This Monday, February 20, is the annual Great Aloha Run!

This 8.15-mile “run/walk” is a relatively flat course starting at Aloha Tower in Downtown Honolulu. Winding its way along historic Honolulu Harbor, down Nimitz Highway, Kamehameha Highway, it finishes on the floor of the Aloha Stadium at the back goal line of the north end zone.

It’s a surreal experience being in Downtown Honolulu at 5 a.m. with 20,000 other crazy people! Many have probably gotten their java rush at Starbucks or McDonalds. Others are trying to catch a few more winks on a soft concrete curb! Most are just busy gearing up for the run.

This President’s Day, join in this charity event with Hawaii residents, visitors and the “Sounds of Freedom” division of the United States Armed Forces. There will be sights and sounds along the way that only Hawaii can provide.

And truly an experience you will never forget!

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

Subscribe to our blog to get our weekly Aloha Friday tips.

Spain is known for its carnivals and festivals. If you’re visiting Royal Aloha Spain in the month of February, ask Royal Aloha’s manager, John Griffin, about the carnivals throughout the Andalucia region.

The most famous is in Cadiz, which is about a three-hour drive from Malaga, and we hear it is the liveliest in Spain and really worth seeing. The festivities, which can last all week or longer, showcase elaborate costumes, singing contests, parades and fireworks. This carnival is a “fiesta of the people,” and visitors come from near and far.

Set aside a vacation day to join in the fun of this cultural celebration!

Good news has arrived for skiers and snowboarders who frequent Lake Tahoe ski resorts.

And lucky are our timeshare members and guests at Royal Aloha Tahoe. Our resort manager Pam Bricker called yesterday to report Heavenly North conditions are the best they’ve been all season. A four-day stretch dumped 4 to 6 feet of snow at many Tahoe resorts, providing the first legitimate powder days this season. With real snow, ski resorts have opened additional chairlifts and terrain in anticipation of the busiest weekend since the Christmas holidays.

Heavenly Ski Resort received nearly four feet of new snow and has opened 66 trails. 

The National Weather Service is calling for a slight chance of more snow Sunday night through Monday with daytime temperatures in the low-to-mid 40s.

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

Subscribe to our blog to get our weekly Aloha Friday tips.

It’s one of the busiest weeks of the year in Waikiki as the NFL Pro Bowl returns to Hawaii for the 32nd time. The best players in the NFL travel to the Hawaiian Islands with their families for a week of fun in the sun and three hours of “Bump and Run” football.

I’ve been taking my family to the Pro Bowl for as long as I can remember. Last year, we bought a package from Jose’s Mexican Restaurant: an “all you can eat” Prime Rib Breakfast, round-trip transportation, a fun pre-game tailgate party, and game tickets. It only set me back about a month’s income!

Here are some Pro Bowl events you can attend this year without spending a dime!

Sunset On The Beach – Pro Bowl Style
Friday, January 27th at Queen’s Beach Waikiki (4:30-9:00 p.m.)

Pro Bowl ‘Ohana Day
Watch the players practice on Saturday, January 28th at Aloha Stadium (8:30-11:30 a.m.)

NFL/HTA Youth Football and Cheerleading Clinics – Advance registration required
Saturday, January 28th at Kapiolani Park (10:00 a.m.-2:45 p.m.)

Pro Bowl All-Star Block Party Waikiki
Saturday, January 28th on Kalakaua Avenue (7:00-10:00 p.m.)

And, of course, you can attend the game on Sunday, January 29th at Aloha Stadium. Kickoff is 2:00 p.m. Tickets are still available at www.ticketmaster.com

If you’re in Waikiki this week, have some fun and enjoy all the festivities the Pro Bowl offers!

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

Subscribe to our blog to get our weekly Aloha Friday tips.

We think our Royal Aloha members and guests vacationing at Village by the Sea will enjoy checking out a Maui Friday Town Party – a night of fun featuring free entertainment and merchant promotions. It’s a great way for visitors to mingle with residents in Maui’s unique, historic communities.

Here’s the monthly schedule:

● First Friday – Wailuku
● Second Friday – Lāhainā
● Third Friday – Makawao
● Fourth Friday – Pā‛ia

Amble through the stores, galleries and boutiques. Browse the wares of crafters and artisans. Sample the ‛onolicious culinary delights.

Kick off the weekend under the stars and celebrate the art, music and culture of Maui.

“Maui nō ka ‛oi!”

The Royal Aloha Vacation Club corporate office will close at 11:30 am on Friday, December 23, 2011 and remain closed until Tuesday December 27, 2011 in observance of the Christmas holiday.

