During our stay at Four Seasons Lodge at Koele we booked an excursion to do the Clay Shooting at Lana'i Pines and we were not disappointed.  They pick you up from the hotel and drive you a quick, maybe 5 minute ride out to the course, which is picturesque.  It's such a fun early morning activity to get you off your butts from just sitting at the pool sipping mai-tais.  For those of you who don't know exactly what clay shooting is (like moi), it's when you shoot at different clay targets that simulate different flight patterns of the different birds or animals.

I learned that it's one of the most challenging sporting clay sites in the world, the course features a dramatic landscape of deep gulches and ravines, vast expanses of pampas grass and groves of Australian pine and lantana brush. Beginners are introduced to the sport with a 45-minute lesson by a certified instructor, emphasising the essence of the sport and gun safety.

Safety is a top priority here, which of course the girl in me really appreciated.  The staff makes you go through every proper precaution before you begin.  The instructor we had was absolutely amazing. He really knew how to teach you to hit the targets. Even me, the most inexperienced sharp shooter was able to hit many of the targets.  You'll have a fun time and a unique experience to share with your friends.  Plus, you get a cerficate and a pin for free.

It was a great time. Visit Four Seasons Lodge at Koele's website for more information.  Open daily from 9-230 pm.There are also other activities like archery available.

Lana'i City Grille at Hotel Lana'i is a true gem that's worth it's high price tag in my opinion.  Afterall, nothing is locally grown on Lana'i so everything has to be either shipped or brought onto the island.  The food was nicely presented, generous and very tasty.  The drinks were poured with love and the Aloha spirit.  The restaurant is owned by a husband and wife who have poured their heart and soul into the menu and ambience.  Michelle Kommes, the restaurant manager and wife of the brilliant chef greets patrons with a warm and cheerful smile and walks around to make sure everyone's meals are perfect.  This meal is definitely splurgeworthy, we felt like we had truly had a unique Lana'i experience.

For appetizers we had the crabcakes and the seared tuna with a coconut sauce. Both of them were perfect and tasty.  The crabmeat was especially fresh and wonderful. 

We also got a salad, which if you're trying to save money I'd skip and stick to the mouth watering appetizers, which are some truly creative and mouth-watering dishes. 

They truly saved the best for last here. The oven baked chocolate chip cookie was absolutely the most amazing dessert I think I've ever had. And I am pretty discriminating when it comes to my chocolate chip cookies since my dad makes them the best but this ooey gooey cookie bursts with warm oozing dough when you take the first bite.  It would be worth visiting Lanai City Grille if only for this. 

Pictured above was what survived.

Visit Lana'i City Grille's website for more information and to make reservations.  It gets pretty packed at night so make sure to make your reservations early.

You may also want to see our review of Four Seasons Lana'i Manele Bay and Four Seasons Lodge at Koele.

The Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui was everything I dreamed it would be. From the moment you pull onto the property you are greeted by friendly and helpful staff, you're treated to a lei of beautiful purple flowers for the ladies and beads for the men.  As you check in your bags are taken care of and you're offered guava mango juice. Yum! When we walked into our room I was amazed outright at the size,  it was seriously the size of my Manhattan apartment.  Not joking, peeps. The decor is tropical resort-esque and everything was immaculately clean.  I had read in some reviews on Trip Advisor that the rooms needed to be updated and I have to say that although they do have an upcoming renovation scheduled (pics to follow later in this post) that we couldn't have been happier with the state of the room as is.  (And we're pretty spoiled from hotels at this point).   I'm by no means saying a vacation here is going to be inexpensive but it's a five star hotel and that's how you're treated. I'm a big believer in "You get what you pay for."  My only problem with paying alot comes when I'm not getting what I paid for.  I can assure you that at the Fairmont you are getting what you pay for. So, my advice is just to help you save money and a few tricks to cut corners if you're splurging but really are still on a budget.

