How long are you staying? I hope you have a week. There's so much to see. SF is very expensive. We've been there several times, most recently this past October. We were fortunate to stay at the Westin St. Francis right on Union Square because my DH was presenting at a convention. Be prepared for costly meals too. As I recall there was an extra tax on our dinner bill to cover some ridiculous 'health care coverage.' As a Canadian that one will really annoy you. Not all places add the fee. This is from the link below: ......... "The next time you eat in a restaurant in San Francisco, take a closer look at the bill. You may see a new line item there, a "health" fee to cover employeesâ healthcare.... The rationale for this one is to cover the employersâ mandatory contribution to the CityâÂÂs "Healthy San Francisco" health-coverage system. The charge actually is levied on employers, but at least some restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customerâÂÂs bill to cover this charge. The restaurantsâ excuse for assessing this charge separately is to let customers know how much theyâÂÂre paying for employeesâ health coverage. ThatâÂÂs the same excuse hotels use when they add "resort" or "housekeeping" fees to unsuspecting guestsâ room bills. ItâÂÂs the same excuse airlines would use to exclude fuel surcharges from their advertised fares if the Department of Transportation would allow them. And itâÂÂs sheer nonsense. Employeesâ health insurance is no less of a cost of doing business than rent, property taxes, food costs, security services and all the other inputs businesses require to operate. To single out health care for a separate surcharge is unwarranted." Here is a link that might be useful: another fee

not to throw you a total curve, but the reason the Hawaiians and missionaries used koa, mango, and other exotic woods is because they stand up to the humidity (I'm on Oahu). You see a lot of teak around the island - also used on boats as it does not swell - but its color is lighter - and often more Scandinavian in design. Rattan used a lot and I love the look, but impossible in my mind to keep really clean looking over time as dust and crumbs fall in. Pacific Craftworks on Oahu sells custom cabinets made from mostly darker colored woods in Viet Nam - another tropical place - that should hold up to Hawaii weather (no affiliation) - some looks like mahogany but different wood. We used them in our master bath and the prices weren't bad. The dark woods are traditional but too much can make the room feel heavy. Hawaiian homes were influenced by missionaries from New England, cowboys, Balinese, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Europeans, and plantation owners. So we don't have a purely beach feel - the white rattan look is more East Coast. Tropical is the darker, wider strip, rattan. Here it is all about moss rock, exotic woods, flowers, surfboards, waves, turtles, pineapple, dark sea blues and green foliage mixed with white, cream, and woven mats. If you stick to the white (which will look clean, fresh, and airy) make sure they are quality boxes to hold up to the humidity. For the Hawaii vibe decorate with a few koa or monkeypod (less expensive) chairs, coffee table, or a bowl on your counter, bring in the light and the air and avoid kitsch. Your koa fan will tie into those accents. The one you have chosen is very modern looking and I understand that fewer blades (3 to 4) move more air than 5. Traditionally locals used lots of fans to move the trade winds and homes were designed to pull in the trades. Don't fall for a kitschy fan if it doesn't function well. Suggest any fabrics have local tropical flowers (ginger, heliconia) in large, lush prints. Your inspiration Kauai cottage has beautiful accent pillows that illustrate this - the upholstery is beige but the pillows have heliconia and tropical leaves to bring in color.

I can’t imagine moving elsewhere — we have too many friends and connections in our current town and I don’t want to start over socially. We just moved to our “empty nest” home in the same town we’ve lived in for 22 years. (Still have one out of three kids home, but she will go to college next fall.) Even though we‘re in the same town, our location is a bit more urban feeling, which is what we wanted. We are very close to the post office, library, shops, etc. I love it, even though it’s been a little crazy as our house has been under construction (mostly exterior) for about 6 weeks now. There are a lot of couples nearby who are similar in age — some we already knew, some we’ve met since we moved. The house is really too big for just two of us, but will be perfect for when our kids and eventual grandkids visit. And will prevent DH and I from killing each other in retirement. (We need our own space.) Once we are in full retirement mode, I can see us spending summers at our beach house, a month or so someplace warm in the winter, and most of the rest of the year at our “main” house. DH is planning to retire next summer (at age 57) but I can‘t see our full retirement mode kicking in until our youngest has graduated from college.

chisue. We vrbo a place for our family vacation once a year. WE pay $221 cleaning fee for the week on top of the over $3000 rent. There is no one that comes in every day to change our towels, make the beds, vacuum, clean the bathrooms etc every day like in a hotel. I am getting no special service other than a clean place when I get there. And we always leave the place clean. If a cleaning person for a vrbo feel they need to make more money they just increase there rate and that is passed on to the renter not the owner. . An hotel employee can't do that. You are getting away cheep with the $400 a year tip. That only comes to under $8 a week tip. During the winter hubby and I either go to Aruba or St Maartens all inclusive hotel for a week. . The hotel we always stayed at in St Maarten (until it blew away) paid their staff like $6 an hour. During high season they work 6 days a week. During low season they may only work 2 days a week. Their tips are put in an account for them to supplement their income during the low season. In the US depending on the state unemployment laws some hotel staff can not collect unemployment for the low season either. The one big reason we tip housekeeping, bartender, , and wait staff well is for GREAT SERVICE. We always have our room cleaned first like we want, plus a lot of little extra perks the non tippers don't get. We never have to wait for our drinks to be refreshed at the bar (heck the bartenders even bring us drinks even if we are not sitting at the bar and didn't order one) or have to stand in line waiting for a table to open up at the breakfast and lunch buffet during busy times. When they see us they pull us out of line and seat us right away. The people who bitch the most about service are the ones who don't tip and don't know the words please, and thank you.. We are not wealthy by a long shot, but a few bucks in tips isn't going to put us in the poor house.and the return on those few dollars is well worth it. As the old saying goes "you get what you pay for".