We love hearing from our readers! Our aim is to help our readers make the most of their Hawaii vacation. From this feedback, it sounds like we’re meeting that goal.
Mary Wallace sent this feedback to be added to this page:”Govisithawaii was the best website I found for planning our recent trip to Kauai (late July). Not only does Shelia provide great detailed information about Kauai, but she also gives an insider’s view. Shelia’s frequent visits to the Hawaiian islands qualify her to give the most expert recommendations for having a memorable vacation in paradise!”
Stephanie Farrell sent this testimonial to be added to this page: “ALOHA! My husband and I just returned home to NC from our first trip to Hawaii! And what a wonderful vacation it was!!!
We’ve been talking about going to Hawaii for decades and after 37 years of marriage, we finally made our plans, booked our flights, and reserved our hotel. (Better late than never!)
Once we committed to go, planning our trip ourselves proved to be daunting, complicated, and somewhat confusing – which island to go, where to stay, what to do, what to see, what to bring, which activities, what excursions, what time of year, etc. The questions compiled until I found www.govisithawaii.com. Sheila Beal’s website was the answer to all my questions! She made it easy to plan, navigate the islands, and create our itinerary.
After reading numerous articles, watching amazing videos, and gazing at the beautiful photos from her wonderful website, we decided to visit the Big Island on our first trip because of the diverse landscape along with a huge variety of things to do…tropical forests, botanical gardens, waterfalls, volcanoes, lava flow, lava tubes, petroglyphs, whale watching, and land and water sports.
We stayed at the beautiful Mauna Lani hotel on the Kona side not far from the airport for 11 full days with each day action packed full of fun, sun, relaxation, delicious food and drink, and plenty of adventure.
GoVisitHawaii posts and articles were very well written and extremely informative which helped to guide us to create our perfect itinerary. We easily planned and coordinated each day to get the most out of our time in Hawaii. The site has excellent maps for navigating the islands with ease. To further take the guess work out of being a first timer to Hawaii, there were articles on what to bring, what to wear, places to visit, historic sites, land and sea adventures, Hawaiian words, and literally answers to every question we had!
Even if you’ve been to Hawaii numerous times, you will still find the articles helpful, interesting, current, and up-to-date. My husband and I had the trip of a lifetime which absolutely exceeded our expectations!!!
I have subscribed to GoVisitHawaii updates to keep us in the Hawaiian spirit! We are already looking forward to our next vacation to the other Hawaiian Islands. I highly recommend www.govisithawaii.com and couldn’t have planned our trip without it! Mahalo (Thank you!) Sheila Beal!!! Mahalo! Stephanie Farrell :-)”
Valli Venkatesan said, “My husband and I were on our first trip to Hawaii last week. We visited Maui from January 8th to the 15th. This is a thank you note from us to govisithawaii.com for helping us plan our trip in detail. We loved your list of places including the details about the restaurants. Thank you for making our trip an enjoyable one.”
Rochelle Rebello from Mumbai, India said, “My husband and I just got back from our trip to Hawaii and we would like to Thank You for all the tips and suggestions on your site. Your website was an integral part in our planning.”
Tune Town Show Chorus on twitter: “Sheila, your travel tips on Hawaii are the best! That includes “Maui Revealed” guide and others by Andrew Doughty.”
Renee from Georgia shared these comments: “We have been following your blog now for over a year in preparation for our trip. We were in Hawaii for 2 weeks starting February 25th. It was the vacation of a lifetime!! Now we can’t wait to go back… Your blog was eternally helpful in planning all of our activities…we couldn’t have done it without you so, thanks so much!!’
Rod commented ; “Listen to Sheila; she gives the best advice you’ll find anywhere.”
Chuck Wendig via twitter: “Seriously, I used the h*ll out of your site to plan both our HI trips. And I always recommend it to others traveling there.”
Vu Nguyen: “I came across your blog/website as I’m doing research for our upcoming trip toOahu and Maui this coming November 2012. I have to say THANK YOU for putting together such valuable resources, all in one place. Since there will be three families going on this trip, with kids ranging from 4 to 11 years old (six of them), I will have to plan our days out to maximize our visit without tiring them out. This is a FANTASTIC site, and I will certainly tell my friends about it!”
Michael while vacationing on Maui: “I just wanted to thank you for your site. Three of your tips [tips for watching sunrise on Haleakala] in particular (bring a blanket, arrive early to stargaze, and enjoy some macadamia nut pancakes at Kula Lodge) were all thumbs up for this traveler! I was warm at the summit, had a good hour to see the incredible view of the stars before sunrise, and am currently full of pancakey/syrupy goodness. Keep up the great work!”
Kristy Altland: “I simply wanted to say thank you for your work and information on this site. We vacationed on the Big Island and Oahu in June and the trip was amazing. But made more memorable by using the insight you (and others) have shared.”
Lisa posted this comment: “I just wanted to tell you thanks for writing this blog, we had the most memorable trip last Oct/Nov, thanks for all the tips and I love getting the emails because there isn’t a day that’s gone by since we got back that I haven’t thought about Hawaii!”