The hotel is located on the pristine white sands of Wailea, perfect for Hawaiian vacations.  The Fairmont Kea Lani is Hawaii's only luxury oceanfront resort featuring spacious suites and villas accommodations for Maui vacations and vacation packages. Plus it's only 17 miles away from the airport.  Many people are curious if they should stay in Lahaina or Wailea.  I have to say I'd say 100% Wailea.  Lahaina is really fun to walk around for an afternoon and have lunch but when you think of Hawaiian honeymoons you think of Wailea. Lahaina is more like a beach town or surf town.  And the drive between the two is only about 45 minutes by the beach so it's beautiful. 

One-bedroom suites offer a spacious 840 square feet of living space and private lanais (patios). Rooms also are equipped with high speed internet access–plus, if you're a Fairmont's President Club member it's free (I recommend signing up for this–it's free!) Here I am in the spacious living room. I can't say we spent much time on this couch since every day of weather was gorgeous so if we were in the room we were out on our balcony. But it did make for a nice waiting area when I was waiting for Ross to finish his sunscreen before we hit the beach.

Here's the bedroom. The bed was super comfy and I just love the white linens. You know everything is clean clean clean! The maid service was also wonderful. Every time I came back to the room it seemed to have been refreshed.  At turn down they would also leave a little card that said the weather for the next day as well as the time of sunrise/sunset. 

The huge marble bathroom contains twin pedestal sinks, deep soaking tub and walk-in shower.  A wet bar, microwave oven, coffee maker and compact refrigerator are also standard in all suites.The shower was amazing. Bath products were nice and smelled like flowers.

Every night we hung out in the lobby before dinner. Mary, the head waitress there makes each night special. She's just so super sweet, she keeps you coming back.  Well, her and the live music and tropical drinks. They do get a little pricey though so we actually bought some Maui Brewing Company beer and a bottle of wine so that we could have a drink and look over the ocean before coming down.  This really helps save some money because when you buy the beer at a local store it comes out to be about $1/beer. If you have one drink on your awesome balcony a night (which I suspect some of you have more than one), a little pregame if you will, you'll save about $15/drink. Our philosophy is we'd rather always order more food and pay for that than pay for booze, especially when you have this beautiful balcony overlooking the ocean. But of course that's a personal choice. It's just that the restaurants at the hotel and in Maui are so spectacular I had a hard time spending $15 a drink when that money could have gotten me something like Oishi Sushi (deep fried spicy tuna roll).

Here's a pic of us having a beer on our balcony, watching the sunset. Doesn't get much better than this!

Our second day at the Fairmont we met with PR extraordinaire, Trudy for a little site tour of the property so we could show you girlies the new renovations–pics that aren't available online yet.  So, as I said, I think the hotel is beautiful just the way it is but every few years they do renovations and update their rooms. Here's the room that they already renovated.  Nice right?

And here's an updated bedroom.  They streamlined the furniture and chose more subdued colors.  They also updated the TVs to flatscreen, though I have to say we had such fun-filled days that we never turned the TV on once–the true sign of a great vacation.

The renovation is scheduled for this fall.  All three swimming pool decks will be replaced with quartzite, a naturally beautiful stone that will dramatically enhance the expansive pool areas.  The Fairmont Kea Lani will continue to be a full service resort over the renovation dates scheduled August 30 – October 28, 2010.  Learn about renovation details and take advantage of spectacular discounts with their “Renovation with Aloha” rates. Inquire within.

Here's a picture of one of the villas. There are 2 and 3 bedroom villas available.  The villas are a step closer to the beach and have their own little dip pools.  Think privacy. You have your own full kitchen and grill outside.  You can even hire your own personal chef through the hotel to come throw you dinner parties. It's ideal for families and celebs.  Celebs like Kate Hudson, Britney Spears, and Jason Alexander have all stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui. 

