Unhappy in Hawaii

Hawaii April Travelog #21
Waikoloa - Tue, 12 Apr, 2022, 5pm

From reading my previous post, Getting Settled in Waikoloa, you might think I'm really happy here. We've got a comfortable condo with a balcony and a big pool complex. What could possibly be wrong? The answer is, nearly everything is wrong. 😨

I booked this 5-night trip months ago as part of a timeshare marketing package. It was coincidentally when we were planning our previous Hawaii trip in December and I was straightening out a hotel cancellation with Hilton that I let them pitch me on prepaying for a travel package. The saleguy was listing locations we could go, and he had me at "Hilton Waikoloa Village." It's a nice resort that a trusted colleague of mine had said many nice things about in the past, and it's on the beach on the dry side of the Big Island— which we specifically wanted to go to. We'd actually looked at traveling to the Big Island for December's trip, but plans didn't work out. This was an opportunity to stay at a nice resort in a place we wanted to go, at a reduced price. Score, right?

Well, they bait-and-switched us. In the conversations with the sales people they talked about the Hilton Waikoloa Village. It's a 4-star hotel that's right on the beach and has amazing pools and several restaurants. Instead of being accommodated there we're in a step-sister property a mile away. It's laid out like a suburban condo complex, has pools that nice but not amazing, and has only one restaurant that basically only serves poolside snacks and is only open 11a-6p. Oh, and instead of a room overlooking the ocean steps from the beach, we're overlooking a parking lot. A mile from the ocean. And they wouldn't even give me a room 90 minutes before check-in time, making me wait instead until 15 minutes after check-in formally began.

The dashed expectations about location were buried in the fine print. The fine print— which they sent to me, but is not what any of the salespeople said to me— reads, "[a] Hilton area hotel or Hilton Grand Vacations Club resort." So they're within their terms of contract.

But you know what's within my terms of contract? Saying NO at the sales presentation.

You see, the reason timeshares like Hilton Grand Vacation Club offer this discounted stay package is that it's an advertisement. They want you to experience and enjoy a stay in a timeshare so you're more likely to buy one. We've got our sales presentation scheduled for Saturday. That's four days after our arrival... and within minutes of arrival they'd already 100% lost our sale.

Dinner with Friends. Kona so White.

Hawaii April Travelog #22
Kailua-Kona - Tue, 12 Apr, 2022, 9pm

This evening we met up with friends over dinner in Kailua-Kona, 30 miles south of our condo in Waikoloa. Dave and his wife, "Lila" own a condo down there and are part time residents. They made reservations for the four of us at Magic's Beach Grill, an unassuming looking place on the ground floor of a small hotel overlooking the rocky coast and a nearby beach. Though the decor and service were casual the food was excellent. And the views were pretty good, too, especially because Dave and Lila have been there enough times to know not to reserve a table on the outdoors deck. Wind-whipped showers in the early evening tend to soak them!

Over dinner we talked about retirement, particularly about how Dave and Lila stay busy. They've got a combination of low-key activities they do together plus a few hobbies they enjoy individually.

One of the challenges with living on the island of Hawaii is that in many respects it's country living. Lila noted that the island is the size of Connecticut with a population of only 200,000. There aren't lots of stores— or restaurants. (They made our dinner reservation well in advance. 😅) There also isn't enough medical care. That's part of why they're part time residents. ...Not that they have crazy health needs. Just getting a general dental appointment involves an insane wait.

Another challenge of living on any island is "island fever". Even the Big Island is a small place, and you can get bored of it quickly. Let alone the island of Oahu, which is physically smaller even though it has a population of nearly 1 million. Anyone thinking of retiring, or even just relocating, to Hawaii needs to plan in their budget travel to other places. ...And that travel means flying a minimum of 2,500 miles east or 4,000 miles west to reach practically anything else.

We split up around 8 or 8:30. Hawk and I were getting tired, and Lila had to pack for a trip in the morning... she's returning to the Bay Area for a few weeks to catch up with friends, see some shows, etc.

Kona so White

One interesting thing Hawk and I noticed before, during, and after dinner today is that the island of Hawaii doesn't look like Oahu, demographically. On Oahu there are a lot of ethnic Hawaiians. Even in the tourist areas like Waikiki you see a lot of ethnic Hawaiians: they're working most of the jobs in all the hotels, restaurants, and stores. And outside Waikiki, in the more residential areas, the locals are predominantly Hawaiian.

Here on the Big Island, especially on the Kona side (west coast), it's different. You see ethnic Hawaiians working in the tourist industry but they're only about half of the workforce. There are a lot of White Americans here, too. And residential areas are full of White Americans, particularly older White Americans. This part of the state feels like a combination tourist/ex-pat retiree area.

Taking it Easy at the Resort. Still Wrecked. Still Steamed.

Hawaii April Travelog #23
Waikoloa - Wed, 13 Apr, 2022, 2pm

I woke up this morning still feeling wrecked from hiking the Koko Head Tramline trail on Monday. My legs are sore, particularly the quads and IT bands. I wobble when I walk even on level surfaces. Thus we decided instead of going on a driving and hiking trip on the Big Island today we'll stay around the resort. After all, it's a resort. Huge pools! The beach (even though it's a mile away)! So many activities!

We started the morning easy. There's a smaller pool and hut tub complex right next to our condo building. We relaxed there for an hour or 90 minutes after breakfast, enjoying the slower pace, lack of crowds, and not having to travel anywhere.

Around lunch time we drove over to the main Hilton hotel/timeshare complex. The one we were supposed to be in. As we entered the compound all the frustration I felt yesterday about being shunted off to an inferior property, the frustration I'd just barely gotten past, came back again. The main complex was freaking amazing.



There was a lagoon with people riding stand-up paddle boards and floating tricycles. There was a pool with dolphins people could pet. There were ocean views galore. And I was stuck commuting in from... frankly, a place that looks like resort-hotels I've stayed at in Phoenix.

Alas, all was not perfect out here at the oceanfront. There was still a lot of walking, which hurt my legs enormously. And all those fun looking activities like paddleboats and floating tricycles? Not in my current condition. 😢 Plus, having come out here for lunch, I found that it's basically the same shitty kids-menu-for-everybody food as back at the Phoenix annex.



I didn't spend the whole day being angry, though. It's not in my character. After I swallowed my renewed frustration at the bait-and-switch, swallowed the eye-watering prices for cruddy food, and swallowed (literally) the barely edible food, I found a lounge chair overlooking the ocean to lay out on. Actually, Hawk found the chair. I wasn't in lounge chair hunting mode since it hurt too much to walk around. I relaxed here for at least an hour while she splashed in the pools. I think I even managed a short nap with my hat pulled down over my eyes.