Kokrobite Beach Vacation

There's a beach just west of Accra called Kokrobite that seems so far from my everyday life of metro-boulot-dodo, but in geographical terms is not. This is where I spent this past weekend.

Kokrobite(some native English-speakers spell it Kokrobitey to underline the correct pronunciation, including the "e") is situated one hour from Tema, 30 minutes from Accra on a good day with little traffic around Mallam junction leading out west from Accra. This backpackers hide-out is complete with cheap accommodation (can wholly recommend Bah'doosh where I stayed this time), Rastafarians, palm trees, cold beer and a beautiful and crowded beach with a glittering and wavy ocean.

Everytime I go, I bring only a pair of flip-flops, a piece of African print that can make a dress or a wrap or a towel or a headgear, a flowy white cotton top to avoid sunburn and my colorful patchwork trousers (bought in Kokrobite last year)- all of which goes with a bikini and some beads around the wrists.

My husband and I also take a long the books we never get to read. In the mornings we have breakfast in the shade reading together, something that is terribly nerdy, I know, but just screams vacation to me. Swedish celebrity blogger Alexandra Pascalidou has made beach life her everyday life in Thailand for a couple of months. It should be possible to do the same in Ghana.

Some people might have ulterior and somewhat more "smokey" reasons to come to Kokrobite, but as for me I just find it relaxing without any additives. It is like I took a plane to vacation land. But I didn't. Did I say this place is an hour away from home?

2009 Hawaii Kona Ironman visitors information

Aloha Best Hawaii vacation blog visitors,

What's on our mind today? Let's talk Hawaii Ironman and here is why. It's a short 3 months to Hawaii's biggest event: the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon Ford World Championship. The 2009 Hawaii Ironman takes place on Saturday October 10th in Kailua Kona. Kona attracts for the Big Island Ironman event thousands of visitors and athletes from all over the world. Last year's 2008 Ironman Triathlon recorded 1731 athletes at the start. What's new for this 2009 Kona Ironman?

2009 Hawaii Kona Ironman Visitors Information

1. Book your Kona accommodation early

Remember our most recent blog post about 'Will Hawaii foreclosures help your dream of living in Hawaii?' We mentioned there that one Hawaii town is hit especially hard by foreclosures. The town is Kona. The foreclosures of many Kona condos which were used in the past as vacation rentals will limit the availability of Ironman accommodations. Kona condos, especially those in Alii Dr, are in high demand because they are self-catering and offer the best training conditions for the triathletes participating in the Ironman. Visitors love this location as well because it's in walking distance to the Kona Pier, the start and finish of the Ironman.

2. Early bird Kona Ironman specials?

Your best chance of finding an 'early bird' special for your stay in Kona for this year's 2009 Hawaii Triathlon World Championship is when you book NOW. Generally, Kona vacation rental hosts charge double the rates for the Ironman week. If you are early enough with your inquiry, Kona hosts might be still willing to cut you a special deal. If you don't mind a little bit driving from Kona Captain Cook Kealakekua area to downtown Kona, your chances for an affordable vacation rental are even better.

3. Share a Kona vacation home with friends or family

This way your Kona visit won't stretch your budget beyond your limits. In addition, you can stay at a more luxury Kona home - maybe with a pool and jacuzzi - which you can afford by sharing the rental fees. You are hanging out with your friends anyway, so why not stay at one place?! The Kona Ironman is a huge social event. Feel the excitement of the cheering crowds and become part of it.

4. Plan your Big Island activities

The Big Island offers some of the biggest Hawaii attractions, many beyond the ordinary. Don't leave the Island of Hawaii without having visited our live volcano in Hawaii Volcano National Park or snow-covered Mauna Kea Summit for a spectacular stargazing night. These are once-in-a-lifetime adventures. Make your plans for exploring the Big Island ahead of your arrival in Kona Hawaii. Your Kona vacation week is over in a wink of an eye. So get the most out of your Kona Ironman visit.

