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LOST Isn't Over Yet; You Can Still Visit Their Filming Locations in Hawaii

The series finale of LOST happened last night, and if you’re a fan then today will be spent discussing the show over the watercooler. After a few days, you’ll finally settle upon some conclusion as to what it all means, and that's when you'll need something else to replace your love for the passengers aboard Oceanic flight 815.

If there’s no other television show to fill the gap in your life, you can always head to Hawaii to see where the whole show was filmed. There’s plenty of tour companies that will be happy to take you and your crew around Oahu to see various filming locations from the show. This idea is best for those who look forward to the lush scenery on the show just as much as the drama.

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Rental Cars / Enterprise / Hawaii Travel / Oahu Travel / Maui Travel / Green Travel / Hybrids / → All Tags

Happy Anniversary Hawaii: Here's Some New Hybrid Rental Cars

Last week was the Aloha State’s birthday as the islands officially commemorated its fiftieth anniversary of statehood. State leaders usually downplay celebrations as some Hawaii residents aren’t too thrilled about how the island chain was admitting into the union. We don’t want to get into the debate, but there are still some who demand independence from the United States.

Although not an official birthday present—they couldn’t find that much wrapping paper—Enterprise Rent-A-Car is gifting the island with some new hybrid rental cars. The chain teamed up with Governor Linda Lingle to announce that four locations are becoming hybrid branches. There will be three on Oahu and one on Maui to answer your green car dreams during your vacation.

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Jaunted in Hawaii / Hawaii Travel Videos / Shira Lazar / Oahu Travel / → All Tags

Aloha Means Everything

West Coast web media princess, and Jaunted Embed, Shira Lazar rushed off to Hawaii for a couple days at the bequest of So Much More Hawaii. We will be bringing you her travel videos between June 1st and 5th, in hopes of creating a glorious on-the-fly travel guide using as much point oh social webbing as we can. Enjoy.

Big news -- made it through an airport check in without having to do the crouch of shame. Sadly, Hawaiian airlines still charged me $15 for me to check my bag, despite the bags near weightlessness.

We are smack dab in the middle of our Hawaiian adventure, trying to figure out how Hawaii and their tourism machine are handling the "weakonomy". Hawaii is a tourist mainstay, and it isn't going anywhere, but are the beaches emptier? Activities cheaper? The hotels willing to deal more? The surfers gone? Hey, it isn't like they can send Mike Wallace to get the answers to these questions, right?

Oahu and Kauai will be scouted for as many beaches, eats, and Hawaiian activities we can fit into two days, so stay tuned.

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Strange Scuba Spots / SCUBA / Scuba Dives / Oahu Travel / Hawaii Travel / → All Tags

Drop The Daiquiri And Dive Into A Shipwreck Off Oahu

If you get a break from the totally rough job of relaxing 24/7 on the islands of Hawaii, you might want to venture beneath the surface of the water. That's because aside from pretty fish, there's a well-preserved shipwreck to check out--if you know where to look.

The YO-257 sits off the coast of Oahu near Diamond Head, and has been hanging out there since 1989. It did originally serve as a fuel boat during WWII—the YO stands for Yard Oiler. After a couple different owners, it was sunk pretty much for our enjoyment. It now sits in 20 feet of water where it provides shelter for the local fishies and gives seaweed a new place to grow.

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Bike Sharing / Active Travel / Biking / Oahu Travel / → All Tags

Hawaii Jumping On Bike Bandwagon

Oahu may soon have a bike sharing program to go with its upcoming commuter rail project. A privately funded program aims to have 100 bikes available at 10 solar-powered stations by June 1, 2009.

The Momentum B-cycle project will have daily, weekly, monthly and yearly passes available and will also work via credit card deposit. After buying a daily pass for $4 or a weekly pass for $10, your first half-hour will be free, the next 30 minutes will cost $2 and the next another $5. Keep the bike for 48 hours, and you'll buy it for $900.

While no locations have been secured just yet, a project spokesman says many Waikiki-area businesses are interested in hosting bike stations. Potential locations include the Aloha Tower, Ala Moana Shopping Center, the Honolulu Zoo and Sans Souci Beach.

