Having earlier made some snide remarks about the Hawaii Superferry (www.hawaiisuperferry.com), which often takes you from Oahu to Maui for about $49 each way, it's only fair that I run an e-mailed defense of that boat service from the public relations firm which represents the Ferry. Now that the days of cheap airfares between the various islands seem over, it's probably wise to consider using the SuperFerry:

Aloha Arthur --

We appreciate your including Hawaii Superferry in your recent "Buy tickets for autumn air travel now" blog about rising airfares to Hawaii and between the islands.

As you rightly predicted, the number of passengers and vehicles using the Alakai has been steadily increasing. We're new and people are starting to find out about us from the positive feedback of others taking this unique opportunity.

I'm not sure whether you've had a chance to voyage on the ferry Alakai recently, but, particularly now, during the calmer summer ocean conditions, it is not a seasick-making Superferry. I think our increase in ridership is a testament to the great experience of a voyage on the Alakai.

We will keep you posted on the latest news related to Hawaii Superferry.

Mahalo,
Lori Abe

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Labels: hawaii

A considerable number of blogs were breathlessly reporting, as of yesterday morning, that United and Continental had introduced miraculous airfares of $270, round-trip between Newark or Houston, and Honolulu, for persons booking at least 21 days in advance, actually traveling after mid-August, and going only on certain specific weekdays. Imagine! $135 one-way between the east coast of the U.S. and Oahu!

I heard the news first, to their credit, on Beat of Hawaii (www.beatofhawaii.com), the smart, new website for Hawaii enthusiasts. In announcing these sensational rates, the two authors of Beat of Hawaii took pains to emphasize that fares like those would disappear in a day.

No such caution was exhibited yesterday by various purveyors of airfare bargains, who all announced these rates and urged you to consider them -- apparently, at your leisure. Never has there been a more dramatic sale, caught by bloggers who spend their lives pulling up airfares, but totally unmentioned in a single press release or other announcement by the airlines themselves.

Last last night, it became obvious why the airlines hadn't trumpeted the bonanza. I can only assume they assigned about four seats to the $270 price, because as of today, the $270 airfare has disappeared from the internet. If you'll look at one of the replies to our own post you'll see a message from Beat of Hawaii confirming that the $270 has been replaced by fares three and four times as high.

To my knowledge, no other blog has advised their readers that the airfare no longer exists. Sorry about that.

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Labels: deals, hawaii

There's trouble brewing in Hawaii (ah, woe), and you have more and more reason to plan your trip cautiously (using credit cards to pay for everything).

Here's what's happened:

In July of 2006, a new cost-cutting airline called Go! began flying between the Hawaiian islands (like Oahu to Maui) for as little as $39 each way. A violent price war broke out and we all rejoiced to see rates as low as $19 for these trips from one paradise to another. Inevitably, one of the inter-island carriers -- Aloha Airlines -- went kerplunk, and prices soon zoomed to $74 and $84 for, say, Oahu to Maui or Kauai to the Big Island.

Go! Airlines is owned by Mesa Air Group, a big, huge, regional airline of mainland America, that operates a great many flights under such names as Delta Connection, U.S. Airways Express, United Express, and so on. Well, this week Mesa Air Group announced that it may have to file in bankruptcy if big Delta Airlines goes ahead with plans to stop using Mesa Air Group.

If Mesa goes, think a great many people in Hawaii, then Go! will go. And prices will again zoom upwards for flights between the various Hawaiian islands (I wouldn't be surprised to see rates of $119 for a one-way hop). If you're planning, nevertheless, to use Go! on your own trip to Hawaii, be sure to pay for your tickets with a credit card.

Meanwhile, guess who's smiling? As recently as three weeks ago, people were laying bets that the new, seasick-making, Superferry -- which charges as little as $49 to sail between Oahu and Maui one-way by sea -- might have to cease operations because of competition from the air. Now the Superferry may end up as the one cheap method of moving between the islands, which would make it enormously popular. Just remember to take Bonine before boarding.

