TravelStream™ news feed for member hallmike on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/hallmike en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:15:26 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195634280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195634280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195634280/tpod.html Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:15:26 -0500 Mike and Cheri's Hawaii trip

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Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States

4:45 am wake up call for the flight to Kona on the Big Island. We had to fly back to Honolulu and change planes. Once here, we went to get our car - we had reserved a Jeep 4x4 but of course they were out of those! They gave us a Trailblazer instead. Just another slight adjustment to be made after all the other changes on this trip.

It was way too early to check into our hotel, so after a late breakfast we did some shopping. I (MJ) found an art gallery with pieces by Dale Chihuly so we went inside. I have been a fan of his since the '80s. There were several beautiful pieces but one really caught my eye. The sales lady explained all about the piece and removed it from it's glass case so we could see it better. Long story short, I decided to buy it! It was the first time we'd ever got a hug from a sales lady! lol I look at it as an investment I can actually enjoy looking at. They are going to ship it to our house in about a week.

Then we met our tour guide for our hike through the rainforest to see waterfalls. We had a great guide who threw away the script and went free-form. He told us all about the history of the area and showed us plants and scenery. He was very knowledgable and really cared about his land and his culture. His goal was to teach the younger generation everything so they could carry on the traditions and revitalize interest in the past so it wouldn't be lost forever. It was a wonderful hike and we would recommend it to anyone. We got his email so if you are coming here we'll give you his nane and he'll give you the "locals tour".

After the tour we drove to our hotel and checked in when our old friend the travel gremlin struck again. The hotel did not have any ocean view rooms with one bed like we had reserved months ago. We could either get a non-ocean view with a king bed OR an ocean view with two double beds. I wasn't happy about either choice but was worn down from the long day and chose the view over the beds.

We hauled all our stuff to the room and saw how small the beds were and decided to try a slight deception. We put our wedding rings on the married hand and went back to the desk. I told the clerk, Casey, that we weren't happy and asked if there was anything he could do since we were on our honeymoon and had this booked months ago. He still said there were no rooms available, but check back tomorrow. Then chickie did a great impression of a pissed off new bride and he suddenly got a scared look in his eye. She was just acting but it seemed to work. Casey told us he would do some checking and he would call us in our room and told us not to unpack yet.

A few minutes later he called and asked which was more important to us - the view or the beds. I was starting to get cranky so I told him we had paid for both months ago and we were not happy. He told me to hold on while he checked something and suddenly a room magically appeared before him. He gave us an ocean front with two king beds! I still don't know where this room was hiding all this time but it sure was worth pestering them for!

The Big Island is an interesting place from what we've seen so far. There is a LOT of lava flows that look fairly fresh because they don't have any vegetation growing on them yet. The older flows have scrubby brush and grasses. This side of the island gets very little rain and is a desert but the other side is lush and green.

Tomorrow we get to sleep late and go to the top of Mauna Kea (the tallest volcano in the world and depending on how you measure it, the tallest mountain too) for an observatory visit to see the stars.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195540680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195540680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195540680/tpod.html Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:59:03 -0500 Mike and Cheri's Hawaii trip

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Lahaina, Hawaii, United States

Went snorkeling today. Of all the snorkel trips there are available here, we were on a trip with BOTH families that we shared helicopter rides with the day before! What are the odds?

We were supposed to go the the crescent shaped volcanic crater island called Molokini but once we got on the boat they informed us that it was too windy there so they took us to an "alternate location". We saw a few fish and corals there but nothing spectacular. I guess if it was spectacular it wouldn't have been an alternate.

After the first snorkel we were supposed to go to another bay with turtles so we headed off. I noticed we seemed to be going in a circle, and after about an hour of driving the boat around, the captain parked us about 50 yards from the spot of the first dive! I was pissed - he thought he could fool us by driving around for an hour before returning to the same spot.. We didn't get to go to any of the sites we signed up for. We didn't even bother getting in the water the second time.

When they called everyone back in they said one of their other boats had spotted whales in the area so we headed towards them. We were able to see two humpback whales surfacing for air several times. It was the best part of the day.

We came back to our hotel, cleaned up and went out to dinner at a restaurant that overlooked a luau. We had seenn parts of the show from our hotel room but now we had a better view of the dancers.

