I Know Nothing about Hawaii and Want to Plan a Vacation - Tell Me Everything
Our family is considering taking a vacation in Hawaii. Maybe in the next year or so. Being pretty clueless when it comes to Hawaii, what would you suggest? It would be for 6 adult and 1 child. Is one place cheaper to fly into than another? What about hotels and such?
Many people start with Oahu on their first trip, and it is generally the easiest to fly into and cheapest because it is the most popular - of course being the most popular it has really gotten developed and a lot of people complain there are more buildings than trees, but it’s still a beautiful island and has fantastic, easy-to-get-to beaches (that you’ll be sharing with a million other people 
) but that’s ok, they are big. You might want to look into Oahu and see if it’s what you want.
Don’t think about hotels till you decide on an island - do you have rewards with anybody like Hilton or Marriott? That might also be a good way to decide where you want to go - you could find the hotel that would get you the best deal and then see what you think of the island it’s on.
my husband and l had some interest some day of traveling to hawaii, he has been reading the lonely planet book about and sounds very beautiful. just wondering if you had any suggestions for me not sure what time of year we would go, but we were thinking of three weeks. we do know someone that lives in kihei - how would we go about setting up an itinerary, where would we start and where would we end? is it best to stay in b&b’s any suggestions for hotels, renting vehicles, what would you suggest to budget yourself per day, any suggestions would be great
Wow, this is a huge question and I’m just not sure I can do it justice - it’s huge and broad and usually I do best with very specific questions, but I’ll try to point you in the right direction here:
- Decide what island you will visit - if you know someone in Kihei and want to go to that island then start looking into Maui.
- Decide what area - if, for your first trip, you stick to the very touristy areas you will be ’safe’ meaning you will find great beaches and great weather typically - so on Maui that would be Wailea, Lahaina/Kaanapali, and Kihei.
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Decide what hotel you will stay at - alternatively, this could be your second item on your list, because if you prefer say, Hilton hotels because you like them or have rewards with them and there is only one Hilton on the island, well then what area choice is pretty much made for you. easy
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As for should you stay in a hotel, vacation rental, condo, or bed and breadkfast — this is all personal preference. Do YOU prefer hotels or bed and breakfasts. Do you want to eat out every meal or cook your own food? Do you want to have your vacation in a place that feels like home or do you prefer a hotel where everything is done and provided for you? see what I’m getting at here? Me, I like condos because you can save money and eat healthier stuff but I like hotels because you can forget about all that cooking and cleaning cr– and concentrate on playing. I like vacation rentals because you are hanging out by yourself away from all the other visitors but I like hotels because there are lots of other people around
- As for budgeting yourself per day - well, what is your budget? Do you have $10,000+ to spend on this trip, or only $4500? This will make a big difference. There are books that will show you how to make the most of a budget - Frommer’s Hawaii on $80 a Day is one of them. I don’t know how relevant it is to today since it was written in 2005, but it will get you started I think.
- As for what to do - you could out your daily itinerary before you go down to the very last activity (this is what my husband does) by doing a google search for Maui activities (if that’s the island you’ll be staying on) and seeing what comes up or you could just fly to Maui and see what looks fun to you (this is what I do)
I hope this helps get you started, write me again if you have more questions. Aloha, Lisa
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