Here's a shot of the lobby. It's glorious. The ceiling is open and there are no walls. It looks straight out onto the ocean.  They even call their hallways "Breezeways!" How cute? There are several different shops to peruse while you're there filled with fun little treats, souveniers, etc.  The hotel also has this awesome little cafe right near the pool called Cafe Ciao where you can get little goodies to eat poolside. It has an amazing coffee shop like Starbucks but better. We got a Banana Mocha Frappe, which had real banana in it, every morning. Other faves of mine included iced macadamia nut coffee and unsweetened mango iced tea.  They have different pasta and veggie premade salads too that make a great cheap and light lunch for the pool or beach. I got two small containers (which was alot of pasta) and an iced tea and that came to about $16.

They also have a restaurant/bar right by the pool that serves awesome nachos.  The only thing we got there that we didn't like was the fish wrap. Ick. I just didn't like that the fish had the skin on it, but that's just me being a super picky seafood eater.

The hotel also offers an amazing Buffet brunch where you can get anything and everything you desire.  They just renovated this room so it's a feast for the eyes and the stomach.  They have an omelette station where you can literally add any veggie or cheese that your heart desires.  They even have low-fat options like egg beaters.  The buffet is filled with fruit, pancakes, eggs, breakfast meat, waffles, granola, pastries and all the fixins you could imagine.  This is about $30 per person but if you do this, trust me, you won't be hungry until dinner.

There is Japanese themed restaurant that was our favorite for lunch, Ko.  We had a teriyaki chicken sandwich and an amazing Tofu stir fry for lunch. The convenience of not having to go far from the pool is worth the price, sandwiches are about $20/25. Ko is an absolute MUST for dinner. Make sure to check out our Ko Restaurant Maui Must Eat review.

The property is stunning and has 3 pools. There's one with a swim up bar for adults and also a waterslide for kids.  In the other pool there's a basketball hoop for kids and adults and then there is even an Adult's Only pool where you can get some peace, read a book and just lay out without getting splashed.  This was where we spent most of our time.  Like the Four Seasons they brought around treats like fruit skewers and cold compresses to cool you off. Has anyone seen Couples Retreat? It's basically like Eden.

The hotel also has the usual amenities like fabulous golf, an awesome spa and kids club. A full activities program at this exceptional resort offers snorkeling, sailing, kayaking, stand-up paddling, scuba diving and island-wide excursions. Learn about Hawaiian culture through the resort's own Hawaiian Canoe Experience.

We had an amazing time doing this.  You get up early and the guides give you an awesome background about what life was like on Maui back in the day.  They teach you the basics about a canoe and get you ready to go out.  Once out on the water they even give you the option to jump out of the boat and throw on a snorkel mask and check out some of the oceanlife.  I was terrified but inspired by the adorable woman in my boat who didn't know how to swim but threw on a life jacket and jumped in, refusing to miss such an awesome experience.  I figured, hey if she can't swim and can do it, so can I.  What you see in the ocean is breathtaking. Trust me.

If you prefer a more leisurely pace, pamper yourself with a rejuvenating treatment in one of Hawaii's most acclaimed spas, Spa Kea Lani. Fitness classes are also available such as yoga, body contouring, Polo Beach workout and aquacise.

So here's the DL, rooms start at about $400 but you can always call and see if they have any specials going on.  For instance, right now if you book here for your honeymoon you get a free bottle of wine and dessert at Ko Restaurant.  Here's my advice to save yourself a little dough:

Buy some beer or wine and have a drink on your balcony (most rooms have ocean views so it really is beautiful and relaxing) before you leave for the night or go to have a drink in the hotel bar.

Don't valet your car, self-park in the guest parking. It's only like a 2 minute walk. 

Do either the breakfast buffet and be full all day or go to Cafe Ciao and get some fruit, yogurt or pasta salads to go. 

The hotel offers complimentary bottled water in the rooms, take this for hikes instead of stopping to get it on the way.

Go off the property for lunches some days–we tried an amazing Mexican restaurant called Fred's Mexican. It's about a 12 minute drive from the hotel and tacos were about $12. They're also supposed to have awesome Margaritas.  We were on our way to go hike Iao Valley though so we skipped the cocktails. You can also get great suggestions from their concierge who rocked–ask for Patty she really knew her stuff!

