Tag Archives: Hawaii
Video: Riding Underwater Scooters in Oahu, Hawai’i
Since we had already jumped out of a plane in Oahu, we decided to go the opposite direction this time. We found out about riding around in the ocean on submersible scooters through Groupon, and couldn’t resist. Even my 73-year-old father was down to go. Check out the video above to see how it all went at Island Watersports, Hawaii.
Video: Sona and Navdeep Jump Out of a Plane in Hawaii
We got a bit bored of hanging out by the shops in Waikiki, and it was Tarun’s birthday (my brother-in-law), so we all thought the best option was for all three of us to jump out of a plane. No, that is not a metaphor.
Travel Tip: In Hawai’i, Save Big by Renting a House Instead of a Hotel Room
Most folks traveling to Hawai’i plan on staying at one of those posh beach-front resorts. But not us. For one thing: snorathon! For another, with eight adults and a toddler traveling, our hotel costs would add up super-fast.
That’s why I decided to research renting houses instead of multiple squishy hotel rooms. I’d first looked into this when trying to find a place on the beach for us this summer in San Diego, checking out sites like TripAdvisor.com and VRBO.com. Alas, everything was booked up then because we ended up traveling during Comic Con (but not actually going to the crazy event). But with a good six months lead time on our Hawai’i adventure, I figured it might just work out for us there. And it did.
The rationale was simple.
-First, this is supposed to be a family trip. If everyone traipses off to his or her respective hotel room after our daily outings, it really takes the family time out of the whole experience. Renting a house offers you that shared common space, a living room or maybe a lanai (that’s Hawaiian for deck or terrace), a place that everyone can chill out together.
-Secondly, a house or multiple rooms in a home rental mean a cheaper deal over all, especially when you divide it eight ways! Plus, people owning these homes are frequently paying a mortgage, so they need the rental income — and will make it worth your while.
-Thirdly, renting a house or apartment means you get access to a kitchen. With a big, fussy bunch like ours, that will no doubt be a life saver. We can cut costs by making some meals at home — breakfast at the least, but likely some lunches and dinners here and there, too — and everyone can eat what they like when they like. It just makes mealtimes easier all around.
So keeping these things in mind, I set about house-hunting in Hawai’i. (And anyone who knows me knows just how much I LOVE house-hunting.) While we’re staying in a two-bedroom suite at the Wyndham resort in Waikiki (which comes complete with a kitchen), I found a fabulous house with a huge terrace (with peekaboo ocean views!) in a little town called Pai’a, off the beaten path in Maui. And I found an equally fabulous house with fireplace and back-deck jacuzzi in Volcano on the Big Island.
It remains to be seen how the Charaipotra-Dhillon clan reacts to my master plan, but for now, I’m really excited to hit the hay in our second home(s) in Hawai’i.
Photo Courtesy Ohia Plantation House
Travelogue Hawaii: Deciding to Go (Navdeep)
When Sona’s mother asked me if I had ever been to Hawaii, my instinctive reaction was to scoff, then launch into an involuntary grimace, and finally to speak. A definitive “No.” The incredulity and disdain in my response either needed more work, or it was promptly ignored. “Navdeep said he has never been to Hawaii either,” was what my mother-in-law took from that exchange, and before I knew it, me and Sona were in charge of organizing a big ole family winter trip to Hawaii.
I don’t have anything against pretty places, or even of lounging about and having a relaxing holiday with no exploring involved. But I did that once in the Dominican Republic for our “BabyMoon” because our other option was to sit at home. So, my quota for that is sorted. Hawaii just is not a place I would go on my own volition. To put this in perspective: tickets to Hawaii cost about the same as a ticket to any country in Asia or Africa (right now prices are in the $1,000 range), prices for pretty much anything in Hawaii are going to be expensive, and you need a car to get around. So, yes, I would much rather be going to China or Japan or Zimbabwe for Christmas.
Perhaps my impression of Hawaii is skewed: it’s almost all based on cheesy commercials for romantic holidays, and middle-age American tourists wearing loud Hawaiian shirts, with garlands around their necks, and flowers in their hair.
But, at the same time, this is the perfect opportunity to go to Hawaii. Kavya will be in good hands with both sets of grandparents, her massi (Sona’s sister) and possibly mamu (Sona’s brother). While we’ve traveled with Kavya since she was under 3 months old, most of the longer trips have usually been in familliar settings, such as with my parents in California. Last year, we took her to San Diego for about four days – just the three of us,– which was lots of bus travel and a nominal amount of roughing it. Our Hawaii trip will be a couple of weeks long and Kavya is much more mobile now.
