Post a summary of your trip when you get back. Thanks :)

BTW, which airline did you use for the interisland flight? I'm flying from HNL to JHM (Maui - Kapalua) and I found a website www.interislandflights.com that has airfar cheaper than from the airline itself...wondering if it's a reputable website

^When I went to Hawaii last year, we used Island Air from Maui to HNL.

I am sharing my experience and review of my nine day vacation in Hawaii. I hope you find this information useful in your future (or current) trip plan.

Summary:

Me and my girlfriend had an amazing vacation in Oahu and the Big Island. Waikiki, in Oahu, is surrounded by worldwide tourists, high-end shopping, and many restaurants. Think about Vegas strip but with a spectacular beach minus the casinos. On the Big Island, with 185,000 in population, essentially built by volcano rocks, is very laid back and relaxing. It really depends what your preference, for me, the highlight was on the Big Island.

Details:

I am going to share my experience in detail, by activities, food, accommodation, and some tips I hope you find helpful.

Activities in Oahu:

1. Parasailing – without specific planning, we asked the hotel concierge to help reserving parasailing. A trolley picked us up at the Waikiki hotel free of charge and brought us to the Marina side. At Xtreme Parasailing, we were greeted by friendly staff at the booth, about five groups of 2s and 3s went on a boat, and a caption and his staff brought us about 10-15 minutes away from the shore. Parasailing at about 700 feet was a new experience for both of us, nothing scary, and we are not big fans of roller coasters or heights. Air time was about 10 minutes. They offer to take pictures for you with their Canon XS at a cost of $30. You can a 2 gb SD card with about 100 pictures of your parasailing ride. We bought it and it was worth it. Cost of parasailing itself was about $60 per person. The video on their website, Japanese guy with the white shirt took our photos.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...arasail132.jpg

My rating: 8.5/10

Oahu Parasailing - Oahu Xtreme Parasail Tours in Oahu | 1-866-766-6284

2. Pearl Harbour – tour of US history. Tour bus picked us up at 6:00am and arrived at the Pearl Harbour site around 45 minutes later. If you like history, you will like this tour. I am not a big fan of history, and I feel that the tour guide and the tour itself communicated a one-sided story. You get to see the USS Arizona Memorial, some battleship, and a 40 minute video. I slept through it but think my gf enjoyed the tour. It ended with a city drive-by tour in Honolulu of various historical and government building, and ended up in a popular cemetery on top of a hill (Punchbowl?). The cost was $35 per person. Returned to the hotel at noon.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...5/IMG_1725.jpg

My rating: 6/10

Pearl Harbor Tours Oahu Memorial, Pearl Harbor Honolulu, HI

3. Germaine’s Luau – nice place about 40 minutes away from Waikiki. Tour bus picked us up at 4:30pm, there were total of six big tour buses going from Waikiki, with a tour guide in each bus. My tour guide, Aka, claims to be a pure Hawaiian, told many stories about his culture and childhood. The food was okay, never really had another Luau to compare. The show was good, could use some more fire tricks though. BRING BUG SPRAY, I had at least 10 bites eating and watching the show on the sand. Cost was $72 per person. Returned to the hotel around 10pm.

Research suggests good things about Polynesian Cultural Center, but it was quite expensive and didn’t want to waste a whole day in one area.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...5/IMG_1389.jpg

My rating: 7/10

Official Germaine's Luau Web site. The Original Hawaiian Luau - 'Too Good to miss.'

4. Manoa Falls – 0.8 mile moderate hike, nothing like Grouse Grind, took us about 30 minutes with no breaks. The waterfall is quite beautiful. Good way to spend your morning. Strongly recommend car rental, parking is $5 per car. Buses do go there, but do you really want to carry water, a backpack, bug spray, sunscreen, camera, etc. onto the bus and return? There’s a place for light snacks and drink, washroom, and hoses to wash the wet mud off your runners. Do not wear flip flops, you need to hike up AND down the wet trails.

Google your own pics

My rating: 9/10

5. Surfing – North Shore Surf Girls do not have an actual store, Coral meets you with her old school blue Mercedes Benz coupe 300CD behind a 76 gas station next to Blue Wave shrimp truck. The lesson had four of us, she brought us to a surfing beach that was not crowded. From there, we met Jessica and she instructed surfing basics. Coral and Jessica led us to the waves. In the 2 hour lesson, I was able to stand up after the second wave, pretty fun stuff. Gf stood up in her first wave. Cost was $75 per person. Mara helps Coral and Jessica take pictures of her lessons, where she burns a DVD for you on the spot, pictures per person cost $30, but she gave us a $45 deal for me and my gf. Semi-professional photos with a Canon XSi and one of those long, huge lens.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/t...5/IMG_8949.jpg

My rating: 10/10

Hawaii surfing lessons

6. Stand up Paddling – Rainbow Watersports claims to only offer stand up paddling lessons, as opposed to other competitors doing surfing, diving, and other things together. Jodie, the instructor and guide, was very friendly. The $80 per person lesson supposed to have 3+ people in total, but there were only 2 of us, same as a private lesson. Stand up paddling is not very hard at all, it was quite relaxing and fun for both of us even after surfing for 2 hours. Great way to spend the late afternoon and into sunset starting from the beach salt water and into a calm river. We saw a couple sea turtles, they swim into the river to rest in the evening. Jodie brought a camera to help us take pictures, free of charge. Rainbow Watersports operates from an old van, just near the park, steps away from the North Shore Surf Girls meet up place.

