Diamond Head Dazzles

Diamond Head from Waikiki's
J.Smith photo (c) 2011

Hula Babe's Hawaiian love affair begins with Diamond Head. I simply can't get enough of it. 

I didn't keep my pre-trip promise to myself though, which was to climb to its upper rim and around it on its well-maintained  pathway while we were staying in Waikiki.  I am blaming that on Polynesian Paralysis - the condition that takes away all goals and vows to do things replacing them with a distinct feel of contentment over doing absolutely nothing.  Well, nothing except staring at something magnificent. And in Hawaii there are plenty of magnificent things to stare at:  waves breaking on the shore, sun rise, sun set, and of course, my beloved Diamond Head. 

While we didn't make it to the top of Diamond Head we did walk to the Diamond Head Lighthouse beach and explored it at length.  The beach that wraps itself around the base of the lighthouse and Diamond Head is a favorite with darkly tanned surfer boys and girls waiting for the right waves to develop - not many folks the ages of Hula Babe and Beach Boy.  We logged 9 miles on the pedometer that day, I might add, even without climbing to the top of my favorite peak.

The first lighthouse was built above this beach in 1899 and then rebuilt in 1917.  Today it stands tall and white against the tropical foliage surrounding it. 

Diamond Head Lighthouse
J. Smith photo, (c) 2010



There was a time that Diamond Head was known only as Le'ahi, which in Hawaiian means, "wreath of fire" as the native Hawaiians used to light fires on the crest of the volcano to light the way back for those out in canoes on the sea.  It was in 1825 that British sailors found calcite crystals among the black rocks and thought they were diamonds - thus, it become known as Diamond Head.

Looking for Luxury? Think. . . Kirkland

There's a great, but too often overlooked, alternative to Seattle and  it's Kirkland, our hometown.  So before Hula Babe begins her Hawaii reports, I must write a word or two about Kirkland, especially for those of you who are feeling you need a mid-winter change of scenery and may not make it to Hawaii or other tropical destination. (Some actually like rainy days, I am told). So if you want to dine in a French bistro, stroll miles of lakefront passing a half dozen parks along the way and then pamper yourself at either of two luxury hotels within a couple miles of each other, check out the full details in an article I wrote for KirklandViews.

A Travel Tip: Close could be costly

We came close to making a real costly blooper on our airline tickets to Hawaii all because I didn‘t pay attention when filling in the information section and used Hula Babe's everyday name Jackie instead of Jacqueline (the latter is the legal name, the one on the passport and birth certificate kind of name; and the one I always use when traveling.).


So, I’m not sure how that got past us, but it did. So, Hula Babe, aka Jackie, aka Jacqueline, arrived at SeaTac with a passport reading Jacqueline and a ticket reading Jackie. . .(and thankfully a Washington State driver’s license that read Jackie).

Oh, well, everyone knows Jackie is a short version of Jacqueline, right? Well, not exactly. When it comes to security these days, close isn't close enough.

Handing the Alaska Airlines ticket agent my passport and ticket, I asked if the names were close enough. He suggested I find ID with Jackie on it. I showed him the driver’s license and he said it would work for him and more importantly, TSA.

Had I not had the license, he said he would have had to re-issue my ticket with the correct name.

The cost to do that? $100.

Mai Tais and Macadamia Nuts: Aloha!

There is nothing that says “Aloha” more clearly than the tinkle of ice in a Mai Tai or the crunch of macadamia nuts. So, when the flight attendants started serving both - complimentary, I might add - we knew we were close to our destination, paradise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.


These liquid tropical treats also cushioned the bumps and bouncing of our decent into the Honolulu airport.

The weather has been  unsettled around this part of the world in recent weeks but we've lucked out and hat blue sky, sunshine and temperatures in the 80's since arriving a few days ago..

Diet to Go, Goes Hawaiian

Hawaiian Plate Lunch

Hawaiian 'plate lunch', Hawaiian bread. Hawaiian style potato chips. . .oh, the tasty memories of trips gone by.

Our Diet to Go will be put to a test in Hawaii, although thanks to Dr. Rob Thompson's guest post (see "Pack the Chocolate and Nuts"), I've already been lusting for those dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts found in nearly every Hawaiian souvenir shop.

Doing things Differently

Actually our first test of new travel eating was our short holiday trip to Las Vegas. We didn't lose weight, but we came back weighing just a blip more than we did when we left - unlike our usual 2 - 3 pound gain.

But we did do things differently - just a bit of behavior modification:

• We took a jar of peanuts and a bag of dried cranberries for in-room snacks. (Turned out to be a smart idea as I searched the gift shop at the Suncoast, and the nearby J.W. Marriott but neither offered  'healthy snacks' -- plenty of pretzels and potato chips, crackers and cookies -- but nothing like bags of snacking veggies/fruit or yogurt to-go-type products. And, there was no grocery store within walking distance.) 
• We gave up our usual giant cookie and coffee mid afternoon snack for coffee and a yogurt parfait from the deli in the Suncoast. (Turned out to be so good, we had it for breakfast the next day).
• We ordered the coffee shop's special breakfast one morning, but substituted at no extra charge a fruit cup for the hash browns and toast that normally came with it. (Now that was a first for this potato lover!)

As we leave for Hawaii I am down 6 pounds and Joel down 5 (without suffering through our traditional 3-day-starvation plan). We don't plan to lose weight while in Aloha Land but hopefully not gain either.
We will see. . .

It's Hula Babe and Beach Boy Back Again!

Watching Waves - Ko Olina

Yes, in a matter of days the tales of Hula Babe (that would be me) and Beach Boy (that would be Joel) and their annual sun and sand adventures in Hawaii return, undoubtedly, a highly anticipated event -- LOL here --  for you regular readers.

