8 days in hawaii

Traveling to Hawaii was one of the most interesting and unexpected vacations I have ever gone on. Before going, I expected it to be a beautiful island with great beaches, poke bowls, and hiking galore. It was all those things, but the experience itself turned out to be culturally immersive far beyond what I had imagined.

Pre-arrival

In the past two years, my mind has not stopped thinking about traveling. This blessing/curse has drained my bank account, led me to new friends and connections, and provided me with some of the most valuable experiences of my life. Over the summer back in Cody, I essentially took the time to plan my next year or so. This plan entailed staying in Cody until October, heading to Mexico for 5 weeks to do my TEFL certification, vacationing in Hawaii for 8 days, then driving back up to Montana to work on a ski resort for the winter where I currently reside. At the end of my program in Mexico, I was ready to come back to the US. I was only back in the mainland for one day before my father and I boarded a plane and flew the almost 6 hours from San Diego to Honolulu.

I made many mistakes when I planned this trip, the first being booking the flight into Oahu instead of Maui, where we wanted to go. The next mistake was believing there was a functioning ferry from Honolulu to Lahaina. I was deceived by a 20 year old website that is somehow still rated on google and functioning. The last significant mistake I made was booking several tours, some of which were definitely not worth the money- something I will discuss later on in more detail. I was able to remedy these mistakes, resulting in a wonderful vacation for my father and I, while also learning some valuable travel lessons.

Where we went

As mentioned, we wanted to spend our time in Hawaii on Maui, with the road to Hana, surfing, a luau for my fathers birthday, and a visit to Haleakala National Park on our list. We ended up purchasing $77 round trip flights from Honolulu to Kahului (on Maui) and renting our car there. This ended up working out great because the first full day we were in Hawaii we spontaneously rented a car and drove around Oahu. We visited the north shore, got poke bowls, and watched the sunset at Lanikai Beach looking out at the Twin Islands.

The next morning, my father and I boarded the Hawaiian Airlines flight to Maui. This flight runs essentially once an hour all day and lasts about 30 minutes. Once in Maui, we got our rental truck and decided to explore the island.

Road to hana

My father and I drove the road to Hana all the way around the island. There were some beautiful views along the way, but as the driver I did not get to take all that much in. I have to say, the road to Hana (from Kahului to Hana) was not as spectacular as I expected. Many of the waterfalls and cool features are hidden away or very easy to accidentally pass. There is also no service the entire way, so be sure to download your map/save the places you want to stop at in order to actually go to them. I was very excited to go to the Black Sand beach which is close to Hana, and upon arrival I was informed that a reservation was needed. Something that was quite worthwhile that we did get to do was take the short hike to Kaihalulu beach in Hana, this is a beautiful red sand beach in a cove that is perfect for swimming and snorkeling.

Hikes

Waihee Ridge Trail During our time on Maui, we had the opportunity to do serval amazing hikes around the island. My favorite was the Waihee ridge trail. This was a semi challenging hike that leads you up to the summit of the Waihee Rige. There are spectacular ocean views and valley views along the way.

Pīpīwai Trail This was my second favorite hike on the island. This hike leads you through the back side of the Haleakala National Park to an awe-inspiring 300 foot waterfall at the end. The hike itself leads you through bamboo forests and past a gigantic Banyan tree. You may use your National Parks pass if you have one to park at the trailhead, this is the only option, therefore if you do not have a pass it will be $30 for a day pass for the park.

13 Crossings (Makamakaole Stream) My father loved this hike—even though he slipped a few times. As the name suggests, you will cross the river 13 times each way. There is essentially no avoiding getting your shoes wet, so don’t risk falling or hurting yourself to save the shoes. Also, there is a weird part in the beginning where you might think you need to climb up, do not go this way—follow the river and dross the stream where you see the openings. There is a sweet waterfall at the end, and even a climbing rope that you can use to go even further if you are feeling adventurous!

Kahakapao Loop Trail This was one of our last minute choices that ended up being a wonderful hike! This trail is a loop, it takes you through a Eucalyptus forest with trees easily reaching 150 ft tall. This was a semi-relaxed trail, but it is long so bring water and use the bathroom before. This park is also a mountain biking area which was very well set up for that activity if you were interested.

Lahaina Pali Trail This trail was a challenging and satisfying trail that takes you up to the ridge, offering ocean views and dry desert-esque surroundings that were quite different then the other hikes we had done. Definitely bring water and wear a hat for this hike.

