Hawaii!!!

[Umbran]

I'm going to be visiting Hawaii this summer - spending about 10 days on the Big Island. Anyone who has visited or spent even more considerable time there, please, give me your insight and wisdom for having a good vacation.

Note: I'm going with my wife. She's attending a professional conference in Honolulu, and I'm tagging along. So, there'll be a few days where I'll be on my own from morning until mid-afternoon...

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I can only speak to Oahu.

1. Rent a convertible. The scenery is too good to miss, and the roads are a blast to drive, especially the one (whose name/# escapes me now) that goes right across the center of the island.

2. Find a good Korean BBQ restaurant. One the locals eat at. Mmmm.

3. Take the hike up to the top of Diamond Head.

4. Breathe deep. The constant breeze keeps the air fresh and fragrant, even in Honolulu. If you suffer from allergies, plan accordingly.
5. Do not walk up to the gate at Makalapa BOQ at 1am half-drunk and with no ID and expect to get back to your quarters. And when the guards say stop, do.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

I recomend visiting the Dole pinapple canning plant. It is a nice tour, and the samples are the freshest pinapple you will ever eat.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I have a friend who's Japanese-Hawaiian.

A few years ago, I caught him eating spam sushi.

Apparently "It's traditional, man!"

Spam sushi. It's not right!

-Hyp.

 

[bodhi]

I'm going to be visiting Hawaii this summer - spending about 10 days on the Big Island. Anyone who has visited or spent even more considerable time there, please, give me your insight and wisdom for having a good vacation.

Note: I'm going with my wife. She's attending a professional conference in Honolulu, and I'm tagging along. So, there'll be a few days where I'll be on my own from morning until mid-afternoon...

Wait, Big Island, or Honolulu? The Big Island is the island of Hawaii. Kilauea (active volcano), Mauna Kea Observatory, Kona Coffee. Honolulu is on Oahu. Waikiki (tourist families in matching outfits), North Shore (surfing, not for the novice), Pearl Harbor.

If it's Oahu...

1. Rent a convertible. The scenery is too good to miss, and the roads are a blast to drive, especially the one (whose name/# escapes me now) that goes right across the center of the island.

The Pali Highway

2. Find a good Korean BBQ restaurant. One the locals eat at. Mmmm.

I like Yummy's/Ono's. Same place, different names. At least, the menus are identical, and the logotypes are clearly related. I suspect it's same family, different kids, or somesuch. But yeah. Two scoops rice, your entree, and four sides.

Also, not Korean, but a staple, is the plate lunch. There are lots (and lots) of places, but Zippy's is ubiquitous.

Spam sushi. It's not right!

Hawaii has the greatest per capita consumption of SPAM(tm) in the United States. They say it goes back to World War II, with rationing and such. Thing is, now, Hawaii folks know how to treat SPAM.

 

[Umbran]

Wait, Big Island, or Honolulu?

Thus showing, in no uncertain terms, that I should actually look at a darned map before I open my big fat mouth. I'll be in Honolulu, on Oahu. Which I assumed was big, thus showing that only my ignorance is vast.

Kilauea (active volcano), Mauna Kea Observatory, Kona Coffee.

Dang. I'll be on the wrong island. The observatory would warm the cockles of my physicist's heart...

 

[Harmon]

Check with your rental car place, see if you can travel to the other islands and transfer your rental to that island. If you can its not that much trouble to jump one island to the next- oh, wait I have no idea what the TSA has done tot hat air ports in the islands.

Well check it out, we spent two weeks in Hawaii in '98 or '99- had a blast.

 

[bodhi]

Spam sushi. It's not right!

Oh, I thought of something else. Spam sushi does not imply that it's "raw" spam. The spam is sliced, pan-fried (sometimes with teriyaki sauce), then pressed along a rice ball. The rice is shaped to fit the spam, then the whole thing is often wrapped with nori. It's more often called "spam musubi".

And yes, done right, it's tasty.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Oh, I thought of something else. Spam sushi does not imply that it's "raw" spam. The spam is sliced, pan-fried (sometimes with teriyaki sauce), then pressed along a rice ball. The rice is shaped to fit the spam, then the whole thing is often wrapped with nori. It's more often called "spam musubi".

I'm more familiar with 'nigiri' to describe the meat-tied-to-rice-with-seaweed, but a quick Google tells me that musubi and nigiri are synonyms.

And true, it wasn't raw. There's still something not right about it!

-Hyp.

 

[JediSoth]

Have some Kona coffee for me, man. My parents went there a couple-three years ago for my birthday (ironically, I did not go ) and even their curmudgeonly selves had a lot of fun. I second the pineapple suggestion, and watch out for the chickens! I hear they're ubiquitous, like pigeons in most other cities.

JediSoth