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

Competition Regional Competitions
#81

I am kind of scared about the plane tickets right now.
The cheapest I found was $329 round trip (I guess that is pretty cheap for Hawaii, I don’t know how much cheaper or more expensive it is going to be when we actually order it!) (normally for our away regional, it costs 500- 600 for students that is including plane ticket, hotel, and 2 team dinners as well as all transportation to and from the airport etc.)
I hope I will be able to bargain a little once i call them.

And I checked out the hotels. Even though they aren’t EXTREMELY far from the university, but that is a fair amount of walking to and from competition area (1 mile each way is not fun when you are tired from a day of competition)
Anyone think it would be wise to rent a car just for transportation between the hotel and the university?
What are some other Silicon Valley team’s plan??
254?
Input from Hawaiian teams on near by restaurants would be great!

#82

$330 is WAY WAY WAY cheap. It will not get any cheaper. Buy them ASAP.

Btw, where did you find this price? I’ve been checking SFO, SJC, OAK to HNL and never found less than $450

We aren’t sure what we’re doing for hotels yet.

#83

ata.com
it is form oak to honolulu
but since they don’t have the prices for march 26 to 30 yet, i used feb 27 to march 2… so it’s just an approximate

#84

You guys are finding good deals, or booked before we did. We got tickets for around $500 flight roundtrip, but then for hotel are staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, roughly $400 per person.

#85

I bet some of our parents won’t be really happy about the prices… ahhh!!!

we haven’t booked anything yet… still researching
I think we are gonna go for cheaper hotels to save some money.

#86

ATA right now looks good. If your finding a hotel in waikiki, I would not walk to and from the University of Hawaii. That’s pretty far before and after a FIRST event daily. If you can get a rental car, even 1 is better than none, where you can shuttle your team.
I really wouldn’t worry about nearby restaurants, if you have a car. If you dont, then waikiki has their share of fast foods and eateries. Personally, I wouldn’t eat in Waikiki, since its a tourist trap and everything is very expensive.
In other words, get a car/van if your teams can afford it. Plus, you can see the island during your free time.:smiley: :smiley:
Even our team is planning to stay in a hotel in waikiki during the event since our school is at least 1 - 1 1/2 hours away from event (depending on traffic) and dont want to miss the team socials at night.
Feel free to ask us more questions if any of you have them.

#87

From what I can see around the competition dates, round trip from Oakland on ATA is $429 at the cheapest before taxes and fees (dates are available for booking from Oakland, but not some other starting cities). I’m afraid to tell you that you are not going to see prices in the $300 range as the competition is during peak travel season to Hawaii.

As for hotels, there are none that are within a desirable walking distance to the venue. If you don’t rent a car, you can opt to use public transportation (TheBus.org) which is convenient from the venue to Waikiki and also the Ala Moana Shopping Center which is where the dining choices are a little more plentiful (food court). Be careful with the cheaper hotels - they may not be someplace you want to have students staying.

#88

We’ll probably end up having near 30 people going. So 1 Van might be sort of busy. Any one know if those small shuttle buses things that seats 12 to 15 people needs a special drivers license? I think we can rent them for several days for $300 to $400.

Jim Beck is still talking to some Hotels for possible sponsorship (discount or if we are really really really lucky, free rooms) so we are waiting to near back from him.

Our coach is away, so I can’t really decide anything now, especially since we don’t even have a list of names of people who wants to go. I would need an approximate price. ( I wonder if we are allowed to book a whole flight =P with some other teams in the area)

#89

Yes, the Regional Planning Committee is trying to nail down an agreement with a local hotel, but it might be difficult with the time of year.

You might consider renting the large passenger vans (I found some on Thrifty.com for 12 passengers) which I do not believe require a special license.

As for chartering a flight, you might try checking that out if other teams in the area haven’t already booked their flights and you can get a large enough group.

#90

I guess I’ll contact 254 and the Space Cookies

#91

I do not believe we have made our reservations yet. Team 1868 is not attending Hawaii, though.

We are only bringing 8-10 students and 12 or so people overall. I don’t think chartering a plane becomes feasible until you get into very large numbers. The smallest plane any carrier operates to Hawaii seats around 200-225 people. Unless you can fill most/all of those seats, I doubt it’s a good alternative to simply flying commercial.

#92

I meant contacting them early and reserving a large part of the flight so we can make sure every team have enough seats

#93

According to Wikipedia, Aloha Airlines planes have a capacity of 124 that travel to and from the mainland. That’s still quite a number to overcome, however.

#94

Really? Aloha must fly 737’s to Hawaii. I didn’t know that.

I think the number of people going to the event from the Bay Area is way too small for it to even be worth looking into. Individual teams should be able to get a group/athletic team rate for around 20-30 people.

There’s enough SoCal teams that it’d be an interesting thought though.

Can you guys reccomend any hotels in the area? Do you know where you guys are going to stay? Anyone from 359 or other Hawaiian teams have any advice? We’ve found a couple we’re looking into, but it’d be nice to stay with/near other teams who will be at the event.

#95

One of the members of the Executive Advisory Board for the Hawaii event is a representative for Marriott so hopefully something may come about through that. I don’t know if/when that may materialize, but it might be something worth waiting for. Sorry, I know that doesn’t help at all.

Our team lives in the area, so we’re not getting any hotel reservations. I don’t know where 359 will be staying. If we had to stay someplace, it might’ve been at the Pagoda Hotel, but it’s a little generic, next door to and not within Waikiki, but close to food and shopping and a couple blocks from Ala Moana Beach Park.

#96

We haven’t booked anything yet. We were going to stay wherever a $2,000 budget will take us for 6 rooms for 3 nights. That’s roughly 100/night plus HTAT and excise taxes.
Pagoda is one of our options, since the price is right for what you get. Yes, it is indeed close to shopping, eateries, etc. However, it is not close to Waikiki at all. I wanted to add that parking in Waikiki is a horror if your not getting some kind of discount staying at a hotel there.
Also, Aloha Airlines do indeed have small planes. My sister works for them so I get to fly on it all the time to Vegas.:smiley: :smiley: I am not sure if they would be able to handle a large team(s). I dont recall prices being that cheap also whenever our team has researched it.
Let’s all plan to stay at the Pagoda then! We are game!!
Finally, the idea of getting assistance, if any, from the Marriot might be something worth waiting for. However, as team 368 has mentioned, its not a guarantee and may be a while before it materializes.

#97

Now, I admit I haven’t read the entire contents of this thread, nor am I going to Hawaii, but…

Have the teams going considered chartering a jet together? When my school’s concert band went down to Disney this April, we chartered a jet with another school (the director’s wife is director at that school). We could arrange what time we wanted to leave and it was probably cheaper & easier to get tickets than trying to fly commercially. If anyone is interested in this, PM me and I’ll ask about who we chartered (no guarantees they fly to Hawaii).

#98

just curious. any teams on the waiting list waiting to get on? The new FIRST regional listing doesnt show whos on the pending/waiting list.
:smiley: :smiley: I noticed there are 7 pending teams. Team pink seems to have been just added along with ourselves.

#99

we are pending. but our adult mentor is away, so we are not too sure when we’ll be able to pay ( we have the money in our account though… YAY GRANTS!!!)

#100

We are IN too. Our check is in process but we are squared with the NH office.

It’s gonna be a fun trip!!

WC :cool: