Where have you been in the Pacific regions?

[Tiger Beer]

Just the Pacific regions.. I've had a chance to check out Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Califoria, Oregon, Washington, British Colombia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.

And of course.. the very best.. Hawaii!

[Linkmeister]

Lived in Japan, on Guam and Kwajalein. On the mainland, LA a couple of times, and San Diego for boot camp and training school.

[Keith H.]

Visited Japan 3 times from 1986-1990.

Spend four years in Oregon for school from 1990-1994. Visited Seattle and Vancouver while I was there. Was back there to visit in 2001 and 2004.

Los Angeles a couple of times, most recently in 1998.

Last time in San Francisco was 1994.

[helen]

Visited the San Francisco Bay Area a few times in the late 1980's to the early 1990's.

[Surfingfarmboy]

My Pacific area visits:

USA: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and of course, my home state of Hawai'i.

Mexico: Acapulco, Puerto Escondido.

Canada: Vancouver

That's it. Never done Pacific Asia: Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Korea, etc, though I am planning on doing Japan at some point in the next few years.

[ExtraScoop]

I live in the San Francisco bay area so I've been there. I've also been to many other parts of California including the Los Angeles area which is like a different world to me.

I've driven through Oregon and Washington. Been up to Vancouver and Victoria, BC.

My family and I went to Alaska two years ago which was very different culturally and scenic-wise than anywhere I've been.

I've been to the islands of Hawai'i, O'ahu, Maui and Kaua'i.

My wife and oldest son got to go to Japan last summer but I had to stay home with our youngest.

Oh yeah, I've been to TJ too.

[pinakboy]

lemme see...

been to:

all ova LA and the other counties

San Fran

Portland Oregon

Seattle Wa

San Diego

Guam

Phillippines -- island of luzon, where manila is.

the other islands of Hawaii---jus big isle and Kauai. i neva go maui yet dang! :eek:

wanna goto HK, Singapore, and Japan someday... :rolleyes:

[sinjin]

Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia.

Singapore, Malaysia, Japan.

Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand.

Colombia, Chile.

[pzarquon]

West Coast stuff, of course -- various spots in California, and Portland, Oregon. All major Hawaiian Islands except Maui. Fiji only if an emergency landing of a commercial flight to Asia counts. :)

More notably, I've been to Auckland, New Zealand; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore; Hong Kong SAR; and Shanghai, China. New Zealand is the only place I've visited that I really could imagine living. Too bad jobs are scarce (though sheep are not!).

[helen]

All major Hawaiian Islands except Maui.
For me sorted by total time spent would be Oahu, Kauai, Hawaii, Molokai, Maui.

Fiji only if an emergency landing of a commercial flight to Asia counts.
I think it counts.

[AuntieNellieKulolo]

Let's see: LA(where I was born), SF, SD, miscellaneous places in CA.

O'ahu, Maui, Big Island - not been to Kaua'i yet!

Stopovers in Vancouver and Singapore en route to Nepal and India(which don't count). :p

Leaving for China on Saturday.

Planning on visiting (and possibly teaching in)Thailand next year.

[kumukulanui]

It's a bit of a dead thread, but anyway...

I lived in Fiji and Vanuatu for five years. I had holidays in the Cook Islands (Rarotonga and Aitutaki) and spent over a year in Hawai'i - most of that on a sabbatical at UHH. I also did a bunch of scuba courses on the Big Island and Maui, and got rained on a couple of times on Kaua'i. I also lived in Vancouver, BC, for over a year and had a holiday in Santa Cruz, Ca.

The Big Island is still my favourite, although the Cook Islands come pretty close.

Ta ta

Peter

[Leo Lakio]

USA: Washington, Oregon, California, Hawai`i
Canada: Vancouver & Vancouver Island
Japan: Kyoto, Nagoya, Tokyo
Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Townsville, Brisbane
New Zealand: Auckland airport for one hour layover...

[glossyp]

Not counting the U.S. West Coast
Mexico
all of Central America including Panama
Bali
Vietnam
Thailand
Hong Kong
Shanghai
Philippines (Luzon and Cebu)
Japan
Korea
Guam
Saipan
Pohnpei
Palau
Here in Hawaii - only Oahu and the Big Island

[tutusue]

It's a bit of a dead thread, but anyway...[...]
Hey, Peter! <wave> Ten posts in 2 years? Ya gotta ramp that up a bit!