BTW, I christened us Hula Babe and Beach Boy last year, after visiting Pioneer Woman, a phenomenally popular blog written by a woman who no more looks like a Pioneer Woman to me, than I believe I look like a Hula Babe.

But if she can be a pioneer woman,  I can be . . well, let's say for a short period of time I will  throw caution to the wind.  Every so often we '50- and 60-somethings' should remind ourselves we aren't as old as those numbers sound! 

And don't you find that when you travel, you re-invent yourself as you go along? 

You can be an adventurer, explorer, food critic, a wilderness trekker or a grand lady or gent. When you don't pack your normal customs and routines of 'how it's done back home';  you have plenty of room to explore and absorb your new surroundings and to re-invent yourself for at least a short period of time.

Hula Babe and Beach Boy are heading to their 'home away from home,' Ko Olina, a 642 acre development on Oahu's western shore.  In coming posts we will tell you all about what's new:  like Aulani, the new Disney resort at Ko Olina, and the new Marriott Edition Hotel on Waikiki beach; old favorites like 'our' sea turtle who frolicked in the waves with us last year. And of course how well our Diet to Go, is going.

So, grab your shades, and sun tan lotion . . .and come along.
Aloha!

Ahh, those Las Vegas bunnies!

We don't  often 'do'  traditional boxed Christmas gifts at our house. In fact, Joel still points to an elephant trek on Christmas Day through the jungles of Northern Thailand - now many long years ago - as the best gift I've ever given him.

So, it shouldn't be a surprise that this year we gave ourselves a trip to Las Vegas for the holidays. And, by holidays I mean:  Christmas, New Year and BCS "Bowl Week" with its dozens of play-off games marking the passage of  football season for another year.

Since we'd opened the college football season in Las Vegas back in September, it seemed fitting to head back to the comfort of its many casino 'sportsbooks' where we could be surrounded by frenzied fans sipping adult libations while cheering the on-field action, their heads whirling to watch sometimes multiple games being shown on as many as 50 television screens that wallpaper these areas. 

Note: we were't among the 230,000 New Year's Eve revelers who Vegas officials estimate headed to The Strip and Fremont Street to celebrate the arrival of 2011 despite temperatures dipping below freezing. And we left town as the estimated 120,000 attendees were arriving for the highly publicized International Consumer Electronics Show and the lesser talked about Adult Entertainment Expo.  

We opted to take the window of opportunity between NYE and the conventions when room rates drop and football games headline activities.  We spent our first couple nights at the Suncoast in Summerlin, about 15 minutes -- and light years -- from The Strip and its night life, Playboy Bunnies, glitz and glamour.

Late afternoon looking toward the Red Rock Canyon

But in this quiet Vegas suburb, a gateway to the Red Rock Canyon, there are plenty of wide open spaces as evidenced by this image taken from our room.  Out here when you say 'bunny' it means the four-legged kind; the kind that seemed to play hide-and-seek with us on New Year's morning, when bundled up Pacific-Northwest-style to brace against the 34-degree 'high'  of  the day, we took a long walk along the neighboring golf course.

Are we Celebrity "Cruise People"?

We've been a bit flummoxed about cruising since returning from our Black Sea adventure last fall.
And we are flummoxed about why we are flummoxed.
The ship and our cabin were fine.
The routing, well. . .interesting, but we won't be rushing back.
Maybe it was the dreary weather?
Whatever it was -- or wasn't -- we've been asking ourselves the last few weeks:

"Are we cruise people?"

And while analyzing our inner-self traveler, Joel, the researcher, has sought out, monitored and researched various cruises . . .just in case we might try it again.   

His system: Three P's: 
Ports of Call,
Price and,
Problems of getting to and from the departure/arrival ports.

One cruise in particular had caught our eye: a repositioning cruise on Celebrity cruise lines.  A repositioning cruise is one in which the cruise line needs to move a ship from one location -- say the Caribbean to another, like the Mediterranean, for an upcoming season of sailing and wanting to fill it up, offers some great deals.

A few weeks ago we checked it out on our old favorite Cruise Compete, an on-line company that provides quotes from a variety of travel agencies throughout the United States by submitting a single request for pricing. 
Seven agencies responded. 
Five of the quotes received were for the same cabin category -- on board credit incentives differed slightly -- but the prices differed by more than $200.
One of the highest quotes we got was for a view obstructed balcony!  

Still, we didn't book anything and continued to ask ourselves,
"Are we cruise people?"

But the scales tipped when an email arrived last week from Travel Zoo with it's summary of 'best travel deals this week' we saw 'our' cruise listed with a lower price for a "Concierge Class" cabin (higher up on the ship and more amenities) than the quotes we'd received for a regular balcony cabin.

 We called CruCon Cruise Outlet , the agency offering the cruise, and within 10 minutes had answers to all our questions and had selected our room as the agent told us which cabins were available so we could look at them on our computer while we talked with her. (In contrast, on the HAL cruise, we didn't get our cabin assignment until a few days before sailing - which always causes a bit of wonder about whether you really will get a cabin or if they overbook like airlines.) 

Our contract for the Celebrity cruise was emailed within minutes of the phone conversation and a receipt for our deposit arrived yesterday.

Still, because we'd not used this company before, I did a bit of  research. Yes, they are licensed and bonded. Even more comforting was the opening page of their web site. . . it's wall-papered with cruise line awards for sales, professionalism and testimonials from happy customers.

So far this cruise has been a good experience. 
We will again ponder whether we are 'cruise people' during those languorous days crossing the Atlantic later this year.