Outrigger Weekend in Wiki Waki Waikiki

First aloha, thank you for bearing with me during tho transition time as I move from one career to another, and am finally able to embrace travel and tourism writing as well as travel planning at www.vacationsbykristy.com full-time!

I spent the past weekend checking out the beautiful Outrigger Reef On The Beach in Waikiki (Honolulu, Hi.) to asses whether it would work for future clients or not. We made it a family weekend, myself, my husband, a teen and tween girl. I booked the room online with their kama'aina rate of $205.00 nightly for 2 double beds on a holiday weekend. Compared to nearby comparable properties, I found the rate to be very reasonable.

When you enter the Outrigger, the entire lobby area is open air (as are most hotels in Waikiki)  It is decorated with traditional Hawaiian art, rich dark island wood, free flowing plants and flowers adorn the main hall. On property, adjacent to the check in and concierge area are a Starbucks coffee shop, and a long hall of speciality shops that sell everything from traditional tacky souvenirs to fine koa wood carvings.  There are two full service restaurants, as well as a poolside bar that offers food. The pool is large (and deep! 9 feet at one end) , and is lined with comfortable lounge recliners and umbrella tables. There are multiple hot tub stations. All of this is at ground level and the lay out is simple enough to can get to it all very quickly upon check in.

Our room felt fairly spacious for being a downtown "standard" room.  The decor was your standard "subdued Polynesian". The beds were comfortable- but I had a beef with the pillows. They were not firm at all, they felt like bags stuffed with cotton balls. I tried multiple to make sure I didn't just get a bad egg, but they all proved the same. Many times resort hotels will give you several soft, several hard pillows- to appease the broad palate of pillow-need. Outrigger would do well to adopt that practice. In lieu of that, I'd recommend you bring your own if you plan to stay here.  Everything in the room was fairly standard to what you'd expect at a Waikiki oceanside hotel such as spa style toiletries and flat screen television. We were pleased to find Outrigger offered free wifi and free local/long distance phone calls. These are often pay options at other establishments. One unexpected find in our room was the balcony. We expected a typical miniature city view balcony but instead had an extended balcony with a peekaboo view of the ocean. It was a nice surprise.

During our stay we enjoyed many of the hotel's shops and facilities. We had lunch and dinner at the poolside Kani Ka Pila Grille. Our server gave us plastic cups for our umbrella drinks so we could lunge in the pool. After cooling off a bit, I opted to try the grilled shrimp salad, prawns were served with butter leaf lettuce, melon and avocado. Last that evening we indulged in the kalua pig nachos barside. The food was passable, nothing super special, but nothing to com pain about either.

The Outrigger is a beachfront property, the slice of sand it sits on is as nice as any other slice of sand in Waikiki- we noticed it seemed considerably less congested than some of the other resort beach spots. The nice thing about Hawaii is no one can own the beach, so if you want to check out the property at other resort locales, just grab your towel and walk on down the sand (The Outrigger allows you to check out beach towels to use on the beach.)

During the course of our stay we found the staff to be very friendly and helpful, the facilities worth the cost, and we REALLY enjoyed the late night Karaoke at the on-site Shorebird restaurant. Would I send future clients to the Outrigger Reef? Absolutely!

Are you bringing the KIDS?

There are many great reasons to enjoy an adult-only get away. Maybe you want to focus strictly on romance and couple time. Perhaps the setting is a little bawdy (Mardi Gras in New Orleans anyone?). Some venues don't even allow children- such as the fun all-inclusive Sandals resorts. Cost considerations, mode of travel, health concerns- all valid reasons to travel sans-kidlings.

What I have found though, is too often parents feel as if their choices are limited to popular amusement park type locations or a friendly campground when it coms to family travel. Any time I have ever mentioned preparing for a cruise or a trip abroad, I have been asked, "are you bringing the kids?" or it's friendly alternative, "Just you and the husband?"  I always smile and explain it's a family trip, the kids love to travel too.

The truth is the kids usually like traveling. That is not to say it's always perfectly smooth sailing. There was the panic attack on a very small prop plane over very rural Alaska that one time. There was the great puking across the entire Virginian Eastern Shore incident of 2001. The lost tooth in a Baltimore Harbor hotel disaster was a doozy. We won't even discuss the time we were trapped between two factions of screaming protestors in Vigo, Spain and how one child reacted to THAT. Look, I'm not saying family travel is always smooth and seamless. There will be a time when "make sure you empty your pockets!" warning at the TSA counter is completely ignored and sirens go off.  And it's possible at some point in time should you find yourself on a large cruise ship, you'll realize too late you forgot to pack a child extra shoes and her only pair of flip flops just broke. The thing is, this is life, whether you are at home or on vacation. Might as well handle these small crises with a passport in your pocket and an umbrella drink in your hand! 

