Vacation in Hawaii

For my son graduating high school and preparing for college, and my daughter turning 16, we decided to go on one last, grand family vacation.

We always wanted to go to Hawaii so that was an obvious choice, and it would be our first time there so an all-new experience.  Let's get right down to it though, Hawaii is expensive in every way.  Airline tickets, lodging, transportation and food, all considerably more expensive than on the mainland.  By expensive I mean be prepared to go broke.

You CAN find reasonably priced restaurants (local hamburger joints, Dennys, stuff like that) but any other type of restaurant (sit in and order) will cost you between 2 and 4 times as much as you would expect to spend.  Factor that in for each meal -OR- approach your stay in a different manner that we did:  rent a place that has a full kitchen, shop at a local grocery store (again, it will be expensive but still much better than eating out) and prepare all of your own meals.  That is the best option and if we ever go again, that is what we will do.

Another dent in your wallet will be felt when you hit the the many tourist zones.  Ticket costs are pretty outrageous.  So pick and chose where you want to go and what you want to see or do.  Try to find free and open hikes, drives, etc.  That will also help quite a bit.

O.K.  Enough of $$$ talk.  We spent our entire week in Oahu.  Oahu is the island with Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Waikiki, etc.  We stayed in a resort on the North shore, farther from the more populous zones.  Even so, you should know that the roads are simple roads and heavily trafficked by tourists from every nation in the universe.  Ie. -- lots of traffic on already slow roads.  But that is OK, people are generally friendly and cars let other cars out into traffic, etc.  The pace felt slow so not too many people grew aggravated with traffic.  I feel for the natives though.  Since we are talking about traffic and travel, I would also like to take the opportunity to record the most satisfying instant-justice scene I had ever witnessed:  While traveling to the Dole Plantation, traffic was a little heavy.  At one point there was an intersection where you could turn left or go straight, with designated turn and travel lanes.  Some yahoo decided to zip up in the left turn lane and cut in front of the line to avoid the traffic...  HO HO!  3 cars or so behind us was a police officer.  The second the guy pulled that move he shot out and nailed the guy.  It was a beautiful sight and I wish I saw it more often on the I-17 here in Phoenix.

The island weather was amazing.  There were clouds here and there and an occasional shower, but it never wavered from around 81 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit.  And despite the latitude, the Sun never felt overly hot (possibly because there was always a breeze).  I actually slept on our balcony one night... listening to the wind and waves.  Gorgeous weather.  A little more humid than I was used to but gorgeous.

The water on the North shore was warm.  Not too warm, cool enough, but easy to get into right away.  The waves were pretty tame for the most part too.  But I guess Winter is the more drastic season for water conditions, so we were there during the most calm water.  We saw plenty of sea life (tropical fish, crabs, various invertebrates, sea turtles, etc.), some very interesting birds (mynah birds, very cool cardinals, and other specific island birds).

We visited several touristy hot spots (Dole plantation, Cultural Center, and another place whose name escapes me) as well as a village or two.  We also hiked a valley path to a waterfall, and the trail on the way was home to a botanical garden.  It was all very beautiful and I would love to go back some day, although to a different island.

So if you are thinking about Hawaii I would definitely recommend it but I would ask you to please plan your trip to make the most efficient use of your money!  It will definitely make you smile even when you return home.  :)