The Hawaii Traveler

This is a guest post from Mary Jo Manzanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor and blogger at Flyaway Cafe.
 
My trip to Hawaii last fall was motivated by a desire for some rest and relaxation, some warm weather, and an overall escape from my gray Seattle life.  I was longing for time spent on a balcony, watching the sunset or sunrise, listening to the waves, and having a slow-paced week ahead of me.
In fact, that type of vacation is one of the reasons people love Hawaii – sun, sand, surf, and stepping on the treadmill of ordinary life.
But at some point, …read more

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Today’s guest posts is from Mary Jo Manzanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe.
“Hawaiian Eye” was a television series that ran from 1959 – 1963, and starred Robert Conrad and Anthony Eisley as crime fighting detectives in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The detectives hung out at the Shell Bar, where at least once an episode that ran into “Cricket,” a singer and photographer at the bar played by Connie Stevens. The bar was located at the Hawaiian Village Hotel, where the guys were house detectives and also had an office. Some viewers would swear that the guys …read more

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Today’s guest post is from Mary Jo Manzanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe.
 
Honolulu’s Bishop Museum offers the natural and cultural history of Hawaii’s indigenous people.   Founded in 1889 by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last heir to Kamehameha I, you’ll find artifacts and exhibits representative of all the Pacific Islands.
A couple of my favorite highlights are the Science on a Sphere exhibit and the Science Adventure Center.

Science on a Sphere is a 68 inch, 200 pound fiberglass sphere suspended from the ceiling.  It serves as a sort of 3-D movie, displaying full color, …read more

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This is a guest post from Mary Jo Manzanares, b5media’s Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe.
One of the higlights of a trip to Honolulu is a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial.
Located at Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona Memorial honors the site where World War II began for the United States. The memorial was dedicated in 1962, and is the water gravesite for 1,102 crew members who were killed in the December 7th, 1941 bombing.
The memorial was designed to span the hull of the battleship, without ever touching it. The structure is 184 feet long, …read more

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Today’s guest post is from Mary Jo Manzanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe.

Sometimes a quiet morning on the beach, shortly after sunrise, it the perfect way to start a vacation day.
Photo credit: personal collection

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How do you spell “relief?” Some spell it G-A-S. That’s because, for the first time since May, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in Honolulu dropped below $4.  O’ahu drivers are now paying an average price of $3.99 per gallon.
Gas isn’t always sky-high in the islands. Last year, California consumers were paying more than Hawaiians for regular gas.  Here’s hoping the trend in lower prices will continue.

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Honolulu was recently one of MSNBC’s 34 Cities Where It’s Better to Rent. The “better to rent” designation was the conclusion of a study using the generalization that truly affordable homes cost no more than 15 times their annual market rent.
Home prices in Honolulu, although falling, have farther to go, according to the study, and therefore are going to leave owners with negative equity were they to sell in four years.
In a related story at MSNBC, you can also explore real estate on the mainland, and Sixty Six Cities where Buying Makes Sense .

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If you’re a new media professional who’s been dying for an excuse to take a trip to Hawai’i–and perhaps write it off–there’s still Podcamp Hawai’i. 
Taking place on October 24th, Podcamp Hawai’i is the aloha version of what’s happening in other cities, including Barcelona, Brazil, and Boston.  The two-day event takes place at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu.

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If you’re wondering if Hawaiians hand out pineapple instead of candy on Halloween, there’s only one way to find out: Come on out, wearing your best Elvis costume, of course.And while you’re here, don’t miss Hallowbaloo, Oahu’s most totally awesome art and music festival that takes place on October 31. (Coincidence? I think not.)
Other Halloween celebrations around the islands:

Halloween in Lahaina, Maui is always fun, and draws a big crowd. Sounds like this year, there’s going to be an effort to curb the “Mardi Gras” atmosphere and make things a little more  family-friendly. Find other kid-friendly Halloween activities at About.com
The …read more

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You might think of Hawaii as a quite respite dotted with little grass shacks and small gaggles of beachcombers lugging their snorkeling gear to and from their swatch of shade under a waving palm tree. And for the most part, that ’s what it is. Except for Honolulu, which has grown into a center of commerce and culture. It’s a real city, with skyscrapers, crowds, and most of all, traffic.
In an attempt to alleviate some of the pain associated with the lack of rail-based public transportation on Oahu, the city and county of Honolulu launched TheBus in the ’70s. It …read more

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