DansDeals Forum > Trip Reports
Our Kauai vacation & 2 weekends in CA
yrosen:
Dw and I had an amazing vacation in Kauai this end of June, and since i built, and planned our trip entirely off of all the Kauai TR’s on DDF, i feel like i owe it to the DDF community to give back, and to write my own TR.
And this is the perfect opportunity to say Thanks to you all, for taking your time and writing TR’s (now i know how much time it takes, and what effort goes into it), it has been a real game changer for me, and i have already executed a nice few vacations to perfection, just because of you guys, So “THANKS”...
Since this is my first time writing a TR, please forgive me if i’m not writing it short, and to the point (i will try my best though.)
Intro/Planning
DW and i are both in love with nature, and we were in desperate need of a nice and exotic vacation, with a little bit of fun to it, and since we have been to most of the common vacation spots in the continental US, it was a no brainer that Hawaii is the place for us. the only issue was that we didn't wanna fly 12 hours each way, and we didn't really wanna be in Hawaii for shabbos, so we decided to be in Hawaii from Sunday - Thursday, and both shabusim we’re gonna be in CA. 1st shabbos in San Diego, and 2nd one in LA. (the particular order was just because of better flight availability).
After reading a lot of TR’s about Hawaii, we have decided that we are only going to do 1 island. So we choose Kauai because as i said, we love nature more than anything, and from what i have learned from Dan himself, and from a nice few TR’s that Kauai is the most exotic paradise from all the other islands.
We really wanted to go to the Grand Hyatt, but since i didn't have any points with them, and the cheapest room was a whopping $700 per night, we had to let go… Since i had 50K SPG points, which i really wanted to use, my 2 options were either the Sheraton Kauai Resort, (South) where i had a small room without a full kitchen, 2 nights for 50K and 2 nights for $1160, Or The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort, (North) where i had a Deluxe Studio Villa, with a full kitchen, 2 nights for 50K and 2 nights for $716.11, so we decided to go with the Westin, since the room and the price were better for us, and based on the TR’s i have read, i really wanted to stay in the north, even though i read in the Kauai revealed book (Great book, a must have), that it's more rainier, but i also read that it's mostly in the winter, and i checked the weather statistics, and June had the least rainfall, so we decided to go with the north.
But now after the fact, i don't know if i would choose to stay in the north again, even though it was beautiful, and the greenery was so calm and relaxing, But we didn't have enough sun. and there was a lot of rain, (Not steady rain, but here & there, enough to disturb our pool/beach time more than once...), and whenever we drove out of the north the weather was always nice.
And another issue we had was that most of the places we visited were a long drive from the north, (which i knew beforehand, but still thought it's worth it...) Therefore i would recommend staying in either the east or the south side.
FYI after i made my reservations i checked out the Kauai revealed website, and i saw that due to recent floodings the entire road in the north, after Hanalei was blocked off for non residence, but i wasn't too bothered by it, since i wasn't planning on doing the Kalalau Trail, (because dw and i both don't like hikes), and i will get to see the Na Pali coast via air and sea, but i still would have checked out a few places over there, including driving on the one way bridges etc... But there was nothing that i could do about it so....
Flights:
1: Friday morning, EWR to SAN with Delta, booked with 13.5K UR points each (with sapphire reserve)
2: Sunday Morning, SAN to LIH with Alaska Air, booked Via AA 22K points each
3: Thursday Afternoon, LIH to LAX with United, booked with cash and UR combined a value of $300 each
4: Sunday Afternoon, LAX to EWR with AA, with 30K points each way, got back 3K, so a total of 27K
Car Rental:
San Diego: Hertz, Reserved the cheapest car, and got a Chevy Malibu for $98.
Kauai: Budget, reserved a Ford Edge for $201 via www.discounthawaiicarrental.com and got an upgrade to a brand new Nissan Armada, for $25 per day.
