Planning A Trip to Hawaii: What I've Learned So Far

image courtesy of Visual Hunt

Ninety percent of the time my dreams are bigger than my bank account or the amount of time I have on hand. And while this can really put a damper on travel planning (Where do I go? What can I see when I don't have any money?), I think the aspect I love most about travel planning is trying to make everything work out anyway.

Planning a trip to Hawaii has been no different. Here's what I've learned so far.

HAWAII IS MORE THAN JUST HONOLULU

When you see a flight deal for a trip to Hawaii, you don't necessarily stop to ask yourself about particulars. Typically, you just jump on it. But luckily, because it cost so many points (80,000 Delta points, to be exact), I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. I knew 80,000 points could get me 5,000 points or so at a time all across the US. And also knew that 80,000 points was one step closer to a free trip to Europe. So was 80,000 points to Hawaii a good deal? Was it worth (would it be worth) throwing all of my eggs into one basket rather than diversifying, spending points here, there, and everywhere?

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you if that's your question.

For me, the answer would initially have been no. But that's why I'm in a relationship. And, technically, these were my husband's points. His points: his decision. 😀 So, I went with it; I booked the flights.

Typically flights from GA to HI cost approx 22,500pts/trip or 45,000pts RT making this deal a 10,000pt savings.

But first I had to consider the fact that Hawaii wasn't just Honolulu.

And guess what?

Those Delta points could get us to any of the islands we wanted.

So … where did we want to go?

image courtesy of Visual Hunt

MY FIRST OPEN JAW FLIGHT BOOKING EXPERIENCE

Going into Hawaii booking, I had heard of Honolulu, Maui, and the Big Island, but I had no idea what could be found at any of these places. (And technically I had heard of Lanai and the purchase of it by Oracle founder, but hearing that and knowing what is being discussed are two totally different things!)

Then I read about people booking to one island and leaving from another. Could we do that?

Turns out: yes. Yes we could. 😀

Ultimately I decided that Maui was my place. But I wanted to see Honolulu and the Pearl Harbor memorial. Not knowing then what I know now (you can take a day trip from Maui to Honolulu to visit Pearl Harbor with various tour groups), I ultimately decided to book a flight to Maui and out of Honolulu (just don't ask me what the airport names are or which island Honolulu is located on. It is all Honolulu to me!)

GETTING BETWEEN ISLANDS

Next big lesson: Getting between the islands is not a piece of cake.

You have two options:
1. Fly. ✈️

Hawaiian airlines is recommended, but there are smaller airlines that make the flights too.

Or, alternatively, you can use points/cash to book bigger airlines like Delta, United, or American. Flying into/out of the main airports on Maui and the island with Honolulu (see?!) are the easiest; you may need a layover in OGG or HNL if you are flying a big airline between islands which can cost more.

2. Ferry. ⛵️

BUT! Only from Maui to Lanai or Maui to Molokai.

It leaves the dock once a day to go to these locations and I've heard that, even for people that don't normally get seasick, the boat ride back from Molokai to Maui can be miserable.

I also learned from various sources that it is best to stay on one island if you only have a short while to visit and it's your first time.

Oops.

image courtesy of Visual Hunt

LEARNING THE LAY OF THE LAND

When I first started making accommodation plans, I didn't know the first thing about Waikiki or Diamond Head … or Hana. I spent a lot of time scouring the Go Visit Hawaii website and learning as much as I could.

Like, for example, did you know there are certain roads in Maui that your rental car insurance will not cover? … These are roads with lots of turns, cliffs, rocks that fall into the road, sometimes one lane and sometimes dirt/gravel, and occasionally there are no guard rails to keep you from going off the edge. And signage warning you of these roads does not exist! 😧

I can definitely say it's been in my best interest to learn the islands as well as I can before traveling there. It would not have been fun to accidentally find myself on one of those roads with a car problem and no rental insurance to pay for it.

NEW APPS & MONEY-SAVING TECHNIQUES

This is the part of Hawaii planning that I most wanted to share with you. Mostly because Club1Hotels is offering a free membership for this year ($675 value) allowing you to book hotels for cheaper prices and still get credit (points, status) for your stay. The offer expires on 10/31, so I wanted to go ahead and mention it despite not having used the service to book a hotel yet.

