God bless travel shows for giving us the chance to fantasize about taking a vacation in a far-away place, simply by turning on the tube.

Though I must say that watching Bourdain flip-flop his way around Hawaii, enjoying umbrella-topped rum drinks at every stop, feasting on mouth-wateringly fresh ahi tuna and poke, walking through picturesque scenery full of colorful plants, palm trees and unspoiled tropical nature, journeying to bars and restaurants where more drinks and more food and more instant friends awaited -- it all just made me really jealous. Whereas I normally feel enlightened by Bourdain's travels, this time I felt like saying, "You lucky bastard." Forgive me, but it is March and winter in New York has officially grown old. (I can't imagine how people in the Midwest feel.)

No Reservations has made a tradition out of including at least one horrifying scene in each 60-minute episode (more often than not this display includes a grotesque animal slaughtering). Last night’s scary moment came when Bourdain plunked down $3,000 for a vintage Hawaiian shirt. (That amount could get me a full weeklong vacation to Hawaii for god’s sake. And isn’t Bourdain too cool to spend that much money on a used shirt? Ugh ... jealous is ugly, I know.)

Since our beloved host always adheres to the "When in Rome" policy, and since, according to the shopkeeper, one-third of the locals always wear Hawaiian shirts, it made sense for Bourdain to get some kind of flowery something to cover his torso. Even though it was black and more subdued, the shirt still kinda made Bourdain look like Magnum P.I.

Bourdain’s post-shopping pit stop was Puka Dog. Another constant in each episode has been for Bourdain to find the local version of mystery meat encased in a tube, a.k.a. the regional hot dog spin-off. Puka Dog served Bourdain a polish sausage with garlic lemon sauce and then offered him a choice of a variety of fruit relishes (including mango, coconut, star fruit, pineapple, etc.) to top it off. Our guy was pleased.

Food took the front burner to culture in this episode, like it should have. A local chef took Bourdain to Ono Hawaiian Food where they were served salt-cured salmon, smoked beef, salt meat and watercress, along with poi (mashed Toro root, a pasty concoction which is eaten like grits). Along the way we learned that Polynesian, or local Hawaiian food, is a mixture of Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cuisines -- as slaves from these countries were brought to Hawaii to work the crops at one time or another and their native recipes were melded together to create a dynamic new kind of Asian fusion cuisine. Though you might presume that the predominant flavor in this food would be something sweet, it turns out that salt is Hawaiian cuisine’s #1 spice.

Well, that would explain the obsession with Spam. Did you know that Hawaiians are obsessed with Spam? Apparently they buy four million cans of the stuff a year. This obsession was sparked during World War II when Hawaii was a war zone and Spam was a heavily rationed food for soldiers. Bourdain, of course, found the restaurant that serves Spam specialties. He sampled Spam sushi (fried rice with the mystery meat wrapped in seaweed), a Spam frittata in a curry sauce with kimchi on top, noodle soup with bits of Spam ... and apparently it was all delicious, though Bourdain did acknowledge that he was ingesting a hell of a lot of fat and chemicals in this feast with this typically cute quip, "I'm going to stroke out before the end of this meal."

Bourdain also visited some friends at a backyard BBQ where everyone used their chopsticks to pick at a Red Snapper that was stuffed with sausage and covered in poi mayonnaise. Some other highlights: Bourdain took a helicopter flight just 20-feet over the Kilauea rift zone where the most active volcano in the world continues to ooze hot lava; he took part in a touristy luau; and he Jet Skiied over some not-so-gnarly waves with famed surfer Darrick Doerner at the helm. I've haven't seen Bourdain as happy all season as he was in Hawaii. Could it have been that goofy, flowy shirt, those tiki drinks made out of four kinds of rum, the tropical air, or the fact that everyone spoke English for once? Either which way, Bourdain let us know this "was not the Maraschino Technicolor nonsense" he was expecting on his first visit to Hawaii.

The details of Bourdain's visit to Hawaii are well-chronicled on the Travel Channel website. Another sweet site to visit about last night's episode is food critic Dave Choo's blog, where he calls Bourdain and his production crew "the Tarantinos of cable television." Well put, Dave!

For next week's No Reservations season finale Anthony Bourdain heads back to New York. He takes the hot seat at his restaurant Les Halles to see if he's still got what it takes to be a head chef. That's nicely timed, Travel Channel: just as us foodie fans are getting pumped for Bravo's Top Chef Season Four premiere on Wednesday, March 12th, we can size up Bourdain's knife skills as well.