Dahna: As we flew into Hilo and did not see any high rise buildings, we both breathed a sigh of relief. Less tourists, and lower key. We had to catch a taxi from the airport though which was a little unexpected drain on the wallet, as there were no public buses and we had a bit too much gear on us to walk comfortably. It cost nearly US$20, and it was only a 4-5km drive to the hostel we were staying at. The friendly taxi driver was about the tenth person to tell us we'd need to rent a car in order to get about on the island. He even called his "friend" while we were in the car to get a "local, not tourist" quote for a car, but even that was $25 before tax ... read more

Dahna: After a long flight including a particularly long and uneventful four hour stop over at Fiji airport, we flew into Honolulu sleepless. We decided to take a 12 day stop over in Hawaii to absorb a final bit of summer before heading into Canada's almost eternal winter. It almost didn't happen due to some complications with the US embassy, but that is too boring to go into. Cheesy, busy, tacky and touristy would be the first words that come to mind about Honolulu, unfortunately, but you can also see the tropical island underneath there - somewhere. Not at 8am in the morning after over 24 hours without sleep though. As soon as we had checked in at the cheapest hostel in town, we went hunting for breakfast. Just as we turned the corner an alert ... read more