Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Hawaii, anyone?
Has anyone traveled to Hawaii? DH and I are thinking of taking a vacation there sometime in the next year, but want recommendations of where to stay, what to do. We'd like a mix of both relaxing and adventure!
Re: Hawaii, anyone?
It has been a few years since I have been there, so I am not sure of the hotel we stayed at but I know it was in Waikiki. We stayed about 3 blocks from the beach and it really wasn't a big deal walking to the beach vs staying right on the beach.
To save money on food we would go down to the market everyday and get fresh fruit for breakfast. One of the places that I really liked eating at (for dinner) was Duke's.
Some of the activities we did were visting the Dole plantation, renting a convertible and driving up the coast (we found the cutest little restaurant, but of course I don't know the name) and the snorkeling is AMAZING! The Market (right downtown) was fun to go to, there was lots of shopping there.
We're leaving for Kauai next Tuesday.
We also went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We spent 6 nights on Oahu and stayed at the military resort, which is on Waikiki next to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I think if we were to go back we'd stay at the HHV (DH is out of the military now, so we unfortunately can't use the military resort
) because that end of the beach seemed to be a bit nicer. Oahu definitely is a touristy island, as it has a lot to see and do. During that part of our trip we were on the go every single day. Pearl Harbor, Atlantis Submarine, Polynesian Cultural Center (Could have probably skipped that), and a day trip tour of the Big Island are a few of the things we did.
The last 4 nights of our honeymoon we stayed at the Grand Hyatt on Kauai. LOVED it. Great restaurants, beautiful grounds and pools, and the beds are to die for! Kauai is definitely a paradise if you want to just kick back and relax. If you're looking for nightlife, it's probably not the right island. We took a helicopter tour (Blue Hawaiian), which was pretty amazing. You can also drive up the Waimea Canyons, or go hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, or ziplining, just to name a few other adventurey type activities.
When we leave next week we're going to be staying 4 nights at the Princeville St Regis (Got a good deal on RueLaLa awhile back) and then another 2 nights at the Grand Hyatt (If you're planning on staying there, look into getting a AAA membership) because we loved it so much the first time.
We went to Kauai for 10 days last year. It was AWESOME. ALWAYS get the catch of the day at restaurants - you'll never be disappointed. We got surfing lessons from this guy that graduated from Bloomington Jefferson - he graduated maybe 5 years before we did. Small world!
We stayed at the Aston Islander on the Beach - it's pretty cheap too.
We went to Maui for our honeymoon. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency. We did so many things while we were there but also had plenty of time to relax. We were there for 10 days.
Some of the stuff we were able to do: all day hiking tour (where we did some cliff diving) parasailing, sunset dinner cruise, Spent a day and flew to Oahu to do the touristy stuff, Luau, ziplining. We also did a day snorkeling trip where we went to Lanai. We also took the road to Hana, I got extremely car sick.
We had a great time and can't wait to go back!
Back in 06, I went to Maui. Here is part of an email I wrote to a friend who wanted to know more about Maui and what we ended up doing/staying etc.
We rented a condo from here:
http://www.kulakane.com/
The condo we stayed at had a full kitchen, which was nice because we were able to save some money by cooking at the condo. We also made lots of margaritas and took them down to the beach/pool with us instead of paying for them.
Attractions:
Because the condo we stayed at was a few miles outside of Lahaina (one of the main cities) we did a lot of stuff there. There are a ton of shops/restaurants in this area.
One night, because I had never been to Hawaii before, we went to a luau. We chose Old Lahaina Luau and it was amazing. The food was delicious, the drinks were great and the entertainment was awesome. Here is their website: http://www.oldlahainaluau.com/
The Road to Hana is something that we really wanted to do, but never did. We drove about half way and turned around. The scenary is amazing and there are lava sand beaches etc. I would highly suggest doing this and going to see the volcano crater. Next time we go, we are definitely doing this.
We went to a Hawaii state park called: Iao valley State Park... It was SO beautiful. Here is a website on that: http://www.hawaiistateparks.org/parks/maui/Index.cfm?park_id=36
One day we did a Sea Kayak/Snorkling trip in the morning and in the afternoon we went hiking through the jungle to find waterfalls through a company called Hike Maui. This is the expedition that we did: http://www.hikemaui.com/tours/kayaksnorkelhike/index.html
We also took a snorkling expedition to the Molokini Crater off the coast of Maui and to turtle Town (we saw TONS of sea turtles all around us): http://www.prideofmaui.com/
Beaches:
Kaanapali is a town a short distance from Lahaina. They have great beaches and lots of "upper class shopping" such as Prada, Coach etc. Also at this beach, there is excellent snorkling at Black Rock Beach with tons of coral and exotic fish.
