As this was my first trip to Hawaii, I had lots of preconceptions, some of which turned out to be true and some surprises also. First for the preconceptions, yes seniors flock to Waikiki and who can blame them! I can’t think of a much better spot to spend time, beaches, sun, temperature & all the amenities of a large urban city. People of Hawaii love Canadians, nearly everyone we met mentioned how wonderful Canadians are and how happy they are to have them (I suspect we are breaking records for sending Canadians to Hawaii).
Now for the surprises, the first being to get a flower lei upon arrival, I thought this was only done in the movies but is still very much alive, we received a flower lei at the airport and also from many of the hotels we visited. Next is Waikiki meets Rodeo Drive. I think every high-end store has set up shop here (Tiffany & Co., Coach, Gucci, Yves saint Laurent, Chanel, Bottega Veneta, Hugo Boss, etc & etc) so for those shopaholics this is the place to go.
Hawaii is a wonderful destination for many reason and appeals to a wide audience. For Waikiki, there is the comfort of a big, safe, full amenity American City, which just happens to be on the beach. Long stays are very popular (with many levels of accommodation) as is the crowd that is attracted to the flashy nightlife & high end shops. Between these crowds are families, of which there was a significant quantity.
Maui is a whole different scene, with many overlapping qualities of high-end Caribbean island resort destinations. That is to say, it’s great! Maui consistently lands atop magazine reader polls as one of the world’s best islands. With a wealth of glorious beaches, luxury resorts, gourmet cuisine, diving, hiking, snorkeling, whale watching and many more activities.
Hawaii attracts the full spectrum of the vacationing public; with the amount of air service from Canada and our strong dollar I suspect this will be a continuing trend. While this trip was great, it was all too short and busy to take in all the attractions and sights I wished to see. So I plan to go back, this time with my wife (which she’ll be very happy with) sometime in the future.