My favorite way to travel to and from New York is on the non-stop Continental flight from Newark International to Honolulu. It's a daily departure. In fact, I've found Newark to be the most convenient way in and out of the Big Apple and Northern New Jersey. Delays seem to be less likely, the airport is really nice, and you can get there on a train fairly quickly. Looking into January 2007 at Kayak.com, fares appear to be tracking downward ($500 to $700 range) and quite affordable for my favorite route. The non-stop leaves at 1:00 pm from Newark and arrives at 7:00 p.m. in Honolulu. The way back is a true red-eye, leaving at 10:45 and arriving at 1:00 p.m. The benefit of a 9-hour red-eye? You can actually sleep for a while on the plane, as opposed to the shorter 5-hour hops to the West Coast, where you are going up or down for nearly 1/3 of the flight.

Image via Kayak.com

—Alex, 12/14/06