Hawaii travel tips

About

NOTE: This page is a daughter page of: Travel

I had never visited Hawaii before, but always wanted to go. I was an Australian living in San Francisco and in Nov 2020 (during the pandemic) I finally decided I should try to visit Hawaii. Here's all the notes and advice I've compiled from others, plus some of my own hot tips at the end.

Tips for a Hawaii Trip

Traveling During Covid

Warning: This section was last updated Nov 23, 2020 (the day before you must get your test results before your flight), but in a world where rules change every week I can't promise it will stay current. Please use the official links in this section to see what may have changed.

From early 2020 until Oct 15, visitors had to register their flight with travel.hawaii.gov AND quarantine in a hotel (never leaving) for 2 weeks else face a ($5000 + 2 years in jail) fine. Yes they take it seriously! After Oct 15 2020, you can register and show up with a Negative COVID test result (to skip the 2 week quarantine) *BUT* it's not quite all that simple... the test has to be by an approved testing partner and within a certain time (72 hours) of your arrival. Details here:

• hawaiicovid19.com - Getting to Hawai‘i ... I think this the most official one, although gohawaii.com/travel-requirements also appears official.
• hawaii-guide.com - Things to know about visiting a reopening Hawaii ... less official, but good info.

• To find Wallgreens test sites: No-Cost COVID-19 Testing at Walgreens.. but I prefer "color".

Hawaii travel form at https://travel.hawaii.gov/#/welcome.

Covid Warning: Unlike normal times, where you'd buy flights ahead of time to get a good deal, there's no obvious order of events, and always a fear that your COVID test could take more than 72 hours or even come back inconclusive or positive. If you buy flights ahead, definitely get flights that you can refund or reschedule for free. Personally, I actually waited for my ColorLab test results... and then booked a flight quickly and then filled in travel.hawaii.gov to upload my details. They also want you to have an address in Hawaii and return flights... using their interface you upload a PDF of your test results from the trusted site (like this) and then they email you a QR code you'll need at the airport (like this). It's a nervous process for sure!

Decide on an Island (or two)

I created this graphic to summarize what you need to know:

I've summarized the different islands and what they are good for (and their popularity among tourists).

• More articles:
  • HuffPost - Which Hawaiian Island Is for Me?

Videos

• Vacation Travel Guide | Expedia: Feel good videos which cover most islands:
  • Honolulu (Oahu Island) - big city, popular Waikiki beach, downtown, barracks, Pearl Harbor, the zoo and more.
  • Maui - the "most beautiful island" with watersports, galleries, rent a car to drive to Hana.
  • Hawaii's Big Island - feel good overview of the main island, and attractions like the volcanos, painted church, captain cook monument and more. They also have videos for:
  • Kauai island - 30 minutes from Honolulu, the garden island with stunning waterfalls and scenery. No building can be taller than a coconut tree.

Decide On Your Experience: (a) Resort Only or (b) Experience The Island

Accommodation in Hawaii is expensive, the fancy resorts on most islands are easily $200-400 a night (plus resort fees) so unless you are privileged level rich, you'll only be able to afford a few days and won't actually export the island - which sounds like a wasted trip to me - but to each their own. During covid there are deals for $100 on certain islands which means you can stay twice as long plus easily afford a hire car and at that point it doesn't matter what part of any island you are at (unless it's the rainy side and it rains all week), you can drive to fantastic beaches and waterfall hikes each day of your visit. Score!

Car Rental (you definitely want one)

You can use Lyft to drive you about 20 miles for $20 on most islands, but it doesn't give you the flexibility of a rental car to easily explore beaches and hikes each day. It appears there are pretty resonable car rentals on most islands. You can use a service like Expedia to look across multiple rental agencies and might get as good as ~$20 a day for a gas efficient sedan or ~$30 a day for a midsize SUV if you book a few days. You'll probably want a pickup and drop-off from the airport... so for instance for Maui you'd probably want Kahului Airport (OGG). Don't forget to ask about their sand policy... depending on your insurance you'll probably want to stop by a Shell to vacuum up sand because it's pretty much impossible to keep the beautiful beach sand out of your car.