Laura & Marco from Italy: “What we especially love about your blog is the wonderful enthusiasm about every fascinating corner of the Islands! This August we will be returning “home” and visiting Maui, Kauai and Big Island: your site is helping us SO MUCH in planning details and visits we could not have found anywhere else!! Even in the busiest days (like now!) we always read you and … take notes about your tips and new places we have not visited yet in our past trips! MAHALO NUI for your outstanding “job” in bringing The Islands to us … day by day , with such deep understanding of the Hawai’ian culture and “magic”!!”
Scott Harmon, a reader from Salt Lake City, Utah: “Love your website. It helped us make our 1st trip to Hawaii last month- perfect!”
Fidel de la Merced, Jr, a reader from Morris Plains, NJ: “Your website is awesome! It was the only website I’ve gathered so much information about Maui. I even bought the book Maui Revealed but I kept going back to GovisitHawaii.com.”
Karl Moss, a reader from Raleigh, NC: “Save money while maximizing your Hawaii vacation experience! While beginning to plan our 25th wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii, I was pointed to GoVisitHawaii.com. Through the use of the articles and links on the site I was able to plan our trip of a lifetime with confidence. The site is nicely organized with sections such as “Deals”, “See and Do”, and “Events” for each island, which was important to me as we were visiting multiple islands. There are also valuable articles on how to save money, best free things to do, tips & tricks, where to stay, and deals on hotels and airfare. I had looked into using a travel agent to purchase a package deal, but after finding GoVisitHawaii I had all the information and tools I needed to create a customized itinerary tailored to our needs (and budget). So how was our trip? It was epic! All of the planning, reading, and researching really paid off, and we had the time of our lives! We can’t wait to return to the islands, and can’t imagine doing it without the help of GoVisitHawaii. I really enjoy the daily blog update which keeps my memory fresh, and my dream of returning to Hawaii constantly renewed. Thanks Sheila for a great site!”
Matt McGee, a reader from Washington wrote this feedback on his blog: “This is a wonderful web site and blog that offers information about all of the Hawaiian islands. But we just relied on it for some extremely helpful Maui tips that I don’t think we could’ve found anywhere else. Take this post, for example, about relying on Avis car rental to avoid getting a cockroach-infested car. Can you imagine the nightmare of finding roaches crawling in your car? We used Avis and had no problems at all. This older post detailing what to pack for Hawaii was also a big help, especially because it convinced me to go buy a second swimsuit just for the trip … and I shudder to think about only having brought one.”
Phillipe, a reader from France: “I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart as we are spending the most amazing vacation ever and your site is a part of it. Thank you for your advice and remarks and you deserve a 2010 award!”
Lauri Brownson, a reader from Shady Cove, Oregon says: “I just want you to know how wonderful it is when I get your newsletter in my inbox. I bypass all the other Hawaii news and emails to read yours first! It is just so down to earth and real! I love that! I’m planning a trip for my 25th wedding anniversary and these little tidbits have been amazingly helpful in choosing things to do, see, and watch out for.”
Kris Nelson, a reader from Illinois and fellow Hawaii enthusiast says this, “Go Visit Hawaii has to be one of the best, down to Earth Hawaii travel guides that you can find online these days. With fresh, new content added daily, it’s earned a permanent spot in my morning online routine, and after only a few minutes, it’s sure to find a spot in yours, too.”
Kyle Brown, a reader from North Carolina and contributor at the popular travel blog Jaunted says, “I just wanted to let you know what a great site you run. It definitely made planning my trip to Hawaii that much more enjoyable (and easier).”
We’ve been blessed to have receive feedback from Hawaii residents, too. Here’s what they’re saying:
Christian Wilson a reader from Oahu says: “I enjoy reading GoVisitHawaii.com everyday. I have lived in Hawaii for the past 27 years and I haven’t been to visit every corner of every island and this unbiased blog helps me feel like I have been everywhere on the island.”
BN Sullivan a reader from the Big Island says: “I love your Go Visit Hawaii blog. I think you’re doing a great job of showcasing the islands. When I first saw it, I could hardly believe it was written by someone who doesn’t live here. Continued good luck with it.”
Nathan Kam, a reader from Oahu says:” I’ve been enjoying your blog daily after discovering it a few weeks ago. As a professional working for a PR agency here in Honolulu with tourism clients, it’s great to see rich and current content about Hawaii provided on a daily basis. Keep up the great work and your enthusiasm for Hawaii.”
Monica Salter, a reader from Oahu and Senior Account Executive at BennetGroup, “Just a quick note to say: ‘keep up the good work on your newsletter’. As a working member of the PR world, I sift through an endless amount of newsletters + e-mail blasts and your daily Hawai‘i tip stands out in this mix as one of the best. You do an excellent job of finding hidden gems and novelties about Hawai‘i, then share the information with the feel of it coming from an old friend.”