LA: Advantage, Chevy Malibu for $75. I booked with them because they were a lot cheaper, but in the end i basically got paid for standing in the line for an hour and 15 minutes… >:( Avoid them, it doesn't pay.
Hotels:
San Diego: Residence Inn San Diego Downtown/Gaslamp Quarter, 1 Bedroom Suite, 2 nights for 376.40 (8 minute walk to Chabad).
Kauai: The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, Deluxe Studio Island Vw Villa, 2 nights with 50K SPG points, and 2 nights for 716.11.
LA: Stayed by a friend.
Food:
For shabbos in San Diego, i bought all the food at my local deli, packed everything up nice and tight, and froze it. For Hawaii, i bought all my meals from Pomegranate, (it was delicious) and had it delivered to my house with flink messenger service. In addition to the fleshing meals, i bought a lot of frozen blintzes, eggplant parmesan, baked ziti etc. I also took along mozzarella cheese, butter, milk, bagels and wraps for breakfast. and franks, lamb kebabs for a grill. And a lot of cake/cookies and nash... I froze all the food for a few days, and i bought the highly recommended 48 polar bear suitcase on amazon. (it was worth it).
Friday - 6/22
We woke up at 4 AM and packed up a few things, including all the frozen food in to the polar bear suitcase, and off to the airport we went. We arrived about 1 ½ hours before the flight, and we sailed through the TSA with precheck, courtesy of the sapphire reserve card, but we didn't have time to check out the priority pass lounge… we took off at 8:05 and we landed in San diego at 11:00.
All luggages with the polar bear suitcases by Y Rosen, on Flickr
(I Know it's a lot a luggage's for 2 people, but that's how we roll :) )
We went with the shuttle to the car rental, and as a Hertz gold member i just walked in and took whichever car i liked from the gold section and off we went.
We arrived to the hotel (a 15 minute drive from the car rental), and of course our room was not ready yet, so we dropped off all our luggages at the valet, and we went to Ralphs to buy a few things for shabbos and for Hawaii.
Ralphs has a few isles of kosher food. A bakery, deli, sushi, meat, but i’m happy that i brought along my own food, because they didn't have a lot of options of fresh food, and i like to have premium food on my vacation... But if you don't feel like shlepping everything from home, they have a pretty decent food selection.
We went back to the hotel, and our room was ready, we had the 1 Bedroom Suite, it was quite big, and comfy, nice size kitchen, and full fridge/freezer but there was 2 problems, 1: the room between the kitchen/living room and the bedroom is a frosted glass sliding door, which means that if you leave the kitchen/living room lights open for shabbos, the bedroom doesn't get dark at night, (which i prefer). 2: the bathroom light, and the light by the table worked only with a sensor, so i had to cover it, so it wasn't working on shabbos… The hotel has a staircase without sensors, and there is a bar in the lobby with a door to the street without a sensor. Making it a overall good choice for a shabbos hotel, next to chabad.
We unpacked all our shabbos food, and put all frozen stuff in the freezer, Set the table, prepared the hot plate (a small travel hot plate, fits easily in the suitcase), went for a swim and made ourselves ready for early shabbos at 6:30 in Chabad. We ate the friday night meal, and went for a walk after, really loved the nightlife in downtown San Diego, which is pretty cool, parties and lights all over... and went to sleep
Residence Inn 1 Bedroom Suite by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Residence Inn 1 Bedroom Suite by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Residence Inn 1 Bedroom Suite by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Residence Inn 1 Bedroom Suite by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Residence Inn Pool by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Shabbos Food by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Shabbos - 6/23
Shabbos morning i went to daven at Chabad, they daven at 10, and they had a nice kiddush after. I came home and we ate the meal, and then we went for a nice long walk on the boardwalk. To our luck the weather was pretty cloudy, as they call it “June gloom”, so it wasn't too hot for us to be out for a few hours without water, (there is no eruv in the area). The boardwalk is very cool and nice, there are a lot of nice yacht and boats all over, and then we checked out the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, it's very cool. I went to daven Mincha/Mariv, and we went to sleep right after Motzai, because we had an early flight to catch Sunday morning.
