Kauai - guidebooks help but it's about finding your special memories
Written: Sep 02 '05
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Pros: the best places take a little work to get to, but payoff is usually great
Cons: need to dodge the more obvious tourist traps
The Bottom Line: Gorgeous, lush, go while there are still Hawaiians living there
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| jthomas01's Full Review: Kauai |
Despite development, a lush wonderful place - this first time visitor found HER Kauai in the little things of everyday exploration. My husband and I traveled here in August, and we have different travel experience goals - he's a "macro" person - loves vistas, views, sunsets, and going "to the top, to the end" of everything. I'm more of a "micro" person - focused on flora, tide pools, sounds, and learning how to pronounce Hawaiian places and things.
Here's our impressions and suggestions if you are visiting Kauai for the first time.
1) Think about what you want in a hotel stay. We opted for a more simple hotel without the resort amenities, since we knew we would be exploring the island most of the day.
2) Face the fact that traffic is getting worse in the more populated areas. The island is being developed faster now and the infrastructure is struggling to keep up. esp. in Kapaa. Be patient and pull out to let others pass if you're getting annoyingly tailgated.
3) Try local fare - try new combinations. Where we live we don't even get decent Thai food - we ate that, had tons of fresh fish, plate lunches, and found that we could eat affordably by straying from the traditional "dinner out" routine. We were usually so tired at the end of the day that cleaning up and getting dressed to go out was too much - getting take-out from the local places was perfect for us.
4) Buy or bring "slippahs" (flip-flops) and wear them while you're there. I have to confess we went to WalMart to buy Locals brand. We usually don't shop at the big box but it was handy at times to pick up a few things from time to time.
5) Go to grocery stores/stands and look for unusual items to give or try. For us in Michigan, "unusual" meant a great assortment of Asian foods and some intriguing hard candy - assorted tea and sweet potato flavored hard candy that's in wonderful translucent packaging. The wasabi-black bean snack didn't go over as well. Taro chips were great, and juicy drinks, fresh fruit smoothies, and shave ice were yum.
6) Embrace the concept of vertical hiking when you're in Kauai. Bring bags to wrap your hiking shoes in to take home - red dirt will follow you on every trail.
7) There are no "secret" lava pools. There are, however, Secret (Beach) lava pools. This discovery, on a perfect day in summer, was the highlight of my trip. But then I'm a tide pool person.
8) Take time to relax from the exploring. We didn't do this enough, with so few days on the island, but when we did, we could let all the sounds and sensations come to us, rather than go out looking for that day's "great experience."
9) A rooster will always be crowing in the distance, no matter where you go on Kauai.
Enjoy your time there.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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Epinions.com ID:
jthomas01
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Reviews written: 1
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