Last year I vowed not to stay home for the New Year’s holiday this year, but guess what I did? Stayed home. I did some quick Internet searches, several times, on Orbitz, Travelocity and Kayak, but I found nothing that jumped out at me. I wanted to reach out to some of my client friends in the industry, but I was so bogged down with business and year-end work, I just never got around to reaching out.

So I was here the day after New Year’s, watching the news, when I saw that Hawaii is continuing a two-year downward slide. I happen to be a big fan of Hawaii and think it is a great destination. Many people think it is too sterile and too expensive, but when you go to Hawaii, everything works and the people cannot be more friendly. As far as the expense, I have a friend who refers to it as “Hawaii money,” and when I traveled there with my family, no matter where we ate dinner, it was always the same price. Expensive, but orderly, friendly and tasty; so definitely worth it.

But have you see a lot of promotions for Hawaii? Have you seen any spectacular marketing or advertising about the Islands? I haven’t. Additionally, Hawaii and its hotels cannot get their sights off the West Coast market. This is where they spend nearly all their marketing dollars. In case they haven’t heard, California is in the dumps, so perhaps they should open their minds and reach out to the less-recession-hit East Coast?

Several years ago, Hawaii won Best Domestic Tourism Destination from the readers of Global Traveler. When I reached out to the CVB, I received a less than “aloha” response. I was a little shocked. Not only did they seem not to care, but they were not interested in coming to the awards ceremony or responding to me as if they were honored.

Now they think President Obama’s trip to Hawaii is their best marketing tool. This is the same guy who told travelers not to go to extravagant meetings and not to travel (the AIG effect), which resulted in the loss of 100 meetings in Hawaii. Companies canceled their meetings in fear of what these meetings would look like in the AIG effect-hungry press. In my opinion, Hawaii could not have picked a worse spokesperson.

Hawaii is obviously misguided and has no idea how to get people back to the islands. It was an easy out to blame the economy. Perhaps the CVB needs to talk to some of the people who check guests in at hotels, who serve the meals and who attend to your needs while in Hawaii. They are the people that make Hawaii great. The guys at the Royal Hawaiian’s Tiki Bar have better insight on the true Aloha spirit than anyone at the CVB.

To all our blog readers, subscribers and friends of Global Traveler, a Happy New Year!

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

A great organization, A Girl’s Gotta Go, was recently brought to my attention. The company specializes in vacation packages for women and by women. The website features a ton of great vacation packages for girlfriend getaways or other trips for women. There is also a tool to request a customized vacation package from the organization.

But, what truly impressed me about A Girl’s Gotta Go is the charitable nature of the organization. A portion of each vacation package purchased through the company is donated to breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment. A Girl’s Gotta Go is truly dedicated not only to women, but to women’s issues. The approach of October is the perfect time to get involved, as October marks Breast Cancer Awareness month.

A perfect way to get involved is to join the A Girl’s Gotta Go Team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The company is involved in the Boston, Mass., race taking place Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Seaport World Trade Center.

Another great offering from the company is the Girlfriend Cruise4Cause. The package provides a supportive, stress-free vacation getaway for females battling any kind of cancer. Every reservation equals a $25 donation to the American Cancer Society. The goal is to raise $2,500 for the organization. The cruise is a four-night getaway to Fort Lauderdale, Key West and Cozumel aboard Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas, from Oct. 22-26. For more information, visit www.agirlsgottago.com/charitable-giving.

Help support a great cause and enjoy a great getaway with A Girl’s Gotta Go. Female travelers may also be interested in participating in Global Traveler’s Female Global Traveler of the Year contest. Enter the contest here.

–Kimberly Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive

My obsession with finding the best possible fare to Warsaw is over. And of course I outsmarted myself by spending too much time shopping around instead of locking in a lower price.

When I first started looking, fares were about $1,000. I figured that as the date got closer, they might drop. Unfortunately, life intruded and I wound up needing to fly over the 4th of July weekend. The international portion of the fares did drop a little, but the domestic portions kept going up.

All the fares required multiple connections, but I found one that went Tampa-Miami-Paris-Warsaw. On the return flight, there was an overnight in Paris. It was $1220, which was about the lowest thing out there, and if you have to overnight somewhere, why not Paris instead of Boston? I saved the Expedia itinerary but didn’t book it because I wanted to check into the cost of a hotel in Paris.

By the next day, I’d found several options near CDG for $50, which amazed me. Of course,when I went to book the flight, it was no longer available.

There was such a Chinese menu of options for connections that I finally let the timing of the flights, along with price, be the determinator. So I’m flying via Atlanta and Gatwick (with no airport overnights). You can look for reviews of my various flights starting with the July 9 issue of eFlyer.

- Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer

A while back, I mentioned that I’d heard about a new fare-search site, Mobissimo.com. The part of the concept that intrigued me was that it suggests alternative destinations, if shopping price is your motivator.

Regular readers will know that I’ve been putting together a multi-leg trip from Tampa (which I’ve decided stands for There Aren’t Many Practical Airlineroutes) to Warsaw. So I was psyched that, when I entered my info on Mobissimo, it not only suggested alternate dates with lower fares, but said that there were fares to Budapest that were $700 lower than the lowest available fare to Warsaw.

That’s a great idea, but they don’t carry through. When I actually clicked on that to check it out, the $808 fare to Budapest trumpeted on the home page was nowhere in the list of Budapest fares. In general on both lists (to Warsaw and to Budapest) there were fares that, when clicked on, weren’t available.

Real-time fares are the gold standard these days. They’re widely available on the premier travel-booking sites, and I don’t think a startup can survive if it can’t reach that level.

- Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer

I was searching the internet this morning hoping for blog inspiration when I happened upon a blog on the website Gadling. The blog, “Galley Gossip“, is written by Heather Poole, a flight attendant for an unnamed U.S. carrier. I was directed to the site from a link off my homepage about flight attendants’ biggest pet peeves. Poole uses the blog to recount her tales of asking passengers 2, 3 or more times if they would like something to drink before the passenger removes the headphones and pays attention! I, personally, am always paying attention when the food and drink carts are coming down the aisles towards me!

I perused the site and read Poole’s other blogs. As a new blogger to the site, she has only written three, but they were very enjoyable. She writes in a funny, biting style and recounts tales with a dry sense of humor. I enjoyed reading about her thoughts when someone called her “Sandvich Girl“! It is definitely a blog worth checking out - especially for the frequent traveler. Now, you can figure out what the flight attendants are really thinking. And, in case you missed it, I also offer a behind the scenes look at flight attendants in our June issue. Read all about my experiences at Korean Air flight attendant training school!

The website also offers a blog “The Cockpit Chronicles” by Kent Wien, a pilot. An interesting blog by Grant Martin posted on the site was all about Air India’s refusals to hire overweight flight crew. All in all, the site is filled with interesting blogs covering all facets of the travel industry. Along with Global Traveler’s blog, this is a must-visit blog site for travel fanatics!

-Kimberly Krol, circulation and public relations executive