I wanted to thank everyone for their help. My trip to Hawaii was very nice. I arrived Friday night and went to bed at the hotel that was recommended (Ocean Resort). I appreciate the recommondation and it worked out fine for me. The descriptions were accurate. It was an older hotel. While I ordered a double bed, I was only given two singles. It was clean and not noisy and was able to sleep in it very well. It was the right match for me at 60.00 anight. Since all I was doing was sleeping there, I did not need more. The location was perfect. I took the advice of many and decided not to rent a car which worked out very well. Saturday, I walked around the hilton and marriott and talked to some local people and kioses and started planning my trip. I then decided that I should go snorkeling and had a great time. The people who arrange the buses to various places I found out are not reliable. Be there early because they do not sense a responsiblity to getyou back and you end up relying on public transportation. Sunday, I found a nice church for sunday about an hour away and went to by bus. While the busses take longer, one meets many local people and learns about the community. One person was explaining to me how the area was sugar cane fields when he was younger. After church I stopped to get some lunch at a local chinese resturant. When I got back, I walked across the waikiki beach and met a couple on their honeymoon who were also on the snorkeling trip. We talked for a while, and then I went home to bed. Perhaps a car would have been good for sunday but I did not have time to arrange it. Monday, I spent the beginning of my day planning the trip. I then left for the polynesian cultural center for the day. The polynesian cultural center is like a hawaiin epcot. Lots of nice things to see, with a live luau and evening show. The admission woudl have been good for an additional day if I decided to come back. Unfortunately my week was packed. The people there were very nice and helpful and was a highlight of the trip. Tuesday, I took a day tour to the kawaii island. With airplane tickets being only 27.00 between islands. I was tinking of renting a car, however Roberts Tour's were higly recommended. They had a tour of kawaii for apx. 40.00. Since kawaii is a small island, it can be done in a day and much better to take the tour that pays your admission, gas, transportation, etc and allows you to focus on looking rather than driving. Kawaii is called the garden island and was very beautiful While there, I saw many sites which I might have missed on my own. I saw the canyon which is extremely beautiful. Waterfalls, and the fern grotto, which while not up to its former glory was worth seeing. I took mokulele airlines out and the people there were wonderful and caring. The seats were very comfortable.. between a first class and economy) highly recommended if the fare price is close compared to hawaiian. I picked them because roberts tour uses them to get their customers to the island for their tour and I wanted to make sure I was on time. Hawaiian airlines however, lacked the personal touch and had much poorer service as well as seats. On Wednesday, I took the bus to Pearl Harbor and saw the sites. They had 3 Pearl Harbor survivors there signing autographs and taking pictures. Very moving. I then saw the ship missouri and walked through that. Afterwards, I went to the flea market by Pearl Harbor, bought some souviners and a fresh cocoanut and took the bus around the island. I stopped at the North shore and saw some shops as well as had a dinner at a local resturant. I wanted to see the turtle beach but it was too dark so I headed home. Thursday Morning I took the plane to the big island. I wanted to have a car rented for thursday and friday. When I arrived though, it was very hard to get a car. Priceline,hotwire was charging apx. 100.00 a day which almost caused me to reconsider going there. I managed to find one availabie at the hilton kiosk for around 45.00 a day. After arriving, I started driving around the island. The big island is one of the most diverse islands of the three. so many different types of scenery there. When you arrive is very black and dead looking.. as you start driving you start to see some beautiful scenery I drove north from kona, stopped off at the beach for an hour and went swimming. Someone was kind enough to lend me their water board for a few minutes so I experienced that. I then drove to the north, saw a black sand beach, and then started driving around the island in a clockwise direction. I tried to make sure I saw as much as possible. As it got dark, I called it a night around the Hilo area. Friday morning I drove out to the volcano. I wanted to arrange a helicopter/plane tour of the volcano, however, it took too long to arrange and did not happen. It is probably just as well due to the time constraints. I went to the volcano national park and saw the non active part of the volcano as well as other sites there. Around the volcano you could see the lava tubes, the smoke coming up, the crater, and they had a nice rainforest walk you can walk through. I then continued heading south and heading to the airport. I arranged to see my friend in the Kona area before heading back. The interlining worked perfectly in spite of hawaiian airlines and I thank people for the advice. The three hour gap was very helpful. Hawaiian airlines was backed up because of computer problems and they made me buy a second ticket at the not sale price. The lady checking in was not helpful and did not care that I had a plane to catch, but the supervisor was. Even while catching the next plane, I still made my flight back to the mainland fine. In summary, the trip was great. The 7 day vacation was put together for apx. 1200.00 (400 for air, 400 for hotel, 400 for misc expenses). The advice on the interlining was vital. The advice on the hotel was the perfect match. The only things that would have been better is to have had more things planned early and a couple more days.Another day or two on the hololulu island and on the big island would have made it less rushed. Hawaiian airlines was needed for the interlining on the return trip, however, for other flights I would have gone totally mokulele. Thanks again for everyone's help for making this a good trip and I hope my experiences will help someone else's trip to be better.
