Las Vegas and Hawaii thoughts

[UniFoxOs]

SWMBO bought me a rather nice pressie for last birthday - a two centre holiday, Las Vegas and Hawaii. Having not visited Las Vegas since it was about the size of one of the hotels now, never Hawaii and not the states at all for a few years, I turn to the assembled wisdom of pprune for advice on the holiday.

Our itinerary is BHX to Newark, then to Las vegas. Next is Las Vegas to Los Angeles followed by LA to Honolulu.
The return is Honolulu - Denver - Newark - Birmingham. All the connections look to have ample time - 1H20 being the shortest, 3 hours at Newark.

What I would like to know is - does one clear customs and immigration inbound at Newark, thereby ensuring an encounter with the TSA, or is it possible to transfer to the Las Vegas flight airside? I am assuming that we will probably have to do the former.
On the Las Vegas to Hawaii and return sectors is it possible to stay airside at Los Angeles and Denver and avoid at least having to clear security at those locations, or will we have to pass through arrivals to landside and back again through departures?

Anybody got any tips for short stopovers at any of those airports?
Anybody got any "must see"s or "must avoid"s at Las Vegas and Hawaii?
Anybody know the best way to see Pearl Harbour and what not to miss?

Thanks
UFO

[Hartington]

You will clear immigration and customs at Newark. When you leave them you will enter the "landside" area of the airport that is standard procedure at all US airports (well there are some vagiaries e.g. Atlanta but the principle is the same everywhere). Not having used Newark I can't say precisely what happens but you now need to give your bags back to the airline for the flight on to Las Vegas. Usually there is a bag drop just as you exit customs. Having got rid of your bags you then have to go through security and find your way back to the gate.

Most US airlines now charge for baggage in some way or another so make sure you understand the rules. Go and look it up now. Generally speaking, if the rules change to your disadvantage they will honour what is true at the time of ticketing so it might be worth printing out those rules and hanging on to them. You may well be travelling on more than one airline so do it for each airline. Continental (you'll be using them transatlantic) and United are in the middle of a merger to be consummated under the name of United but if there are differences in policies now you need to know that.

Keep checking your bookings. The US airlines are constantly rejigging their schedules and what is now a 1h20 connection could easily become significantly less. Oh and keep an eye on the flight numbers; they can change too. But don't rely on the airline telling you or even updating your booking. Unbelievable as it may seem they don't always do that. I had an example a few years back when 2 people made a reservation and then a couple of months later 2 friends decided to join them so tried to book the same flights. The new passengers couldn't find the flights to book the same as their friends. After a lot of argy bargy the airline said they had changed the schedule but because the difference in flights time was less than 10 minutes they had not sent out any notification - madness!

The connection in Los Angeles might be interesting. That airport has multiple (7?) terminals and if you arrive at one and leave from another that's an extra layer of possible problem.

Denver is big with a terminal building (where check in etc occurs) and then you get a train out to the buildings where the aircraft are to be found. You may need to use the train to find the correct gate. You will probably not have to clear TSA again at Denver.

Can't help with Honolulu but Las Vegas is within striking distance of a range of National Parks. The big draw is the Grand Canyon and there are all sorts of ways to do day and overnight trips by land or air. However, you've also got Zion, Bryce and Death Valley within easy striking distance and just beyond Bryce the "Million Dollar Highway" leading into Grand Staircase Escalate.

[mutt]

Vegas...... avoid the Planet Hollywood, its past it's prime and isnt worth the money. Have a look at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, opened about a month ago, look nice during construction...... Must see "Bodies" exhibition and at least a show or two, if going to show, splurge on the expensive tickets, they are worth it.....

Enjoy it.

Mutt

[Donkey497]

Just anothe3r heads up about Newark is that you may well have to change terminals at Newark as well as elsewhere. Most of the time I've arrived in Terminal C, cleared immigration, went down a level, picked up my hold bag & cleared customs before going out, down the ramp & handing my hold bag over to the folks at the transfer bag station. Afterv that, it's normally been a case of back up stairs to go airside once more through security and head to the gate.

A couple of times on my usual route, I've arrived at terminal C and had to transfer to Terminal B. Once, I arrived at Terminal B & had to go to Terminal C. The C to B transfer was actually pretty quick, maybe ten fifteen minutes at most, but going from B to C took a good forty minutes, luckily, I had a couple of hours between flights.

Most important, remember to get your ESTA on-line, well before travel & take at least one printed copy with you, just in case & make sure you hand in your exit document before leaving the US.

[ryansf]

There's a bus from Downtown Honolulu to Pearl City (and Pearl Harbour) - it's been a few years so I can't remember the number, but everything on Oa'hu is operated by TheBus with a flat fare of something like $2, and with all buses being air conditioned, it's quite a pleasant way to travel!

