I’ve been to the previous three incarnations of this incredible event which has grown from four feasts and several seminars on Oahu in Waikiki and West hotels to this year which incorporate a night in Maui again, a new event on the Big Island in Waikoloa and four primo nights in Oahu. Details have just […]
Honolulu Good Food Guide Now Online
Honolulu is where virtually every holiday begins in Hawaii and I’ve had the great fortune of sampling some of the great top end restaurants but also the mom ‘n’ pop hole-in-the-wall spots and growers markets. This comes more from my participation in three annual Hawaii Food and Wine Festivals http://hawaiifoodandwinefestival.com held first week of September where […]
111 of Tripp’s Top Travel Tips
Back in December, News Ltd Sunday papers and their online Escape.com.au site were filled with promotion of an article I did on the 50 best travel tips. It’s on their site at http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/travel-advice/travel-tips-you-must-know-before-you-go-phil-tripps-top-tips/story-fnjjv72k-1226782177394 in the Melbourne paper but also across all others. I actually produced 111 of which they cherry picked what was appropriate for their […]
The City of Ditches, Doobies & Daydreams
I love writing for Rhythms Magazine which is the premiere roots, blues, country, jazz, world and other niche music print and online site. Overt the past three years, I’ve been compiling city guides to the top music destination urban areas outside of Australia, mostly int he US. It’s been gratifying due to the feedback from […]
Viva Lost Wages
I am not a real fan of Las Vegas but it can be a cool place to go to even for normal people. This article is published in my regular travel column for Rhythms Magazine as of January 1 and may serve you as a guide to having fun rather than replaying ‘Hangover’. https://rhythms.com.au/review-genre/travel Here’s […]
50 Best Travel Tips in News Ltd Sunday Papers & Online
Got a great run and a lot of reaction to the article that I produced for the News Ltd Escape.com.au website and Sunday papers on 50 Best Travel Tipa. There are another 50 to come out soon. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/travel-advice/travel-tips-you-must-know-before-you-go-phil-tripps-top-tips/story-fnjjv72k-1226782177394
Old Red Eye Returns
My second fave city in the world next to Nawlins in Louisiana is Amsterdam which is featured in this month’s issue of Rhythms Magazine. It’s a music destination of a different sort than the ones I’ve done over the past couple of years for Rhythms which were all in the US. This one makes my […]
Life Glows On!
I could be sad. My dear friend up The Hill from me, John Bromell, died in the past fortnight and I just got back from his wake in Sydney and am now settled back in to home. With a dawn like this, smoke-tinged red, yellow orb of sun blazing through, sweet breezes rolling up the […]
Marvo Mavro!
Marvo is short for marvelous in Australian. We Australians are lazy, don’t like wasting syllables and like to shorten names by cutting most of it and adding an o at the end, like John-o, Mike-o, or their last name shortened with an o. Had he emigrated to Australia like me, George Mavrothalassitis would have been […]
West Side Story–Ko’olina Explodes for Food & Wine
I was wondering how I’d possibly make it through the last day of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival with two events in one day. Girls Got Game +1 in Waikiki’s Hyatt was a two hour tour de force for the female chef and after an hour ride to Marriott’s Ihilani Spa and Resort, I […]
Right Place, Wong Time!
To honour one of my hosts, Alan Wong, I had to eat at his eponymous restaurant with no parking and no ocean view in an office building on the third floor at 1857 King Street in Honolulu. He’s just a block down the street from my favourite Hawaiian chef, Chef Mavro, but he runs a […]
Ihilani Means? Heavenly Splendour
The Hawaiian people take great pride in their language and the naming of places are carefully crafted to contain great meaning or thought. As a child name it translates as ‘sacred one from Heaven’ but as a place name it means ‘Heavenly Splendor’. The Ihilani I’ve just stayed at lives up to its name as […]
Girls Got Game +1
With a fascination for women’s volleyball and basketball and a team named the Rainbow Wahines, you’d think this Saturday event was going to be held in a dark, smoky sports bar. But no, it was on the bright rooftop restaurant SHOR topping the mezzanine of the Hyatt Regency Hotel perched above Waikiki Beach. I love […]
Another Night of Grazing
It was the third night of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival and unlike all the others over the past three years, it was not held in or on the grounds of a hotel. Tonight a couple dozen chefs along with close to 20 winemakers and a dozen cocktail makers were assembled on the roof […]
Trump Hostage Crisis; Day 2
There you have it, a ground’s eye view of the glass-sided Trump Hotel Waikiki where in one of the front facing corner suites, it’s all happening. One of the property’s catch cries is “Discover a New You, You Never Knew Existed”. I have. I’m a prisoner of luxury In my second day of being held […]
Early Morning Dribbling Down my Chin
Every time I head for Honolulu, I make sure that I include a Saturday to be able to head for the KCC Farmer’s Market held on the lower slope of back-end Diamond Head. I make sure to get there at just past dawn (6:30 today) to be able to get a parking spot before the […]
Coming up Trumped!
It’s getting towards the sixth week on my trip over in the US with five of them in Hawaii. Still a week to go and I’m staying in three more hotels. I just moved out of the Aqua Palms Spa which is my favorite little hotel if I have to pay, usually getting a […]
*Blorp!* Round One of Hawaii Food and WIne Festival
The first night of the Third Annual Hawaii Food and Wine Festival kicked off at The Modern Hotelwith 15 chefs at their stations, a dozen wine brands sampling and cocktail stands doing a roaring trade in exotic drinks Created by uber chefs Alan Wong and Roy Yamaguchi to promote Hawaiian produce, supporting local farm […]
Where the World Comes to Play… and Eat!
The three mile stretch of sand on Maui’s West side that is Ka’anapali is one of the finest strands of sand in America. It’s where the kings and queens came to relax after a good bloodletting battle and it’s sprung out of sugar cane fields and taro plantations to become a real foodie destination. With […]
Horny Little Things!
After a few tablespoons of Ocean Vodka in the tasting, it was time to ease on up the road a half mile to the Surfing Goat Dairy where primo goat cheese has been made for nearly a decade. With a sweeping driveway of palm trees in a row, you see the goats in the […]