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Labels: hawaii

Here's an oddity: without the slightest publicity, Continental Airways (www.continental.com) has quietly revised the price of its round-trip airfare to Hawaii from Los Angeles, in late summer, to $380. The fare is good for flights from August 18 until pre-Christmas; it requires a seven-day advance purchase; and it is at least $160 cheaper than the next, lowest, end-of-summer airfare offered by Hawaiian Airlines. I owe this discovery to the blog known as Beat of Hawaii (www.beatofhawaii.com), whose authors apparently make random passes at the websites of the Hawaii-bound airlines, simply inserting dates at random to see what they get. This is probably a price for a limited number of seats, and will undoubtedly get withdrawn after a few days, but if you act now, you can assure yourself of an awfully cheap Hawaiian vacation.

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Labels: airfare, deals, hawaii

The probability that the disappearance (through bankruptcy) of ATA and Aloha Airlines would cause airfares to Hawaii to rise sharply, has been confirmed. Catharine Hamm, travel editor of the Los Angeles Times, has performed a useful service by making test bookings on Los Angeles-to-Hawaii flights for scattered summer and autumn dates, and has found a general increase of at least $100 round-trip. Summer round-trip fares, which recently ran around $700, are now about $800. And to make things worse, Delta Airlines has just announced a $110 round-trip fuel surcharge on flights to Hawaii, bringing some summer prices up to $910, round-trip between Los Angeles and Honolulu.

Although off-season (autumn) fares are considerably better and occasionally drop to as low as $425 (to which the $110 fuel surcharge must still be added), it's important to stress the word "occasionally." It's important to experiment with different dates to find economical off-season fares to Hawaii, although the September prices are usually far below those of July and August. The lesson of all this is to postpone your Hawaii vacation, if possible, until September-November, when the total round-trip cost (airfare plus fuel surcharge) can often be as little as $535 and occasionally $425 (plus fuel surcharge).

The other smart alternative, as Ms. Hamm points out, is to buy an air-and-land package to Hawaii rather than airfare alone. Pleasant Holidays, the major tour operator to Hawaii from the West Coast, is still charging only $500 or thereabouts for round-trip airfare from Los Angeles and five nights of hotel accommodations in Oahu or Kauai (Maui costs $25 more). But here, too, you'll need to anticipate a $110 fuel surcharge.

The sharp rise in the cost of oil (which hit $120 a barrel yesterday) is having a heavily adverse impact on travel. You can minimize the effect of that hit by traveling off-season (autumn to Hawaii), being flexible in your schedule (experimenting with different dates as you scan the airfares), or by purchasing package arrangements.

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Labels: airlines, deals, hawaii

Though I count myself one of the few opponents of TripAdvisor, I have a fellow combatant at my side in the people who publish Beat of Hawaii (www.beatofhawaii.com). They recently (April 30) printed a photograph of a hotel in Waikiki that received stellar recommendations in Trip Advisor and which one of the Beat of Hawaii editors used for his own recent stay in Oahu. Needless to say, the hotel was dreadful, objectively bad, and had nevertheless received rave reviews in Trip Advisor.

Now, no one is perfect, and this may have been an aberration, but I hope you will go to the website post and ponder whether travelers can rely on hotel recommendations by unknown amateurs (or pranksters).

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Labels: hawaii, websites

Now that cruise ships sailing between the islands of Hawaii have been reduced to one -- the Pride of America -- numerous other cruise lines have scheduled cruises leaving from California to and within Hawaii, of 14-days' duration and even 30 days' duration. And because a two-week or one-month cruise is hard to sell, they've priced cabins for most dates at below $100 per person per day. Note that these are not "re-positioning" cruises, but round-trip sailings from the same port (either San Diego or Los Angeles); you incur no airfare to return to your U.S. embarkation city. Still, the ships spend many days simply at sea, crossing the vast Pacific -- a maritime adventure for a very special traveler.