So far, my experience with club1hotels is that they are hit or miss (but mostly hits). I'll give a more full review at a later date, but just two days ago I saw a hotel for $440 that was going for $275 on club1hotels. That's a $165 difference! Surely finding deals like that should convince you to at least sign up and try the service! What is there to lose? I'm only seeing money gains for the 5 minutes it took me to sign-up!

I've also been working with four different apps to nail down and solidify my travel plans and goals.

1. TripIt

I've been singing it's praises from Day 1, and now is no different. Though I would like to mention that the app doesn't seem to notice when I make changes to my travel plans, like cancelling a restaurant reservation or hotel booking … or that time when Delta changed my flight times. It does do a great job of pulling information from my email and keeping my schedule super-organized. ❤️

2. Google Trips (itunes • google play)

This is a new app I recently heard about that I wanted to give a try. So far, I'm not loving it. 😕 While it does input your reservation/booking information, the information is not exceptionally organized. And, when things change, it's hard to alter how the information appears (and whether or not it continues to appear) in the app. I do like that Google Trips offers suggestions for where to eat and what to do at specific locations, but it all seems to be pretty generic and not based on the specific locations you are at or what you've already reserved . (For example, it'd be awesome if they recommended other Italian restaurants, if I book one. Or other extreme sport activities, if I have a reservation for skydiving. Instead, if Good Trips sees you have a reservation for skydiving, they might recommend a photography excursion or a history museum? And that makes no sense to me!)

3. Visit A City

I had heard about the website from a travel blog, but I hadn't really used it too much. So when i was planning what to do in Maui and Honolulu, I decided to see what itineraries their website already had up. (Their website provides itineraries based on where you are going including suggestions for how long a visit will take you and the approximate time it will take to get from one location to another.) Anyway, when I didn't find any itineraries that suited me, I started building my own. And what fun it has been! As I fill in my hotel and restaurant reservations, I can look on the map they provide to see where these things are located and how far they are from my ideal attractions. This has made a big difference in how I plan, because I'm working with the areas I'm in rather than driving from one end of the island to the other not actually realizing the time that is being lost to the commute. Once again though, I won't fully be able to review this site/app until I've actually attempted using it while on vacation, but so far I'm loving it and would highly recommend at least looking at it before your next vacation!

4. OpenTable

I always use this app. In fact, I've reviewed it here before. Basically, you earn points as you make reservations at restaurants. Eventually, you will have enough points for a free meal! Plus, you can get bonus points for booking at specific restaurants at specific times (usually when they aren't busy). All in all, it seems like a win-win. The restaurants know to expect me, and I, eventually get a free meal. 😀

image courtesy of Visual Hunt

IN CONCLUSION

I'm not actually done planning my trip to Hawaii yet, so I am sure I will learn far more both in my time spent continuing to plan and in the actual visiting of the place. But one thing I've discovered in planning so many trips is that all of the knowledge I acquire through travel builds on itself making me a better explorer, both in finding deals and becoming more aware of the world in which we live.

YOUR TURN

While I know not everyone reading my blog is planning a trip to Hawaii, I still hope some of what I've shared in this post is relevant to you. Like, the apps I mentioned, for instance, or learning more about the location you are visiting before traveling there and finding yourself in a metaphorical pickle.

Despite the fact that you may not plan as in depth as I do when traveling (or you might? who knows?), do you often manage to learn something new when traveling (or planning travel)? Will you be checking out any of the apps mentioned in this post or perhaps the hotel website to make future travel planning ore fun/cheaper/easier?

Wanderful Wednesday hosts: 
Lauren of Lauren on Location
Van of Snow in Tromso
Isabel of The Sunny Side of This
Marcella of What a Wonderful World

Uncomfortable Situations While Traveling

Photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar via Visual Hunt / CC BY-ND
Ever have one of those days when you think to yourself "Man! I can't believe I did that!"? Well, that happens to me a lot. Especially while traveling…

1. Sharing a bathroom with the opposite sex in Europe.

It's not that I have a problem with it, or care even, it just seems weird.
Like when I'm washing my hands and water goes down my sleeve and I squeal in surprise. Then, the guy in the stall behind me, a friend no-less, asks "what's wrong?" having seen, or at the very least heard, everything without my noticing.