For me...
Raised in Laguna Beach, CA...
Spent lotsa time visiting from San Diego to Santa Rosa, including Catalina Island <g>...(Carmel's my fave)
Visited BC and loved Vancouver Island...(would consider living there)
Oahu, Maui, BI, Kauai...
Eventually said "screw it" and moved to my ultimate vacation spot! Not a moment's regret! :)

[kumukulanui]

Hey, Peter! <wave> Ten posts in 2 years? Ya gotta ramp that up a bit!



\m/ tutusue

I could lurk for England!

I got distracted - I lived in 4 countries in the last 2 years. I'm only back in the UK while I gather my breath...

Peter F

[Anitra]

Lived in Bay area, traveled down the CA coast and all the way to Cabo San Lucas via car/camping, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Galapagos (my fav!), Chile, Hong Kong, Bali.....southeast asia (does that count as Pacific?).

Really interested to visit more Pacific islands so hopefully I can get good rec's on that from this forum! :confused:

[Palama Kid]

While in the Navy, been to Guam, Midway, Philippines, Japan, Alaska, Washington, California & Mexico (if you count Tijuana).

Since move to California, up and down the Pacific Coast from Canada down to Mexico (still Tijuana).

[LocoBoy]

I'm probably one of the most un-worldly ppl out dea.....I've only been to Maui & da big island only once each :eek: . Not by choice, its been a matter of finances and responsibilities at home.

[Paul Ogata]

Besides Hawaii and the West Coast:

Guam, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Kwajalein, Johnston Island.

Excellent diving on Kwajalein. Beautiful underwater shipwreck in the lagoon, where the fish grow huuuuge. They say it's because the area is a fish sanctuary. It probably also has to do with the ship being radioactive. The U.S. military sank the ship in the lagoon after repeatedly using it in atomic blast testing. They were towing it back to port for scrapping, but it sank in the lagoon and that's where they left it. At least that's what my guide said. From the left one of his three heads.

Johnston, as you probably know, was a chemical/biological weapons disposal facility. Nasty stuff... Agent Orange, mustard gas, VX nerve gas, and stuff like that. I had to carry a packet of emergency syringes around in case the bad stuff leaked. They said you had so many seconds from hearing the alarm to "jab the needle into the fleshy part of your leg" and hurry over to the safe building. The guy there said, "You'll know you've been affected if you suffer the following symptoms: twitching, bleeding, blistering, vomiting and death." Oh, yeah, I'll be sure to see if I've come down with that death symptom. The birght side of that "symptom" is it will probably cut down on my spasmic barfing of blood.

Good times.

[Linkmeister]

Now wait a minute, Paul. There's no US Navy shipwreck in Kwajalein Lagoon, or there wasn't in 1975-1978 when I lived/worked there. The German ship Prinz Eugen is there, and there are a dozen or so Japanese ships (pictures here (http://www.underwaterkwaj.com/wreck/Ships.htm), but the Navy never sank one of its own there.

[helen]

Hmmm, I wonder if this is true. I know that the USS Pennsylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pennsylvania_%28BB-38%29) was used as a target (as well as other ships) in an A-bomb test and then later sunk. I didn't think it would at Kwajalein.

[Linkmeister]

Hmmm, I wonder if this is true. I know that the USS Pennsylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pennsylvania_%28BB-38%29) was used as a target (as well as other ships) in an A-bomb test and then later sunk. I didn't think it would at Kwajalein.

Hmm. From the Wikipedia article helen links to:Repairs were made to enable Pennsylvania to steam to the Marshall Islands where she was used as a target ship in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini atoll during July 1946. She was then towed to Kwajalein Lagoon where she decommissioned on August 29, 1946. She remained in Kwajalein Lagoon for radiological and structural studies until February 10, 1948 when she was sunk off Kwajalein. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on February 19, 1948.

Ok, I spent nearly three years living on that rock and don't remember the Pennsylvania ever being mentioned (there's no tourist bureau, of course, but there was a "What to do on Kwajalein" brochure or something that the contractor companies published). If you go look at the Kwaj websites the ship isn't mentioned. If Wikipedia is to be believed, then I'm wrong, but it's very strange that I've never heard of it.

[helen]

I suspect that the Pennsylvania has been sunk outside of the lagoon, maybe at depth too deep to be visited by scuba divers. Anyway the Naval Vessel Register web site (http://www.nvr.navy.mil/) also list the Pennsylvania as being sunk off Kwajalein.

[Paul Ogata]

Link,

Thanks for jogging my memory. I think the US military commandeered a German warship after WWII and used that for the bomb tests. And that's the ship that was there. All I know is there was some great diving.

I gotta go back!

[Linkmeister]

Link,

Thanks for jogging my memory. I think the US military commandeered a German warship after WWII and used that for the bomb tests. And that's the ship that was there. All I know is there was some great diving.

