Outdoors with Don Q: Escaping from winter to a tropical paradise

If you're getting tired of our winter cold, frost, ice and snow (what little we have received so far), you might want to consider a vacation trip to Hawaii.

Elaine and I, our son Jim, daughter-in-law Kathi and my cousin Lorraine Scholes and her husband Bob just returned, earlier this week, from a fun-filled 14-day vacation trip to Honolulu on the Island of Oahu (4 days) and to Poipu on the Island of Kauai (10 days).

Our trip to Hawaii was taken to jointly celebrate Jim's birthday and a special birthday for Elaine. It was a ton of fun in the sun but expensive. This article is about our adventures on Oahu.

If you, too, would like to take a trip to Hawaii later this year, here are some suggestions to help make that trip more enjoyable:

01. Most importantly after booking your airline flights, be sure to reserve rental cars, hotel rooms, tours, special events, etc., BEFORE leaving on your trip to guarantee availability when you want them.
That way there are no unexpected or nasty surprises.

02. Take credit cards and lots of money, you'll need both of them - big time.

03. Drive in your car from Carson City to San Francisco and spend the night at one of the many different "park and fly" hotels in that area.

04. Fly from San Francisco to Oahu on one of many different airlines. We flew on Hawaiian Airlines and it was about a 5.5 hour flight.

05. When you land in Honolulu, pick up a rental car and drive to your hotel on Waikiki Beach. Be prepared for bumper to bumper traffic on the freeways, highways and city streets.

06. If possible, reserve a hotel room with a view of Waikiki Beach. It will be pricey, but worth the cost for great views from your lanai. Our room was on the 16th floor at the Hilton Waikiki Beach Hotel.

From there, we had a great view of the other hotels along the beach, the sunbathers, swimmers, surfboarders, paddle boarders, snorkelers, joggers, etc, together with Diamondhead in the far background; and in the other direction, the many towering skyscrapers in downtown Honolulu.

One evening, we even got to watch the filming of "Hawaii Five-O" at the Tropics Bar and Grill, directly below us.
As a matter of interest, the day we arrived at the hotel, 1,100 people checked out and 800 checked in (including us). That Hilton is BIG!

07. Prices in Hawaii can be breathtaking for the unprepared, so if you go, don't say that you were not warned in advance. It was certainly a culture shock for an outdoor writer from Nevada!

Here are some examples of prices you can encounter:
$350.00 for one night for a room with an ocean view at the Hilton Hotel.
$33.00 for valet parking at the hotel for each day you are there.
$28.00 for self-parking for each day.
$30.00 for a daily resort fee for WiFi, gym, exercise room, etc.
$4.51 for a gallon for gas.
$4.50 for a cup of coffee with breakfast. Yipes, $4.50 for a cup of coffee!
$18.00 for a bacon and eggs breakfast.
$18.00 for a cheeseburger and fries for lunch. Ala carte dinners at the Bali Restaurant at our hotel:
$12.00 for a salad.
$12.00 for potatoes.
$9.00 for vegetables.
$58.00 for a rib eye steak.
$14.00 for a glass of Merlot wine.

08. Take the drive from Honolulu to Banzai Pipeline Beach and nearby Sunset Beach to see and to take photos of the giant surf and all of the surfboarders and paddle boarders. The surf is awesome to see and so is the skill of the surfboarders.

09. If possible, you might want to have one of your dinners at Benihana's.
Take your camera to get lots of photos of the chef as he cooks your appetizers and dinner on a grill right in front of you. It's quite a show!

10. An absolute "Must Do" on your "Bucket List" for activities in Honolulu is a trip to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at nearby Pearl Harbor.

The U.S.S. Arizona was sunk on December 07, 1941 by a surprise attack by Japanese airplanes, which was the beginning of World War II. There are 1,177 servicemen entombed beneath where you are walking. The memorial is a very moving, somber and unforgettable experience. 1.7 million people visit that memorial each year.

Finally:
Hopefully, if you like this article, you will also like an upcoming article about our adventures on the Island of Kauai, after we left Oahu.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you the population of Oahu.
If he grins and says, "Oahu has a population of about 1 million people and attracts about 5 million tourists each year," he has probably been there.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now. Don's wife, Elaine, is the official Outdoor photographer. They can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com