Umm … dude … you weren't exactly suppose to be in the restroom … or hear me. And besides, you're peeing, which is something I absolutely do not want to think about. Can we just pretend this conversation never happened? 😧😳

2. Then there is the whole "belief" that Europeans are more comfortable with nudity than those in the US, which I can neither confirm nor deny. (Europeans, your take? Are you?)

So, as mentioned in this post, when a friend says "Let's go take a bath" which may or may not have meant thermal bath/spa (which may or may not have required clothing), I was a little uncertain as to whether or not I wanted to go along with this idea. It took a bit for me to realize we were talking about ocean swimming in bathing suits.

2. Speaking of language issues … there was nothing quite like the humiliation I felt when trying to get a French man in Alsace to pronounce the "H" in my last name correctly.

In the US, if someone mishears my last name they are likely to pronounce it with an "A", which is fine so long as you aren't trying to check into a hotel, which is what we were doing. If the front desk looks for my last name with an "A", they won't find it. So, when it sounded like the French men was pronouncing my last name with an "A", of course I had to correct him. Two or three times through and Justin told me "He gets it. That's just how they pronounce the 'h' here." I *sigh*ed as I covered my face in shame. I felt so bad for having given the poor guy a hard time. And the best/worst part is that he ended up being a superb concierge helping us with everything we needed at the hotel and even going above and beyond! I highly recommend staying at Regent Petite France! :)

3. Running out of coins in Orlando and clogging up the toll line behind us…

which is kind of similar to going into the wrong toll booth in France, pressing the call button, backing up on a main road, and going to the correct toll booth.

Us and tolls … we don't mix. :)

4. Getting hurt every. single. time. I go to Europe.

I give myself a pep talk before going every time. This time will be the time I won't fall on my butt, stub my toe, or flounder inexcusably.

And what happens?

I fall. I stub. I flounder.

I am an inexcusable mess of embarrassment not only to myself but to the people who are with me.

Oh well. It happens I guess.

5. And then there is my lack of planning for most of my trips to Europe.

The first trip had Justin and I moving. We had to car shop. We had to wedding clothes shop. We had to Europe-travel shop. (Y'know buy converters and such?) Basically, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

The second time I did manage to get some planning done. It was Christmas and we had to buy presents/cook/clean/buy warm clothing for traveling to places that actually get cold… And yet somehow I managed to plan. I just didn't get Christmas cards out that year. (Turns out no one cared.)

By the time, we found ourselves returning for a third time, I was back to my lack of planning. I was working extra hours and planning a trip to NYC for July 4th simultaneously. When I informed Justin I may not have time to plan, he told me not to worry about it. And, of course, that put all of the pressure on our friends for planning a small portion of the trip. Though I must admit the part of the trip I did plan, the part in Paris and Versailles proper, is the part they should have joined us on. I did a great job at planning that! :)

6. Loving to photograph everything, but realizing when you arrive to Europe that your phone is almost full of pictures already and you have nowhere to move them to.

Oops.

(I made it work.)

7. Having kept your maiden name as your last name while traveling with the in-laws who may or may not know that's what you did. 😳

Try checking into a hotel without saying your full name.

(And of course you can't book the hotel with the husband's name because all of the points are in your name!)

8. Getting off the train at the wrong stop then rushing to reboard.

So grateful for kind and generous "others" who helped us get our 50 pound bag back on the train. "Es ist schwer!" (It's heavy!) the helper exclaimed, and I knew it to be true. 😳

9. Waking up to a red nose.

Like seriously, when you are going to see people you only see once in a year do you really want to walk around with a red nose?

Answer: no.

Thank God for make-up.

(Of course, no one ever wants to wander around looking like Rudolph, so it's neither here nor there that we were travelling.)

10. Writing a blog.

As much as I love sharing my stories, I'm always afraid I'm going to offend a co-traveler.
Like, I love you, but you are part of my story… You are part of the reason I experienced what I did and so how can I leave you out?

So, if I ever offend anyone that I've travelled with, please let me know and I will be happy to take my post down. Even if half the world has already seen it. I love my friends and would never want to hurt their feelings. Any time I do, it is never on purpose.

 What are some uncomfortable situations you've been in while traveling?