I enjoy hosting Royal Aloha’s Tuesday morning arrival breakfast in Waikiki. It’s really fun meeting and speaking with our members who have been with the Club for over 30 years, second generation members, guests of members, and exchangers, and sharing my knowledge of Oahu with them.

Of course, I give the usual “scoops” (a luau, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Hanauma Bay) and also unique, “only in Hawaii” experiences. One of my favorites is the half-day Ko Olina Ocean Adventure – but, be forewarned, their shuttle departs Waikiki at 5:15 a.m.! After a quick continental breakfast at the Ko Olina marina, you are loaded onto a boat with about 20 other people to head out for three fantastic adventures!
The boat will outfit you with a life vest, mask and snorkel as it takes you to where the spinner dolphins hang out in the early morning hours. Here you can slip quietly into the ocean, surrounded by wild dolphins in their natural environment. It’s a great time for pictures with your underwater camera.

You second adventure is over a living reef as the captain goes just offshore of Paradise Cove. If you buy fish food from the crew for about $3 and take it underwater, you’ll soon be surrounded by dozens of colorful tropical fish.

And your last is in “Turtle Town” where green sea turtles gather on the ocean floor – they get their shell and skin cleaned by algae-eating reef fish! In this area, you’ll feel like you’re snorkeling in a Jacuzzi as an electrical generator mixes boiling hot water with the cool ocean water.

Back at the marina, you’ll have a bbq lunch before being transported back to Waikiki by 12:30 p.m.

I’ve recommended this adventure to dozens of our members and really enjoy hearing their stories and seeing their incredible photos!

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

Subscribe to our blog to get our weekly Aloha Friday tips.

The next time you visit your Royal Aloha timeshare on Oahu, you have to try the snorkeling at Sharks Cove, just passed Waimea Bay. Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, my wife Sandi and I decided to head out to there for a few hours of snorkeling. We get there just before 9:00 a.m. at low tide.

We chased green sea turtles, schools of moi, maninini and humuhumunukunukuopua’a all over the Cove. We even saw a small morey eel peeking out from his hiding place deep in the bright, colorful reef. Once the tide started to rise, we knew the area would begin to get rough so we headed back to shore.

Back in the car, we headed past Turtle Bay Resort to Romy’s Fresh Shrimp Shack for a quick lunch. I devoured a platter of jumbo fresh-water prawns sautéed in butter, white wine and spicy hot chili’s while Sandi loved the less spicy mini shrimp Plate.

We were back home by 2:00 in the afternoon… Just in time for me to change the batteries in our smoke detectors and mow the lawn. At least I got a few hours of fun before the domestic chores took over my day. Lucky we live Hawaii!

And lucky are our Royal Aloha members who’ve discovered Sharks Cove. Have you been there yet? If so, tell us about it!

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

Subscribe to our blog to get our weekly Aloha Friday tips.

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

From our Royal Aloha family to your family,

Have a wonderful THANKSGIVING!

Royal Aloha Vacation Club’s Executive and Reservations Offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 24th & 25th, 2011, in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

If you’ve visited Royal Aloha Vacation Club’s Oregon location, The Inn at Otter Crest, we don’t have to tell you about its spectacular setting!

The Inn is nestled on 35 acres of a forest preserve, overlooking a rugged coastline and a pristine beach.  You can see harbor seals perched on the rocks below and whales gracefully navigating the Pacific Ocean.

A private stairway leads from the Inn to the beach where you can pick up colored pebbles and agates.  Stroll southward past a small waterfall to the cave entrance of the Devil’s Punchbowl, a natural formation you can enter at low tide.

A 10-minute walk through the nature preserve will take you to Otter Rock village. Stop in at Mo’s Seafood Restaurant for a big bowl of their delectable clam chowder. Tour The Flying Dutchman Winery where uniquely fermented wines have garnered awards and medals of distinction.

Back at The Inn, there’s a landscaped children’s playground and a huge lawn great for yard games – even weddings! Also a heated outdoor pool with an adjoining Jacuzzi and two saunas, a tennis court, and a picnic area with barbeques.

So much to see and do! If you haven’t ventured to this picturesque location, put it on your radar for 2012!

Call our Reservations Department at 1-800-367-5212 to check availability.

Channing Bridges hosts the Tuesday morning breakfast briefings and Thursday evening Pau Hana reception at our Vacation Club in Waikiki.

Subscribe to our blog to get our weekly Aloha Friday tips.