Kilohana — Attraction in Kauai

We did the Plantation Train Tour here before we left Kauai and had a wonderful time. It’s conveniently located 10 minutes away from the airport so it was the perfect end cap for our time on the island. We still had some time to kill before our flight so we wandered into Gaylord’s (the house) where they have several shops and a restaurant. We went into the Artisan’s Room Art Gallery. We thought the art by one particular artist was stunning and some of her pieces perfectly captured how we felt about our time in Hawaii (nearly 5 months). We considered purchasing some pieces but knew we did not have room in our luggage. My partner took a photo of the nameplate with the artists’ name ONLY. We did not take a photo of any of the art work. The older woman behind the counter was extremely rude to us even as we explained that we just wanted to remember the artists’ name (and it was obvious that she was only taking a photo of the name). We tried asking several questions about the art and she continued to be short and unwelcoming. Explaining that we were traveling, I asked if any art was available to purchase online because I was interested in purchasing. Again, she was EXTREMELY rude and short. We continued to be polite all though we could feel her disapproval in the room. She said it wasn’t available for purchase anywhere but in this particular shop. We looked up the artist after and that is not true. There is not only an online store that sells prints but her art can be found in several other shops across the islands. This was the worst experience we had on the island and was completely unnecessary. This is NOT HOW YOU TREAT COSTUMERS or even other human beings for...

I want to start out by saying the train tour we took was WONDERFUL and I highly recommend. Our issue came when we wanted to explore the shops inside the Gaylord mansion. We went into the Artisans Room art gallery and were amazed by the beauty of the art there! Since we are flying out today with zero room in our suitcases we wanted to document the names of some of the artists to see if we could find them online. The person working there was extremely rude to us after we told her and showed her that we were just taking photos of the artists name plates to look them up later, not the actual art(which isn’t allowed and we knew that). She even told us the artists don’t sell online, when they in-fact do, which I think is highly disrespectful to the artists. Upon leaving we said thank you, and she gave us zero response, not even bothering to look up at us. When I told her to have a nice day she very condescendingly rolled her eyes and said “you too”. After that we ended up leaving instead of visiting other shops because it really rubbed us the wrong way. We will still support the artists there, just not from the...

RUM TASTING. It's Koloa Rum's tasting room that makes the spot special for me. That's free, by the way. If you're going to be on island a week, you can taste the rums day 1, head to Costco (across the street, maybe 1 mile) and get a good deal on a few of their rums as well as the passion punch and maitai mix. They have a luau, can't speak about it as we didn't go. Gaylords is a nice $$$$ restaurant there, but they have a great little bar in there, Mahiko Lounge, where they have happy hr drinks and pupus. You can also get a shot of the Koloa Rum 3yr aged reserve that you won't get on tastings and they don't sell in tiny bottles. It's $12 for that shot, btw. Also, those little airline bottles are cheaper at ABC store if you're wanting to fill that qt bag with them to go home. I got 11 in the baggie. Back to Kilohana, there are some shops behind Gaylords if you want to check out some local artists. Good place to stop when driving from one end of the island to the other....