We are starting 2016 with fun!! Join us next week on Travel Talk to for our first show of the year when we welcome Jennifer Buenrostro-Carnival Cruise Lines Business Development Director.
Learn what Carnival Cruise Line has planned for 2016, how they deliver fun and memorable vacations for guest and what they are doing to support nonprofits.
Hawaii is a tropical paradise rich in culture, lush landscapes, exotic flowers and amazing food.
If you are new the Travel Talk and Surge Nation family, our resident foodie is co-host Doreen Wong who’s family (on her father’s side) is from the lovely island of Oahu. After chatting with today’s guest Amber Verdugo from ProTravel Network about their upcoming convention at sea that includes a 7-Night Hawaiian Island Cruise, we asked Doreen if she would share some of her favorite places to eat.
*Note from Doreen*
“Hawaii has many amazing restaurants and local eateries. From mainland chains like Cheesecake Factory or Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse to hidden gems only the locals know about. The places that I am sharing are the ones I grew up with.
Are they the best? I don’t know.
However, these locations have a special place in my heart as they are attached to memories of my childhood and to family members no longer with me.” – Doreen
Leonard’s Bakery
933 KAPAHULU AVE | Honolulu, HI 96816
SUN-THURS: 5:30AM-10PM | FRI-SAT: 5:30AM-11PM
If you love warm sugary doughy fluffy goodness, then you NEED to visit Leonard’s Bakery for their amazing malasadas (basically a donut without a hole). They come in 3 flavors – Plain (just sugar), Cinnamon Sugar and Li Hing. While Doreen prefers her malasadas plain, you can also get them with custard, Dobash (chocolate), and Haupia (coconut) fillings.
Don Quijote
801 Kaheka Street | Honolulu, HI 96814
Open 24-hours
When you think of Top Grinds in Hawaii, Don Quijote is probably not on the most tourists’ list. However, it is a one-stop for your gift, clothing, produce, and luggage buying needs. From a foodie’s perspective the reasonably priced plate lunches, burgers, sushi and bento box meals (like the Spicy Ahi and Ikura Chirashi pictured above that Doreen ate) is a great snack before tackling the aisles and aisles of merchandise inside.
Side Street Inn
1225 Hopaka Street | Honolulu, HI 96814
MON – THURS 2:00pm – 10:00pm | Friday 2:00pm– 11:00pm
Saturday 1:00pm – 11:00pm | Sunday 1:00pm– 10:00pm
Side Street Inn which is located on a small side street (more like an alley) is a local hidden gem. If you can go with a decent size group so you can sample a variety of their signature dishes. Doreen’s favorite was the Kimchi Fried Rice and the Salt Pepper Fried Pork Chop. Reservations are highly recommended as the venue is small and extremely popular.
Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery
1027 Maunakea Street | Honolulu, HI 96817 (Chinatown)
OPEN DAILY: 6:30 AM – 6:00 PM
The evening before or sometimes the day of her flight to California, Doreen’s grandmother would make her way to Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery to buy 2 dozen Chinese Tea Cookies (or tea cakes). The cookie tends to be more dense than your average cookie to prevent it from disintegrating when dunked in hot tea. However, when they are fresh they are moist and flavorful. The walls of Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery are lined with display cases full of tasty pastries, dim sum, cracked seed and candied fruit. Finding street parking close by can be a challenge. Grandma Wong would recommend going with another person allowing the driver to circle the block while the passenger runs inside to shop.
Giovanni Shrimp Truck
66-472 Kamehameha Hwy | Haleiwa, HI 96712 (North Shore)
Always Open – as stated on their Facebook page
Located in the surf town of Haleiwa (the North Shore) is Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck nestled between trees and park benches. At first glance a graffitied conversion van may not seem like the safest location to eat shrimp. However, if you keep looking you will soon realize the line to order is 10 deep and most of the picnic benches are taken.
The plate lunches come with 2 scoops of rice and 1-dozen jumbo shrimp. There is also a 1/2 plate for those with smaller appetites. The most popular plate is the Shrimp Scampi but for those who can handle the heat there is a Hot & Spicy option. A word of caution…when a dish comes with a warning followed by the words “No Refund”, you eat it at your own risk.
M. Matsumoto General Store — SHAVE ICE!
66-087 Kamehameha Hwy #605 | Haleiwa, HI 96712 (North Shore)
THURS – TUES 9:00 AM t0 6:00 PM
Just down the road from Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck is Matsumoto’s Shave Ice, which is a good thing especially if you ordered the Hot & Spicy Shrimp. Just be prepared to wait in line. If you are unfortunate enough to arrive after a tour bus, you might want to explore some of the other shops while you wait for the line to go down.
Whether you are a single flavor kind of person or flavor mixer, there is a shave ice option with your name on it. Doreen’s favorite is the “Hawaiian” with pineapple, coconut and banana syrup, ice cream and condensed milk drizzled on top. If it is a hot day or you happen to be a slow eater, she recommends investing in the shave ice holder.
Like Like Drive Inn
745 Keeaumoku Street | Honolulu, HI 96814
MON – WED 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM | THURS opens at 6:00 AM
FRIDAY and SATURDAY – Open 24 HOURS
Like Like Drive Inn has been serving classic diner food since 1953. While known for their saimin (noodles and broth with chopped green onions, bbq pork, won tons and fish cake), their French pancake (rolled with guava jelly), chili and rice and Loco Moco (white rice, topped with a hamburger patty, a fried egg, and brown gravy) are also favorites.
