fly to australia for only five benjamins

there's a new airline flying into honolulu so if you have ever dreamt of visiting the land of oz get ready fly to australia (sydney & melbourne to be exact) for as low as $500 r/t!

jetstar has two classes onboard (starclass is their version of business class and is filled with "amenities" like meal & beverage service, blankets & pillows, etc) so if you fly economy keep a few dollar bills handy to make your flight a bit more comfortable.

details:

• book it: thu, sep 14th around 4pm hst
• fly: feb 1st to may 31st, 2007

island bubble shack

the musicians turned soapmakers behind bubble shack look like they just may be on their way to becoming hawaii's homegrown version of lush. the husband & wife team whip up hefty bars of soap at their mililani hq with island inspired names like leeward sunset, lilikoi shave ice (made with adzuki beans) & coconut volcano. you can even lather up with a lost bar that would definitely be on the wish list of certain island castaways substituting sand for soap.

and if you're a sucker for good packaging, then you will love being able to customize the wrapping for your carefully chosen soaps. bubble shack can be found at the aloha stadium swap meet or hele over to their website and score $5 shipping with orders over $50.

10% off chearrings

oriana earrings

if you have been coveting the delightfully girly concoctions from chearrings jewelry, you'll be happy to learn that the suvine collection (featured earlier this summer) is currently on sale. saving 10% on your order will be a piece of cake so the tricky part will be deciding what to add to your basket.

• secret code: suvine (enter in the customer code box)

happy shopping! 

ocean vodka

one of the things on my "to do" list while i was home was to check out first friday in chinatown. we didn't get far when my mom spotted the hasr wine co. and drifted into their courtyard to check out the wine tasting going on inside.

while my mom was off investigating the wines, i spotted bottles of maui-based ocean vodka (which was launched earlier this summer) being poured. since a strong cup of tea is as hard as i go, i nudged my other half who was game to sample the first vodka made in hawaii (his review: smooth!).

unfortunately, the faa ban on liquids prohibited us from picking up anything larger than a trial size bottle to stash in our suitcase so hopefully ocean vodka will be stocked on the mainland soon.

here are a few cool things about the company for those of you thinking of adding a bottle of ocean vodka to your home bar:

1. the vodka is organic
2. it's made from actual ocean water (courtesy of the folks behind mahalo deep water)
3. they have pledged to donate a portion of profits to environmental groups working to save the ocean

as for me, i managed to score a few bottles of pineapple & mango soda from waialua soda works before the night was over (review: refreshing!).

get up and go

waimea canyon, kaua'i

luckily, the fella & i were able to take advantage of the super sale fares to the neighbor islands on this last trip home. if you haven't gotten around to booking your ticket yet, the $29 one-way airfare sale has returned so go explore the world in your backyard instead of taking yet another trip to vegas.

and if you go to kaua'i, where this photo was snapped, check out the oki diner in lihue where they whip up macadamia nut pancakes & homemade syrups that are even better than eggs 'n things!

details:

• book it: sat, sep 9th
• fly: now to dec 31st*
• blackout: veteran's day, thanksgiving, xmas & new year's

the choice is yours: aloha airlines (*must travel by dec 28th) | go! | hawaiian airlines