For one day only Aloha Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and go! Airlines will be offering one-way $9 inter-island flights. You must purchase tickets by midnight tonight, so if you’re reading this, you’re already on your computer, head over to one of those airlines sites and book!

The only catch is that the flight must occur by the end of the year. 3 airlines, 4 more months? That’s a lot of flights to choose from and it appears they’re going to be offering a lot of flights open to this new value (although that usually is never the case so we won’t hold our breath over here.)

For tourists and locals alike, getting around the islands can be a tough. The public transportation consists of the bus, which can take you hours to get places since there are only so many roads and only so many buses to service these roads. This leaves most with the option to either borrow or rent.

While some people find it easy to borrow for tourists renting a car is usually the only option. But with all the Internet options out there what do you choose. Well as we’ve been accustomed to doing, we suggest using services that are tailored to the islands. That’s why when we were asked to review a site on renting cars in Hawaii we jumped on the chance. The site for Hawaii car rental is just that, exclusively for renting cars in the Hawaiian islands. The great thing about it is that it serves the under-served, mainly Hawaii (The Big Island) and Maui.

The service partners with all the major car rental places such as Budget, Avis, and Dollar, and utilizes those locations at all the major airports in Hawaii. By focusing on Hawaiian based providers and not every location in the world the service claims to provide cheaper prices that you could get elsewhere (a quick search showed this to be true.)

By going with the major rental service providers they are able to have the latest car rental fleet. That way you don’t get stuck with junk cars as is the case with some of these out of the way low budget rental outfits.

One thing we really liked that we suggest for anyone wanting to see the Big Island or Maui the right way is to get a jeep. The site offers a great deal on hawaii jeep rental that you should check out. The reason we’d suggest a jeep for either of these islands is that 1) you get to unzip all the canvas and be in the sun the whole time and 2) there are a lot of roads that you’d otherwise not want to go on with a regular compact rental car. You’ll be glad you spent the extra money.

Overall we were pleased with the site and what it had to offer. For those of you that puddle jump around the islands for a weekend give this site a try and let us know what you think. We’ll probably test it out for our next car rental.

Are you looking to take some R & R on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai? If so, you need to know where you’re going to stay (although pitching a tent on a beach is a lovely option that sometimes I’ve chosen.) One site that may help you out is a Kauai site all about Kauai Vacation Rentals. They specialize in vacation rentals on Kauai.

First off, the neat thing about vacation rentals as opposed to hotels is that you actually get to experience Hawaii first hand. This can be a much better time than spent laying by the pool drinking cocktails. You’re in Hawaii, why not live it. Plus if you find a nice vacation home on the beach somewhere it’s even better. Kauai has tons to offer and the rich tropical forests would be much better if taken in at all times of the day (and night).

Now back to the site. The site is decently interactive with area maps and a good grasp of all the possible vacation homes out there. Remax Kauai gives you options as to whether you want to stay in a condo, a home, on the beach, or in a touristy village. Being that Kauai is a small island there aren’t a lot of rundown rentals out there and from what I can tell on this site, they don’t have any of those available at the time of this writing.

There are plenty of pictures to keep you excited about your vacation (even if you leave on a neighbor island). There’s also some info about the areas like activities and what not and the best part, each lists if there is a jacuzzi, which is always a must when my wife is asking where we’re staying.

You’ll also find that this site allows you to reserve a space online which is nice for those people who are phone adverse. However, they still have an 877 number you can call to make your vacation reservation over the phone.

This review was a solicited for but now I wish I would have asked for an exchange with a rental place. Search and utilizing the site makes me want to head over to Kauai for a little vacation of my own.

So which islands did we end up going to? Our first stop was Kauai. I know many people might disagree with me, but I didn’t find Kauai to be as lush as they make it out to be. In fact, it kind of reminds me of parts of Kaneohe on the Windward side of Oahu. It’s nice, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. We did visit the Waimea Canyon, which is basically the Pacific version of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Since we’ve been to the Grand Canyon as well, we were able to make a comparison. I feel that the Grand Canyon is much more grand, and the ridges are just more breathtaking. Waimea is extremely nice too, but it’s a little less grand but a lot more green. Was it worth the drive? I say yes, but I do enjoy a lot of nature things.

The stop in Kauai was actually only that day, because the ship would leave Kauai the following day at 1pm. We did visit a beach before Waimea, and I was able to see a sea turtle which was pretty cool.