[Hartington]

make sure you hand in your exit document before leaving the US

Not any more. Because you fill in ESTA on line https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ you don't have to fill in the form (I94W) on the plane. Thus there is no piece of paper to keep in your passport and hand in on departure. Caused me a bit of heartache this summer - went into Seattle and, after some touring, caught a cruise from Seward (Alaska) to Vancouver BC. The cruise company gave me instructions on the last day that included words to the effect of "hand in your I94W" and, of course, I didn't have one. The staff on board were useless but I got off and into Canada and then home non stop from Vancouver. When I got home I contacted CBP and they confirmed I had been recorded as leaving the USA. Logically, I believe that when you leave the USA by plane or cruise the operator passes a passenger list to the CBP.

[UniFoxOs]

Thanks for the input, fellow ppruners.

Vegas...... avoid the Planet Hollywood, its past it's prime

Oh Dear! That's where she has booked, mainly on the recommendation of her daughter, who stayed there a couple of years ago and is still raving about it.

Never mind, the same daughter has given us tickets for the Beatles Love show, everyone seems to be raving about that.

Cheers
UFO

[YorkshireTyke]

Hawaii

Presume you main Waikiki ?

Roberts Hawaii Bus Co. run a shuttle around the Waikiki hotels from the airport, cheaper to buy a return than 2 singles, but you must ring 2 days in advance and they will tell you what time your return pick up will be, usually 3 hours before flight. But ..... the bus came early and the driver demanded that we leave then - still in room - or she would go without us. Ugly scene, Police involved, finally they sent another big bus, just for us ! We now have an apology and a credit voucher ! Beware.

Best beach is to the left of Waikiki, Diamond Head end, as far as you can go, sandy, safe. Or go to the Hilton Hawaiian Village beach at the other end, and go in to the "Village" and look at the penguins in their pool.

Central Waikiki Beach can be very crowded, and there are patches of coral to stub your toe on ! ( take shoes ? )

Go for an Outrigger canoe ride.

Learn to surf.

Pearl Harbour tours, or as suggested, public bus, but nor sure if you can just pitch up without a reservation ? Did it long before 9/11, so not sure of present arrangements.

Punchbowl Cemetery of the Pacific - not morbid, and good views over Waikiki.

Outrigger Hotel dining room ( got its' own name ? Surfsider maybe ? ) for Happy Hour d-i-y barbecue right on the beach, raw steak, or fish, brought to your table then you BBQ your own, mighty salad bar, before, after, and during ! fill your boots.

Hanauma Bay for scuba diving, or just for a look.

SeaWorld for performing dolphins and whales.

Climb Diamond Head ( I have the t-shirt ) arduous, but do-able, worth the effort.

Dillingham Airfield on the N.W. corner of Oahu for gliding - wind travels 4000 miles across the Pacific then hits a ridge by the airfield - and goes straight up - with you ! Good surfing on the West Coast for the same reason - if you're into that.

Visit Ala Moana Shopping Centre - but leave wallet behind, but Long's Drug Store, Sears Roebuck and Foodland ( supermarket ) are affordable.
Forget Niemann Marcus or Macy's. Good Apple shop to sneak in and play with iPad - and check your e-mail !!

Have fastfood at Chili's

Drink Mai Tai's.

Pick up free books of discount coupons at many locations on the street.

A Zillion ABC stores on every street, nickel and dime stores ( inflation has changed the reference now ) selling everything that the holidaymaker forgot to bring, at reasonable prices

Waikiki Shell, outdoor Hollywood Bowl type entertainment.

Borders Bookstore for free browsing -with coffee shop - when you are bored with the beach. ( might actually be Barnes and Noble, same thing anyway ) Just past Ala Moana walking away from Waikiki.

Honolulu itself is like Slough - don't waste your time.

Bus around the Island, cheap, or rent motor-bikes or scooters, expensive.

Apart from usual security farce, there has always been an Agricultural ban on taking fruit from HNL to LAX ( or anywhere in California ) luggage x-rayed for that.

Do you want a baggage porter ?

[TR24]

Oh Dear! That's where she has booked, mainly on the recommendation of her daughter, who stayed there a couple of years ago and is still raving about it.

I was in Vegas a few months ago staying at the MGM. I went into PH and really liked it, i'm even considering it for my next trip. Try the spice market buffet.