One day we drove until we saw a few cars parked on the side of the road and walked down to the ocean. We found an amazing beach tucked away... There is no bad place to find a beach on Maui!
Food:
We ate AMAZING fish and food at Mama's Fish House... (if you don't eat fish, they have other stuff too) Here is their website: http://www.mamasfishhouse.com/
We also had a night of pizza from here: BJ's Pizzaria (Located in downtown Lahaina)
There is a TON of stuff to do, lot's of cute little cities all over. We went to a local farmers market and got some amazingly good fresh fruit, we drove around and saw the Dole pineapple plantations... I am sure there is a TON of things that we didn't get to see or experience on Maui and we were there for 8 days. Please let me know if you have any other questions etc.
I have been to Oahu twice.
We will be doing Maui and another island when we go with family in a few years.
Oahu is definitely touristy. I have always had a great time when we went though. I loved the Polynesian Cultural Center the first time I went. It might not be for everyone though. It was definitely almost a whole day trip.
We absolutely loved going shark diving. We already have plans to take my niece with and do it again in 2013.
We drove around the entire island and stopped where ever we felt like. THere are some great little places and the North shore was cool.
Hanauma Bay was amazing. I would say that is a must. You have to go early because it fills up and it is hard to get in once they are filled for the day.
We also took a submarine tour, completely NOT worth the money.
We went to Hawaii (Big Island) about a year and a half ago for our delayed honeymoon. We stayed at a timeshare/condo in Kona and LOVED it! The Big Island is so beautiful and has such diversity. Parts of it are like a desert and dry/rocky and yet other parts are lush rainforest - and if you go up the mountain, there is snow and snow-boarding. All on one tiny island! When we got there the condo manager told us that the Big Island is the only island in the world (?) that has 7 different climate zones. Amazing!
We loved that it was a lot less populated and touristy than the other islands. We did a day in Honolulu too and couldn't stand all the crowds - thankfully we escaped to the North Shore, but it was still a bit too crowded. Kona is a nice little town - easy to get around (walkable) and friendly with lots of small beaches that never seemed too busy. I loved that, at least were we were, there weren't massive resorts hogging the beaches and isolating people. There were resorts, to be sure, but they were all pretty small and took up less than a city block. It made the area feel very intimate and accessible.
We went whale watching - which was a complete bust and we only saw dolphins, but it was nice to get out on the water. We also went kayaking across a beautiful bay and then snorkeling (Captiain Cook - probably some of the best snorkeling ever!). Plus, of course, lots of surfing for DH. We drove to Volcano National Park and explored things - my husband wasn't too enthusiastic about it at first, but ended up loving it and was climbing all over the old lava flows. It looks and feels like you are on another planet when all you see for miles and miles are black jagged lava flows that only stop where the ocean starts. Unsettling but very very cool!
We will certainly go back to Hawaii and probably back to Kona - although we may also try to go to the other side of the island at Hilo - which is more green and mountainous but has less surfing. Either way - it was beautiful and very relaxing.
We went to Oahu and Kauai for our honeymoon in '08. I liked Oahu, but loved Kauai.
We spent 4 days on Oahu. We stayed at Turtle Bay on North Shore (it is about a 45 minute drive from Waikiki. It was beautiful and quiet there. Our room was ok, but we never spend a large amount of time in our room anyway so I didn't want pay for an upgrade. Activity wise we went to The Polynesian Cultural Center. DH and I could have skipped it, it was pretty expensive too. The Dole Plantation, we had a lot of fun there. Hale'iwa coast, this is where the surfing competitions take place. We went snorkeling, but it sucked so bad. They took us to the turbines of a factory and we snorkled there. They said because of overpopulation it had killed all the reef around the island.
We spent 6 days on Kauai and I loved every day. The island is the least populated of the islands and so beautiful. We stayed at the Sheraton Kauai in Poipu. We originally booked a partial ocean view, but they upgraded us for free to a full ocean view. The only thing I didn't like about the hotel was their luau. It was so cheesey. I wish we would have searched for a more authentic luau.
I really liked Kauai because there was so much to do for free! We went to all the waterfalls and lookouts and Waimea Canyon (the grand canyon of the pacific).
For food there was a little restaurant right up the street from our hotel called Kiokis (sp?). It was so good. DH and I ate there 4 times. I think DH had lobster the whole time we were in Hawaii and his favorite was there. Also, they have an amazing dessert called Hula Pie. I want to go back to Kauai just for that.
For activities we went on an all day raft tour of the Na Pali coast. I highly recommend this, it was amazing. We went into caves, saw turtles, dolphins and sting rays. They bring you to a state park that is only accessible by boat or a 24 hour hike and then you get to go snorkeling off the shore. That snorkeling was gorgeous, there were so many fish and turtles and in a natural area (not on top of turbines!). We also went zilplining which was so much fun.