I think they're exciting opportunities for persons able to devote two to four weeks to a cruise, and have set forth the dates and essential details below:

Celebrity Mercury: 15 nights Hawaii, round-trip from San Diego

• Oct. 22 from $1,729
• Nov. 6 from $1,599
• Dec. 19 from $1,849 (Christmas/New Years Cruise)
• Feb. 28, 2009 from $1,369
• Mar. 15, 2009 from $1,359

Holland America Zaandam: 15 nights Hawaii, round-trip from San Diego

• Oct. 8 from $1,638
• Oct. 23, Nov. 7, and Nov. 22 from $1,371
• Dec. 7 from $1,282

Golden Princess: 14 nights Hawaii, round-trip from Los Angeles

• 2008 sailings from $1,545: Oct. 1, Oct. 15, Oct. 29, Nov. 12, Nov. 26, Dec. 10, and Dec. 24 (the last one from $1,945)
• 2009 sailings from $1,645: Jan. 7, Jan. 21, Feb. 4, Feb. 18, Mar. 4, Mar. 18, Apr.
  

Holland America Statendam: 30 nights Hawaii, Tahiti, and French Polynesia; round-trip from San Diego

• Sep. 25 from $2,999: This 30-day opportunity is especially appealing to me, priced at only $2,999 for an entire month of all-inclusive arrangements, on a top-quality ship.

The source of these fares is icruise.com, a major discounter. You can either book online (www.icruise.com) or by phoning tel. 888/427-8473.

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Labels: cruise, deals, hawaii

The 50th State has just obtained an important blogger, a critical chronicler of its foibles and trends. In www.beatofhawaii.com, two recent transplants to the Islands are uncovering all the secrets, disclosing the less attractive developments, showing the shady side of travel to and within our own tropical paradise.

Wanna know what it's like to take the new Super Ferry from island to island? Beat of Hawaii shows a video of the ungainly ship pitching and heaving in high seas, and then attaches a "Barf-o-Meter" to record the degree of seasickness aboard. It also points out that on a recent sailing to Maui, only 45 passengers booked onto a vessel capable of carrying several hundred.

Wanna learn the impact that the bankruptcy of ATA and Aloha Airlines has had on airfares to Hawaii? Beat of Hawaii ventures an estimate. Wanna hear the predictions of insiders about the next Hawaiian Airline to go belly-up? It's all in Beat of Hawaii.

I don't agree with all their conclusions. But it's fun to read this new site, an example of the valuable insights and advice that honest blogging can bring to travel.

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Labels: blog, hawaii

Though I was less than successful this past week in obtaining news via Internet cafes along the banks of the Rhine, I couldn't avoid the newspapers in every traditional cafe and the reports they brought of three major airline bankruptcies in the U.S.: of Aloha Airlines, ATA, and Skybus. The skyrocketing cost of fuel, and the economic slowdown, apparently proved too much for these low-cost carriers, of which one (Skybus) sold at least 10 seats a flight at $10.

It's interesting -- and an important lesson for air travelers -- that the airline executives announcing the tragic news all suggested that passengers contact their credit card companies. They did not advise filing with the bankruptcy court. In bankruptcy, it's probable that passengers will receive nothing. Outside of court, passengers paying for their tickets within the last five-or-so weeks with a credit card will probably get every penny back from their credit card companies. The lesson is clear that, in travel, you should lift heaven and earth to make payments with a credit card; the card companies will normally refund the expenditure, unless it was recorded many months ago.

As for the elimination from the skies of Skybus, a very small carrier, this will have hardly any impact on travelers living anywhere but in Columbus, Ohio, hub of the unfortunate company. But the elimination of ATA and Aloha Airlines will have a disastrous effect on airfares to Hawaii, to which both ATA and Aloha flew from Oakland, California, at wonderfully low rates. Though all the other Hawaiian-bound carriers are proclaiming that they will take up the slack, and at no increase in price, it's obvious they are simply mouthing bedtime stories to worried travelers. After an initial few weeks of low-cost fares, I predict that all the carriers to Hawaii will raise their rates by at least $100, which is sad.

