[General Confusion]

hey everybody, I have a question. I recently got engaged, and my fiance has mentioned that she wants to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon.

I have researched the different islands in hopes of finding one that is both cool to vacation at, and is hopefully free from all the typical tourist traps you find.

does anyone here have any knowledge of Hawaii, suggestions, or general thoughts about what I should look into... I know Spooge lives in Hawaii, and I believe there may be others on the forum who also do.. if this pertains to you, I beg of you to throw out any info you could, it would be a huge help.

thanks

Bobby
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State of Confusion

[J Bradford]

E-mail or private message Spooge Demon

[Spooky]

General: My wife and I were married on Maui, where we spent a week of our honeymoon / vacation. It is a great blend of natural wonder and man-made splendor. You can go see so many beautiful sights on the island or go shopping to nearby Whaler's Village or Lahaina for example. Or you can simply sit on the beach, enjoy the ocean and the sky and the sounds of Hawaii. My parents, sister, 2 cousins, and three friends joined us. We did everything from snorkel, to attend a luau, to sail, to shop, walk around, and drive. Everybody had a fun time. One downside though is when we were walking around Lahaina, we went to a few restaurants during the later evening to get some snacks like Hot Wings or Nachos. Unbelievably none of the restaurants had food, but only drinks. I'm Canadian, and my wife American, and we're all used to going out late and grabbing food at night. We found it surprising that an eating establishment / bar wouldn't have any food. Our friends were pretty disappointed by this. We stayed at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel. Their service was phenomenal. They also have a Hawaiian feel to their facility, whereas some of the others, though exceptional in quality, lack that certain feeling.

We spent our Honeymoon on Kauai. There were several reasons why we chose it. Since we are both movie buffs, and knowing all the major films shot there (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Blue Hawaii, From Here to Eternity among the many) we knew we'd have a fun time discovering all of the sites. We also chose it for our Honeymoon as it is known as The Garden Island. It has very lush, picturesque mountainscapes, Waimea Canyon (The Grand Canyon of the Pacific), and dreamlike beaches. This island is less commercial than the bigger islands, so there are less shops. This makes the island seem a little more remote than the other ones. We also noticed that the beach where we stayed (Kauai Coconut Beach Resort) had a larger, rougher sand grain and the waters were more choppy than those near Maui. We took a helicopter flight, that was almost cancelled because of the rain, but the pilot, Chuck of Air Kauai asked if we wanted to go as we still may see some great sights. We decided to go and were treated to a wonderful show of waterfalls, all of which were roaring away because of the rain. Chuck's voice was very soothing as well and he really makes you feel welcome. I was always a little scared of a chopper flight, but it really is one of the better ways to see the Na Pali Coast, the many waterfalls, and other parts of the island.

We would choose either of these islands to go back to in second. Both of the islands feature so many spots you can drive or walk to in order to go snorkelling, hiking, or to rest. And many locations don't have throngs of tourists. We'd like to go to the bigger ones to see the Volcanoes and explore the other island scenery though. We have no desire to go to Honolulu as my parents, aunt, and cousins were all there and they said it was all too commercial. We also took over 1500 digital photos in our two weeks there and video as well. No doubt you will have plenty of subjects to capture on film.

Do some searching around, but I'm sure either of these would be enjoyable. And as suggested, I'm sure Spooge could recommend a few good sights as well. We were also recommended the Rough Guide to Maui, and the Ultimate Guide to Kauai. Both are highly-recommended. The Ultimate Guides cover things from a high-budget to no-budget trip but the Rough Guides are good, pocket-book sized ones that you can carry most anyplace.

Congratulations and have a great time wherever you decide to go.
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[Gort]

I believe Awetopsy had a honeymoon there recently as well, so you might want to pick his brain.
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