Waikoloa Village is basically a subdivision on the Big Island of Hawaii that has a wide variety of housing units ranging from single family homes, to condos, to high end hotels. Among the hotels is the Hilton Waikoloa Village, and this is where I spent the week on my recent trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. (View in Google Earth. What is Google Earth?)

The hotel is ideally located for branching out to explore all the various parts of the island, and the facilities are enormous. 64 acres of highly manicured grounds complete with a private bay, swimming pools, and even a dolphin habitat. With over 1,200 rooms, this is a large hotel by any measure. A local man told me that the property was originally developed by a Japanese company for $360 Million, but later sold at a huge loss for $90 Million to Hilton.

Although the hotel is basically a Disneyland for adults, there are some critical flaws which greatly detract from it as a serious vacation destination. At the same time, there is some great stuff to see and do… like swim with the dolphins!
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Man, now that I’ve seen this, I’ve got a lot of stuff coming my way. Lets see, there are at least 50 hot women who owe me a date. I’m expecting three raises. I’ll be winning the lottery any day now. And I should be allowed to run right out and buy my brand new Lamborghini!

During my recent visit to Maui, Hawaii I spent the better part of a day traveling along the famous road to Hana. For those of you that are unaware, it’s one of the most famous drives in the world.

According to the T-Shirt, we’re talking about:

617 curves, 56 bridges, 52 miles and 3 hours

… of non-stop driving fun. Of course, the whole point of the Road to Hana is the drive, not the destination.
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While on Maui for three days I stayed at the Maui Coast Hotel in Kihei. I did all the standard research, starting with their Web site, I also checked TripAdvisor and it got a 4.0.

They had a special for a one room suite for $175 / night, which is a great rate on Maui. The hotel is only 3 miles from the Four Seasons, Hilton and Marriott so I reasoned that it would be worth saving 50% and just driving around. Plus there are beaches right near the Maui Coast Hotel as well.

Unfortunately all the logic in the world won’t turn the Maui Coast into a good deal.
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During my recent trip to Lanai, Hawaii we stayed at the Five Star Four Seasons Resort Lana’i at Manele Bay (View in Google Earth. What is Google Earth?) where each of the 249 suites average 700 square feet and feature private balconies, original artwork, and marble baths.

This hotel is expensive. The kind where if you have to ask how much, you probably don’t want to know. In fact, Maui Revealed says:

You’ll be forgiven if you start to wonder if Lana’i is the Hawaiian word for, “It costs how much”

So the question is, is it worth it?
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Uugh. The Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) has really fulfilled their goal of making life for a billion travelers a year completely miserable. You know what TSA stands for?

• Thousands Standing Around
• Take Scissors Away
• Truly Stupid Activities

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The following hidden camera investigation demonstrates how room service actually cleans your room’s drinking glasses. Er, I should say doesn’t clean your room’s drinking glasses!

This is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen when it comes to hotel cleanliness, especially because I always use the glasses in my room. Correction, I used to use the in room glasses, but I never will again.
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Those of you who enjoy the water will get a kick out of my most recent acquisition. You see, I decided that I wanted to pick up a little something to cruise around the Greek Isles with, so last week I bought this little baby and had my name plastered on the side of it!

I’m kidding folks. But this really is a Greek ship that my father (John P Sr.) snapped a photo of a while back, and we both get such a kick out of it that I thought I’d share.

Ok folks, this might seem a little mundane, but it was actually totally cool. In Minneapolis, MN there is a two story Target and they have solved the problem of taking carts from floor to floor by building a special cart escalator. We’ll call it a cartalator!

So, I was really looking forward to my trip to this Target specifically so I could take some photos and video of this thing to put on the blog here, and as soon a I walked in the door the monkey in the guard outfit made me put my camera away! Told me it was Target corporate policy not to allow photography in any store.

Well, do you think that was going to stop me, dear readers? I didn’t think so.
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Folks, I was at the airport and I popped open my laptop to hop on the net and upon doing so I encountered a seriously sneaky bastard. Do you see anything wrong with the image below?

Well, hopefully you notice the little icon of a laptop beside the network entitled “Free Public WiFi”. This is NOT a free wireless access point, but instead a laptop computer that someone has configured to capture your personal data and rob you blind.
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Cirque du Soleil is, without a doubt the most amazing circus on the planet. They find the most incredible performers on earth and assemble them on stage for shows that literally defy description and leave audiences gasping and begging for more.

I’ve seen a number of Cirque du Soleil shows in Las Vegas as well as in various cities when they travel. The bad news is that tickets normally run around $100 per person, and you have to buy them well in advance to get great seats. The good news is, you’ll never see anything cooler in your life, so the shows are worth every penny they charge. The even better news is that I’ve assembled 13 great acts here for you to see without having to pay to do it!
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Yea! Southwest Airlines just sent me an e-mail today that very soon they will be restructuring their boarding process. This should help eliminate some of that …having to get to the gate to stand in line for an hour in a cattle stall before you board the plane… crap!

The deal is, now instead of just having a free for all, when you login on line and print your boarding pass you will be assigned a number along with your boarding group. Monitors will direct people to board according to the new more specific groupings, and you don’t have to stand in line to do it!
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