Booked!

Queensland , Australia

Well I was going to wait until about January to start booking tours and activites but the suspense was killing me!! Last weekend I went ahead and booked 3 tours. Fhew!

The first one was Valley Isles Hana trip. I had previously emailed them to confirm bookings were being accepted for so far in advance- they were! Being a cruise ship passenger they require you to call them ( i'm still not sure why...) Anyways being in Australia i had to figure out the easiest and cheapest way to call. My mobile was going to charge me $1 per minute plus connection fee- no way i thought! Then i remembered Skype. I've found you that you can buy credit in $16 lots and can call the US for 2 cents a minute! That's more like it!! So I purchased my credit and made my first ever overseas call. The booking was very simple all they require is a credit card number and your names. I was asked if we would require a vegetarian lunch or chicken and he explained where to meet them in Maui. I was also emailed the confirmation and photos of where to meet almost instantly too. I was very happy with my decision to go with Valley Isle!

Next I contacted Ricky from Ricky's Tours. I emailed him to see if he was available that day and he replied about 2 hours later! His prices has increased slightly from last year but is still way cheaper than NCL tours. Since we've never been to Hilo before we have no idea what to expect. The itinerary looks really interesting and we love supporting local businesses so we booked that as well. No need for a credit card as you pay Ricky in cash on the day. All he needs is your name and cabin number for entry into the port.


Then finally i booked a helicopter trip for my father and I. I've always wanted to do a helicopter trip and seeing youtube clips of various flights in Kauai I knew this was the place to do it. I searched a lot of different companies before deciding on Mauna Loa Helicopters. Every helicopter is essentially private with only 2 or 3 passengers from the same group allowed. This means every person gets a window!! I was always fearful of paying all that money to then be stuck in the middle no being able to see. Its not that much more than other companies and the promise of a private trip and window was good enough for us. They just needed a credit card to hold the booking and names and weights of those flying.

Yesterday I also booked a photography tour in Kauai for my sister and I but I'll blog about that later!