Related Stories:
· Shuttle Bikes May Start Next Spring [Honolulu Advertiser]
· Hawaii's Newest Tourist Attraction: Commuter Rail? [Jaunted]
· Bike Sharing Travel: Options around the World [Jaunted]

[Photo: whizchickenonabun]

Hawaii on the Cheap / Oahu Travel / Hawaii Travel / Beaches / → All Tags

Our Three Favorite Beaches On Oahu

Although we grew quite fond of snorkeling during our time in Hawaii, we realize that it's not for everyone. In fact, there were times when we just wanted to swim around without trying to identify a new species of reef fish. While Waikiki Beach is certainly awesome, we decided to take a look around Oahu for some new favorites. Here’s what we found:

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Hawaii on the Cheap / Oahu Travel / Hawaii Travel / Food / → All Tags

Mystery Meat Meets Sushi: Spam Musubi

You don’t have to look far in Hawaii to find some Spam to sample--and that's great when you need some cheap eats. The meat of champions even makes an appearance at McDonald's, where you can enjoy it with your eggs. The local ABC Stores and 7-11s also have their share of Spam samples, including the local specialty: The Spam Musubi.

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Hawaii on the Cheap / Oahu Travel / Hawaii Travel / Snorkeling / → All Tags

The Three Best Places To Snorkel On Oahu

Kyle Brown just got back from a budget-minded trip to the islands and is sharing his discoveries all this week...

With the vacation budget in mind, we rented snorkel equipment for the week before heading out. It turned out to be a good decision, as it made it easy to stop the rental car and be in the water within minutes. Best of all, we didn’t catch any diseases (yet) from using someone else's snorkel!

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Hawaii on the Cheap / Oahu Travel / Hawaii Travel / → All Tags

Cruising Oahu's Windward Side

On our second day on Oahu, we decided to venture beyond easy hikes and waterfalls. We started circumnavigating the island beginning with the eastern, windward coast. We attacked our target on the Pali Highway via state road 72; however, taking the H-3 is also a great trip to the east coast, as the elevated highway leads you straight through a lush valley.

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Hawaii on the Cheap / Oahu Travel / Hiking / Hawaii Travel / → All Tags

A Short And Sweet Hike At Manoa Falls

The upside to the global financial crisis is that forgetting your money woes in Hawaii has become incredibly cheap. Kyle Brown just got back from a budget-minded trip to the islands...

On Oahu, a short drive from Waikiki Beach will transport you to what often seems like a different world. With the famous Diamond Head crater closed for some fixing up during our visit, we were forced elsewhere to satisfy our hiking needs. We were looking for something short and sweet--with a good payoff at the end.

The trailhead to Manoa Falls is just 15 minutes from Honolulu, and it fit the bill perfectly. During our visit, there were plenty of spots to park, although we did have to surrender five bucks to someone manning the lot.

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Train Travel / Oahu Travel / Trains / → All Tags

Hawaii's Newest Tourist Attraction: Commuter Rail?

On a recent trip to the Aloha State, we saw many on both Oahu and the Big Island spending their days holding signs, waving to drivers and just generally helping out their candidates of choice.

Although the state is projected to elect native son Barack Obama, there's also a close race that will directly affect the residents of Honolulu. The state is looking to build a new high-speed elevated commuter rail that will run parallel in some areas to the main drag, H-1. If approved, the 20-mile stretch is expected to cost more than $4 billion and could open by 2014.

During our visit, we noticed a lot more signs against the proposed railway, but apparently those in favor of the new rail system are outspending those opposed five to one. We’ll leave it up to the citizens of Oahu to figure out what’s best for their commuting needs and environment, but if we have the option during a future visit, we’ll definitely go for a ride!

Related Stories:
· Pro-rail Holds 5-1 Spending Advantage [Honolulu Advertiser]
· Hawaii Rail Transit Cost Now at Least $4.34B [Honolulu Advertiser]
· Go Rail Go! [Official Site]
· Stop Rail Now [Official Site]
· Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project [Official Site]
· Hawaii Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: GoRailGo]

Hawaii Travel / Oahu Travel / Maui Travel / Hawaii Superferry / Ferry Travel / → All Tags

Is the Hawaii Superferry Finally Catching On?

After lots of drama, it seems that the Hawaii Superferry is finally catching on. Seats on the boat sold out on some trips over the Fourth of July weekend, and officials say ridership is on the rise. But is that because people genuinely enjoy it?

Doubtful, says Jeff from the Beat of Hawaii blog:

The best deal through September 30 for Oahu-Maui travel is the Superferry, which is $98 round trip. But you must book by August 4.

Hawaiian Airlines and go! are doing the same duopoly that Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines did for years. The average round trip is now back at about $200, which was what it was before go! entered and sometimes dropped prices to below $20 round trip.

Ah hah! So it's not really that people enjoy the Superferry any more than they like flying; it's simply the cheapest way to go island-to-island. We will give 'em some credit though: You can actually take liquids aboard the boat!

Related Stories:
· Superferry Ridership up [KHNL, via]
· Hawaii Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: eye of einstein]