If you can possibly make that trip now, you might pay current levels. And that's especially the case if you rush to book the trip from Oakland on Hawaiian Airlines, which has announced replacement service from Oakland. They, too, will raise the rates after the initial switchover is completed.

In the same way that the price of oil, the price of wheat, and the price of rice, have all recently soared, it may be that airfares to Hawaii will remain permanently high. That's all the more reason to explore the use of alternate, low-in-cost accommodations for your own visit to this tropical state: vacation homes and vacation apartments on the island of Oahu (the same are being forced out of business in Maui); low-cost Ohana hotels in the Waikiki Beach area (Ohana being a chain of very adequate high-rise hotels owned by the Outrigger chain); B&B's in Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island. The unpretentious traveler willing to make those adjustments in their lodging habits, will continue to enjoy all the rewards of travel.

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Labels: airlines, hawaii, money

Planning a trip to Hawaii? The tiny travel agencies of the Los Angeles area are in tight competition with one another for Hawaii-bound clients. And because they are small and inconspicuous, both airlines and hotels will occasionally funnel unbeatable discount rates to them.

I'm not saying that the smaller agencies will always have the best prices to Hawaii. But it pays to call them when you're planning a trip, to see whether they are able to undercut the larger Hawaiian operators. Examples:

World Class Vacations, of Los Angeles (tel. 800/755-2417) often has low-season round-trip fares of $299 between Los Angeles and Oahu. So does Travel Services, of Los Angeles (tel. 800/675-4050) and Hawaii Vacation Specialists (tel. 714/841-4540). Another firm, Paradise Unlimited (tel. 800/634-5568) will sell you a low-season round-trip to Maui

for as little as $369, and will sell you round-trip air to Maui and a self-drive car for seven days for as little as $429. All the above companies also have air-and-land packages to Oahu for rates under $500, and all should be consulted before you sign on for one of those nationally-advertised packages to Hawaii from the big-name firms.

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Labels: hawaii, travel agent

After Southwest Airlines bought a large portion of the struggling Indianapolis-based carrier ATA, the two airlines -- now partners -- dropped some routes and added others to complement each other and provide better connections for travelers. Hawaii was one of the major areas where new ATA flights were added. Previously, ATA's main departure hub for Hawaii was San Francisco International. It has since moved its operations across the bay to Oakland, where Southwest Airlines has a large presence. Now, travelers can fly from all over the country into Oakland on Southwest, and there they can board a non-stop ATA flight to Oahu, Maui, Kauai, or the Big Island -- with a choice of Hilo or Kona at the latter. And Oakland isn't ATA's only launch pad for Hawaii; it offers all sorts of direct flights that didn't exist that long ago, including non-stops between Maui and Chicago (Midway), Portland, Oregon, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Promotional sales on these routes are plentiful, especially during Hawaii's slower travel periods. Recent sales offered fares such as Oakland to Honolulu for $258 round-trip, and Phoenix to Maui for $338. Bookings must be made through ATA (not Southwest); go to www.ata.com or tel. 800/435-9282.

And bear in mind that most Internet airfare booking engines don't include the flights of Southwest or ATA.

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Labels: deals, hawaii

In order to give a near-monopoly to the Norwegian America Line (a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line) in sailing among the Hawaiian Islands (Norwegian promised to hire American crew, and to abide by American labor laws), Congress provided that non-American cruiselines could visit Hawaii only if they stopped, at some point of the itinerary, in a non-American destination (which is difficult, indeed).

Some foreign ship lines complied with that requirement by scheduling an absurd overnight side trip to Fanning Island in the Pacific, after first sailing to Hawaii. More of them decided to stop in Ensenada, Mexico, just south of San Diego, in the course of the cruise. Typically, a cruiseline would set off from Los Angeles, stop briefly in Ensenada (even if for less than an hour, and sometimes in the middle of the night), then make the long crossing to Hawaii, then cruise the Hawaiian Islands.

