Getting to the 2008 Honolulu Regionals doesn't require breaking the bank

[da Marshalls]

For those of you out there concerned about the travel costs to Hawaii, I'm hear to tell you that you can get round trip tickets from the East Coast all the way to our beautiful island paradise for around $500/per person.

Cross county flights into LA, Oakland, SFO and Las Vegas routinely run $99 - $129 each way/per person. West coast to Hawaii connections run $119 -$149. These are valid fares available pretty much daily on major carriers, most with only 2-week advance purchase requirements.

Check out fares from ATA, Aloha airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Spirit, Frontier, America West and Jet Blue. Fares in and out of Oakland on ATA are DIRT cheap.

If your Team's Travel Coordinator is not afraid to go after the begging, whining and always effective crying discount, I'm sure they can get additional "concessions" and knock the price down some more. This of course, leaves more funds available for your team to island hop at $29/per person each way.

Paradise beckons.

[wendymom]

Thanks for the info!!! We have a team meeting tonight and I will surely bring this up

[Tim Delles]

Thanks for the info. I know that we were sitting in the stands and were amazed when they announced it.

If we can get the money hopefully we can make it down

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Wowzers... thanks for the info. Err... um... does anyone know any good websites for airfare? I can't think of any of the companies in the commercials off of the top of my head.

Good job on selling the Hawaii Regional. I'm sure teams like 234, 233, and 25 would definitely consider this regional since they've travelled all over the US in recent years.

[Vince lau]

Thanks for the info., i'm gonna try and get one of my teams to go next year.

[Elgin Clock]

Any way of getting some advance information of where it would be held, or at least which airport to fly into and what dates??
(In talking with some of my team this past Friday night, we came across the idea that we would love it if Hawaii and Las Vegas were back to back regionals and hit up both in one long extended vacation trip. How cool would that be?)

MY team is among all the others who wish to make Hawaii a reality, and if not I would like to go myself and volunteer with some folks at least.

Either way, I want to make it out there and cross off Hawaii from my "places to visit" list one of these days,and why not during a FIRST event?

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Budda648

Wowzers... thanks for the info. Err... um... does anyone know any good websites for airfare? I can't think of any of the companies in the commercials off of the top of my head.

Good job on selling the Hawaii Regional. I'm sure teams like 234, 233, and 25 would definitely consider this regional since they've travelled all over the US in recent years.

www.orbitz.com

www.travelocity.com

www.expedia.com

[da Marshalls]

My experience is that travelocity, expedia and orbitz don't have the fares I'm referring to. Go to the airlines directly:

ata.com
alohaairlines.com
hawaiianair.com
jetblue.com
spiritair.com
frontierairlines
usairways.com
southwest.com

- Deanna

[Kyle]

And also remember that the earlier that you make the reservations for the flights and hotel rooms and stuff the cheaper that it will be.

Also look into smaller airports like local non international ones sometimes you can get better air fares as long as you don't mind 1-3 layovers before reaching your final destination.

[Madison]

A quick glance at Farecast (www.farecast.com) shows that fares aren't available yet for March, 2008.

www.sidestep.com is another reasonable site for checking airfares, as is www.qixo.com. Both will query multiple other websites at a time, including the airlines' own sites.

[Eric O]

Originally Posted by Budda648

Wowzers... thanks for the info. Err... um... does anyone know any good websites for airfare? I can't think of any of the companies in the commercials off of the top of my head.

My personal favorite is kayak.com. It basically searches a bunch of airlines websites as well as Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. It doesn't actually sell the tickets, but instead links you to the cheapest place to buy the flight you want. There are also useful tools to play with to narrow or broaden your search as you see fit. By creating a login, you can have it email you when a given trip drops below a certain price, which could be useful when say; you want to book a flight to Hawaii when the price is below $400. It obviously doesn't include all airlines and websites out there, but I have been satisfied every time I use it.

[tyron256]

i wouldn't worry about delivery to another regional. Fed ex got our robot from Atlanta all the Way back to Hilo in time for a demo we needed to do at an event at our mall. Either way, they should be able to work something out with robot shipping.

Remember, Going to some of the other islands is a very good idea You'll be able to see another side of hawaii if you go visit a neighbor island such as the Big Island.<<hint hint

[chaoticprout]

question: is the venue a hockey-basketball style arena or is it a large building room. Thanks.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by chaoticprout

question: is the venue a hockey-basketball style arena or is it a large building room. Thanks.

Just found out your school has an affiliate, Chaminade in Hawaii, home of the basketball team that beat the #1 ranked team in the nation, Virginia with Ralph Sampson and Co. way back in 1982. I think they called that the biggest upset in college basketball history. Chaminade doesn't even play in the NCAA brackets.
Anyhow, is your team planning to come to the Hawaii regional?
One of your "teachers/coordinators" is offering VEX training with our new Hawaii rookie teams next year.

[chaoticprout]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Just found out your school has an affiliate, Chaminade in Hawaii, home of the basketball team that beat the #1 ranked team in the nation, Virginia with Ralph Sampson and Co. way back in 1982. I think they called that the biggest upset in college basketball history. Chaminade doesn't even play in the NCAA brackets.
Anyhow, is your team planning to come to the Hawaii regional?
One of your "teachers/coordinators" is offering VEX training with our new Hawaii rookie teams next year.

Actually the plan is that we're coming down this summer for VEX training, which we'll help present, and then come back in 2008 for the regional. Should be lots of fun.