Sorry no pics available

My rating: 9.5/10

STAND UP PADDLE LESSONS - North Shore - Oahu - Hawaii - Rainbow Watersports Adventures

Hope the above is informative, stay tuned for more, it's getting late.

Anyone been to any nice clubs over there that they recommend for night life?

Bump. Going to Oahu in November.

Can anyone tell me where this was shot in Oahu?

http://www.unrealhawaii.com/wp-conte...-DSC_95512.jpg

Also, any updates for things to do in Oahu? I don't really want to do anything touristy like the Dole Plantation, etc, definitely more interested in nice scenery and hiking...

going to waikiki in 2 weeks, anything I should look out for in the winter time?

i you can swim, i would suggest looking at the waves of north shore. They are probably the biggest waves I've seen
:)

Just wondering.. have you guys used Allegiant to go to Hawaii? or know anyone? if so, how was it :)

Anyone went for a shark encounter tour? You know when you're placed in cage and sharks swim around?
Also can anyone tell me what places to avoid in Oahu? Any sketchy/not so safe areas?

I went on the "Swim with the Sharks" tour ... once in a life time experience, when you dip your head into the water and see these magnificent beasts whirling around you up close, it's breath-taking!... 99% of the time it's Galapogos sharks but I had an extremely rare encounter with a huge Tiger Shark!

Most of O'ahu is pretty safe and touristy, unless you really go out of your way to find some super secluded jungle area. I rented a car and drove around the whole island to explore the various beautiful beaches, some were more crowded then others. There's a couple on the north shore, the sand felt like ..... clouds, very fine and soft. Oh and don't forget the shrimp trucks!... damn I wanna go back lol!

I just wanted to add that if you ever wanted to go Skydiving, Oahu is one of the cheapest places to do it in the world. (safe as well, don't worry).

I was there in August and went with Skydive in Hawaii - Oahu Skydiving - Honolulu Skydiving - Pacific Skydiving Hawaii, they picked me up from my hotel, and dropped me off afterwards. Skydiving right by the beautiful blue water, it was amazing. Don't bother spending $100 on an extra diver to get a camera, for $40, they can get the guy to carry a gopro, and take pictures of you (they do a good job)

its in america so ppl are probably stupid and fat

Bumping the topic-

I'm heading there in a week (for a week), and was wondering what you guys used for prepaid sim cards/data?

I'm looking at the AT&T rates and they're pretty expensive ($2 a day plus you need to buy a data package). T-Mo looks the cheapest, but I don't have a penta-band (or AWS phone) to take advantage of the data.

The Rogers roaming packages are a joke.

Any help is appreciated!

I used a prepaid T-Mobile card on my samsung galaxy nexus. Data was only 3g but it did the job.

Haupia shave ice

Try the shaved ice at Aoki. Couple of doors down from Matsumoto's. or you can get a coupon from the Oahu weekly booklets and get a coupon for buy 1 get one 1/2 price shaved ice at the Aloha General Store in the North Shore. Their shaved ice is pretty good too.
Just tried Romy's shrimp and still prefer Giovanni's shrimp scampi.
If you like hiking, check out Koko head trail. Just make sure you go in the morning before the UV hits its peak after 11am.

One of the sponsors sells a SIM card for travel. Name of the company is ROAM.

Use Alaskan if you go b/c Allegiant does not fly to Hawaii everyday.

For parking, if you are staying in east Waikiki near Hyatt Place or the Marriott Resort and spa, there is a parkade at the Banyan on Kuhio that charges only $12/ day for parking and has a weekly rate as well. Only catch is cash only.

going back again in a month! cant wait.

Murukame Udon, every damn time. Still worth the lineup.

Sweet and spicy chicken at Side Street Inn. :sweetjesus:

The lineup looks long but moves fast

The way it's set up where the exit is at the rear, is really clever. Everything flows pretty well. (no pun intended)

if you are in Honolulu, gotta hit up nakamura ramen near hard rock cafe.
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Since we're talking places to eat, I can't suggest "poke" enough. I had it at Ono Seafood (not the restaurant, but just up Kapahulu near a lot with food trucks is Ono Seafood store), as well as the "poke man" in the farmer's market between the Hyatt and Kuhio (beside the Ohana Waikiki East entrance).

At Ono you can get various sauces. I tried regular, spicy, miso, and ginger. All good choices (but regular/spicy were better).

Poke and maladadas are what's forcing me to go back a lot sooner than I had envisioned. God damn Leonards hooked me for life.