We absolutely loved it here and I must say, originally I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay here or the Four Seasons. Well, we walked over to the Four Seasons for lunch one day and I wasn't any more impressed with it there than the Fairmont (which was significantly less money). I read some reviews online saying that the Fairmont had to work on it's luxury,  I must say I totally disagree. Nothing here was anything but five star treatment!

Visit Fairmont Kea Lani for rates and more information about the property.

Also check out our restaurant review of Ko Restaurant. 

Welcome to the other side of Lana'i–beach and sunshine.  The decor here was impeccable. Definitely had an asian flare but the overall theme again here was just pure serenity.  The staff was attentive but not in a way that you felt like they were hoping for a tip.  There is a beautiful pool as well as a beach just about a one minute walk from the pool.  The staff passed around treats all day long, iced water with a pineapple/mint essence, ice packs to put on your head and fruit skewers with fresh pineapple and melon.  The staff set up chairs and umbrellas for you for you on the beach and brought treats down there too. There was always  sun tan lotions (spf 8-30) available at both water locations.

Gardens and waterfalls cover the property.

Ocean Grill is a must for lunches and definitely for at least one dinner. It's right next to the pool and has the most spectacular view–especially during sunset. Yes, it's definitely a litle pricey but it's not only very convenient the food is definitely spectacular.  We loved the Margharita pizza for lunch–note this was much bigger than the veggie pizza for some reason and could be easily shared to save a buck. Also, from 4-5 everyday there is a happy hour where drinks are specially priced and so are pu-pus (appetizers). It's like a little hotel party everyday for guests to socialize and well, get blitzed! Try their margaritas. These were a standout here.

Dinner here was effing awesome.  You absolutely cannot miss the pad thai. Pad thai is my favorite food ever and I swear to you it was the best pad thai I've ever had. The shrimp were cooked perfectly. I don't know how else to put it–best dish ever. Maybe my favorite dish I ate in all of Lana'i (see this review for my favorite dessert in Hawaii). The Tuna was also awesome.  If you're trying to save money here, I'd skip the desserts. We tried two sundaes and weren't blown away by either.

There are 2 amazing hikes right from the property. Both are wonderful and get you moving before you eat huge meals and lay like a beached whale by the pool while amazing staffers cater to your every need. Plus–they're free. You can do one and then stop back at the hotel for water. Each took about 1 hour.

Try out the spa! Use of the facility is free! Think steam room and rain fall showers. The hotel also offers mini-spa treatments poolside. 

This was the view from our room.  You could actually walk out onto the grass from our porch and see the ocean. Obvs. We read here everyday (until I fell asleep for a daily nap) and listened to the waves.

As for the amenities, there was a huge marble bathroom and L'Occitane products.  White linens and white bathrobes to lounge in along with Four Seasons slippers.

To save money here I would say that you don't need to rent a car. You can use their shuttle to go most places on the island that you'd want to go. It's very small (about the size of manhattan).

Rooms start at $259! I mean for a Four Seasons on a remote private island? It doesn't get much better than this!

To book travel here or check out rates click here.

Or read our review about Four Seasons Lana'i Lodge at Koele.

Four Seasons Resort Lana`i, The Lodge at Koele

Every day when I take a break to surf the internet all I can do is check the Four Seasons' and Fairmont's website and get excited. These look like 2 of the most luxurious hotels ever. And the best part ever is that you can actually find some reasonably affordable rates (espesh during non-peak seasons).  That's the key peeps. You can stay at the luxury hotels if you can be flexible about your dates.

Fiance will finally be done with all his work and ready to play with ME! Do I sound like I'm 6? That's how I feel. Do any of y'all have any fun vacays planned? I haven't been out of the city (other than to go to CLE) in a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG time. Hello Hawaii Luxury! Goodbye, Cement Jungle! Let the countdown begin!

