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Check out these Hawaii travel tips and see if you get excited like we did.

Are you a little adventurous? Do you enjoy a bargain when it comes to travel?

This is how we travel and it has always worked out great for us. Try it at your own risk, but if you love travel bargains, youll love the way this works.

We like to travel in the off season and see Hawaii when it isnt so crowded. Off season travel has its benefits and drawbacks.

The weather isnt always the most ideal, yet, it can be every bit as good as the peak season.

Weve gone in peak season and had crummy weather and weve traveled in the off season and had great weather, its always a crap shoot any way so we take the chance.

Normally, we get awesome air travel rates in the off season to start of the trip.

We usually only book the first night or maybe the second and then we hit the streets and the hotel lobbies searching for the booklets, newspapers and coupon guide books.

Last time we did this, it was in January, right after the new year and everything was dead.

Hawaii was like a ghost town and we were able to find some of the most incredible deals you could imagine.

We got a flight to Oahu, with a three night stay in a luxury hotel complete with a rental car for just a little more than the normal price of the inter-island flight.

Another time, while on the island of Maui, we called a hotel on Oahu and asked for the price of a suite we had stayed in on a previous trip.

For the price of a normal room, we got a 2 bedroom penthouse suite overlooking Waikiki Beach and facing Diamond Head. This was a corner room with four 10 foot sliding glass doors so it was like having glass walls and you could see everything. It had every amenity and our kids almost went nuts using Jacuzzi tubs, making meals in the kitchen and sitting on the two verandas overlooking the beach. There was a special elevator that only went from the lobby level to the tenth floor.

These are just some of the Hawaii travel tips that weve accumulated. We think you might like traveling by the seat of your pants as much as we do. It gives us braging rights with the relatives also.

Next time you visit Hawaii, throw caution to the wind and give it a try. Ill bet it will be the most exciting and value packed vacation youve ever experienced.

Chuck Harmon loves to travel and Hawaii is one of his favorite places. Check out 1001 travel tips at http://www.toptentraveltips.com

The first two steps in getting certified in scuba diving is to make sure that you are a reasonably proficient swimmer and you get medical clearance from your doctor to take up the sport. As for the swimming, you dont have to master every type of stroke. Scuba certification only requires that you are able to swim about 200 yards using any stroke you want and to be able to float or tread on water for about 10 minutes. If you are in good general health and are comfortable in the water, then you should be able to scuba dive without any problems.

There are about 1,900 professional scuba dive centers in North America alone and your local ones should definitely be checked out. Most will run basic certification programs on a regular basis. These centers or shops should be listed in the yellow pages and you can also check with websites of some of the major scuba diving certification agencies such as PADI or NAUI as they will also have listings. Sometimes scuba diving courses are offered at universities too.

Make sure that the course you are interested in taking as well as its instructor are certified with one of the major scuba diving training agencies. This will ensure that you get proper, safe training for both the technical background knowledge and practical skills required for certification as a scuba diver. You also want to end up with an internationally recognized certification card if you want to go scuba diving at various locations around the world.

Some vacation resorts offer resort courses lasting a day or two which offer beginners some very basic training in order to try out scuba diving. These are not certification programs. Full certification programs involve classroom work, exams, practical skills sessions at a pool and usually about four open water dives in the sea (lake or ocean). The duration of the classroom work and pool sessions vary from a very intensive weekend (with advance reading) to once a week over several weeks. The open water dives will usually take two more days. Dive centers located in the tropics also offer basic certification programs that last several days to a week. Although the intensive weekend programs are quite feasible, many feel that basic scuba diving courses spread out over a few weeks will help beginners learn the skills better. Scuba diving does involve new skills and to learn them all during one full weekend may be too much for some people.

As for which scuba diving certification training agency is the best, there isnt any one recognized organization that is better than another. PADI is the most popular in the world but not necessarily better than NAUI or SSI. NAUI course are often more technical in the classroom than those offered by PADI but both will adequately train you to be a scuba diver. The more important factor would be the individual instructor and your own effort during training/studying. In fact, many scuba diving instructors have certifications from several training agencies.

