked me was the landscape. The beaches in Hawaii are really _nice_. Like most beaches. Hawaii stands apart by its incredibly variable ecology and geography. Specifically Big Island. The north of the island is a mix of North American coniferous forests, arable farmland and sub-tropical foliage. The South is a mix of desert, volcanic wasteland, rolling plains and volcano. In a five hour drive its possible to see much of the worlds geology and ecology on one island.
So my advice is that if you ever go to Hawaii for more than a week, try to take a plane to Kona or Hilo and rent a car to go up to the volcano park. We trekked across an old crater and looked down into a more recent but still old crater. [I'll link to the photos here if I get a chance].
Apart from that, if you are a golfer - be sure to golf. Surf if you can because I stupidly missed out and snorkel/swim/dive/photograph your heart out. You'll have a great time.
Oh, and make sure to eat the local version of sashimi. Spicy raw tuna... Mmmm.
SPIFF OUT
ps, This is my favourit photo of the volcanic area we went to:
9 comments:
Glad to hear you had a good holiday. For the love of god though enough with the European bashing! I would love a definition of 'Extreme Tourist Nonscense' and how many European holiday locations have you visited?
Put it this way. We didn't see a single drunk Brit (Scots usually blame the English but we do it too) anywhere. There were Brits, but they were all well behaved and capable of restraining their need to vomit on the beach at 5am and fall asleep on the hotel sun loungers.
So I'm being harsh on European sun-spots. Largely because the ones I've been to were soaked in tourists. But Hawaii is a pretty famous tourist resort and it wasn't crowded. Even Waikiki beach was pretty good.
Its the sun-spots I'm complaining about. I still love Europe, and there are things about European cities that you just don't get anywhere else. Still... Hawaii rocks.
Thanks Magali! Looking forward to seeing both your's and Kevin's photos of France!
And I may ask a few questions on your blog - I'm becoming a bit of a camera geek at the moment.
;)
sab
What utter rubbish you can spew at times! Do you not think that their are places (and people) outside Europe which are cheap, sun spots that attract those looking for plenty of sunshine and booze. Mexico for instance. Europe basher. BASHER!!!!
did u get to wear coconuts and a grass skirt? and were u showered with flowers upon ure arrival, like that scene from the fifth element, i'd go if they did that :) .................to be fair, i'd go just for the fact that u could say, 'i've been to hawaii!' but nonetheless, it would be pretty funky if they did do that! ..... i know i'm blabbering shite, but i'm bored.
oooh, i just worked out how u do this thing, what do ya think : www.1orn.blogspot.com what do ya think?
Of course there are Nev. Did I say there aren't? My point is that I expected that very behaviour because of my experience holidaying in Europe. Yet it failed to materialize. Maybe Hawaii is a little bit out of reach for the nearest source of yob culture (probably the US) or maybe Hawaii has specifically managed that kind of activity down with strong policing. The fact that the islands are treated the same as any other US city is probably important in that regard. Or maybe the UK just has more idiots on hand when it comes to Holidaying abroad. I can't offer a definitive opinion. I'm just saying it surprised me that Hawaii didn't suffer from drunken idiots causing mayhem.
1orn - Sadly we didn't go to a Luau (despite my hopes of grass skirt photography gone wild). In fact, on the run up to my holiday I kept tuning out at work and imagining everyone in my meetings doing the Hula dance in grass skirts with lei's round their neck. Trust me - my ability to focus on work was near zero.
As for the Airports. They were the most convenient US airports I've ever flown to. Speedy customs etc. On our hop to Hawaii main (referred to as Big Island from now on) the airport was in fact a series of terminals you could drive right up to (we took the rental car bus obviously). Each terminal led into a small outdoor courtyard via the security gate. You could wait in the sunshine, drink/eat in the bar or do some last minute souvineer shopping. Very convenient. In fact, internal flights are really convenient.
I think if you go to Kawai'i or somewhere they will actually do the whole hula thing at the airport. Thats where they have the weddings and honeymoons etc. Big island is more for normal tourism.
that'd be cool thought eh! yeah, about the flicker, i'll get to it eventually but i dont have that many fotos just yet!and have no idea how to work it yet, but eventually....
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