About Us

Sarah: One of the biggest things I noted when I moved here is that there is a HUGE difference between those who live and work here and those who just come to visit. My maternal side of my family has lived here for several generations, so when I was growing up, this was where we went for a vacation. About 9 months ago, I decided to give Hawaii a go at living here permanently, and what I noticed was an entire world out here that your ‘average’ tourist never gets a chance to see. There are a lot of really great things to check out that don’t exist on any of the tour buses. Not that tour buses are bad or anything, but you’re sort of limited by what THEY think is neat. The truth is, there’s an awful lot of cool stuff to check out that no bus tour will probably show you, that no brochure will let you know about, and we thought it would be an interesting idea to throw some of our own ideas out there, give you some options of which you may not previously been aware, give you a place where you can write down your experiences (’I went on that hike you told me about and IT SUCKED’ is fine with us) and maybe give your suggestions for other visitors.

When people think of tours, they think of senior citizens in buses. Sometimes this is true, sometimes it’s not. We’ll try to let you know which are which. There ARE a lot of really great pre-planned tours available on this island, but many of them have you leaving at 6 am. 6 am?! I know it’s necessary to try to pack in as many sites as possible, but I can tell you, I’m not a morning person, and I’m just not going to be stoked on any of the activities that go on then. Also, tours involve groups of other people. I think other people are great…to some degree. But to spend a precious vacation day aboard a bus of strangers I don’t know who may have children running about doesn’t sound like a huge heap of fun to me. What we’re hoping to accomplish here is to show you how you can get to the same sites on your own, on your own time, and go and do what you want. After all, it’s YOUR vacation…

I’ve traveled to just about everywhere in the US and have visited different places around the world, and for me, the one thing I like LEAST about traveling is looking like a tourist. I don’t want to take what little time off I have to spend vying for space literally only as big as a towel (i.e. Waikiki) when other wonderful beaches abound, drinking overpriced cocktails when you can get a lilikoi (passion fruit) mojito just a few steps in a different direction (yet still with the umbrella and pineapple garnish), or being told “We’re leaving in 15 minutes” when you’d really like to spend an hour or more at a planned stop on a tour.

Dale: Being someone who’s worked in the tourism industry for nearly a decade and having lived here for about the same amount of time, I’m hoping that my experiences will help you in deciding how to get here, what you want to do when you get here, and hopefully make you enjoy every moment of your Hawaii vacation.

So how did the idea for this web site come about? It started when a lot of clients started asking me about questions that weren’t really part of my usual business. “What’s the best luau on Oahu? Is it better to rent a car than to ride the bus?” Of course, I answered as best as I could, being that I was part of a “service industry” after all. Going above and beyond the call of duty was usually standard fare. After a while the questions were becoming more redundant, and it was becoming quite tiresome answering the same questions over and over again. I felt it would be easier to set up a website that I can point clients and friends to with answers to common Hawaii vacation questions. And thus, with Sarah’s help, HawaiiVacationHelp.com was born.

While Sarah seems to be more laid back when it comes to her suggestions and answers, Dale reflects a different way of suggesting things. Sarah’s all about working up a tan on the beach and maybe enjoying a luau in the evening. Dale’s all about doing a good hike to a waterfall, some snorkelling, and partying it up at night. Two different opinions, one great answer to your Hawaii vacation questions.

THAT’S who we are. We want to help you make your Hawaiian vacation experience what YOU want it to be. We don’t want you to have to stay up nights before leaving stressing that you have reservations made for everything. Also, our goal here is to tell it to you like it is. Are there a million pasty white people with not enough sunblock lying on Waikiki beach at 10 am? Yes. Are there a million hot pink people still without enough sunblock lying in the very same place the next day? Yes. We’ll keep my skin cancer opinions to ourselves, but there are a lot of other phenomenal beaches you can get to pretty easily (it’s a small island, after all) that are more fun, more private, and that you may not hear about if you stay in one area. So check us out, think about what you want to do (do you want to relax, work on your tan and catch up on your sleep, or do you want to party until the sun rises?), ask us what you want to know about creating your Hawaiian vacation, and we’ll not only find out the answer for you FOR FREE, we’ll let OTHER people comment on our answer. If we respond saying something is fantastic, but someone else had a horrible experience there, they are more than welcome to write in and comment. This isn’t just a vacation planning website, it’s like a community. We’re here to help you out with planning your HAWAIIAN vacation, but what we’re hoping is that other people will jump on board and help other people plan a vacation to the place THEY call home. But that’s in the future. For the time being, sit back, ask us what you will, and you really can believe it this time, we will get back to you.