The Vince Files » Hawaii http://www.thevincefiles.net My rants, ramblings, and reflections Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:37:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Our 2008 trip to Hawaii http://www.thevincefiles.net/2008/02/24/our-2008-trip-to-hawaii http://www.thevincefiles.net/2008/02/24/our-2008-trip-to-hawaii#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:10:15 +0000 Vince http://www.thevincefiles.net/index.php/2008/02/24/our-2008-trip-to-hawaii a

]]> 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.

Anna and Claire enjoying the view from the 17th floor of the Rainbow Tower
 
 

Anna and Claire enjoying the view from the 17th floor of the Rainbow Tower

Sunrise over Diamondhead
 
 

Sunrise over Diamondhead

Enjoying the view
 
 

Enjoying the view

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).

Claire chilling and enjoying the view
 
 

Claire chilling and enjoying the view

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