If you have visited the Hawaii Kona Ironman in the past or have anything to share with our blog visitors about Kona or the Ironman, please, leave a comment right here. Mahalo and aloha, Pua Hawaii Vacations

Guest Editorial

And here's an editorial from a former Moon travel guidebook writer:

OUTSOURCING MOON
by X-Moon, Delhi bureau

Bill Newlin has announced that he is outsourcing all guidebook writing to a company based in Bangalore, India. Further questioning reveals that this company is in fact a plantation where monkeys have been trained to climb trees and twist off coconuts. With the recent rapid decline in world coconut production, unemployed monkeys have been ingeniously retrained by the Bangalore plantation owners to modify content for Moon guidebooks.

There are estimated to be 2,000 monkeys typing away on 2,000 typewriters.

They are divided into huts by continent: North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe.

"The maps have proved problematic," said Bill, "but otherwise, the gibberish is adequate for most travel needs. It's an ideal match for Moon because we pay them peanuts." Bill also mentioned that he is pleased that the monkeys will not dispute the format of the material. They apparently do not go berserk if print-size is drastically reduced, or the work is printed on paper so thin you can see through it. They tend to go berserk, however, if the peanut supply dwindles.

Bill spoke further: "The disconnect we were having with the human writers was causing a lot of aggravation in our editorial offices. What the chimps do is take older editions and change one word on each page, which then passes for the new edition. That's all we need really. Most of our readers don't give a fig about content anyway. What they need is the security blanket of some sort of guidebook to hold. And that's what we give them."

Next on the horizon, Newlin is thinking seriously about outsourcing cover designs to elephants in northern Thailand. "I have heard that they are quite capable artists and very adept with their trunks. Of course, the cost of feeding them is far higher than the monkeys, but still well below human designer rates, even those of starving artists in garrets." Newlin is currently looking into cheaper sources of feed for the mammoth designers, in order to cut costs.

Tips for Estimating the Cost of a Summer Vacation

Due to the poor economy, many Americans are foregoing their annual summer vacations or at least significantly cutting back. If you are on a budget, but still want to plan a good summer vacation, you should take three steps. They involve determining how much money you have available to spend, estimating the cost of your trip, and cutting corners when needed. Out of these three steps, estimating the cost of your summer vacation is the most important, but it can also be the most difficult. Continue reading on for a few helpful tips.

Estimate the cost of everything. Your goal is to plan a summer vacation you can afford. To do that, you must know how much you can expect to spend. Are you driving or flying? Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Estimate the cost of travel. Where do you intend to stay? Unless staying with friends and family, estimate the cost of a hotel or resort. You want to account for each dollar you are likely to spend. If you will buy souvenirs, estimate the cost of them. If you attend to pay for activities and attractions, estimate their costs. Since you need to eat, estimate the cost of food, snacks, and drinks.

Do more than just a general estimate; create a detailed one. For example, you may think “I can spend $50 to eat
on the first day of my trip.” This is good, but created a detailed list. Start with breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. A good example is to plan to spend $5 for breakfast at a fast food establishment, $15 dollar for lunch at a casual restaurant, $5 for snacks a local convenience store, and $25 for dinner at a nice sit-down restaurant. This approach is best as it later allows you to cut corners. If your estimates have you going over your vacation budget, forgo the dinner at a fancy restaurant. Reduce the cost from $25 down to $12 by opting for a casual restaurant instead.

Use the internet to help you estimate the cost of your trip. As previously stated, you want to know how much you can expect to spend. This will help you determine if you can truly afford your dream vacation. It is easy to estimate the cost of air travel or hotels. Use the internet and request a free quote. As for attractions, activities, and food, use the internet as a guide. Visit a few websites for nearby restaurants and attractions. What are their average costs? Use them as a guide.