Linking up with Tamara Gerber
of Confessions of a Part Time Working Mom
for #TopTenThursday

Suitcases and Sandcastles
Linking up with Oregon Girl Around the World,
Suitcases and Sandcastles, and
Untold Morsels

Walt Disney World 4 Parks in 2 Days: 5 Hours of Magic Kingdom Bliss


Before we could begin our day, Justin and I had plans to meet up with his sister and her new husband for breakfast just outside of the Orlando area at a place called Keke's. Then, we dropped off our rental car and had the shuttle driver take us to the Contemporary Resort where we boarded the monorail for Magic Kingdom. It was my first time in the Contemporary Resort and my first time on the monorail, so the experience was a bit of a treat. :)

We finally arrived to the Magic Kingdom around 10am. The park was already crowded since it had opened as early as 8am! Our first stop – the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which put us right in the middle of FantasyLand. As we waited the hour+ to board our ride, Justin had me mark all of the rides I wanted to go on. This ended up working out to our advantage, because there was never a question of where we were going next or what we were doing. With a combination of the map as our guide and using the estimated line times that are listed in the Disney app, we were able to form a plan and work around that. We scheduled fast passes for the Haunted Mansion and Tomorrowland Speedway, neither of which were needed … and somehow managed to get in the fastpass line for It's A Small World without realizing it? Either way, it cut down on our wait time and we were on our boat within minutes.

Here are the rides I recommended to Justin:

AdventureLand –
+ Pirates of the Caribbean

FrontierLand –
+ Splash Mountain (which we ended up not doing)
+ Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Liberty Square –
+ Haunted Mansion

FantasyLand –
+ It's A Small World
+ Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

TomorrowLand –
+ Tomorrowland Speedway
+ Space Mountain
+ Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
+ Carousel of Progress
+ Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (we ended up skipping)

Before we left the park, we ate a quick lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café (in TomorrowLand), stopped by the Swiss Family Treehouse (in AdventureLand to get an overhead view of the Magic Kingdom), and checked out the end of the daily Christmas parade as we followed Mr. and Mrs. Mouse to the park exit.

There were definitely a few things we didn't get to do that I would recommend to future park visitors, especially families with children.

+ Be sure to check out the night time parade. The lights and fireworks at the Magic Kingdom are amazing! And I hear they recently added snow to make "Cinderella's castle" into "Elsa's ice castle". When we were there, the park was hosting Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, and we didn't want to pay the extra cost to see the fireworks that night. (Though staying late in the park with less crowds is always a perk!)
+ Be Our Guest in FantasyLand is a very well known and popular restaurant. If you plan to dine there, book asap before your trip to Disney World!
+ Mad Tea Party in FantasyLand is also a well-known ride. I've never been on for fear of getting sick.
+ If you can't get reservations for Be Our Guest, you might could try for Cinderella's Royal Table or the Crystal Palace. Cinderella's Royal Table (FantasyLand) offers a similar dining experience to Be Our Guest and provides the opportunity to meet Cinderella! The Crystal Palace (Main Street, USA) is another character dining experience within the park. Great fun for little ones!
+ Grab a Frozen Dole Whip (like the ones they sell in Hawaii!) from Aloha Isle in AdventureLand!
+ I hear the Princess Fairytale Hall is quite popular with young girls. If a meet and greet with Elsa is necessary, this is the place you should go.
+ For other characters, keep your eyes peeled! You never know when you might spot one out making the rounds! :)
+ There are also plenty of shows in the park that will appeal to children, none of which I can recommend since it's been so many years since I last saw one.

While it took my husband and I a good five hours to explore the park, it could easily take a family a few days to cover the same amount of territory. Do not be surprised to find rows and rows of stroller parking. And, of course, where there are strollers, there are angry, pushy parents who bite at your heels with their child's stroller pushing you along through the park, encouraging you to get out of their way. (Totally your choice. Many parents and children at Walt Disney World feel entitled, so you may have to fight for your space in line/right to walk/whatever. And the parent's will all use the excuse "But so-and-so is just a child…" Yeah, well why aren't you being a parent? Argh!)

Pro-Tip: Don't let pushy parents and kids spoil your time at Disney World. Choose your battles. And don't expect Disney Park employees to do anything.

