Honeymoon in Hawaii

There are so many reasons why Hawaii turns up as No. 1 on the list of top destinations for honeymooners year after year. For one thing, once you get outside crowded, touristy Waikiki, it's absolutely beautiful. Serene.

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The air is filled with the fragrance of exotic tropical flowers, such as plumeria. Thick banyan trees gracefully drop their branches to the ground, and grow upwards from there. The water is a pristine turquoise blue. The beaches are immaculate, and uncrowded.

And you can try out just about any water sport you ever imagined. After all, surfing began here.

The food is great, too. You can get just nearly anything you like, but preferred local delicacies come from the sea. Fresh mahi-mahi and opakapaka plucked from the Pacific Ocean and garnished with Hawaiian macadamia nuts are heavenly. Maui onions are sweet as can be. And the island's kettle-cooked potato chips are so salty and crunchy, they redefine the meaning of sinfully good.

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It feels like another world, but it's the USA. And it's easy to get around, once you arrive. Don't plan to stay long in Waikiki; it's too urban, too crowded. The kind of place you should see once...and then depart for calmer shores.

Hawaiian Air makes it relatively easy to island-hop and even offers inter-island air-hotel-rental car packages. If you're going to be spending any amount of time here, I suggest you do that.

Four days on one island and three on another could be the perfect amount (if you can't stay a lifetime... which you will consider doing).

Definitely plan to rent a car, and go exploring. There aren't that many roads on the outer islands, so it's unlikely you'll get lost. But it is likely that you'll come upon scenes of exquisite beauty, where you'll feel compelled to pull over and simply marvel at how amazing nature can be, when all her elements are in perfect balance.

You'll have to sleep sometime. And there are many, many places to choose from, in all price ranges. On the next pages, I've compiled a list of what I believe to be the...