V-A-C-A-TION

So after months of looking forward to any vacation anywhere - and then weeks of anticipation after we finally decided what the heck- Hawaii is back on our list....we finally arrived in Kauai. A little late, but still in the afternoon. The plane from Oahu to Kauai took off at the time it was supposed to land in Lihue, never found out why. But still - we are there! And it is a lovely day. Sunny off and on, a bit muggy (but not nearly as muggy as we remember). So we went off to get our splurge - a convertible! Because our plane was late we only had choices of white or gray left....but still, it is a convertible in Paradise!



After getting the car and starting our way to the northern part of the island, we made stop #1. The stop my husband has been looking forward to for quite some time. Bubba Burgers!!!! He is so happy (I could care less0. We ended up eating here 3x this week - twice here in Kapaa and once in Hanalei (and I do not know why I did not take a photo of the Hanalei one and am even more surprised my hubby did not want a photo himself in front of one of them!). 3x more often than I would have liked....but hey, it is OUR vacation not MY vacation....



And then on to what turned out to be our less than desirable place of stay. Well, I really cant say that. But there were many disapppointments. The actual room was quite lovely. And of course we already knew that the pool was closed for construction. Yep, no direct beach access (read the name of the place - The Cliffs) and no pool. Altho it had been closed since mid Sept we found out the week before we left. When it was much too late to cancel. And considering it was the only place on the island - within our timeshare exchange - with a room available.....did I say it started off with us telling them Sat to Sat adn then they booked us Fri to Fri becuase that is supposedly how the bookings went? So we had to scramble around to make sure that both of us could get off that Sat....and then no pool. Oh, and housekeeping service? One day during the week and that was Monday - a whole 3 nights after we got there....and then there are the instructions and threats - if you dont do the following you could be assessed a $100 charge for heavy cleaning - that included vaccuuming and sweeping and mopping before we left and running the dishwasher.....and yet they had the temerity to leave a little personalized card that reeked of asking for a tip! And a notation that the housekeepers had 'permission' to take any foods or goods left behind!!!!!! All this after having to clean a dirty refrigerator when we got there - get battery replacements for the non working remote on one of the TV's and vertical blinds that kept falling off when you opened or closed them! And a screen door to the lanai that would not stay on track! Needless to say, we will not be going back there again....(But the very good news is we did find a washer and dryer in the unit which was not advertised when we looked at the place!)


We were so looking forward to eating at the WONDERFUL restuarant at the Princeville Hotel again. Fantastic food and the most wonderful place to watch the sunset over Bali Hia.....only to find that the entire hotel is closed down for 7 months for complete renovations....and they dont know whether or not they will be opening the restuarant again!

Oh, I did forget to tell you that there were arrangements made to use the pool at another hotel that was "ONLY a mile away". I dont know what birds they used to determine that mile - but it was more than a mile by car. And oh yes, the restuarant in that hotel was closed too.....


As we suffered to try and stay awake until a decent hour, we did go out onto the cliffs and watch the sunset on our first night there. Complete nightfall by 7 PM...which makes it very hard to stay awake (after all, 7 PM was 10 PM to our bodies) until a decent hour to fall asleep. We had stopped at a grocery store and stocked up on supplies, and didnt eat lunch until around 4 PM so our first night dinner in Paradise was microwave popcorn and wine!


And jsut so you know - even though you know pay for each and every bag you check thru on the airline (after all you shouldnt have to check in luggage when you are going on a vacation should you????) and pay an extra fuel surcharge fee...bla bla bla.....Hawaaiian airlines does still provide you with complementary soft drinks/coffee/tea/juice and water AND a meal!!! They also give you EXPIRED coupons for Hilo Hatties.....And BTW, you can get anything that is sold at Hilo Hatties cheaper at Walmart, Kmart, Longs, and Costco!

The next morning hubby got up very early....well, we both got up early cause our inner alarms were still messed up.....but he went out and played golf and I jsut lazed around, met the local alarm clock and other birds. That afternoon we went for a ride and saw some of the beaches in the area.

Will post more later.