On a separate cruise starting from Hawaii, they would sail back to North America, stop briefly in Ensenada, and then return to Los Angeles. Many of our readers may have been attracted by these nine-day cruises to Hawaii involving a brief (almost unnoticed) stop in Ensenada on one leg of the cruise.

But that's about to become more difficult. Norwegian America Line has complained bitterly about these one-hour stops in Ensenada, and the authorities have agreed to put an end to such artificial compliance. From now on, they have announced, the Ensenada stop must be the real thing, of at least a day's duration, disgorging passengers onto the shore to imbibe the pleasures of Ensenada.

So if you're scheduled for an Ensenada-stopping cruise to Hawaii, you might think again. Because of the need for a real stopover in Ensenada, you will need to spend most of your remaining time simply at sea, and relatively little of it in Hawaii. Which means that an all-Hawaii cruise by Norwegian America line (with U.S. crew members) may be your only realistic option.

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Labels: cruises, hawaii, red tape

The lawsuit has begun. And unless a state court dismisses the complaint on legal grounds unrelated to the merits, a trial will begin two weeks from now to determine whether the Mayor of Maui has the right to prohibit the operation of B&B's and the rental of vacation homes on that island (and on the neighboring islands of Molokai and Lanai falling under the jurisdiction of Maui).

To get the flavor of the controversy, go to the plaintiff's website, www.mvra.com, the Maui Vacation Rental Association, and you will learn how numerous B&Bs on the island have been left in legal limbo, their applications to operate a low-cost B&B left pending for six years. In all that time, apparently, the county authorities have passed on only seven applications, granting them all, but leaving the other seventy -- inexplicably -- in limbo.

All this time, as I gather from the contentious arguments on both sides -- the Mayor of Maui has had no problem granting authority to various Safeway Supermarkets and other national chains to open up in formerly residential areas of Maui. Various developers have no problem building new high-priced and high-rise apartment complexes, or new and large hotels. The operators of small retail businesses have increasingly been put out of business by the national chains. Yet quietly-managed, unobtrusive B&Bs are being snuffed out, leaving Maui a haven only for the wealthy.

I have now obtained the phone numbers of Maui residents who are following the legal proceedings on a day-by-day basis. The issue will be decided in the next few weeks, and I'll report about events as soon as anything noteworthy occurs.

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Labels: accommodations, hawaii

Fearing the inability of low-income or middle-income tourists to find affordable lodgings on the islands of Maui, Molokai or Lanai, I recently reported on the efforts by the Mayor of Maui (who also possesses jurisdiction over Molokai and Lanai) to prohibit the operation of B&B's in private homes or the rental of vacation homes. That edict has resulted in consternation and sorrow among the many operators of such low-cost lodgings, who point out that none of these islands has economy hotels sufficient to accommodate cost-conscious tourists.

In Molokai and Lanai, the only actual hotels are expensive four-star or five-star properties, and the elimination of B&B's and vacation homes will essentially restrict those islands to the rich. Yet, as hard to believe as it may be, it appears that the prohibition may become effective at the end of this year.

The operator of a Molokai B&B has written a touching post in response to that blog, which is available in full on our message boards:

Molokai used to welcome about 120,000 visitors yearly, but when our largest hotel with 100 rooms shut down and Maui county gave control of our tourism marketing to Maui, we magically spiraled down to 50,000 visitors a year.

I'm sad that Maui is turning into a land of the rich and the locals are to service them. I can't afford the hotel prices on Maui when I go over for business -- I come home the same day. Maui is making lifestyle choices because Maui's real estate market is directly tied to the tourism marketing.