I gotta go back!

What the heck were you doing there in the first place? Couldn't have been performing, right? There sure wasn't any kind of entertainment when I worked there, other than what we made for ourselves (softball, beer, diving, beer, boating, beer...).

[Paul Ogata]

Yep, believe it or not I was performing. I actually did a couple of shows there, one at night at the nightclub and another at (ugh) an elementary school. They didn't bother to say what kind of show it was going to be, so when the van pulled up at the school I figured that it was like the town gathering place. But then I peered inside to see 40-50 kids from 3rd grade through 6th grade. Woo hoo! I've never edited so fiercely so quickly before.

Since it is a missle range, I want to go back to see the test rockets come splashing down in the lagoon. Does that happen? Or is that where they launch them?

I think I still may have a Kwaj "love stick" somewhere in storage.

[Linkmeister]

Yep, believe it or not I was performing. I actually did a couple of shows there, one at night at the nightclub and another at (ugh) an elementary school. They didn't bother to say what kind of show it was going to be, so when the van pulled up at the school I figured that it was like the town gathering place. But then I peered inside to see 40-50 kids from 3rd grade through 6th grade. Woo hoo! I've never edited so fiercely so quickly before.

Since it is a missle range, I want to go back to see the test rockets come splashing down in the lagoon. Does that happen? Or is that where they launch them?

I think I still may have a Kwaj "love stick" somewhere in storage.

Heh. "Where's my blue pencil, Stat!"

Some missiles are/were launched from Roi-Namur, miles up the eastern side of the lagoon, but most of the missiles that get tracked are/were launched from Vandenberg AFB in Ca. and splash down in the lagoon.

(Aside: that range may have the most appropriate name of any military base ever. Since it's all about testing the Star Wars defense these days, it's been renamed for Ronald Reagan.)

[fenua]

I had the oppertunity to sail thru french polynesia for 1 year. first the marquesas then the tuamotus , tahiti, moorea,raiatea, huahine, borabora, what a wonderfull place!!!!! Living here on o'ahu , I get a little bit of that feel when taking a drive up the windward side towards kahuku. I think everyone (especially Hawaiians) should find time to visit these south pacific "pearls"

Nana,
T

[Bard]

I've been all up and down the US mainland west coast, two islands of Japan, and Hawai'i (O'ahu so far). Amazing places, all. Looking to expand that list :D

[achow]

I been to Hong Kong (twice), Las Vegas, California, Japan (stop over at the airport), China, The Big Island of Hawai'i, Kaua'i, Moloka'i, and Maui.

[Queenolu]

Goodness... where have I been...

Lived in Japan... Korea.... Hong Kong.... Australia....Manila.... ohh of course, lived in lovely Guam for several years.

All over the US mainlain west coast... if that count. Hawai'i of course....

That's what I can remember for now...


Mahalo

[Lei K]

I had the oppertunity to sail thru french polynesia for 1 year. first the marquesas then the tuamotus , tahiti, moorea,raiatea, huahine, borabora, what a wonderfull place!!!!! Living here on o'ahu , I get a little bit of that feel when taking a drive up the windward side towards kahuku. I think everyone (especially Hawaiians) should find time to visit these south pacific "pearls"

Nana,
T

I agree. I feel that it would be a good experience since those islands must look a lot like pre contact Hawai`i in many areas.

[808shooter]

Well, been all over the Hawaiian isles - except for Niihau & Kahoolawe. Like Maui the best if I had to live somewhere else. Maui no ka oi. The best experience for a resort is a toss up between Waikoloa and the Lodge at Koele.

Go to California every other month on average. In-n-Out burgers the best thing about my trips :-)

Been to Seattle. Nice but wet city. Folks there are pretty nice. I have a bunch of buddies that live there in the rain :-P

Been to Vancouver, lots of pretty women there and Whistler - beautiful but kind of boring of you don't like the outdoors.

Been to a lot of little towns and cities on the west coast of Mexico. Don't remember a whole lot but don't like tequila anymore...

Traveled to Japan a few times. Nice place where you really feel that for the first time, you are travelling to a superior civilization. The exact opposite of what you feel when you go to a third world country.

Been to Macao. Went to their famous casinos but don't know how to play paigow with tiles so...

Hong Kong was also cool. Lots of knock off stuff. Especially interesting when you travel to the New Territories. Really feel like you're in China.

