People often ask me how we find off the beaten path places the “Where Are You Today?” crew visits. Many of our travel ideas come from reading books, magazines, newspapers and blogs.
The books we use the most are the “Revealed” series of books by Andrew Doughty and Harriet Friedman. The candid reviews tell it like it is. If you are planning a trip to the Hawaiian islands, I highly recommend these books for your trip.
These books were our constant companions on our first trips and enhanced our experience. The activities and hotel information we not sugar coated. The margins of our books are filled with notes and additional facts we add each trip back. The publisher posts updates on a website so the content stays up to date.
Mars? No. Haleakala National Park Maui, Hawaii. Photo credit: Noel F. Williams
Oahu
Oahu was the first Hawaiian island we visited. We purchased for the in depth activity and sightseeing information. Detailed reviews and aerial photos of hotels combined with zoned maps gave us the tools we needed to choose lodging to meet our comfort levels.
We rented a car and planned day trips based on the recommended routes. This book was our user guide as we navigated around the island. When we visited Pearl Harbor, we were glad we followed the suggestions to arrive early to reserve our tickets to visit the Arizona Memorial.
The book includes tips like: “This Chinese restaurant does not serve tea unless you ask for it.”
The section on Hawaiian words and Pidgin or Hawaiian slang proved very helpful.
Maui
Maui was the next island we visited and we were glad to have the 
Big Island of Hawaii
On our trip the the Big Island of Hawaii, we made sure to bring 
Kauai
When visiting Kauai, check out the 
Spectacular shot of the Haleakala crater! Who’s the photographer?
Thanks for pointing out my omission. Shutterbug is @noelfwilliams
Hi there I am Alex Douglas an I’m looking for some interesting sites that can help me to find where the best place I can visit too . Thank you for posting 🙂 Keep it up!
If you have time you can also visit this site that I managed to surf in:
Hawaii Holidays
We travelled Maui, using the Maui Revealed book a few years back and found it to be a great tool for finding those off the beaten path spots on the island. Many more photo ops plus local color were discovered using this book.
We have a trip planned for the spring of 2012 to the Islands and plan on taking ‘Ohau Revealed’ and ‘Hawaii, The Big Island Revealed’ this time.
Lou, Glad these books worked so well for you. Our set is ragged, dog eared with hand written notes in the margins. Enjoy your return trip this spring.
Hi, I would like to subscribe for this web site to get
most recent updates, so where can i do it please
help.
Thanks for your note. Please subscribe by entering your email address in the right column and click “subscribe.”