"Hawaii - Oahu and Big Island" Hawaii (State of) by MichaelFalk1969

A line from a popular German song from the seventies goes "Ich war noch niemals auf Hawaii ..." (transl. "I`ve never been to Hawaii ..").

This is no longer true.

Though I had only time to visit Oahu and Big Island, I can confirm that Hawaii`s reputation as THE dream travel destination is 100% deserved. If only it was nearer to Europe ! It`s not only the beaches: you can hike, snorkel, ride horses, see active volcanoes, enjoy the lush evergreen landscape, fly in a helicopter, eat delicious seafood, and history nerds can sample Polynesian culture, and explore the history and aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbour in WW II.

The Hawaii islands - basically created through volcanic eruptions - have indeed an interesting history. To this day, it remains an unsolved riddle how the early Polynesian settlers found the islands at all, as they had to travel from the South Pacific islands for 2500 miles, taking food, water and livestock with them, although they could not possibly know about the existence of Hawaii to the north. Looking at a map, these tiny dots in the Pacific must have been terribly easy to miss.

PS: a practical tip. Usually I don`t recommend guidebooks as most have very similar content, but for Hawaii I can recommend the "Big Island revealed" and "Oahu revealed" guides. An extremely helpful feature are the detailed maps with (indispensable) mile-markers, as many attractions are not well sign-posted in Hawaii or not obviously visible from the road.

Breakfast Gecko

P.S. I didn`t have this gecko for breakfast, but they were frequent and well-loved guests on Big Island.

• Pros:nature, beaches, sea food, cute breakfast geckoes
• Cons:expensive; long flight
• In a nutshell:... should be nearer to Europe (:-)