Sorry that got a lot longer than I expected.
my read shelf:
Here is our trip [WARNING LONG!]
We went to Oahu for our weddingmoon in December 2009. We stayed at the Aqua Palms & Spa - it was a simple hotel, nice, clean and great people, but not a resort. I would compare it to a Country Inn & Suites or a Holiday Inn. I would have upgraded looking back. We were right across from the Hilton Hawaiian Village and walked through that a couple times and all of our drop off/pickup for tours were there. HHV is a very nice place but we were on a budget and opted for a more affordable hotel, and it worked out just fine because we really weren't at the hotel much because we were always doing something.
We got there on a Saturday afternoon and used Aloha VIP tours for airport/hotel transportation. We spent the rest of the day walking around Waikiki and getting familiar with where things were. Sunday morning VIP picked us up for a free breakfast with a presentation of all the tours they had to offer. Now at first I thought this was going to be like one of those timeshare deals - not at all. It was politely informative on the local language and customs as well as the tours. It had no obligation at all and they did not hound us one bit. We could have walked out of there w/o buying anything. However, this worked well for us because we did not book any tours or visits when we booked the trip. This gave us a chance to see what was all out there and get detailed descriptions. We ended up booking a couple things through them, but also booked things elsewhere because we had learned about them at this breakfast. The rest of the day Sunday we walked around more of Waikiki. (Warning ? there ARE timeshare people around so be wary of falling for those)
Monday we did an island tour of Oahu - IMO this was better than renting a car and driving around because the tour guides tell you so much about everything! We stopped at Hanuama Bay, Sunset Beach, Sandy Beach, Dole Plantation, and so much more. Someone on the tour made the point that the land, mountains and ocean can't tell you the stories that a tour guide can! Now - looking back, maybe a day or so after this tour, I think it would have been nice to rent a car to go back to some of the things we went through too quickly. Maybe our next trip!
Tuesday was our wedding day (only DH & I went) and that took up the whole day.
Wednesday we went on a city tour & to Pearl Harbor which we booked at the breakfast. This is a toss up if I'd do it again as a tour versus driving or taking the bus/taxi. We would not have learned all about the city on the city tour part, but felt we were rushed at Pearl Harbor. (And bad timing - we went when the Oklahoma was on dry dock so we didn't get to tour that and they were remodeling the Pearl Harbor Museum
) Wednesday night we went to Germaine's Luau which we booked at the tour desk in our hotel. This was one the top to-do's on my list and I was not disappointed. Great Luau!
Thursday we went on a snorkel tour booked at the breakfast called Captain Bob's Snorkel Tour. They took us up the east side of the island to a harbor and we got on a decent sized boat with about 15 people. This was so much fun. The crew was so friendly and "Captain Bob" was full of stories and played his guitar. They took us to sand bar our in the middle of the ocean to practice then headed towards a large coral reef to snorkel around and see large schools of fish. Throughout the entire trip (boat and land) the crew told us about the surroundings like where Gilligan?s Island was filmed, spots from the movie 50 Firsts Dates and more. Totally worth it. Oh and we also got to see Sea turtles while we were out!
Friday we went sky diving with Pacific Skydiving. They pick you up for free at any Waikiki hotel and bring you out to their airport all the way on the north west side of the island. This was totally spontaneous! Nothing we had talked about before and DH happen to see it advertised and we thought what better place to do it?? We ended up seeing whales swimming off shore and could see the other islands. Only thing I suggest - wear ear plugs! Otherwise this was one of the best things we did!
Saturday we had to be out of the hotel at 11am but our flight didn't leave until midnight! We took the city bus to Diamond Head park and hiked that. Then took the bus back to Waikiki area and walked around some again. We also went to the old army barracks (sp? and name?) that is now a museum.
Other things we did in between the bigger things were walked to the Almona Shopping center and Wal-Mart a few times, walked the beach a couple times at night, ate at various restaurants, went to the International Market place in the heart of Waikiki, and I think we sat on the beach ONE afternoon! We just had so much else we wanted to do and we aren't beach layers.
Some tips: *I wouldn't rent a car unless you do it for a day especially if you stay in Waikiki. Hotel parking is not cheap, but if you plan to do things on your own then it would be worth it. All the tours we did picked us up and dropped us off. *Make sure the hotel has a fridge/microwave and buy some snacks/water/pop after you get there, restaurant food is expensive. We ate at Subway a couple times and a 6" is the price of a footlong here - there is no such thing as $5 footlongs there. (Now I get why the disclaimer says at participating stores only!)
