Hawaii Trip Report

[Travel Guru]

We were lucky enough to vacation in Hawaii last month, so I wanted to share a trip report/ review of our little tropical travel with you guys. Of course we had a blast in Hawaii. How can you not? Let's go over the big highlights though.

We took a packaged tour through Pleasant Hawaiian. I'm glad we did, since this was our first trip to Hawaii. Our typical dinner was $55 for two; it adds up fast. Our trip cost about $2900 for an eight-night, two-island stay including air from PDX, hotels, tours, food, etc. Pleasant gave us introductions at both islands, and included some useful coupons for the typical things a first-time visitor does. No one ever mentions how much they paid for their vacations, but I think it's important to say that Hawaii is very expensive. Goods and food are 20-100% more expensive there than here in Texas.


We toured the Dole Pineapple factory. A must see. Great samples. I was amazed at the number of incredibly-overpriced stores, and the only people in them were Japanese. Go to Hilo Haties if you want a muu-muu (ugly Hawaiian flowery dress), but otherwise stay away. Take the 50 cent Pineapple Express bus trip to Ala Moana shopping center. It's huge, and has everything from Woolworth (a K-Mart type) to Gucci and Chanel. Take the free tour and boat ride out to the Arizona Memorial. I felt kinda strange there. About half the people there were Japanese, and in case you forgot, that's who bombed us in 1941. We took the #20 bus to Pearl Harbor. Don't bother taking a packaged bus tour. It'll cost you $15, whereas the public bus gets you there in the same amount of time and only costs $0.50. It's a 55 minute ride from Waikiki to PH.

Maui was our favorite. It’s livelier and there’s enough rugged beauty. We found both Maui and Kauai are equally lush and simply gorgeous! I think if we had hiked Kauai's wilderness areas we may've preferred Kauai. The 11 mile Napali coast hiking trail looked really enticing but unfortunately not for weak hikers like myself.Although, I have to Kauai's village like feel definitely adds to the charm and does NOT take away from it. But, I probaly can't stay more than 5 days in Kauai while I can easily spend atleast 9 days in Maui. For anyone Island hopping, I would recommend staying at Maui the longest.

Helicopter rides is the most popular activity, the best ones are Kauai’s Circle Island tour (Napali coast and Waimea Canyon being the main attractions) and Big Island’s active volcano ride. Unless you are staying on Big Island, you can only take a plane ride over an active volcano from the other Islands but it’s not worth it. Horse back riding to Haleakala’s crater also looks fun. Whatever you choose to do, DON"T OVERPLAN !!!! Some of the best times can be had doing absolutely nothing but soaking in the sun, lazing with a book or listening to music on the beach. Zip lining in Kauai looked like a real adventure but in 3 days it would have been too much to do. In Maui, you can hike a lava tube (Ka’eleku Caverns or the ones in Haleakala’s crater).

We had a great time at the beautiful Hawaii islands. I hope your trip goes as well as ours did. Have fun!