I would recommend Kauai
 

I have been to the Hawaiin islands many times and Kauai is my favourite. There is a apparently a new Hilton there. I have not stayed at that property but friends tell me it is quite nice and the next time I am on that island I plan to stay there. The Hilton on the Big Island is enormous and beautifully situated but the service there, in my experience, is dreadful. I have stayed at the Grand Wailea before and it was fantastic but I would only recommend it if you are there with your family since it seems as if it is geared more towards doing things with your, if you have them, kids than to doing things with yourself :). However, I have heard some concerns about the property since Hilton took it over and have not been there recently. Also, the Four Seasons next door is far superior. Oahu is nice but is also quite crowded and congested. The traffic there, in my experience, is terrible. In any event, if you anywhere in Hawaii I am sure you will have a great time. :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:

Same here - Kauai is a blast.

Don't know what it's like compared to the other islands though.

HONOLULU is crowded and congested not Oahu the whole island. Try the Ihilani or Turtle bay those hotels are away from the city of Honolulu and more of an island feel, also go to North Shore, take a ride around the island and see the fantastic scenery

Kahala also is a very nice part of Oahu. My favorite brunch in the entire world is served at what was the Kahala Madarin Oriental Hotel, which is now called the Kahala Hotel and Resort. You can also lounge by the pool and watch or go swimming with dolphins in the hotel's dolphin pool.

Honolulu is the ideal place to study for finals. Make sure you get a room with a decent view, then have no regrets about failing to leave your room the entire stay (i.e., studying), because Waikiki is an unappealing, overcrowded tourist-trap. IMO, seclusion there is far more conducive to getting serious work done than the normal distractions on the homefront...

Wow, I think this is the quietest the Box has been since it started. Where is everybody?

I would have contributed more by now, but I have to read and catch up on what's going on.

Well I've been moving this past week.

The rents are in the final stages of selling their house here in IAH land so I've gone to room with Grandmother out in Katy for the remainder of my collegiate career.

...and seeing how AT&T can't find their a&@#% with both hands and install their UVerse internet/TV product I'm stuck surfing the web with EDGE from my cell. :(

Uggg...we need another IAH MicroDo! :)

Finals fast approaching, and work has been a beast of late as well. The sooner I get to HNL, the better. Feeling good right now that the rate I have booked at the W is a full $165/night cheaper than any rate currently available via SPG.com

Finals bite. Yet I still look forward to drinking a little (read: massively) in midtown, and A&M losing next week.

There's a rumor that China Airlines (CI) will stop the SEA-IAH flight. With BA also ending LHR-DTW-IAH, does that mean the baggage claim area of IAH Terminal D will have no use at all?

Well, that rumor regarding CI has been around almost as long as their IAH service. Hopefully it won't end up being true.

Do you know that they have a free shuttle to near Chinatown, Beltway @ Beechnut? ;)

That's on my route to work... Maybe I'll detour and check out the service ;)

Yes, we do!

After weeks of on time, uneventful flights (well, other than the Chautauqua runway bounce on takeoff a few weeks ago), today NW managed to go out of its way to live up to the "Northworst" nickname. After dragging myself out of bed this morning at an hour that no sane person should ever be up at, especially after getting home late the night before from an ATL-IAH flight, I arrived at NW's IAH gates about five minutes before boarding began for my IAH-DTW flight. We boarded, then it was announced that the APU was broken and we'd be delayed a few minutes while the mechanics used a ground air cart (borrowed from US) to start one of the A-319's engines while still at the gate. Then it turned out that US's ground air cart had a hose with a big hole in it, which had to be patched in order for the cart to deliver enough air pressure to the plane to start the engine. That took almost an hour. We finally got an engine started, pushed back, got the other engine going, and waited for about 15 planes to take off. Once underway, it became evident that the first class flight attendant was one the leading candidate for Miss Unhappy Northwest Flight Attendant 2007. But, two and a half hours later, we made it to DTW, despite a broken APU and really grouchy flight attendant.

But that was just the start. My second flight was scheduled for a DC9-50, which I knew meant I was in for another mechanical delay. After all, I've only had one DC9 flight, out of about 15, in the last three years that wasn't delayed for something to be repaired. Sure enough, during boarding, we found out that the mechanics were under the plane fixing the brakes. However, as they were just finishing that up, a piece of one of the ceiling panels near the back of the plane just fell out of the ceiling and was hanging down in the aisle. So we had to wait while the mechanics fixed that. I never walked back to Y to see if it was really fixed, or if they just pulled out a roll of duct tape to stick it back up with. But 40 minutes later we finally departed.

Hopefully Friday's return trip will be smoother.