Traveling to Hawaii
Now that you are registered for Left Coast Crime 2009 on the Big Island of Hawaii, you might wonder how to you get there from here and once you arrive, how do you get to the Waikoloa Hotel and how will you travel around this beautiful Island.
Air travel: From the Mainland: you have two major way to fly to Hawaii—either directly to Kona Airport on the Big Island (and then 30 minutes on a beautiful road to the hotel) or stop over and transfer flight from either Honolulu on Oahu or through the airport on Maui to Kona airport. I prefer the former, as I want to get to my primary destination without delays but sometimes you might want a travel break at another Island before your trip to The Big Island.
The following cities have direct flights to Kona as of December 2007. You will have to check in 2008 when you make reservation plans in March 2008:
San Diego
Los Angeles
Oakland
San Francisco
Phoenix (US Air)
Chicago (one stop - no change)
Vancouver (Air Canada)
You can fly from:
Seattle and Anchorage direct to Honolulu and then take an Inter Island flight to Kona.
If anyone has identified other good flights, please add to this list.
United is the prime airline direct to Kona—with 2 flights per day from LA and San Francisco. American, Delta, ATA, and Aloha all make flights from various Mainland airports—some direct and someone with other primary Hawaiian destinations—with a required intra Island hop to Kona. The schedules of the latter airlines are a little less frequent per day or per week. All airline schedules are subject to schedule changes and the closer we get to our convention in March 2009, the more accurate will be the printed schedule.
There is one flight per day to Kona from Tokyo if you are planning to visit Japan before coming to Hawaii.
With the purchase of Hawaiian Air by Alaska Air, there will be increased flights from Alaska to Hawaii and we will have more to share with you as those schedules are confirmed.
You can make reservations one year prior to the date of travel (and not before) so please pay attention to your calendars. I recommend that you make your plans EARLY, as we are talking “Prime Time” in Hawaii and folks really think ahead for this destination. Let us know if you are planning to come from other destinations (Australia, New Zealand, Europe, etc) and we will get more specific travel information for you.
We will post more details as we come closer to the 1-year deadline—so you can make your best choices to enjoy maximum time on your “family” excursion to Hawaii and Left Coast Crime. The details will include tours offered before the March 7, 2009 date, during the Convention and after the March 12, 2009 date. We anticipate tours to the Volcanoes, the Mona Kea Observatories, whale watching and snorkeling in Kealakekua Bay among many more. A special evening for LCC 2009 participants at the Kahua Ranch is also being planned. Watch as the offerings unfold!
We will arrange an auto rental contract for you at the Kona airport, and more information about “best’ rates will be posted after the one year opening for the convention date (March 7th-12th, 2009). You can also get to the hotel by taxi and other ground transportation if you choose not to drive (driving is easy in Hawaii—the roads are great and there are not too many of them—it is hard to get lost)
Send us your queries and we will make every effort to get up to date information for you and post on this site. Aloha and Happy Travels