Feel free to give a shout out to your favorite Hawaiian restaurants in the comment section below.
Organizing seminars, corporate events, conference or retreats regardless of the size can be a daunting experience. There are so many details (venue, accommodations for attendees, food, audio/visual equipment and extracurricular activities) to consider, especially if the event is over the course of several days. Listen to the replay
Amber Verdugo from Pro Travel Network (PTN) joins the Travel Talk co-hosts to discuss how to PTN simplifies the planning experience by hosting Corporate Events @ Sea.
From the planning stages to promoting the event, Ms. Verdugo will share the benefits of hosting your next event onboard your favorite cruise line. Perhaps our hosts can also get the inside scoop about PTN’s upcoming Cruise to Hawaii in 2016.
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Have you ever thought about RVing Across America? Listen to the show.
Well, that is exactly what Best Selling Author, Speaker and Founder of Teen Confidence Academy – Jacqui Letran is doing with her trusty travel companions. Around the same time she embarked on her cross country adventure, Ms. Letran also started a 100-Day Happiness Challenge.
Jacqui is stopping the Travel Talk to share how the first 70 days of happiness has gone as well as some of her favorite places to visit while RVing.
In the words of American Writer, Henry Miller, “One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.”
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If you follow the Travel Talk co-hosts on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram then you know they are obsessed with Twitter’s new live video streaming mobile app, Periscope, and the marketing potential this platform has to promote tourism worldwide.
Periscope officially launched on March 26, 2015 and the usage statistics as of August 12, 2015 are staggering.
10 Million Registered Users
2 Million Daily Active Users
350,000 Hours of Video Streamed Daily
Available in 25 Languages
Anne, Dawn, Doreen and Jake have compiled a list of their favorite Periscope Broadcasters “Scopers” in alphabetical order. From Travel-preneurs, Blogging Digital Nomads, Business Owners to Life Coaches with these 20 Broadcasters you should have enough content to watch on a daily basis.
Travel is a $8.1 Trillion industry with a countless number of niche markets and specialities. For new (and even veteran) travel-preneurs navigating the landscape can be daunting. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed take a deep breath and remember – Why YOU love travel.
The Travel Talk hosts have compiled their Top 3 Tips for the New Travel-preneur.
Be sure to subscribe to the blog for additional posts from the hosts as well as catch up on past Travel Talk Show topics. Our goal is to become a resource for you; connecting you to experienced travel-preneurs in specific fields.
Enjoy!
Seeing London Through PeriscopeHave you heard of the new social media platform owned by Twitter called Periscope that is taking the internet by storm gaining 1 million users in just 10-days? In comparison, it took social media giant Facebook a month to reach 1 million.
So what is it?
Periscope is a mobile app that allows users to “Live Stream” anytime anywhere from a smartphone. It also enables the ‘scoper’ to engage with the audience in real-time during the broadcast. The app also has integrated a sharing feature so viewers can invite their Periscope and Twitter followers. How does this apply to Travel? Periscope has the potential to virtually boost tourism by sharing local hangouts or must see spots. One of the platform’s early adopters is Orion who scopes around London giving viewers daily virtual vacations. Learn from Orion how you can use the platform to promote travel.
To listen – http://www.blogtalkradio.com/surgenation
Tune in every Wednesday at 10:00am PT for Travel Talk with our hosts Doreen Wong, Dawn Barraco and Jake Culbertson
The Longest Honeymoon – 6 Continents, 36 Countries on Less than $40 Per Day
Know someone who is planning their honeymoon? Is a 10-day vacation just not long enough? Then you definitely want to listen and share this episode of Travel Talk!
Mike and Anne Howard of HoneyTrek.com will be stopping by to discuss their Longest Honeymoon – 500 days, 6 continents, 36 countries while spending less than $40 per day. In 2011, the Howards quit their jobs to embark on this epic adventure and have not turned back.
To listen – http://www.blogtalkradio.com/surgenation
Tune in every Wednesday at 10:00am PT for Travel Talk with our hosts Doreen Wong, Dawn Barraco and Jake Culbertson
411 On Travel Certifications – Importance of Ongoing Training
For those of us with a wanderlust spirit, the world is our playground. If you are a Travel-preneur, the world is our classroom. Many of our favorite destinations offer complimentary certification courses to help us increase our knowledge and intelligently answer our customer’s questions about a particular destination.
Sandra Roberson Byrd joins us Wednesday on #TravelTalk to give us the 411 on Travel Certifications.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/surgenation
Tune in every Wednesday at 10:00am PT for Travel Talk with our hosts Doreen Wong, Dawn Barraco and Jake Culbertson
411 On Travel Certifications – Importance of Ongoing Training
From Travel Professionals and Writers, International Bloggers, TV Personalities and Millennials — Travel Talk strives to bring you the best guests in our industry. Next week the hosts welcome…
Mayor W. Howard Myers of Petersburg, VA shares why their historic town should be on everyone’s bucket list and how the #IAmPetersburg campaign is enhancing economic vitality through pride, commerce and tourism.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/surgenation
Tune in every Wednesday at 10:00am PT for Travel Talk with our hosts Doreen Wong, Dawn Barraco and Jake Culbertson
Surge Nations 