While many appreciate there is a subtle but real difference between traveling and going on vacation- each can offer kids an understanding of how interconnected we all are. When you meet strangers on a train, in an airport, at a resort, on a cruise ship- it can be a dawning moment of "wow, we look/sound so different, but we're both here looking of the same thing."  Make that train, plane, resort or cruise ship be someplace far away and the interactions become even more interesting. This is real life cultural interchanges- the stuff some kids just watch on Dora the Explorer. There is VALUE when a very American teenage boy meets a very Scottish teenage boy, and he learns to spew out a line of words in a thick brogue that you suspect may have been words he never could have said in plain ole American English. These little personal interactions, they affirm we are all so much more alike than different- we are so very human.  

Exposure to other people, other cultures, can also help affirm how incredibly blessed and lucky we are to live in the place we do, in the time we do. This has to be tread lightly though, and these very same scenarios can give parents the perfect opportunity to teach children about cultural relativism. We learn and we pass on to our children how to see the world in ways other than just through a "privileged" westernized filter.  When you're trekking across the countryside of Belize for example, it can be easy to get caught up in the sheer poverty of it. Seeing beyond the shanty's, to the huge smiles and pride on the faces that welcomed us through- that was something else. Listening to the proud oral history our Belikan guide shared, partaking in some of the best chicken we've ever tasted- every one of us including the children understood this was about more than jungle and poverty.

Travel is also the great professor of history. Books are wonderful, as is film- but they don't have the same tangible lesson as actually walking through rubble- climbing a pyramid, peering out of a castle window, digging for arrowheads- these are physical interactions that can not be duplicated. They embed in the memory, they will be recalled again and again, and will put those history texts into context down the road when this becomes a unit of study at school. Knowing where we come from has other values as well of course- and there is the whole observation that those who fail to learn from history and doomed to repeat it. History matters, and nothing connects a child with history quite like actually SEEING it.

Travel doesn't have to be international to be informative, educational, and moving. The United States is a large country made up of a very diverse backdrop. There are Hopi villages to visit, Chinatowns to explore, country swag and city pride to partake in. Kids who travel learn to have a more diverse palate- learn to recognize various music genres, become comfortable navigating pubic transit systems, and understand the world is their oyster! Beyond all of that though, the best benefit of traveling with kids are the memories. You will never forget those vacations, and neither will they. These are the memories of childhood we cling to forever. Just get out- get away from your comfort zone, travel beyond your norm... and yes, bring the kids with!

****Announcing a fun family vacation photo contest! Check out https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vacations-By-Kristy/516949025030067 for the details and rules***

The Gaggle of Girls Getaway

I was recently able to enjoy a “gaggle of girls getaway”.  Unlike the typical “mommy vacation” where 3 or 4 close friends may take off for a weekend of exploring wineries, this venture involved some 35 women coming together from as far north as Maine and as far west as Hawaii to a vacation hotspot in South Florida. The sheer size of the group presented certain challenges and limitations. Anytime you are working with a group larger than the number of passenger seats in a standard taxi cab there are transportation questions. When you add considerations such as unique dietary needs, nightlife tastes, and personal travel allowances, organization and planning become imperative.

Location

Location is always tricky. With a large group you need a spot with adequate affordable lodging, easily accessible (preferably by foot when possible) things to do, and plenty of food options to keep the masses happy. For our purposes, we met up in the fun and quirky beachside town of Hollywood, Florida. Hollywood is a mere 10 minutes from the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. FLL is a very easily maneuverable airport and is serviced by all major airlines including budget options like Southwest Air. Another option is Miami International Airport, distance from Hollywood and cost of transport made this less attractive to our group; we all stuck to Fort Lauderdale.  Cab fare from FLL to Hollywood runs at $25 one way. If traveling with a gaggle, coordinating arrival times with 1 or 2 others can help cut the cost of cab fare to and from your lodging.

Lodging

There is a time and place for large, corporate hotels. I personally enjoy the amenities and familiarity of easily recognizable brands on many of my travels. When traveling with a gaggle though, especially in a town as unique and quirky as Hollywood, FL, small and independent is the way to go. We opted for the Angelfish Inn, a small independently owned establishment just a block from the broadwalk and beach. This brightly colored 1950s inn boasts 11 rooms that are each configured and decorated differently. The feel in each room is fresh, bright, beachy and fun. Each room has a small kitchen stocked with all the necessary cooking dishes and doodads- this helps cut down on costs of eating out and allows those with special dietary needs to eat healthily.  We teamed up in groups of 2, 3, 4 roommates per room, and split the already very low rates.

Wherever your gaggle goes, one very important thing to note is make sure the establishment has a central gathering spot. We found over the course of our four day vacation that we often just wanted to sit and talk, sharing coffee and cocktails, often in a fashion array of fully dressed, pajamas, and bathing suits. The Angelfish Inn had the perfect spot for this- a tiled courtyard with a large covered seating area next to a fish and turtle pond. The shaded top was a must in the South Florida sun, and the fact our gathering spot was outdoors was helpful for the smokers of the group so they were not constantly getting up to leave. The size of the group gave each individual a lot of freedom to meander in and out, someone was always sitting there ready to chat. Had we been at an establishment without a central sitting area, it would have been an entirely different (and less enjoyable) vacation.

