Plan on Visiting Hawaii For The First Time Suggestions?

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

You could probably stop over in San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle to avoid LA.

Bruce

Yep that is what we are thinking. We spent 2 weeks in Seattle in September 2016 and had a great time. The other cities listed we have been to, but 10 plus years ago, time for another visit!

 

[prichard]

We had a 6 or 7 hour layover in Seattle. It was at least enough time to go to the market and have lunch. Made the flight much better.

 

[MossRoad]

We went to Hawaii once about 6-7 years ago. Stayed in Honolulu for 5 days. My wife's parent's took us for their 50th, our 25th and my wife's sister's 10th wedding anniversaries. :thumbsup:

We stayed a block off of Waikiki in Honolulu. Honolulu can have some horrendous traffic jams at times. Kinda like Chicago with palm trees. But other than that, not too many negatives. There's tons to do within walking distance right there. The ocean was really nice. We rented a car and drove around the island a couple days to see different things, too. Took a tour bus to Pearl Harbor (must see) and a boat ride out to the USS Arizona memorial and a tour of the Missouri. Went to a waterfall in a rain forest. A couple other hikes. And of course, a luau. :laughing:

One of the things I found interesting (and amusing) was on the nightly news, during the weather forecast, they had the jellyfish forecast. Apparently the jellyfish peak every so many weeks and that's important for swimming (my kid got nailed by one in Georgia and it would have put a grown man down).

If we go again, we'll go to other islands.

 

[txdon]

WARNING:

Pay attention to the WARNING signs. The WARNING signs in parking areas say "Do not leave valuables in your vehicle" at tourist attractions (Pearl Harbor) and at trail heads. Both times we went to Hawaii we have had our vehicle vandalized in these areas. We left nothing of value but they still broke in.

The signs are really big and pretty I just wonder why they don't have cameras?

 

[eng1886trk]

My wife and I got married in Maui and honeymooned in Kauai 6 months ago. We enjoyed Maui much more. Road to Hana was awesome and is definitely an all day or multiple day thing if you want to get the most out of it. I hate to say it but my wife used Pinterest a lot to find many awesome things to do. Watching the sunrise on top of the dormant volcano above the clouds, the pineapple plant tour and all the views. There are tons of Mom and Pop places to eat. If you want to go out to the fancy dinner places, I would suggest downloading the app 'Open Table' which allows you to easily make and change reservations. There were places that fill up there reservations several days in advance. There is plenty to do and see. I would recommend staying at least 10 days at a minimum. We did 10 days on Maui and 4 days on Kauai.

We flew out of Newark and did a direct flight which was very worth it in my mind. Little less than 10 hours and we were on the ground. Every flight that we found with a connecting flight made for a 13-15 hour flight, plus you run the risk if a flight gets delayed, missing the other. Also the plane is bigger (Usually 2 seats, aisle, 3 seats (middle), aisle and 2 seats), which is nice because you can just have a window and aisle seat with no one else sitting with you or in between you. Regardless of what you do, it makes for a long day of travel. The other thing we did was pay for a driver to take us to the airport, which ended up being around the same price if you pay to park at the airport for that length of time.

 

[check]

If you include Maui in your trip, go in the Winter (from December to about March), because the Humpback Whales are there, and you can book a whale watching tour.

Also, a lovely and easy snorkel is to take a tour boat out to Molokini Crater, where you can also scuba dive.

You realize, of course, that you have to keep us all posted now, and also send TBN postings from Hawaii while you are there.

 

[check]

My wife and I bought a week at timeshare on southern shore of Kauai in the 80s, went a bunch of times, bought a second week, went a few more times, ended up selling timeshare due to high maintenance fees (hurricanes took their toll). My wife and 2 of 3 daughters went to Honolulu for school trip and then my wife and I went back to Kauai in 2013 and again in 2016. We rented unit north of airport on Kauai (in Kapaa) and traveled to beach on south shore daily to snorkel and walk. We also visited north shore, went to end of road on each trip. Kauai is our favorite and has changed alot in 30 years but still enjoyable. We like to talk to locals and avoid much of the tourist sites... There are many things to see, many options for housing (we rented the last two times from Krellers getaway for example). We live on west side of US so we would rather go to Kauai than Florida (shorter flights and better beaches).

Hey, Hawkeye, if you don't mind my asking, how much did your week on the South Shore of Kauai cost? We bought one on the North Shore at the Cliffs club at Princeville. Maybe we could even trade locations sometime!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

15 yrs ago, I surprised my wife with a trip to Maui for our 15th anniversary. I just told her we were going to the beach. She got suspicious when the first flight went to Dallas. We were there only a few days, would like to go back.