Product Description
"An excellent choice for people who want everything under one cover." - Washington Post
When you're headed to a resort destination, you need different information than most travel guides can provide. Sure, you want to know about all the sights, great restaurants, and cool places to stay--but you also need detailed information on activities and sports, how to rent a condo, and which is the best grocery store to stock up on picnic supplies. Fodor's Pocket guides delivers all this and more in a convenient pocket-size book.
All the basics you need to help you decide what to see and do.
Smart contacts and detailed practical information, including the scoop on public transportation, local holidays, what to pack and more.
Great choices for
dining and lodging in every price range.
Great recommendations for shopping nightlife, outdoor, activities, and essential side trips.
Up-to-the-minute info on
local celebrities and traditions make you feel like an insider.
"Perfect Days and Nights" itineraries make planning (even a rainy day) fun.
Detailed maps with sights, restaurants, night spots, and hotels clearly marked.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introducing Honolulu and Waikiki
The first time I traveled from California to Hawai`i, I wondered if I would ever touch ground again -- the flight seemed endless. Then, 5[1/2] hours and 2,390 mi later, a landscape new to me came into view. I could see the green spires of the Koolau Mountains, the glimmering high-rises of Waikiki, the aqua intensity of the water, the fleets of white sails dotting the sea, and the network of crisscrossing freeways, pineapple plantations, and sugarcane fields.
A trip to Hawai`i from anywhere else in the world makes you aware of its remoteness -- it waits in the middle of the Pacific Ocean like a crossroads as well as a cloister. This island group is the most isolated archipelago in the world, more than 2,000 mi from the closest major land mass. The Hawaiians Islands are at the northernmost reaches of Polynesia (meaning "many islands"), within an area referred to as the Polynesian Triangle; New Zealand and Easter Island form the triangle's other points. Yet, while it's influenced by its distant Polynesian, Asian, and American neighbors, Hawai`i remains very much its own destination. As a state, it often seems as exotic as a foreign land.
Visitors often arrive with the sort of dazed, uncertain look that comes from spending hours cooped up inside a jumbo jet. Gradually their quizzical expressions will change to ones of delight, as the scent of tropical flowers carried aloft cool trade winds surrounds them and refreshes their weary lungs and limbs. Within hours they're blissed out: Paradise has enveloped their hearts, and they become determined to stay forever.
That is how many folks discover Hawai`i: They come on vacation and then realize this is where they really want to live. Yet Hawai`i's true nature is much more far-reaching and complex than one's first few deliciously seductive impressions. Relocating to the Islands is a big step -- you must learn a whole new way of life.