Next we ventured over to Hilo in the Big Island. This would be our first booked shore excursion, which we booked with Gray Line, a part of Polynesian Adventure Tours. We went on an excursion to the Volcanoes National Park, which also took us to a water fall and the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory. For $21 a head, this 5.5 hour tour was well worth it. And our guide, Harry Aina, was both very knowledgeable and humorous as well.

The boat left that night and we were on our way to Kona on the Big Island. Thinking we were going to disembark on a pier once again, we were surprised to find the boat docked in the middle of the ocean. So how did we get on shore? They lower down their boats, which hold about 50 people, and take you to shore. The reason for this is because the piers are not deep enough for the cruise ship, so the ship must dock farther away in deeper waters. On shore, we paid $10/head roundtrip to one of the famous beaches in Kona called Kahaluu Beach Park. There we paid $23 for two sets of snorkeling equipment including a locker for our stuff. We saw a bunch of different fishes and spent about 2 hours there. We finished it off with lunch at Kalanikai Bar & Grill for some fish and chips and a tuna melt. It was seriously one of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. Make sure you try some when you are there.

Later that night at 10pm, the captain of the ship notified passengers that we would be able to see a volcano erupting while we were leaving the Big Island. We were pretty far away, but you could make out the lava spewing from the volcano. No, it wasn’t a huge grand sight, but it was quite mesmerizing, as it was nice orange glow with a few flickers.

The next morning we ended up in Maui. The first day we just rented a car and drove around to sight see since my girlfriend is from Maui. We went to see the I’ao Valley State Park, which highlight was their needle pointed mountain. Next we headed down to Kaanapali beach, which had really nice white sand and clean water. We had some lunch down on their famous Front St., which is popular for night life much like the Santa Monica street in California.

The next morning, we got up really early to board on the Pride of Maui’s ship to head out to Molokini Crater. This crater is located about a one hour ride on boat away from the the pier, and is a great place for snorkeling. This was probably the best experience I’ve ever had in any island. They took us to the famous Molokini Crater where we were able to snorkel and see probably the clearest water ever for 1.5 hours. You can see all the way down to over 100 feet in the clear waters. We got back on to eat some lunch, which consisted of veggie burgers, cheese burgers, and BBQ chicken. They then took us to our next location which was Turtle Town. We saw literally four different sea turtles which were really cool. They were very calm and let people get decently close to them. But as long as you don’t touch them, you’re fine. Otherwise, you will get fined $10,000 and serve up to a year in jail because the sea turtles are endangered species. On our way back to shore, we were treated with an open bar (mai tais, wine, and beer). What a day that was.

We spent the rest of the day on the ship until we arrived back in Honolulu. All in all, this was an awesome trip, and for a little over $500 a head (I bought my tickets at Non-Stop Travel on S. King Street…a very pleasureable experience), it was well worth it. Give it shot, I’m sure you’ll have fun!

A couple weeks ago, I watched the Hawaii Super Ferry, Alakai (which means “ocean path” in Hawaiian) coming in, from the Ala Moana Beach Park. It was a pretty amazing sight, and I could tell that people around me were getting excited too. Today, Hawaii Super Ferry hosted a free tour of the ferry for 4000 lucky individuals (wish I was there too…). Many visitors seemed to like the amenitites they provide, and the vessel seemed very comfortable. If you were not one of those lucky people who got to preview the ferry today, don’t worry. Hawaii Super Ferry is planning to set up more free tours in the near future, and those dates will be announced soon. I did sign up for their newsletter, so I will keep everyone posted about the dates. Or you can sign up yourself as well.

I didn’t know that you could pay extra $20 for an access to the first class lounge (Hahalua Lounge). You can have wider reclining seats not to mention a free drink and snack. Since it takes about 3 hours to either Maui or Kaui from Oahu, $20 is definitely worth it.

They already started taking reservations for the travel dates between September 5th and January 15th. However, the Super Ferry expects to have their inaugrual service sooner than that, possibly sometime in August. They still need to complete crew and staff training, route familiarization, and final U.S. Coast Guard certification to begin their services. They are offering daily routes to Kaui and Maui from Oahu. Once the second ferry arrives in 2009, we will be able to take the ferry to the Big Island as well. When you make a reservation, remember that 14-day advance purchase web fares are $8 cheaper than the normal fares. The fares are also $10 cheaper if you travel between Tuesday and Thursday. Oh, don’t try to get to the terminal too late since they will close the terminal 30 minutes prior to a departure.