 Overall Justin and I had a great time exploring what I had deemed to be a "kid's park". The details that went in the design of the Magic Kingdom never ceases to amaze. Of course, neither do the crowds. ;)









A few more tips before you go:
+ If you want to see the Christmas parade (the one that airs "live" on tv on Christmas Day), be warned that it does not actually happen on Christmas Day. It occurs sometime in November. (I'm not sure how you would find out exactly when it will happen aside from being friendly with park staff.)
+ In the months from October to December, Magic Kingdom hosts a variety of parties, including Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Both events, when they occur, cost extra and mean that the park will close early to non-party-guests. (My guess is that they will scan your wristband after the park closes to the public before you are allowed to ride on rides to make sure you are one of the "allowed" people.) Check the web to see when these parties occur to make sure you aren't paying too much for a shortened day at Magic Kingdom. OR buy hopper passes so that you can visit another park when Magic Kingdom closes for the night.
+ The daytime parades and nighttime firework shows attract a lot of Disney visitors. If you want to see either, find a spot for watching at least an hour before start time. (The earlier the better!) If you aren't interested in seeing the parade/fireworks, make a beeline for the busiest rides, where you'll find shorter lines. This is how you can turn a two hour wait time for Pirates of the Caribbean into a 15 minute wait time!

If you've been to the Magic Kingdom, are there any tips I'm forgetting? If you haven't been, would you consider making your first visit during the holiday season?

See more of my #4Parks2Days series here:
• Part one: Animal Kingdom
• Part two: EPCOT
• Part three: Rental Car + Disney Springs

** Linking up to City Trippers Mummytravels.com and Wandermum.co.uk

Holiday Inn Express – Hilton Head, SC

image from Holiday Inn Express

Destination: Hilton Head, SC
Date: May 2016
Hotel: Holiday Inn Express
Brand: IHG
Elite Status: spire
# of travelers: 2
nights: 1

Making the Decision

 Super last minute I found out that I would have some extra vacation time, so I began planning my Memorial Day weekend adventure only a few days before leaving.

 And even worse than only having a few days to plan (Have you seen my hotel planning checklist?!) is only having a small amount of money to spend during the trip.

 The ultimate goal, however, was in visiting the beautiful Hunting Island State Park (which I'm so glad we did!) and seeing the cute little town of Beaufort (of which I expected very little and found so much! – yet to be blogged about).

Most of the Beaufort, SC hotels were booked solid, so I instead focused in on the areas of the Charleston airport (night 1) and Hilton Head (night 2) based ultimately on price. (We used IHG rewards to cover some of the cost of the room lowering the price to a reasonable amount for a holiday weekend.)

 (Though I must admit a view of a lagoon and getting to see alligators and turtles lounging by said lagoon + being within walking distance of the beach didn't sound too bad!)

 Getting There, Checking-In, Extra Charges, & Location

 Justin and I spent the early part of our Saturday visiting Hunting Island State Park until we got rained out. We then drove over to Charleston for a beer and dinner before heading to our hotel at around 8pm that night. The drive between Charleston and Hilton Head is an hour, so it's not really a drive for the weary. Definitely consider eating more locally at Beaufort (30 minutes away) or Hilton Head (where there isn't too much to choose from) rather than making the drive to/from Charleston (even despite the amazing restaurants they have there!). Unlike me, you should use google maps and plan carefully! Plus, that hour long drive wherein you must travel slowly due to cops (because they will pull you over!) especially if you are driving in the rain at night when you are tired is not fun!

 When we finally arrived to the hotel address, we drove around confused looking for the front desk. We circled and circled the main hotel. An accident had occurred and an ambulance had been called leading to even more confusion (not us!). Finally, I had my husband pull into the limited under-building parking that was available and we walked into the "lobby". Only, as it turns out, it wasn't the hotel "lobby" but merely the building-with-hotel-rooms lobby, if that makes any sense. The hotel front desk and main lobby was located in an entirely different building! I guess we should have known this would be the case when the doors to the not-lobby required a key card. *shrugs* But when you can't find the real lobby, what else can you do except try the not-real one first?

 Personal pet peeve – I think they should put a sign on the door of the not-real lobby with a map and directions to the "real one". And even better, place well-lit signs (for those of us searching on a rainy night when it seems pitch black out) directing hotel customers to the front desk.

 We ended up getting unhelpful directions from another hotel customer.

 And then, just as Justin was about to give up altogether, I called the front desk. (They were pretty much unhelpful too, but it gave us at least a starting point.)

 Finally, we found the front desk!

 It was in a small one-story looking house with only a little bit of signage indicating we had arrived and absolutely no under-building or underground parking. To check in and get our room key, we would essentially have to become soaked by the miserable rain.