Transportation

As previously mentioned, splitting cab service from the airport is one way to cut costs. Another option might be utilizing a shuttle service.  Our inn’s proprietress Karin hooked us up with a local shuttle service- Howards Transportation, headed by affable driver Howard (a friendly man and good driver, who had a voice that sounded eerily like one of the regular drivers on HBO’s Taxicab Confessions. ) We utilized Howard’s services one evening to cart the whole slew of us to an evening event.  The cost per person was minimal, not having to worry about finding enough cabs or rental cars- priceless. Transportation is also a consideration when choosing a venue. Hollywood beach is a very pedestrian friendly vacation spot, with a large broadwalk (that isn’t a typo, they call their boardwalk “The Broadwalk”)  that is lined with many shops, restaurants, and bars. We were able to walk and buy everything we needed. The beach was a short 2 minutes from the inn, grabbing a few beach chairs from the inn’s owner we could head out and hit the sand was an easy process.

Events

We were fortunate that the inn’s owner is a prior wedding and event planner and knows the value of organizing activities ahead of time. With her guidance we planned several group outings that proved to be a lot of fun. These events included transportation (thanks Howard!) and were prepaid, which took last minute budget worries off everyone’s shoulders. In the Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale area there are a lot of fun touristy venues a large group of ladies might enjoy. Our two big events were the Junglequeen Riverboat dinner cruise and an excursion to the ladies club, “La Bare”.

The Jungle Queen boards in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Boarding begins with the typical tourist photo op (that they try to sell to you later). Seats are prepurchased or purchased at the ticket window and seats are assigned. As the Junglequeen heads down the Intercoastal Waterway, the driver gives a float by home tour of the rich and famous. As you salivate over the mansions lining the waterway, keep your eyes open for tropical birds and manatee. We found even with a large group, we were able to be seated together and enjoy the views. After about an hour of water time, the boat delivered us to a small island. The kitchy space was occupied by tropical birds in cages and carefully planned foliage. We were escorted into a large, oddly dark, dining room where we sat on long picnic tables. Servers walked around with heavily sauced ribs, chicken, and cold peel and eat shrimp. Accompaniments included beans and cole slaw. There were limited alcoholic beverages offered- a few domestic beers, white wine, pina coladas and a very red, very weak rum punch. For a slight upsell, you could have your drink served in a keepsake coconut. Following the meal, we were treated to a somewhat funny magic and comedy show. The boat ride back to the dock under the moonlight, was a nice way to cap the evening.

Our evening at LeBare also included kitchy design, heavily sauced ribs, and comedy (albeit probably unintentional.) Howard and his associate driver delivered two vanloads of gussied up, giggling 40-60 yr old women to the South Florida institution. We were escorted in and given a large swath of tables from one side of the main stage to the back wall. As a result, some of us had great views while others felt disassociated and away from “the action”. Drinks were predictably expensive- any time you go into a club like this you can expect pricey beverages. The main attraction at LeBare of course, is not the drinks. Male “dancers” basically strip down to skivvies and gyrate on the stage. This is not a “full monty” experience, but the dance moves are suggestive enough to make grown women blush. The dancers varied in skill and physique, and we all agreed it was a tad bit disconcerting how young some seemed. Not because they were too young to be dancing- but because it emphasized how “mature” we were! The evening was full of a lot of laughter and it was a fun (and quite different) addition to the vacation plan line up.

Our gaggle vacation ended as all vacations do- entirely too soon.  We made our way back to our respective states with many memories and several thousand photos to show for the journey. The lesson I took home was that it certainly IS possible to plan a vacation for a large group and keep everyone entertained and happy. The secret to this is careful planning and organization- and finding an establishment that can really give your group the personalized attention you need to keep *everyone* satisfied. So girls, gaggle on!



The age old travel question is, is it the journey or is it the destination that really matters? I would argue both are important. The journey can be one that is luxurious and decadent- first class breakfast eaten on fine bone china served with mimosas and a smile, as the clouds float by beneath. It could also be one filled with adventure and challenge- facing personal fears head on and taking life by it's hand as if yelling, "I'm still here!" Maybe that's on a bike, or with a walking stick in hand, or high upon the mast of a tall ship. The journey most definitely matters.

The destination does too. It is there you will reconnect with your children. It is there you will see your mate with new eyes as he holds your hand and walks you down that beach. It is there you will face the thrill of snow and ice as you fly down that mountain. It is there you will awaken refreshed and renewed after that cleansing scrub and sauna hour. It is there you will laugh with your girlfriends, meet your new love, win your first poker game, get freckles on your nose, try escargot finally, fly high in the sky from a parasail, dance under the moonlight, reel in that big fish, and when it is all over- go home feeling like all the day to day tasks that funded that travel fund were worth every second.

I'll be sharing my journeys and my destinations here. I invite you to share your own where you wish!