I'd like to go to China for the 2008 Olympics and do a side trip to Australia. Ah well, better start the savings - the airfare for wife and kids will kill me :-O
My girls are toddlers but already pretty experienced travellers. My oldest is three and been to Vegas three times already, Disneyland twice :-)

[Kaukura]

I love the pacific islands.. Didn't see this thread..

Hawaii: Big Island, Oahu, Kauai

French Polynesia: Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Huahine, Bora Bora, Maupiti, Tikehau, Rangiroa, Fakarava, Mataiva AND Kaukura.

Samoa: Upolu and Savai'i

American Samoa: Tutuila and Ofu Island

Fiji: Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Taveuni, Kadavu

New Caledonia: Grande Terre, Ile des Pins, Ovalau

Cook Islands: Rarotonga

[DannyWilliams]

Since the original threader emphasized PACIFIC REGIONS........

I have not been to them yet but I would like to some day........

But I do wanna share my travel stories:


SAN FRANCISCO!

While I was still living on Oahu I put together a trip to visit a friend who I worked with at a music store in Pearlridge and sadly he had to move to SF.
It was 1995 and it was my first trip to the mainland all by myself.
I was both nervous and exicited at the same time. And I was prepared with what to wear cause I was goin there in May that year and its usually cold during that time so I was ready!

I dwaddled around with my luggage and asked a lady behind a ticket counter to direct my where I can hop onto a van to take me to SF.
She replied just go out the doors to the island.
"ISLAND"? I thought, whats thaaaat?
As soon as I came out the doors the Bay Area cold weather just whoosed right into me and it was frickin cold maaaan!
I hopped onto the van that was going into SF and the driver was waiting for a few others so off we went.
Being that it was 8PM I was experiencing the Bay Area in the dark for the first time. I was noticing a lot of billboards which I found trippy for this local boy.
I found myself at the address my friend was living at and rang the buzzer.
He greeted me and he took me into his apartment that he resided at.
About an hour later or so I was in the room that was going to be my sleeping quaters for the next 2 weeks. I lied down for a bit and I dozed off.... hehe
I got up to find the door closed and the light off.

I was absorbing everything around me back in 1995.
Me and my friend was at a cafe in North Beach and we were ordering and I said I wanted a "coke" and she had a puzzling look.
I said a "soda" then she said...... ohhhhhhhhhh you want "Pop"..:rolleyes:
Guess I forgot to changed my wording around when wanting something.
During my trek I did find myself lost A LOT! And relying on a map to guide me in SF was always trivial. I kinda laugh on that cuz know since I live here I am familar on where I am going now.


Now when I moved to the Bay Area in 1998 my next travel destination was...

LAS VEGAS

My roomate has a friend that lives there and we went in 1999? 2000?
As soon as you get off of your plane there is slot machines all over the place at the airport.
Vegas is just like what you see in the movies. And booooooy it is DAAAAAMN HOT when you are outdoors! You appreciate being indoors whenever possible. Lots of things to see and do and lotsa goood deals on the eats.
I noticed weatherwise after 7PM or say its H-U-M-I-D:cool:


LOS ANGELES

My trek to La La Land was right after 9/11.......
Flyin there at the time was a obvious no go so me and the roomate drove there. From where we are at it is a 6 Hour Drive from N. Cali to S. Ca.....
Do reccomend stopping now and then cuz driving does take a toll on you.
We stayed at a motel in Sherman Oaks and visited Universal Theme Parks, Walked Parmount, checked out Hollywood, Santa Monica Piers. Had a chance to browse thru Rodeo Drive but I passsed.
The traffic there is HORRIBLE!

RENO

Was there 2003 (I think) and Reno is nice but seems just like another duplicate of Vegas that is.
Me and the roomate was gambling on the slots and he hit the jackpot! Nothing bigee and the workers patrolling was urging him to keep playing!
Naaaah! We used the proceeds on breakfast that morning!
Oh yeah they really do enforce the no one under 21 on the gambling floors.
There was a guy with a baby carriage and he was asked to keep the carriage and the machines a certain distance. *sheesh*


MAUI

The roomate who used to work for this well known computer company won a trip to Maui.
The last time I went to Maui was when I was a kid with my parents.
Though I would have preferred OAHU, Maui it is! My roomate a haole was loving every minute of it cause its his first time in paradise.
I enjoyed my stay there too.
We did the Road to Hana trip, walked thru Lahaina and even bought myself a key chain at Hilo Hatties that had my name in english and hawaiian.
Waltzed into a ABC store *LOL* which I have not done in ages since leaving Oahu back in 1998.
And I noticed, ppl are in a hurry there while driving cuz they actually pass you like they need to be somewhere asap.

MAUI is nice but I miss the wild life of OAHU :D