Overestimate. Using the internet makes it easier to estimate the cost of a summer vacation, but rarely are you 100% on. For that reason, always overestimate. If you come across a cute restaurant online that charges an average of $12 a meal, roundup to $15. This will help account for an unexpected price increase. Overestimating is better than underestimating. If you underestimate the cost of your trip, you may be left broke on the last two days. How will you eat now? With overestimating, the worst is you will have extra cash in your pocket. Splurge on a nice meal, buy a few extra souvenirs, or save the money.

Don’t forget about free things. The best way to save money on a summer vacation is to take advantage of anything that is free. For example, your hotel may have free donuts or bagels available for guests. A warm breakfast is nice, but why pass up something for free? At the very least, intend on eating breakfast at your hotel half of the trip. By doing so, you have no costs to estimate as it is free. Do the same with activities and attractions. Use the internet to research those with low or no admission fees.

As a recap, if you are vacationing with limited financial resources, create a budget. Determine much money you have to spend, estimate the cost of your vacation, and compare the two. If your dream vacation is too expensive based on your estimates, work on cutting costs.

Hawaii foreclosures help your dream of living in Hawaii..

Dear Hawaii lovers and blog visitors,
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in Hawaii and whether it means 'Vacation forever'? I bet you did, and you are not alone. Most everybody who visited Hawaii once or twice or more times played with that idea. "What if we moved to Hawaii?"




The current real estate market in Hawaii seems to get you closer to fulfilling your dream of living in Hawaii by buying a home or a condo on the Hawaiian Islands at a cheap price you can afford. True or false?

Well, recently, on my daily perusing Hawaii tweets a tweet by @Starbulletin - or a retweet by a Hawaii twitter follower - got my attention. The tweet connected to an article by Honolulu Starbulletin published on June 13th about the ever growing number of foreclosures in Hawaii with the meaningful article title 'Realty investor Blues'. The Starbulletin article quotes some most recent Hawaii foreclosure numbers which are mind boggling but the numbers clearly reflect what is currently going on in Hawaii's real estate market.

There is no surprise that Hawaii with its larger percentage of second-home owners and investors compared to the rest of the nation jumped to #15 in May in foreclosures. 42% of foreclosures in Hawaii through the month of May were non-owner occupied properties. No surprise for me that Maui was having the lead with 50% of non-occupied foreclosures.

Naturally, this high number of foreclosures in Hawaii, a dream vacation or retirement location, triggers the interest of those who have a job and a steady income or enough cash money in searching for foreclosure deals in Hawaii. Just ask Google and type in the search for 'Hawaii Foreclosures' and the number of about 5million search results makes it clear that an entire new 'foreclosure industry' has developed in the Hawaii real estate market with realtors riding the wave of 'Hawaii foreclosures'.

On my personal search for putting this blog post together, I came across another interesting article regards the Hawaii Foreclosures published by Yahoo Finance News on June 11 which emphasized that "The islands now have the 15th highest foreclosure rate in the nation, at one in every 621 households. Local economists and foreclosure attorneys say Hawaii's foreclosure filings are growing as the recession leads to job and wage cuts. Declining property values are also making it harder for people to refinance their mortgages or sell their homes."

Coming back to our original question whether Hawaii foreclosures are getting you closer to becoming a homeowner in Hawaii and living in Hawaii. My personal lay person's humble opinion is that buying cheap foreclosure property in Hawaii looks easier than it is. Foreclosure properties will be auctioned off. The bank has a clear idea what they need to make to break even and where they want to start the bidding. In most cases, this is not the bottom price you have in mind.

Furthermore, mortgages for the average person are naturally harder to get these days. Also make sure that you have seen the home or the condo you are interested in buying as a foreclosure. Considering all pros and cons of a foreclosure purchase, it might be better to look for the real deal in a real estate market where the potential buyer has all the chances of negotiating the price he/she can afford instead of going 'treasure hunting' for a foreclosed property. This way you might be much closer to your dream of living in Hawaii. What's your opinion about Hawaii foreclosures? Mahalo, Pua Hawaii Vacations
p.s.
BTW, we won't publish comment ads by Hawaii foreclosure companies.

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