This is our last night in Maui. Tomorrow morning we head to the Big Island....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195453440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195453440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195453440/tpod.html Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:53:34 -0500 Mike and Cheri's Hawaii trip

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Lahaina, Hawaii, United States

We caught a 6am shuttle to the airport today and made the short hop from Oahu to Maui. The flight was nice and short and on time. However, when we got to the rental car agency they informed us we had no reservation. I dug out our confirmation and she dug around in the computer and found our reservation had been cancelled! Alamo was very nice about it and gave us our car and promised they would work it out with our tour company to fix it. (I later called the tpur company and confirmed our car is not cancelled on the next island and our flights home are still booked)

We drove to our hotel - about 45 minutes west of the airport in Lahaina. The drive was along the coast and we marvelled at the blueness on one side and the greenness of the mountains on the other side. The landscape seems drier here, there are several different varities of cactus growing.

Hotel check-in was 3pm and we arrived at the hotel at 10:30am. Our room was still occupied so they gave us our parking pass and we walked to the town to shop and look around. Lahaina is a nice, small, artsy town with many souvenier shops and almost as many art galleries!

Once we were able to check in, we found a nice surprise - our room is on the corner of the hotel so we have two sliding glass doors on two walls leading to two balconies! It has an amazing view of the ocean and beach. We've got both doors open for a cross breeze instead of air conditioning and can hear the waves crashing.

In the evening we took a walk on the beach and watched the sun set over the ocean.

More pictures available here: http://imageevent.com/nbachick/hawaii2007
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195454160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195454160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195454160/tpod.html Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:50:40 -0500 Mike and Cheri's Hawaii trip

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Lahaina, Hawaii, United States

Today we got to sleep in! Woke up at 7am and went to the airport for our two helicopter rides. They were great. We flew all around the island of Maui, and then flew across the channel and flew over Molokai. Saw many breathtaking mountains and cliffs along the ocean. Also flew inward into lush green valleys and up to the crater of the tallest volcano on Maui. This was Mike's first time in a helicopter (and second time too!)

After the helicoper rides we drove a short way along the north coast on the road that goes to Hana. The waves were really big there - some of the largest we've seen so far. We had lunch in a small Hawaiian style restaurant then came back to the hotel and went to the beach until after sunset. Then we moved to the hotel pool for a little while.

See all the pictures here: http://imageevent.com/nbachick/hawaii2007
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195270860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195270860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195270860/tpod.html Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:35:38 -0500 Mike and Cheri's Hawaii trip

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Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

After all the flight delays and changes we finally arrived in Honolulu at 8:30 PM. Because of the lateness of our arrival (we were supposed to land at 4pm) our lei greeting and hotel transfer people weren't there. But at least our bags showed up! So we did not get lei'd and had to get a taxi to the hotel.

At 10pm we got to our room. We were exhausted, but could see the ocean a couple blocks away so we walked down to the beach. Then we went back to the room and fell asleep almost immediately.

Pictures are all here: http://imageevent.com/nbachick/hawaii2007
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195239840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195239840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195239840/tpod.html Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:34:48 -0500 Mike and Cheri's Hawaii trip

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Atlanta, Georgia, United States

...we didnt leave Evansville, IN until 10 am.... now we are sitting at our rerouted destination, Atlanta, GA.

I (Cheri) insisted on the 8 bux for internet access cuz we will be here til 4 atlanta time... the good news is that our tickets from atlanta to hawaii are first class! yay!

I just hope our bags made the same reroute that we did.

All pictures are here: http://imageevent.com/nbachick/hawaii2007
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1193313900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1193313900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1193313900/tpod.html Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:33:33 -0500 Mike and Cheri's Hawaii trip

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Eldorado, Illinois, United States

Packing and pre-booking tours so we are ready to leave on Friday the 16th!

Pictures are located here: http://imageevent.com/nbachick/hawaii2007
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195358340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195358340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hallmike/hawaii-2007/1195358340/tpod.html Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:47:01 -0500 Mike and Cheri's Hawaii trip

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Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

We had a grand circle tour of the island of Oahu today. The van picked us up at 6:15am which came quite early after our ordeals yesterday. But the tour was nice - we started at Pearl Harbor and visited the Dole plantation, saw many scenic outlooks, got many useless facts, and saw many beautiful mountains and beaches. Got back to the hotel about 5pm.

Our tour guide was very knowledgable and friendly. He turned out to be a fan of the show Lost so he pointed out locations of scenes and even gave us some of his speculation of what will happen next!

We have uploaded today's pictures and you can see them all here (password is aloha07): http://imageevent.com/nbachick/hawaii2007
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