Is this vett Terri? We co-hosted a large party last month, Mai Tais vs Bushwackers, by the end of the evening we were talked into going to Hawaii in Feb. We are going to Oahu for 1 week, then on to Maui for a week. Our friends got us a fantastic rate at the hotel they stay at every year. I don't think we'll do any limin on this trip, too much to see and too many are going so I know this will probably be our only trip there. Dreading the flight, we leave out of moline to Chicago, then directly over. We have the 1st United trip of the day. For our FF miles it has to be round trip so we booked our inter-island separately and saved a bundle.

We have our Fall drive-out next week-end to Minn and Wi. just have about 25 cars going this year. We went to Fun Fest and ran into a large club from Wi but no one knew of any Terri in their club. Our club has its 50th anniversary next year and I would love to plan a trip for everyone to USVI, I wonder if secret harbor could handle a large group? Though a few of them might miss being able to go fast. PM me if any in your group would want to meet up with us next Sun, I think our route is down thru LaCrosse coming home. Donna

Exactly the kind of thread I have been looking for.

My wife and I will soon be venturing to STT for a week's stay. We will attempt a day over on St. John as well. We "did the beach" for the first time in our 20 year marriage back in 2000. We took 2 weeks and went to Oahu and Maui. We both loved it and I wanted to sell out and move there. It didn't help that I had a good friend there in Oahu.

Since then, we've taken single-week vacations to St. Martin, Aruba, Paradise Island, and Cancun. We are looking forward to comparing St. Thomas and St. John to those trips and I was wondering how USVI compared with Hawaii since both are "US." The other locations have a different "feel" altogether. I attribute this mostly to having to go through customs and carry a passport.

As for Hawaii, it will be hard to hit the high marks set back in 2000. We loved every aspect of our trip, no kidding. Well, okay, my wife didn't care for the bike ride down Haleakala. 🙂 I'm [seriously] hoping that the USVI becomes our 'new' favorite place.

Terri,

We were in Hawaii over Thanksgiving. First time really. Had a whistle stop there coming back from overseas many years ago. We spent 3 day in Honolulu...mostly to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial (awesome) and then 7 days on the Big Island. It was all very nice but the first thing my wife said. "The water isn't as blue"...as St Croix, St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, Puerto Rico etc.

I felt a little "safer" at night in Hawaii but then after watching the History Channel not too long ago, I'm not so sure. The only thing you have to worry about on the Big Island are 4 active volcanoes, tsunami's, earthquakes, and hurricanes :So Other than that you should sleep peacefully every night as the nights seem to be cool and pleasant. What some will like, wife and I didn't, was the cool evenings. We were about 30 mile from Kona, up in the hills a little bit and it was perfect for many, but my wife and I don't want to have to EVER wear a sweater when we're on a tropical island. We did on the Big Island!

Prices are generally from expensive to outrage's. We could have stayed in the Caribbean for about 3 weeks for the price of 1 in Hawaii.

Generally, I think you need to try the Pacific Isles and the Caribbean at some point. Hawaii has great history, especially WWII. Very friendly and pleasant weather. Caribbean to me, great beaches, warm weather, interesting people, blue water, and rum. Did I mention rum?

Someone's post asked about humidity. Hawaii didn't seem humid. We spend most of our time on St Croix and it is quite dry. It's humid compared to Minnesota in the dead of winter but more because it's surrounded by water and not because of weather. If you want humid, try Panama or the Philippines. We used to hang yellow bug lights in our lockers (military) to keep our clothes from mildewing. That's humid.