Four Seasons Resort Lana`i at Manele Bay

Website: http://www.fourseasons.com/lanai
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FSLanai
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Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui, Hawaii

For more awesome pics or to learn more visit their Website.

(Above is Ritz Carlton Jamaica)

Are you in desperate need of a getaway but find most hotels repulsive? Ohh or is that just me? If I don’t stay at a nice hotel it’s not a vacation to me. Praying I don’t get bedbugs does not go hand in hand with relaxation in my book. Unfortunately for me, I can’t always afford to stay at the Ritz Carlton…until now!

I wanted to let you know about a great offer that Ritz-Carlton hotels are offering globally called the ‘Peace of Mind’ package.  You can enjoy complimentary nights with the reservation of three or more nights.

Ch-ch-check it out!

Additional details are at www.ritzcarlton.com/ONE

Sorry I jetted off to the glorious Land of Cleveland for Mems day, but I have some glorious recommendations for anyone who plans on visiting!  We had such a wonderful weekend with BF and my parents! In all honestly, I know I’m partial but it really is such a great city, with tons of things to do!

We kicked off our trip to Cleve with a visit to Skyline, the bestttttt chili ever! If you haven’t been you must go! It’s the greatest bargain ever. It’s such an Ohio Gem. If you live in New York, Edward’s restaurant down in Tribeca (where the owner is from Cincinnati) even ships it in 1x per month so those who hail from OH can get their fix. In Cleveland it’s cheap as hell. In NY, obviously it’s a little pricier since they ship it in. But it’s just that good. Every friend I’ve taken has loved it. Okay, I only took GF but she is quite the Foodie so I know it’s good.

For dinner we hit up Moxie.An upscale restaurant with Seafood, Steak and the usual suspects. It’s delish. Definitely would find a similar place in NYC. In fact, it’s sister restaurant next door was named one of the Top 10 Steakhouses in the United States by Playboy. I don’t know why they’re rating steakhouses but I mean I guess Guys? Steaks? Boobs? Whatever. Cleveland rocks! Click here to see!

We also went to the lake. The view was shockingly picturesque. We also hit up Honey Hut Ice Cream shop featuring homemade ice creams with original flavors like Honey Pecan and Orange Blossom. It tasted like what ice creams should taste like. Did I mention it was like $2 for 2 scoops.

The next night we hit up Maggiano’s Italian Restaurant for dinner. The Angel Hair and Meat sauce I got came in a bowl tht would honestly serve a family of 4 easily. Priced at about $13 I could have eaten for a week! For those of you who haven’t visited a Maggiano’s I highly recommend it. It’s atmosphere is fun and warm with hearty portions to fill any tummy!

Then we watched the Cav’s game. I mean, Lebron, you are a cocky SOB but you deserve it. That last shot in Friday’s game against Orlando was incredible. Didn’t catch it? Lebron made a 3 point shot at the buzzer when there was one second to go! Even he looked shocked when it went in.

The next night was what we had waited for–Billy Joel and Elton John in concert! They were A-MAAAAAZ-ZING! Words cannot describe how fun this over 3 hour concert was. True to Cleveland form though not many people were standing or dancing except for me. I felt so young until I woke up the next day and had pulled my neck and back from awkwardly dancing in my seat. Bummer. Their performances were truly outstanding–especially considering the fact that they’re in their 60s! Elton brought the house down with songs like Tiny Dancer and Rocket man. Billy gave a strong performance drawing the crowd in with his charisma and adorable anecdotes and remarks between songs like “I’m not Billy Joel, I’m his father.”  After a joint opening followed by individual sets, the two reunited for an encore together and finished out the night with 9 songs including “Candle in the Wind” and “Piano Man.”

The weekend was fabulous though I may have left out the Cleveland-defining moments that filled the weekend like the massive amounts of obese people, toe rings and Coach bags I saw.  But that aside, look at all the wonderful things to do in Cleveland! You are all Witnesses to the great things it has to offer! (Numero Uno–my fam!)