Sunday - 6/24
We woke up at 4, and repacked all the frozen stuff in to the polar bear suitcase, we went to return the car, took the shuttle back to the airport. Check in was smooth, and TSA precheck also came in handy. We took off at 7:10 and landed in LIH at 10:15. LIH is a very small airport, and only the gates are indoors, everything else is outdoors. We had to wait for more than ½ hour for our luggage to arrive. Finally we collected all the luggages and we started walking to the suttle station. Right when i walked out of the baggage claim, a very friendly guy came over to me and offered to take my luggage to the shuttle. What a nice welcome to Hawaii…
Landing in Kauai by Y Rosen, on Flickr
LIH Airport by Y Rosen, on Flickr
We got to the car rental, and we were greeted with some friendly chickens…
Greeted by a chicken in car rental by Y Rosen, on Flickr
After having a friendly conversation with the representative, she decided to give us an upgrade to a brand new nissan armada, for an additional $25 per day, we packed our stuff into the car, and we went to walmart. (which was also packed with chickens...)
Walmart parking lot by Y Rosen, on Flickr
We bought some essentials, including a cheap charcoal grill, frying pan, eggs, vegetables, drinks for the week and more… And we drove up to the north.
The drive up north is beautiful!!! The more north you go, the more stunning it becomes, with greenery wherever you turn. We stopped at a few random beaches, until we got to princeville. At the entrance to princeville there is a beautiful circle with nice waterfalls and landscaping.
Coconut Stand by Y Rosen, on Flickr
On the way to Princeville by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Princeville Entrance by Y Rosen, on Flickr
We got to our hotel and checked in, the staff was really nice and welcoming, the valet took care of all our luggages, and we went straight to our room.
Our room was very nice and clean, with a full Fridge/freezer, coffee maker with starbucks coffee, microwave/convection oven, which we used to warm up the meals. A washer/dryer, large bathroom, nice shower, and a nice sized Jacuzzi with a window to the bedroom. We had a small balcony overlooking the hotel grounds and pools. At night the resort is lit up with flame torches, which makes a beautiful scenery.
Our Room:
Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Deluxe Studio Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Day View From Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Day View From Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Night View From Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Night View From Villa by Y Rosen, on Flickr
The resort has a main building/lobby where the check in and concierge is located, as well as a small shop with freshly brewed Starbucks coffee, And a restaurant/bar, And you have to exit the Lobby and walk outside to get to the rooms. The grounds are gorgeous, there are 2 huge and nice pools right in front of the lobby, and a beautiful garden overlooking the ocean. As you walk down the paths there are a few buildings with guest rooms, all facing the inner part of the resort, and at the end of the resort there are a few more buildings overlooking the ocean, but they are not for the Westin guests, these rooms are for time shares, and long term rentals. But there is also a nice size infinity pool and a hot tub right on a cliff to the ocean, which are stunning and relaxing…
Hotel Grounds:
The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr
The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr
The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr
The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr
The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr
The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr
The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr
The Westin Grounds by Y Rosen, on Flickr
Infinity Pool by Y Rosen, on Flickr
We unpacked and went out to the pools and just relaxed for the rest of the day, warmed up 2 delicious meals for dinner, and went to sleep.
To be continued...
mochjas:
Awesome first Post!
ludmila:
Wow, well written TR and great pictures.
Dan:
Epic first post!
Yammer:
Nice TR. Nice Pics.
--- Quote from: yrosen on July 26, 2018, 05:45:59 PM --- we didn't really wanna be in Hawaii for shabbos, so we decided to be in Hawaii from Sunday - Thursday, and both shabusim we’re gonna be in CA. 1st shabbos in San Diego, and 2nd one in LA.
--- End quote ---
This is exactly what I was planning for ( the trip didn't happen though..)
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