The Vince Files

We just got back from a well-deserved vacation to Hawaii on the island of Oahu. We rented a car to get us around. We also stayed in 3 different places: 3 nights in Waikiki followed by 2 nights on the north shore and back for 2 more nights in Waikiki. There were beaches to lie on, sights to see, and generally lots of de-stressing to be done. Claire, for the most part, was great. She’s been to Disneyland twice, Hawaii twice, and numerous road trips to Washington state for cross-border shopping day trips. She’s only 3 and is already quite the seasoned traveler so as far as airports, car rides, hotel check-ins/check-outs, and lineups are concerned, this trip was a piece of cake.

This is a long post but I’ve broken it up into several pages. Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

A Room with a View

Hotel room views are generally grouped into 4 broad categories in descending order of ocean view: oceanfront, oceanview, partial oceanview, and garden view. Our first three nights were spent at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. This is a huge complex with many towers surrounding pools, shops, and amenities. The tower we stayed in was the one closest to the beach: The Rainbow Tower. Anna got us into the 17th floor of the 31-floor building with an oceanfront view overlooking Waikiki beach and the famous volcano crater Diamondhead.

Photo tip: the background will be very bright and will cause your foreground subjects to be dark and somewhat backlit. Here, I metered for the background and increased the camera’s flash exposure compensation to help light the foreground (notice the flash’s reflection in the lanai door glass).

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