It’s Always Good To Be Home!

Our Royal Aloha Vacation Club members are always asking, “Where do you go on vacation?” Well, to be honest, living in the Hawaiian Islands is kind of like being on vacation every day! But occasionally I’ll take the family on a trip to the mainland… We actually just returned from a trip on Wednesday.

My son Cody is a senior in high school so my wife and I took him to the East Coast for a “university tour.” First stop, New York City to look at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. We spent three nights in NYC’s Financial District just to get a feel for the area. Talk about hustle and bustle… I’ve never seen so many people walking so fast, each with a different destination and purpose.

We took the New York subway system all over the city… Up Manhattan to Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which is unbelievable), down to Battery Park where we visited Liberty Island and Ellis Island, over to Brooklyn for a coal-fired pizza at Grimaldi’s. Speaking of food, we tried everything from hotdogs on the street, giant pastrami sandwiches at Carnegie Deli, to the best steak in the world at Peter Luger’s Steakhouse.

We then jumped on a double-decker Mega Bus for the four-hour trip from New York to Boston to check out Harvard and Northeastern University. We stayed for four nights in the great city of Boston, walking the Freedom Trail to see Boston Harbor, Paul Revere’s house, Bunker Hill Monument and The Old North Church. We stopped by Faneuil Hall for lobster rolls and then headed up to the famous North End for a sumptuous dinner at La Familia Giorgio, topped off with fresh cannolis from Modern Pastry Bakery.

In one week we explored two great cities, three prestigious universities, and enough food to justify a serious diet!

What I love best about traveling is coming home. When I step off the airplane, the air smells of fresh flowers, the mountains are green and the ocean is bright blue.

Always, So Good To Be Home in Hawaii Nei!

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

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Royal Aloha Members, Get Ready!

This Monday, February 20, is the annual Great Aloha Run!

This 8.15-mile “run/walk” is a relatively flat course starting at Aloha Tower in Downtown Honolulu. Winding its way along historic Honolulu Harbor, down Nimitz Highway, Kamehameha Highway, it finishes on the floor of the Aloha Stadium at the back goal line of the north end zone.

It’s a surreal experience being in Downtown Honolulu at 5 a.m. with 20,000 other crazy people! Many have probably gotten their java rush at Starbucks or McDonalds. Others are trying to catch a few more winks on a soft concrete curb! Most are just busy gearing up for the run.

This President’s Day, join in this charity event with Hawaii residents, visitors and the “Sounds of Freedom” division of the United States Armed Forces. There will be sights and sounds along the way that only Hawaii can provide.

And truly an experience you will never forget!

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

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Winter Finally Finds Its Way To Lake Tahoe!

Good news has arrived for skiers and snowboarders who frequent Lake Tahoe ski resorts.

And lucky are our timeshare members and guests at Royal Aloha Tahoe. Our resort manager Pam Bricker called yesterday to report Heavenly North conditions are the best they’ve been all season. A four-day stretch dumped 4 to 6 feet of snow at many Tahoe resorts, providing the first legitimate powder days this season. With real snow, ski resorts have opened additional chairlifts and terrain in anticipation of the busiest weekend since the Christmas holidays.

Heavenly Ski Resort received nearly four feet of new snow and has opened 66 trails. 

The National Weather Service is calling for a slight chance of more snow Sunday night through Monday with daytime temperatures in the low-to-mid 40s.

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

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Aloha Friday! (A little early)

It’s one of the busiest weeks of the year in Waikiki as the NFL Pro Bowl returns to Hawaii for the 32nd time. The best players in the NFL travel to the Hawaiian Islands with their families for a week of fun in the sun and three hours of “Bump and Run” football.

I’ve been taking my family to the Pro Bowl for as long as I can remember. Last year, we bought a package from Jose’s Mexican Restaurant: an “all you can eat” Prime Rib Breakfast, round-trip transportation, a fun pre-game tailgate party, and game tickets. It only set me back about a month’s income!

Here are some Pro Bowl events you can attend this year without spending a dime!

Sunset On The Beach – Pro Bowl Style
Friday, January 27th at Queen’s Beach Waikiki (4:30-9:00 p.m.)

Pro Bowl ‘Ohana Day
Watch the players practice on Saturday, January 28th at Aloha Stadium (8:30-11:30 a.m.)

NFL/HTA Youth Football and Cheerleading Clinics – Advance registration required
Saturday, January 28th at Kapiolani Park (10:00 a.m.-2:45 p.m.)

Pro Bowl All-Star Block Party Waikiki
Saturday, January 28th on Kalakaua Avenue (7:00-10:00 p.m.)

And, of course, you can attend the game on Sunday, January 29th at Aloha Stadium. Kickoff is 2:00 p.m. Tickets are still available at www.ticketmaster.com

If you’re in Waikiki this week, have some fun and enjoy all the festivities the Pro Bowl offers!

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

Subscribe to our blog to get our weekly Aloha Friday tips.

Get Up Close and Personal with Dolphins, Tropical Fish, Green Sea Turtles!!!

I enjoy hosting Royal Aloha’s Tuesday morning arrival breakfast in Waikiki. It’s really fun meeting and speaking with our members who have been with the Club for over 30 years, second generation members, guests of members, and exchangers, and sharing my knowledge of Oahu with them.

Of course, I give the usual “scoops” (a luau, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Hanauma Bay) and also unique, “only in Hawaii” experiences. One of my favorites is the half-day Ko Olina Ocean Adventure – but, be forewarned, their shuttle departs Waikiki at 5:15 a.m.! After a quick continental breakfast at the Ko Olina marina, you are loaded onto a boat with about 20 other people to head out for three fantastic adventures!
The boat will outfit you with a life vest, mask and snorkel as it takes you to where the spinner dolphins hang out in the early morning hours. Here you can slip quietly into the ocean, surrounded by wild dolphins in their natural environment. It’s a great time for pictures with your underwater camera.

You second adventure is over a living reef as the captain goes just offshore of Paradise Cove. If you buy fish food from the crew for about $3 and take it underwater, you’ll soon be surrounded by dozens of colorful tropical fish.

And your last is in “Turtle Town” where green sea turtles gather on the ocean floor – they get their shell and skin cleaned by algae-eating reef fish! In this area, you’ll feel like you’re snorkeling in a Jacuzzi as an electrical generator mixes boiling hot water with the cool ocean water.

Back at the marina, you’ll have a bbq lunch before being transported back to Waikiki by 12:30 p.m.

I’ve recommended this adventure to dozens of our members and really enjoy hearing their stories and seeing their incredible photos!

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

Subscribe to our blog to get our weekly Aloha Friday tips.