Still another reader, a visitor to Maui, has written directly to me, as follows:

I read with disappointment today the mayor of Maui's stance on rental homes. For several years my family and friends have come to Maui to vacation. We rent homes, bring our children and their friends, and enjoy the great Island. We spend tons of money on rental equipment, food, entertainment and local arts, etc. We would never stay in the hotels due to the price of a room and the price of food.

This is a huge mistake and will drastically reduce the travel dollars spent on the Island. I will now take my money to Mexico and so will many of my friends. We will miss you Maui.

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Labels: accommodations, hawaii

There's trouble in paradise. Hard as it is to believe, the Mayor of the popular Hawaiian island of Maui has launched a serious campaign to outlaw the operation of B&Bs and the short-term rental of vacation homes (although rental of condominium apartments to tourists will continue to be allowed).

And why? Several reasons (which may not be the real ones) are advanced. According to the Mayor, residents are complaining about the infestation of their residential communities by tourists occupying low-cost rooms in the homes of Hawaiians. A second reason: the growing market for the short-term rental of vacation homes has greatly increased the value of homes generally, making them unaffordable for residents, especially native Hawaiians.

(Condominiums, on the other hand, are already found mainly in areas inhabited by tourists, and thus life in these areas isn't affected by rental of apartments to short-stay tourists, according to the Mayor.)

That's the news reported to me this week by my daughter, Pauline, upon her return from three weeks of researching and revising the Maui chapter of the forthcoming Pauline Frommer's Hawaii. She was unable to determine whether those alleged justifications are really a smokescreen for a campaign initiated by the hotel industry, which has an obvious self-interest in wiping out B&Bs and vacation home rentals. Her gut reaction isn't what you might expect from a daughter of mine. Pauline feels that the Maui Mayor is sincere in claiming that B&Bs and vacation home rentals are harmful to the quality of life on her island.

Regulations prohibiting such rentals are supposed to take effect on January 1, 2008. The island will then assess fines of $1,000-a-day on persons violating the ban. Lawsuits have already been commenced by B&B and vacation home associations to block the new rules, and it's anyone's guess as to what will occur.

Meantime, an effort to adopt the same prohibition on the Island of Kauai was beaten back when opponents pointed out that thousands of jobs on that island are created by B&Bs and vacation home rentals. The drive to ban the B&Bs was instantly dropped when its effect on island incomes was noted.

Because hotel rates on Maui are already so high (many modest properties charge $300 a night per room), the ban on B&Bs and vacation home rentals will have a devastating impact on the middle-income and low-income tourist. Maui would become an elite island, and ordinary Americans would be relegated to the overcrowded Oahu. I'll be reporting on the fight and trying to determine if there are ways for us outsiders to assist opponents of these un-democratic efforts.

And in the meantime, I'd be grateful to hear on the subject from Hawaiian (and other) readers of this blog. Is it the hotel industry which thought up this campaign? Are the people of Maui really ready to eliminate average-income Americans from their beautiful island?

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Labels: accommodations, hawaii

If you ever needed an excuse for an impulse trip to Hawaii, it's been provided by a) ATA Airline's new "Fly Away Sale" to Hawaii, and b) the current price war raging on inter-island flights within Hawaii.

The ATA fares need to be booked by midnight this coming Monday, and on the Internet only (www.ata.com); they cost $10 more if purchased by phone or at ticket counters. But once booked, they permit you to leave on the trip any time from now until December 14, for stunning one-way rates: Oakland to/from Honolulu $127; Ontario, CA to/from Honolulu $139; Las Vegas to/from Maui $159; Phoenix to/from Maui $164; and Sacramento to/from Honolulu $199.

I will bet that these rates will be quickly matched by a bevy of new airlines flying unusual routes to Hawaii. Aloha Airlines (tel. 800/367-5250; www.alohaairlines.com) now operates non-stops such as Sacramento-Maui, San Diego-Maui, and Orange County to Maui and Kona; Hawaiian Airlines (tel. 800/367-5320; www.hawaiiair.com) flies direct between Seattle and Maui, among other routes; and Hawaiian will have competition on that Seattle-Maui non-stop starting in late October, when Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/252-7522; www.alaskaair.com) also begins flying it regularly. All of them have no choice but to match the ATA sale.

