THE BIG ISLAND … AGAIN

GIVING THE DEVIL HIS DUE

As it is a huge, wonderful world out there and there’s so much more to see, we are loathe to return somewhere. We are mere mortals after all with an expiration date. Time is always fleeting, but as we age one becomes hyper aware of the fleetiness of time. Think of a roll of toilet paper, as it nears its end it goes around and around quicker and quicker.

Until it stops.

So, we here at VFH Central will always opt to visit other places and see new promontories and experience new experiences.

Except for one destination.

For Hawaii I’ll always make an exception.

Between work, travel and marathons I’ve been to Hawaii so many times that I’ve lost count. Whenever Hawaii comes up as a topic of conversation, my ego kicks in and I think of myself as a Kama’āina or child of the land, and this guy from New Jersey breathes easier with the pervasive Aloha spirit.

Janet and I traveled to Hawaii in 2014, visiting Oahu, Maui and the Big Island and we had crossed that off our “to-visit” list and we never expected to return, but then we received an offer to return to the Big Island that was too enticing to refuse.

TWIST MY ARM…

This past September we needed to travel to Las Vegas for a wedding and Janet, and her infinite ability to find deals, booked us at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club for a few nights at a relatively cheap price. The one catch for the lower rate was we had to sit in a timeshare spiel for 2 ½ hours.

NO MEANS NO?

Now we have enjoyed vacations at timeshares before, but they have always been gifted to us, and the connection has taken us from Spain to New York City, to Viginia Beach to Sedona to Maui. The Maui visit was part of our last trip to Hawaii.

HILTON 

As travel moochers the connection was very lucrative, but no longer accessible. We were on our own but determined to save some money in Las Vegas and so, we willingly went into this meeting.

The Hilton people required we sit through a 2 ½ hour presentation or face a penalty surcharge on our room. For 2 ½ hours we were subjected to their mind tortures telling us it will all be honky dory if we start up a second mortgage for a room. They told us we were so lucky. The world was ours to select from, for so many points and yearly maintenance fees that of course will rise.

Janet had to slap me into lucidity twice when I began frothing at the mouth and despite the head wagging and “NOs” uttered through our drooling maws they droned on and on and on.

Somehow, we held firm though Janet had help with a hidden flask. Before we were finally freed they passed us off to one more timeshare worker. 

He was an “exit interviewer” and Hawaii happened.

VIP EXPERIENCE

This f*ker dangled one more ort in our face. It was for a 7-day stay at any number of Hilton properties which normally we (I) could easily overlook. EXCEPT, they offered a “VIP experience” at their Waikoloa resort on the Big Island. I immediately got a surge of Aloha spirit and handed my credit card over for the right to stay at a two-room condo overlooking the golf course for the nominal fee of just $1,695 and 1 more hour of my life to be wasted listening to their spiel once we got to the Kohala coast resort.

We split the cost with friends, and despite having to give the devil his due once more we had a great time on the Big Island and the heart of this New Jersey Kama’āina swelled with joy.  

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2025 by Gregory Dunaj