It is true that nowadays we can get unreasonably cheap airfares for interisland traveling in the mist of the fare wars among three island airlines. However, with the declining quality of airline services, I expect that the Super Ferry will make a pretty significant impact on interisland traveling. Of course, there will be a time when we need to get to outer islands faster, but if you do have some time to spare to breathe fresh salty air, Hawaii Super Ferry will be a wonderful option to have.

So are you intrigued? Here is the story done by KGMB that you can watch to get further insight on Hawaii Super Ferry. Enjoy.

Watching the news this morning before going to work, I was surprised to hear another interisland price war among the 3 major interisland airlines. Today, Hawaiian, Aloha and go! Airlines are offering a $19 one way ticket to the interislands as long as your purchase the ticket today.

What are the restrictions for such a low price? Well, the ticket must be purchase today on the respective internet site, and the fares are only good for travel from now until July 12th. The only problem is that we don’t know how many seats are good for this $19 fare. As with the $2 fare offered by go! Airlines, there were only a few seats available for each flight out.

So if you are planning on flying to the interislands soon, maybe for July 4th, or just because, make sure you log on to each airlines’ respective website and book your trip today. Seeing how go! Airlines’ website crashed during their $2 special, the sooner you book, the better.

I just can’t see how any of these airlines make any money. The only thing I can see from the price war is to take the hit now, commit customers to their airline, and bankrupt the opposing airlines. Otherwise, strategically, this will only make them lose more and more money. Oh well, I guess at least it’s good for us. Take advantage of it while you can!

OK, first you’re probably asking where the heck is Tenerife.

For those that don’t know Tenerife is in the Canary Islands, which are located off the southern coast of Spain (also which my geography skillz were lacking on.) I’ve actaully wanted to travel to these spanish islands, and now I know of a Tenerife travel booking and information site to get me started. Sweet!

Although I do live in Hawaii, which makes traveling to other tropical islands sound kinda uneventful, it’s in Europe, and it’s part of Spain. And we all have heard how much those spaniards like to have a good time. Plus the pictures on the above website look pretty tempting. Laying by a pool, sipping some sort of blended goodness.

Also, I’m an avid golfer who loves to golf here on the island of Oahu. I’ve been wanting to take a vacation somewhere and focus it on golf and haven’t really found a place that would be golf friendly but also be cheap enough to golf on. I found some all inclusive deals that focused on golf over at this Tenerife site that seemed like they’d be interesting enough.

After checking out the site I decided to do a little more research as to where this Tenerife place actually is and what’s it all about. Of course my searchings led me to Wikipedia’s entry and I came to find out that it’s the biggest island of the Canary Islands and that they have a sweet bus system.

I’ll have to add this island to my list next time I travel to Europe. Thanx to our sponsor for the opportunity to review and learn about this great vacation destination.

Ii just read an article from MSNBC.com about traveling to Hawaii for less and for anyone thinking of traveling out this way I would consider it an interesting read. Not really a must be definitely not a waste of time.

Some of the things I didn’t know living here is that you can get a four-day tourist bus pass for $20 and ride the bus for as long as you’d like in those four days. This can be really helpful for those of you not wanting to rent a car, or not old enough to rent a car. A $40 monthly pass can also be bought if you’re thinking of staying for longer than 4 days requiring a bus ride.

Also mentione, Guided hikes can be fun and since Hawaii has some flash floods and rack falls every now and then these companies will help you avoid potential pit-falls.

The article has lots of things to do in Hawaii on the cheap and can help you deal with the rising cost of traveling to paradise.

technorati tags:Hawaii, Cheap, Travel, beaches, Oahu

Mesa Air Group recently opened inter-island air travel between the major Hawaiian islands. In doing so they are offering the cheapest flights between the Hawaiian islands for a low price of $39 one way. That is the cheapest flights have been within the islands for a long time. If you are looking for cheap flights this is the time to travel.

In response to the new service both Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines have followed suit offering low fares as well with prices of $39 one-way. These flights are available for booking until April 7th, 2006 and you can fly over the summer months depending on availability. Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines have offered great deal flights before with unbelievably cheap fares but those had a lot of restrictions on them. These fares don’t appear to have any restrictions on them at all.

We will keep you updated on available flights as well as extensions or restrictions on when you can fly. Hopefully these low priced inter island flights will last a long time and allow residents and visitors easier island travel.