The cut in airfares to Hawaii is made more exciting by the plummeting cost of airfares within Hawaii. Some background: Last year, Mesa Air Group, which operates regional flights for carriers such as Delta, United, and US Airways, launched go!, an upstart in Hawaii's inter-island market, which for years had been the domain of Aloha and Hawaiian airlines. The battle for passengers has been fierce, and there's no sign of it letting up. Since it began flying, go! has made a habit of selling $19 one-way tickets to and from Honolulu, and tickets for $39-$58 on flights between other islands. At one point in the fare wars, Aloha fought back by giving away 2,000 inter-island flights for no charge at all.

Availability on the cheapest fares, as one might expect, is limited. Generally, the tickets most likely to sell at rock-bottom rates are purchased either a) a few months in advance or b) at the very last minute. Because it's possible to get a $19 ticket within a day or two of departure, travelers can now jet off on a fun, cheap island adventure on the spur of the moment. Years ago, such a last-minute flight would have cost about as much as a typical flight from the mainland. Contact go! at tel. 888/435-9462 or www.iflygo.com.

But as with flights from the mainland, shop around. Everyone matches other people's prices, and there's no telling which carrier is going to have the best fare at a given moment.

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Labels: deals, hawaii

If you bring your own tent, you'll be given a campsite, three meals daily, two full-body massages, daily yoga classes, and the right to engage in all resort activities (hula, ecstatic dance, meditation, weaving, pool, hot tub and sauna), for a total of $780 per person per week, whether single or double. If you're one of two persons traveling together, you'll receive all the above for $930 per person per week in a room with shared bath, $1,020 with private bath. I'm talking about a dreamy, laid-back, unpretentious Hawaiian resort named Kalani (tel. 800/800-6886; www.kalani.com), on the Big Island of Hawaii, that's designed for the same people who patronize yoga centers and meditation camps on the mainland.

It's been around for 30 years, and is still following the gentle precepts of its founder: a mainly vegetarian cuisine (but lots of fresh fish), yoga and tai chi everywhere you look, supportive and non-aggressive fellow guests who follow their bliss, plain but adequate accommodations, and none of the conspicuous consumption or boisterous show-offs of the standard resort. A typical dinner ("prepared with aloha") starts with coconut squash soup, goes on to seared ahi with pineapple salsa, baked tempeh, quinoa with sunflower seeds, broccoli stir-fry, and cucumber salad, and ends with lemon ginger cake.

It's the kind of Hawaiian vacation where you'll never complain about the islands having changed their character or gotten over-crowded. It's like the Hawaii of a century ago. A final touch: volunteers willing to work 30 hours a week for a month, pay $1,000 for an all-inclusive one-month stay at Kalani, attending all classes and activities, receiving accommodations and all meals.

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Labels: hawaii, yoga

Autumn is when the top travel bargains re-appear. Except to areas of the fall foliage, travel to almost everywhere slumps from late September to early November, and heads lower still from November 8 to mid-December. As witness:

$576 for just short of a week on the island of Maui (the Kahului area). From September 20 and until November 8, Hawaii goes on sale -- as proven by a remarkable air-and-land package from Pleasant Holidays (tel. 800/742-9244; www.pleasantholidays.com). It consists of round-trip airfare from Los Angeles to popular Maui, five nights at the Aston Maui Lu hotel directly across from a fine beach, and a rental car with unlimited mileage for the duration of your stay, all during the above period, and for as little as $576 per person.

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Labels: deals, hawaii

Still worried about autumn hurricanes in the Caribbean? Then fly to Hawaii. Though the weather there is perfectly fine in October and November, the Hawaiian autumn season is nevertheless the slowest time of the year for tourist arrivals, and most of its hotels and airlines offer all sorts of autumn sales.

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Labels: hawaii