• Expedia - Car Rendals - Kahului, HI, OGG - ~$30 a night for a midsize SUV.

Accommodation (try vrbo/airbnb over any resorts)

Think about what experience you want. Depending on how long you stay, there can be a few good deals floating around. Instead of just using AirBnB, you should also try VRBO for Hawaii.

• VRBO Hawaii
• AirBnB Maui
• Other interesting options:
  • Outdoorsy.com - you might be able to get a campavan for a good deal, but depending on the island you still pay extra to park it and there might be very few places to actually park it, which would suck, so do your research.

Acknowledgements: Zzina for sharing some of these links so I can finally get my act together and come visit! Also Natalia for seeding the idea of Hawaii in the first place. :)

Weather (pick your part of the island wisely)

Always remember to check the forecast ahead of your trip. Weather in the Hawaiian Islands very consistent and warm throughout the year. There are only two seasons in Hawaii: summer (kau) from May to Oct and winter (hooilo) from November to April. The average daytime temperature at sea level is 85° F (29.4° C) during summer and 78° (25.6° C) during winter. Temperatures at night are ~10° F lower than daytime. The wettest months are from Nov to Mar, but winter rains do not generally disrupt vacation plans, since the weather is very localized. This means that if it is raining where you are, there is almost always a sunny spot to be found around the coast. Most of the rain falls in the mountains and valleys on the windward (northeastern) side of the islands. It is this weather phenomenon that creates Hawaii’s rich, green, tropical environment. Wind can vary throughout the day. Wind and rainfall varies hugely between different part of each island, and obviously the vegetation is most lush in the rainy areas. Using Google Maps Satellite Mode to see the dark green areas helps indicate vegetation and rainfall.

• timeanddate.com - Maui 14 Day Extended Forecast - check before you go.
• gohawaii.com - Climate in The Hawaiian Islands - includes more info about the wind, surf and climate zones.

Warning: I had friends stay on the rainy (northern) side of Maui at the same time I visited and it rained there for weeks straight (yes, it does happen)... I was just a little lower in Kihei and the rain was very brief. It can get very windy most days though!

Advice From My Maui Trip

I went on a solo trip to visit Maui in Nov 2020. The flight had some turbulence, but the real sock was at the airport. It was a massive line to get past security (and to baggage claim), it took 1.5 hours and at the end I showed my QR code and they let me in. Phew. I was afraid that somehow my QR code wouldn't work, so not until I was in, did I book my rental car (the rental car pickup area is not far from arrivals via a quaint and easy little free tram)... I went with Budget for a $18 a day electra - which was more than enough to handle Maui - it's not like jurassic park so 4WD seemed overkill. I booked a beautiful one bedroom in Kihei where I heard the weather was always pretty nice, and indeed it was. I would have been more comfortable booking all this way beforehand, but COVID makes it kind of necessary to be more spontaneous. The following is advice I have if you've committed at least a few days to explore the island !

Tip 1: Shopping Trip First

It's tempting to explore immediately, but first think about going shopping for some food for your stay (breakfast, fruit, snacks, etc). Get one big shop out of the way now, and then you can easily buy little extras as you need. If you're smart you'll decide to buy some snorkeling gear too!

Tip 2: Bring or Buy Your Own Snorkeling

There's some magnificent fish just off the beaches of Hawaii - and a great probability you'll see turtles in the water. You'd be crazy not to snorkel! Oh sure, you can rent gear in some places, but half-decent snorkel and googles sets are as low as $15 in many stores (even Safeway) so that's the better option for sure! Each day you can drive to different places, and you'll be pretty frustrated if you don't have snorkeling gear with you. If you don't have baggage room on your return you can write a little note to leave it as a gift for housekeepers or the next guest (being generous will make you feel awesome also). Snorkeling fins help you go fast (~$30 for an okay set), but are not really critical if you are an okay swimmer already.