 Side note: I had already soaked my only pair of flats that I had brought along with me on the trip. So essentially, to wear those flats, I would have cold and wet feet. Not unlike wearing the only other pair of shoes I had brought – my flip flops. 😦 In other words, it greatly annoyed me to discover I would have to go running across the parking lot in soaked shoes getting more wet by the minute after struggling to find this building to begin with! Any other not rainy day or night, I might have been less agitated.

 (This was during the weekend of Hurricane Bonnie's arrival to the east coast.)

 Front desk staff seemed less than understanding about our struggle to find them. Not only did they check us in, but they also charged us extra for their resort property, which I hadn't remembered reading about prior to my stay.

 That was neither here nor there though when we went back to the "room building" to locate our room and park the car.


Parking, View

Justin parked the car temporarily under the building in one of the two lots of 10+ spots and we unloaded onto a hotel cart. Then, I impatiently waited in the secondary lobby as he attempted to park listening to an "entitled" couple who had been in the accident (where the ambulance had been called, as mentioned earlier) and were considering going to the hospital "just in case". The poor man just looked at his wife like "WTF? I don't want to spend my vacation in a hospital room", but he solemnly agreed like the good husband that he was.

 Meanwhile, my husband was driving around and around in circles. Turns out there was no parking next to the building! Or rather, the only parking that there was had been taken up by ginormous dumpsters!

 Justin caught sight of a hotel employee while circling the building and asked where to park given that there was no parking. The guy informed him that he could park in front of the dumpsters despite the "no parking sign"; he promised it would be ok. :)

 So Justin parked. And as he walked back to the building he spotted a legitimate parking spot. So, he moved the car.

 *sigh*

 Needless to say, by the time we got to our room, we were soaked and tired … and just done with life. We placed our wet shoes on the AC unit and our clothing nearby with the hopes that they would dry. This was definitely not how we had intended on spending our holiday weekend.

 One nice aspect was that when we opened the sliding glass door to the veranda we were given, we could hear the rain pitter patter as it fell. The hotel itself was dark and we couldn't see too much, but we just knew that our room faced the lagoon and that was enough for me. :)

image from Holiday Inn Express

Room

 The room itself was large and spacious. We were able to spread out quite easily and comfortably. The hotel had recently done upgrades and it was quite obvious. We had access to a work desk, fridge, microwave, iron + board and hair dryer in our room. The hotel also provided soaps and shampoos ready for our use. Other amenities the hotel provides include a (seasonally) heated pool, grills, self-serve laundry, a business center, a shuttle to and from breakfast and to and from the beach, and, as per usual at Holiday Inns, free continental breakfast.


Breakfast + Shuttle

 Even with the loud air conditioning unit, Justin and I slept well that night and awoke early for breakfast. We were the first ones on the shuttle for an early breakfast starting at around 7am. We had the typical continental options available to us – cereal, oatmeal, toast, bagels, and muffins, yogurt, bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, apples, bananas, and oranges, apple/orange juice, coffee, and milk. (I recommend avoiding the water unless you are used to "beach-water" that you find on the east coast.)

 Our shuttle driver was quick and efficient talking to us and making us feel welcome. Clearly he was happy to be providing this service for us and more than willing to answer any questions we had about the property or the area. We learned during our drive that our particular shuttle driver was from the Beaufort area, and he gave us a few tips for implementing during our next trip to Beaufort. :)

 Check Out

 Justin and I fully intended on spending a bit of time in Hilton Head, or at the very least Hunting Island State Park, before heading to Asheville for the remainder of our four day weekend. With a dry morning forecast, we began our day with a visit to the local Catholic church, which is approximately a five minute drive from the hotel. The church itself was quite small and the service was nice and relaxing because of it.

 Then we headed back to our room to wait out the rain that had just begun. I pulled out my laptop to get work done and we opened our sliding glass door so that we could listen.

 I'm not going to lie. It was absolutely amazing. I was the most relaxed I have ever been on vacation.

 And just as I was about to put away my laptop for a morning nap, the fire alarm came on.

 And it didn't stop.

 Not for another 5 minutes.

 Long enough to convince Justin and I it was time to go. (There was no fire.)

 We checked out, complained about the alarm, and … nothing. No "I'm sorry", no refund of any sort, nothing. It was the most frustrating way to end our hotel stay in Hilton Head.