For people living in the more northern regions, there are a few possible routes to take in order to obtain certification. One can travel down south to the tropics and do the entire basic certification course down there in warm weather. However, this will take up a good portion of a vacation since reading, classroom, pool sessions and open water dives all must be done during that time period. A second option is to take the entire course including the open water dives back in home territory. This usually offers beginners the most time since courses can be spread out over a few weeks. However, the water up north is not as warm as in the tropics and the scuba diving could be seasonal. A third option is to take all the classroom and pool sessions back home and then go down south to do the open water dives in warm waters. Many people have taken this route. Your instructor back home will give you a referral letter to bring down to an instructor located down south who will oversee your open water dives. This is a good combination of taking ample time back home to practice the skills in the pool plus getting the classroom work out of the way followed by having nice warm water to dive in for the open water dives. One thing to be aware of if considering this option is to make sure that your travel to the tropics for your open water dives is not too delayed after finishing up with your pool sessions at home. If too much time has elapsed, one could easily forget the skills learned in the pool by the time a vacation comes along.

The underwater world has so much to offer and only a small percentage of the worlds population will ever have the privilege to see it in person rather than on television. Become one of these individuals who will have the honor of exploring the oceans by getting certified in scuba diving.

Clint Leung is a NAUI certified Master and Rescue Scuba Diver. He is also owner of Free Spirit Activewear http://www.FreeSpiritActivewear.com, an online retailer/designer specializing in premium quality scuba diving activewear. Also numerous articles on scuba diving.

Our special Anniversary trip started as a surprise for my husband with a 4 night Walt Disney World stay at Disneys Beach Club Resort and 3 night Disney Cruise vacation to Nassau, in the Bahamas onboard the Disney Wonder. The final day of our trip after our cruise, he selected the activities we would enjoy.

He rented a new Ford Mustang for the day at the airport and decided to stay at the hotel in the Airport itself, as we had a very early flight on Monday morning.

We spent a couple of hours just driving around the old neighborhoods we had lived in, and even found time to do a little shopping at the Mall. We also stopped at Orlando Harley Davidson to make a few last minute purchases. We then decided to spend the rest of the day at Sea World, where my husband was anxious to try out the new roller coaster.

The day was sunny but a little cooler than it had been, more seasonal as early December should be! We spent a couple of hours on the beautiful grounds at Sea World, saw the Shamau show, and toured several of the exhibits. Then we headed to the new (to us!) Kraken roller coaster, where I was not brave enough to join my husband -- I waited at the end of the ride, while he enjoyed the thrills, which was so intense, he decided to go again! Since it wasnt as warm as it had been, I ducked into a gift shop to stay warm while I waited. He enjoyed the ride three times in row, and was satisfied to have his coaster fix for the day.

Since the afternoon was wearing down, we decided to head out and look for a spot to have a bite to eat. We drove to Kissimmee and settled on The Olive Garden, since we dont have one near us at home. We passed by Old Town in Kissimmee, and decided to return there after dinner to walk around and see what was new since wed been there 10 years earlier.

My husband, ever on the lookout for an adrenaline rush, immediately headed toward the Sky Coaster its not quite hang gliding and not quite sky diving, but its close with three 300-foot towers, you are strapped in a harness, raised to the full 300-foot height, then you pull the rip cord to release, swinging in a 600-foot arc for the thrill of a lifetime.

This was way out of my comfort zone and he had to brave the ride alone, while I watched safely on the ground. The intensity and thrill are incomparable and he would have gone for a dozen rides if others had not been waiting their turn.

As the evening was winding down, we headed back to the airport to return our rental, and finish our last minute packing. This final day had been filled with happy memories, jammed full of activity, good eats, and a fair amount of adventure.

Our Central Florida vacation was coming to a close, and we went to bed that night, exhilarated, exhausted, content, and a little sad to leave it all behind. Monday dawned clear and warm again, and we reluctantly boarded our flight home with Florida sending us off with a final warm embrace and sunny skies.

There is so much to see and do in Central Florida and Walt Disney World that no matter how much you actually do get to, there will always be something you had to leave out. So make the most of each day, take the time enjoy the surroundings, and delight in each event to the fullest. We had a mixture of some old favorites and plenty of new experiences and not one regret for time we spent. Hopefully it wont be another decade before we go back, but thats another story

Bryn Hiner - for more about Walt Disney World visit our website, http://cheapdisney.info