If you want any more input, there are a couple of others that went to Hawaii for their destination wedding on the North Dakota local nest board. (The ND board was taken over by DW?ers so that is where we hang out.) Head over there and ask if you?d like!
I was in Oahu last month with Smorriso & mocha beans.
We stayed at the Aqua Waikiki Wave. It was a block away from the beach, and next to all of the cool shopping, so that was neat. Can't give the hotel five stars because of a few issues, but it was decent. I'd definitely stay someplace else next time.
A few things we did:
-went to Hanuama Bay Nature Preserve for some sunbathing, swimming and snorkeling
-went to the places that Adam, the Man vs. Food guy went to; got to eat at Mac 24/7 but Helena's Hawaiian Foods (the best on the island, I hear) was closed when we went
-hiked up Diamond Head
-drove to the North Shore
-ate roadside stand food
-found three different places LOST was filmed and took pics
-shopped at Ala Moana Shopping Center
-tried musubi (DH tried, I'd had it before)
-ate sushi
-got burgers at The Counter (Daniel Dae Kim's restaurant)
-saw Pearl Harbor.
Things on our list for next time: luau, Polynesian Cultural Center, Helena's, surfing, skydiving, ziplining, and more beaches!
DH and I have been to Maui a couple of times and are in love with that island! In fact, we ended up getting married there. It has the fun and adventure as well as the relaxation that you're looking for. We spent a day in Honolulu and it was way to city like for us. We also honeymooned in Kauai and felt that it was way too slow. In fact, by the end of the honeymoon we were ready to go home because we were almost bored. Maui is juuuuuuuust right!
We stay on the west side of Maui and have done both the resort and condo/townhome arrangement. Just depends on what you're looking for. We love the ameneties that the resorts have but it tends to be more expensive because you're going out to eat every night and it can be inconvenient to get to places because they tend to be really large. We love the Hyatt Regency. The grounds are breathtaking. And they have penguins! However we think we'll stick to the condo for the next visit. (We also stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Kauai. Very nice but much different feel.) The condos we love are arranged more like townhomes. They are at Kahana Village and it's much more homey. There is a quiet pool and beautiful beach right there. Getting around those grounds is so easy. Many people in our family stay there every year as well.
If you would like the contact information for the travel agent we used PM me. He's the best of the best and spoiled us ROTTEN! He's based out of Honolulu but made all of our hotel and flight arrangements last time we went. We were treated like royalty everywhere we went, compliments of him.
Yep, we went to Hawaii with Chaotic and Smo. We went to get married, and it was awesome!
The hotel was the Aqua Waikiki Wave. It was okay, I'd give it 3/5 stars. Staff was nice and the place seemed clean; though a few in our party had roaches in their rooms, they were able to move to other rooms. One of the two elevators was broken the whole time, the hotel lost power twice, and the hot water was out the morning of the wedding. The building seems to have issues, but it's a good location close to the beach. Kuhio Ave has lots of hookers, especially right in front of our hotel.
Things we did for entertainment:
We did a snorkeling tour with Ocean Joy Cruises in Ko'Olina. Highly, highly recommend that. 4 hours on a catamaran, lunch, and 4 drinks per person free (mai tais were awesome). Swam with fish, sea turtles, saw a reef shark and dolphins. Crew was awesome. Get the Entertainment coupon book, there's a coupon for 33% off!
Hung out at Legends Sports Bar, almost every night. It was close to the hotel and had $2.50 mai tais all night every night, which was great cause drinks are not cheap out there. Bartenders were awesome.
Waikiki Beach, obviously a nice beach. Not too packed, at least not as much as I was expecting.
Ala Moana Shopping Center, very nice, would have liked to hang out here more, but there was too much else to do. An larger, open air version of MOA, with every store from Hermes and Chanel down to Forever 21 and Sears.
Roy's Restaurant in Ko'Olina, we had our wedding dinner here. Very good food, definitely try the Okinawan sweet potatoes, they're Vikings purple!
Get a car and drive up to the North Shore, find Fumi's Shrimp truck, they have really good coconut shrimp.
Hike up Diamond Head, it's a bit of a workout, but the view is absolutely worth it.
Pearl Harbor, that's an obvious one to go see, we also saw the USS Missouri, a few others saw the USS Bowfin submarine, but we did not. Next trip.
The Bus system is pretty decent for getting around the Honolulu/Waikiki area. Parking is steep, about $20/night, so I'd suggest renting a car on the days you want to get out of the area, and otherwise walk/taxi/bus it to other areas.
Next time we go, we'll probably rent a house or condo so we can make some of our own meals and save a bit of money. Eat as much seafood as you can, it's way better than there.
Featured Showing: Planning Bio-The Original
Coming Soon: Married Bio