 Overall Review
★★★ (average)

I'm giving this hotel three stars, because my experience wasn't altogether terrible. It had a lot of "terrible moments", but I thought the view my room was nice, the bed was comfortable, and I loved being able to listen to the rain in my room. I felt that the bigger problems we faced like getting soaked and the fire alarm going off were circumstantial and not necessarily something that would happen to future visitors of the hotel. (However, be aware that TripAdvisor comments indicate that I may be mistaken.)

Your Turn

Have you ever stayed at a hotel where essentially everything that could go wrong did? And it wasn't necessarily the hotel's fault? … Or maybe it was? What would you do (or did you do) when faced with those types of circumstances? Did you leave early? Stick it out for the remainder of your vacation?




P.S. It is worth noting that this hotel is no longer pet friendly. If you have a pet, consider staying at another hotel in the area. Tripadvisor has not taken the information down regarding its "pet-friendliness" as of the writing of this post.

9 Movie Locations I Want To Visit + 1 Thought

Sometimes it's hard to pick your next travel destination. I mean – the world is a big place! How do you decide where to go? And what do you do when you get there?

For today's #TopTenThursday challenge, I came up with a few movie location specific thoughts – most of which are about places I'd love to travel to in the future. Plus, it was fun running into websites that gave suggestions for where to eat/where to stay/etc while you are visiting a place, the same locations your favorite movie characters ate or stayed!


1. I'm so sad that Cypress Gardens, where the swan scene was filmed from The Notebook, is no longer. I had hopes and dreams of visiting that never came to fruition. (Too hot, too humid, snakes, etc…) Here are a few other locations found near Charleston, SC where The Notebook was filmed; maybe I'll actually make it to some of these places before they close for good! :)


2. Did you know that the Avengers is casting for extras in Georgia?! In fact, they will begin filming the next movie in the Atlanta area in January 2017! How exciting is that? Maybe I'll run into Iron Man or Captain America during filming?! Wouldn't that be a treat?! :)


(see part 2 here)

3. As we continue planning our trip to Hawaii, I am on a mad search for the prettiest locations to visit, and where best to start but with movie locations we know and love from Lost and Jurassic Park?

* By the way, it should be noted that I didn't like the Lost tv show until many, many years after it had concluded. And even now, I still hate the last season.

** As for Jurassic Park, I still haven't seen the first movie. I've only ever seen Jurassic World. And the scenery in that movie? *swoon* :)


4. After seeing the Anne of Green Gables movies so long ago, I have had the strong desire to visit Prince Edward Island in Canada. I think it could be beautiful, especially in the fall. (Though take a look at these images from the spring!)



5. "A terrible idea? Don't you just love those?"

From what I've heard, Tuscany has become crazy touristy and not nearly as beautiful as it once was, before Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed. Doesn't matter though. I still want to see it. One day, that is. :)


6. New Zealand is beautiful and The Lord of the Rings movies further prove that.



7. THIS movie. (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). And the breathtaking scenes. *sigh*

So where did they take place?

+ NYC at the Time-Life building in Manhattan.

+ Nuuk, Greenland.

+ Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland. (How do you even pronounce that?!)

+ Yemen, Iceland.

+ the Himalayas.
+ and Afghanistan.

And yes, I want to visit all of those places.

But hiking?

No.

(How was Walter Mitty in shape enough to hike the Himalayas after spending so much time working in an office in NYC? I guess these are things we will never know!)

information found here.


8. One of the things that amuses me most about Austrians (and most Europeans) is that they know nothing of The Sound of Music!

Guess what world?

I wouldn't know Austria except for The Sound of Music.

Plus, Julie Andrews. :)

It's really a great movie/musical. Give it a chance! And if you do, I promise I'll give Austria a chance! (Even though I probably will regardless!)


9. So many movies have background scenery featuring NYC. If you were to work your way through this top 100 list of NYC restaurants featured in movies, it would take quite a bit of time!


10. And finally, in my desperate search for number ten on the list, this list led me to Blended which takes place in Africa among beautiful mountain scenery. The movie was pretty terrible, but the location wins!

 What do you think of my list? Is there any particular location or scenic movie you think I should have included?

Linking up with Tamara Gerber of Confessions of a Part Time Working Mom for #TopTenThursday