It’s also going to be interesting traveling with so many people because our traveling styles are completely different, and there are a whole range of personalities that drama is probably going to be inevitable. Unfortunately, beach camping will probably not be an option because nobody in Sona’s family, from what I’ve seen, is exactly a beach person. Or a camping person. Or the sort to rough it on purpose. This is also the first trip where me and Sona don’t have the option to wing it. We actually have to read our Lonely Planet before we get there, pre-book places, and most importantly, make sure nobody is going to be a grumpy pants because they don’t like the activities in a particular place. Alright, that last bit is probably going to be inevitable, but hey, that’s what a family holiday is all about: Being grumpy. Getting drunk. And bonding!
Enough faffing about, I have a Lonely Planet to read.
Travelogue Hawaii: Deciding to Go (Sona)
Hawaii was never at the top of travel list. In fact, I don’t think it even made the top ten. Or the top twenty. I think the same holds true for Navdeep. So why are we headed there for two weeks of our hard-earned winter break?
Here’s the thing: every break, we pretty much plan to go to California. Since Kavya was born, and even before then, really, we wanted to make sure we got to spend some quality time with Navdeep’s parents and sister in California — especially as the family expanded to include little Seerit and Joshvir. But this curtails our ability to travel elsewhere. So we had the brilliant idea that we should go somewhere else — and that Navdeep’s parents should simply meet us there.
At first we thought Alaska. But given the Winter scheduling of the trip, it didn’t seem like it would be all that fun to go there right now. So then we said, let’s pick somewhere warm and exotic and closer to California, somewhere that would allow us to explore and enjoy each other’s company without over-stressing or renewing our (missing or expired) passports even. Somewhere where Kavya could have quality time with her grandparents in a leisurely fashion. Somewhere, after all of those requirements, that wouldn’t be boring.
And none of us had ever been to Hawaii, so that became an option. It was big, it was warm, it was technically American soil, it had beaches and culture and even active volcanos. Initially, we booked just four days in Waikiki Beach via a time share. THen my mom decided she’d join us. And paying $1100 a ticket for four days on the beach didn’t make sense, so we decided to add an island or two. This is a BIG family trip. Over the course of six months of planning, we added ten days, two more islands, four additional family members and a whole lot of adventure. In the end, it was 14 days on three islands with eight adults and one toddler.
Essentially, it’s a big bonding experience for us all. Not a single one of us have ever been to Hawaii. None of us have ever seen an active volcano, either, so that should be a big highlight of the trip, too. There’s plenty of adventure on the agenda: the windy and beautiful Road to Hana, underwater helmet-diving in Waikiki, a five a.m. lava boat tour. But another big highlight should be just chilling on the beach and enjoying each other’s company. Because we need that family time. My family of five — my parents, my brother, my sister and I — haven’t been on a trip all together since we went to Mexico a decade ago when I was in college. Navdeep’s parents and mine have never traveled together — Kavya’s going to be overwhelmed with grandparental love and hugs, not to mention kisses and cuddles from Tarun Mamu and Meena Masi.
All in all, Hawaii is a family adventure I’m really looking forward to — as much as it surprises me to say it. This time around, though, it’s not so much the place as it is the people I’ll be traveling with that make the trip worthwhile.
Travel Tips: Five Travel Tips To Get The Best Prices on Airline Tickets
One of the most annoying things about travel is exactly that: traveling. I’ll admit that taking rickshaws in India, or riding on sleeper buses in China is bloody good fun. Flying, however, is the most boring form of transportation, but in most cases it has to be done before the fun travel begins. Even more boring than flying is looking up plane tickets to so you can fly to your destination. Flying is an efficient form of travel, but it’s also the most boring, and the most expensive part of the trip. And waiting at the airport is just plane boring. No, that wasn’t a typo. It was a deliberate attempt at being clever.
Before we had Kavya, the initial flights were the only things we would book. Everything else, we winged. We didn’t pre-book hotel rooms, or train tickets. We just showed up and hoped for the best. In most cases everything worked out. The one place we had a spot of trouble was in the city of Bhubaneshwar, where every room had been booked because of some conference. So, we picked up our Lonely Planet and headed off to the coastal town of Puri, a few miles down the road, and got a lovely room right on the beach.
Flights really are the one thing we labor over though because the money we save simply by booking a day or two ahead or behind is pretty significant, particularly when you go to a country where street food costs under $1.
Our upcoming trip to Hawaii this winter is going to be an interesting one because we’re in charge of planning a family trip involving my parents, Sona’s parents and sister, and of course our 1 year old, Kavya. Winter in Hawaii is the high season, a period we usually go out of our way to avoid because it involves much more planning. And in a place like Hawaii, not only do hotels get booked up, so do rental cars. Even inter-island flights. And unfortunately, while me and Sona are down with vagabonding in Hawaii, everyone else has responsibilities, so a lot of it has to be pre-booked.
Anyway, here some travel tips we’ve learned over the years for getting good deals on air fare. Some of it is common sense, while some of it is just knowing how to play the game!
Tip #1:
Neither of us are strangers to travel, but we are very different travelers. Navdeep can brush aside a cockroach from his food and continue eating. Sona flies into hysterics at any creepy-crawlies (real or imagined) within a ten mile radius. 
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