Six mainland travel writers visited Kauai from May 12 -18, participating in a “Day of Exploration” project. While here they explored Kauai on a shoe-string budget to find places and activities that can be enjoyed by budget-minded travelers. It was
Six mainland travel writers visited Kauai from May 12 -18, participating in a “Day of Exploration” project.
While here they explored Kauai on a shoe-string budget to find places and activities that can be enjoyed by budget-minded travelers.
It was part of a week-long tour arranged by the Kauai Visitors Bureau.
The writers used their imaginations and explored the island, looking for places, activities and restaurants that are not well-known or written about in many travel publications.
The point?
“Each of the writers had to have a story that showed Kauai was not just for the luxury market,” said Sue Kanoho, executive director of the KVB.
The stories, when they are published in national publications, will help broaden Kauai’s appeal to all types of travelers, helping to keep the island’s tourism industry strong, Kanoho said.
On one day of the tour, the writers were assigned to various parts of the island and were each given $25 to spend. Including a car rental, they were told not to spend more than $60 total. They were given a Kauai guidebook, an island map and beach mat and told to wear a swimsuit under their clothes, comfortable shoes, sunscreen, a light jacket or sweater.
At the end of the day, the writers gathered for dinner and were asked to share their experiences.
Kanoho said one writer visited the Kauai Museum, Menehune Fishpond, the Anchor Cove Shopping Center, Kalapaki Beach and the Hilo Hattie store.
One writer dined at Tip Top Cafe and took note of the “Tony Kunimura special,” an egg and chopped sausage concoction that was a favorite of the former mayor, remembered as one of Kauai’s most powerful legislators.
A writer discovered oxtail soup, a favorite dish among local diners, finding it unique but not so much as to sample it. Other writers tried surfing and kayaking.
But if the writers came upon any new sites or activities, they weren’t talking. Because of the competitive nature of the travel writing business, the writers might have held back any revelations.
The writers were Anne Z. Cooke, a freelance writer for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate; Ronald Kelly, managing editor of Parents magazine; Richard Irwin, travel editor with the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, a publication in West Covina, Calif.; Steve Haggerty, a freelance writer for the San Barbara News Press; Sarah Armstrong Jones, a freelance writer for Insider Magazine; and Jynelle Gracia, assistant editor for Travel 50 & Beyond and an editorial assistant for Vacations.
The writers stayed at Radisson Kauai Beach Resort, Aloha Beach Resort and the Kiahuna Plantation-Outrigger, a condominium project in south Kauai.
The writers also visited the Waimea Plantation Cottages, Waimea Canyon Lookout, Kalalau Lookout, Kilauea Lighthouse, Hanalei town and Guava Kai Plantation/Na Aina Kai Botanical Gardens.
The writers ate dinners at Barbecue Inn, Coconuts, Camp House Grill, Poipu Beach Broiler and Keoki’s Paradise restaurants, and lunches in Kokee State Park and Hanalei Bay and sampled shave ice while exploring Hanalei town. They also had breakfast at various hotels they stayed at.
For activities, the writers rode bicycles around Hanalei town and the North Shore, snorkeled at Lawai beach with a guide from Aloha Kauai Tours, paddled kayaks on the Hanalei River with a guide from Kayak Kauai Outbound and surfed in Hanalei Bay with a guide from the same company. The seven-day trip is one of three or four press tours the KVB sponsors each year.
“We are well publicized,” said Kanoho, adding that the press tours and any secrets found by the writers in the most recent tour will continue to help promote Kauai as one of the premier visitor destinations in the world.