[mutt]

and is still raving about it We obviously have different tastes :O:O
At check-in the first thing that they will do is ask if you want to upgrade your room for X$.... I accepted, but considering that the majority of the "extra" space was wasted by a hallway, a total lack of storage space, no mini bar or fridge, not even a kettle, a television 90 degrees to the side of the bed which happened to be on wheels.....I regretted the decision :) But at least the location was good :)

BTW, we got an internet sim card from T-mobile USA, it allowed 30 MEG (yep MEG) of data, but you could then recharge the internet for $1.70 per day, this was much better than the $14.00 per day in the PH.

Mutt

[UniFoxOs]

Many thanks for the useful gen, guys, a lot to take in, I can get down to some serious anticipation now!

YT - we will be staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, I assume from your post that the beach there is OK.

Cheers
UFO

[YorkshireTyke]

YT - we will be staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, I assume from your post that the beach there is OK.


Envious ! repeat - do you need a baggage porter !!

All Waikiki beach is OK, some is just more OK than other parts, H.V. is OK+ and there is also a nice pool ( apart from the penguin one ! )

Trouble is .... H.V. is just that, a small 'village' complex of hotel and .... SHOPS. Lock up your credit card, it is also dangerously close i.e. walking distance, from Ala Moana Shopping Centre, which used to have a Big Boys Toys shop called Sharper Image, which was full of nice electronic goodies and things to amuse the bored Male whilst the girls went shopping, but regretfully it was closed last visit, all you can do now is bury yourself in The Apple Store and play with their iPads, or walk past the Centre for about another 10 mins and go to the bookstore, in The Ward Centre ( another device for relieving the male of the species of his money, but there are a couple of nice restaurants there as well, one with a Happy Hour Bar. )

Still don't need a baggage porter ?

[UniFoxOs]

Still don't need a baggage porter ?

The end of the queue is just outside your front door by now.

Cheers

UFO

[mutt]

SHOPS The sad part about going to the USA is the restrictive check-in baggage policies....... we actually based our internal airline choice on the cost of luggage.


Mutt

[airbourne]

I flew VS to Vegas last New Year and stayed at Planet Hollywood. Like a lot of Vegas hotels there was a bit of a queue for checkin, but I did get a voucher for a free bottle of spirits. PH is in the middle of everything so you can get to see everything on the strip with a bit of a walk. I would have no problem recommending this hotel. I also went to Beatles Love at the Mirage as well. I have never been to a vegas show before and I loved it. Hope you do to.

[mutt]

I would have no problem recommending this hotel Did we stay in the same place ? :):) Can I ask what you liked about the hotel apart from the location?

I probably spent about 200 nights in hotels last year, they ranged from "amazing" to "poor" with a lot in the middle. The PH cost me an average of $200 per night as nights ranged from $300 to $100 over 7 nights, hence my comments.

UniFoxOs....... I look forward to your review of the hotel afterwards.....

Mutt

[YorkshireTyke]

.......we actually based our internal airline choice on the cost of luggage.

Good Thinking.

This is getting us nearer to my ( but not Mrs YT's ) idea of travelling around the World with just my passport in my shirt pocket - nothing else.

Even so, as someone else has remarked somewhere else on PPRuNe, I have been rebuked in the USA for having my passport hanging around my neck in a custom designed and purchased pouch for that purpose i.e. not actually in my shirt pocket, that constituted an illegal 3rd piece of handbaggage when going through the security farce. Next time I'll hold it between my teeth and shout Ole !

( do you know the address for Guantanamo ? )

[UniFoxOs]

UniFoxOs....... I look forward to your review of the hotel afterwards.....

Well, it is certainly very central as regards the strip, so easy walk to most of the other venues, and I couldn't fault the room, other than with things I would find wrong with any hotel - low light conditions and insufficient available power outlets where you can use them. I would say the theme of Hollywood films is a bit pedestrian as against places like the Venetian or Bellagio with their attractiveness, though, and the extremely loud music throughout all the public areas was a real PITA. If going again we would probably stay at the Venetian - the classical (and reasonably-volumed) music is much preferable, and the decor breathtaking.

Spice buffet is great value and terrific choice of food, found it rather strange to have roast beef for breakfast, though.

Anybody thinking of going to the Beatles Love show should note that the ticket for dinner and show package is USD1 LESS than the show ticket alone. The dinner can be taken at one of three restaurants on the site, and can be booked for before or after the show. Thus we got a USD39 dinner for minus a dollar.

Loved the Bodies show -SWMBO went to the Titanic show instead (combined ticket for shark reef and these two available at a saving).

Ryansf - TheBUS in Hawaii is now up to USD 2.50 for a ticket anywhere. Direct bus from beach to Pearl Harbour was very convenient, and, as you said, comfortable.

Cheers
UFO

PS anybody thinking of going to Las Vegas - watch out for the taxi drivers. Airport to hotel - USD 27, hotel to airport - USD 10.50. Next time I'll take the bus in.