Tip 3: Prep Your Car for The Beach

Put that car to good use! You've already unloaded all your bags into accommodation, but now take anything you'll possibly want for the beach and hiking and put it into your car. If you are lucky your accommodation might provide more than just towels, they might have fun things like beach umbrellas, boogie boards and portable chairs! :)

Here's some things you'll want in your car:

• MANY towels!! - I'm talking 3 per person... the sand is really fine, so you can easily use one to lay on the beach, one to dry off, one as a pillow, one to clean your feet, one to sit on in the car... you get the idea.
• Sunscreen, sunglasses - Very important. Apply immediatly.
• Rain jackets, umbrella - In case or rain.. probably it will pass quickly, but if it doesn't a rain jacket is still good to keep you warm as night falls.
• Dry / warm clothes for night - As it becomes night you will get cold - especially if you're wet.
• Flip-flop / boots - These would seem pretty useless in your room right? You can walk everywhere around your accommodation barefoot anyway.
• Snorkeling gear / swimmers - As mentioned above... bring or buy them on the first day and always leave them in your car!
• Lots to drink - I think one-time use drinking bottles are bad for the environment, but since you don't have room in luggage for 50 reusable containers, it's a good option to buy a big set of green teas or whatever to help keep hydrated wherever you go. Just reuse as much as you can and pick up litter to help balance out your (my) naughtiness.
• Car chargers - Duh.

Tip 3: Drive Around the Whole Island (for your wholistic lay of the land)

Driving around the whole island gives you an amazing feel for what there is! For Maui you need one day for the northern half, one day for the southern half if you want time to stop at various beaches along the way. Tune into a local FM station like 103.9 (the tunes of the island) to drop into a nice relaxed mood pretty quick!

I consider this "getting a lay of the land". In a new place I feel like it's fantastic to quickly survey the whole area to work out what areas you might want to avoid (eg: where the expensive resorts are - the ones with the big fat white guys on their mobile phones while their fish lip wives take selfies) and what areas you want to explore more (eg: farmers markets, amazing looking rainforest or bamboo hikes, specific snorkeling beaches etc). Sadly with COVID lots of the amazing activities like boat/helicopter rides are going to be closed... but talk to the locals wherever you go to ask for tips about what might be open and fun to do. I got tips about places for live music in restaurants and events where people dance on the beach.

Warning: Some of the roads at the northern and Southern cliff areas of Maui are one lane wide! It's pretty scary, but it means hugging your side of the road, because the locals speed... and if you come across someone in a one lane section you may have to reverse until you reach a section which is wide enough to pass. It's scary. The only real tip I have is time your trip so you're not doing this at night and hopefully not when locals are speeding back home.

Tip 4: Be Cool With The Locals

Some of the locals tolerate tourists... others do not! Some locals realize that tourists are half the reason why they can barely afford to live on their island anymore. Indeed there are many homeless and big issues with drugs. Locals have a very nasty word assigned just for tourists, and so if you can try your best not to look or behave like an idiot - that's a good start.

One place this starts is on the roads. Lots of the locals speed, so if you see a car in your rear view mirrors, pull onto the shoulder and let them pass... often they appreciate this so much they will wave, but if you wait too long you'll get the finger instead.

Be a good human, be friendly to everyone. Even at the cash register, ask them how their day was, and their favorite thing to do after work. Drop you big city "gotta-run-everywhere-cuz-I-hustle" or "I'm-a-big-shot-at-my-company-on-the-mainland" attitude off at the airport, because locals will spot that from a mile away and hate you before you even open your mouth. Embrace flip flops. It's okay to admit you are visiting for the first time and would hugely appreciate advice, just do it from a genuine place. Give away compliments to locals and smile. Notice the difference between what locals wear and what idiot tourists wear and try to look as much like a tourist as you can manage. :)

Tip 5: Follow your Own Path

Okay, once you have a lay of the land and talked to a few locals, hopefully something has tempted you.

Oh, and once again - don't get sunburnt on your first day! Hahaha.

See Also

• COVID-19
• Packing for a trip

Links

• hawaii-guide.com - Things to know about visiting a reopening Hawaii
• HuffPost - Which Hawaiian Island Is for Me?
• [1]

Cutsie version of different islands.