Keoneheʻeheʻe Trailhead Unfortunately, we were not able to do this hike. But put it on your list and hopefully you can! This hike is all the way at the top of Haleakala Crater, be warned— this is a serious hike and the temperature is not the same as at sea level! The drive up gains almost 10k feet in elevation and it can be 20 degrees colder at the top then it is at the bottom. Bring a jacket and wear hiking pants, this was our mistake that led to us not being able to do it. The day we were there was also an exceptionally windy and cloudy day, therefore the temperature was about 50 and very cold with wind gusts.

Costs

I bought our flights for $300 each, round trip. I thought this was a great price, and bought them the day I found them. After purchasing the flights, I realized I may have made a mistake. That being assuming that I would be able to use my expertise on spending quite little while vacationing to my advantage in Hawaii. I quickly realized that there is no such thing as a cheap place to stay in Hawaii. I also realized almost every thing we wanted to do would be administered by a tour company, which charged about $150/person for most activities-scuba, bike riding, luau etc. Food costs were surprisingly not the most outrageous, more so what I had expected. It is very possible to get an incredible poke bowl from Foodland at very reasonable prices. For example, I believe we got a 3/4 lb tub of ahi tuna poke for under $10, which lasted as my lunch for 2 days.

Gas was cheaper in Hawaii then it was in San Diego. Not that that’s saying much, but it was still somewhat surprising to me. The large truck we rented worked well as our vehicle on the island. It was around $700 for the 8 days we were there, renting from Hertz. Trucks are a common sight in Hawaii, it was very much the local form of transportation as there are many off road activities and hidden places only accessible with 4WD.

Lodging was pretty difficult to find, even several months out. Essentially nothing is “cheap” unless you decide to camp, which is a viable option. I believe I would actually camp if I were to return, the climate is nice enough, it is quite safe, and there are many spots on the island to do it—many being directly on the beach. We did end up staying in hostel type lodging, our own bedroom and a shared bathroom, all which was perfectly fine for us but for over $100 a night, not what I am used to at that price.

Activities

My father and I decided to go big on this trip, since neither of us expect to go on another trip to Hawaii anytime soon. This led to us booking quite a few activities that we wanted to do.

Snorkeling

For snorkeling, we used a company called Maui Charters. The boat driver was very knowledgeable, we went to several different spots that were quite nice. The excursion lasted about 4 hours, I would have probably been fine with a 90 minute-2 hour experience. We were there in November, and while the water was not particularly cold, it was somewhat uncomfortable to go in and out of for 4 hours—especially while the sun was not hitting us directly.

The best part of this excursion was the final stop at Turtle Town. We saw several sea turtles there and even spotted an octopus. The rest of the stops were primarily fish and sea urchins. The coral itself was not as colorful as I had expected, while still very beautiful and alive.

If I were to do this again, I would go with one of the less expensive tours that only takes guests to Turtle Town, it was incredible to swim with the turtles so head there for that.

biking

I knew my father and I wanted to bike ride on our trip to Hawaii. After doing some research, I found out about the very well-known bike ride that starts just before entering Haleakala National park and goes all the way down past Paia (nearly 30 miles—all downhill). This was the result that came up when I searched “mountain biking maui”, and due to the overwhelming number of companies who offered this specific ride, I did not believe there were other options for biking on the island.

We ended up going with a company called Maui Bombers, if you are going to do this bike ride, I could not recommend them enough. But, I must say I would not do this bike ride again. It is simply a bike ride on a road down from the crater. The view is nice from high up, but it does not get any better, you don’t get a workout, and once the view is gone you just ride along the road for 20 miles with no view. I would have rather rode along the beach on the Hanoapiilani highway to Lahaina—or as far as I could have gone. Essentially, it is very overrated and not worth $160/person in any way or form.

luau

Now, the Luau was the one thing I was skeptical about before coming. I booked this for my fathers 65th birthday, it cost $165/person, and was worth every penny. This was my favorite experience during the whole trip. The food was fantastic, the performance was enlightening, and it made my fathers birthday very special and memorable. I gained a huge appreciation for Hawaiian cuisine, especially the purple taro which is used in many of their dishes and is a staple crop in traditional Hawaiian diet. My favorite dish I tried was called Laulau, it is made of the taro leaf stuffed with various things such as pork, coconut cream, or fish.

The performance itself was simply wonderful. The dancers danced in the traditional Hawaiian style and told stories throughout the night depicting the story of Hawaii throughout history. I was skeptical that this part of the experience would be cheesy, but it was far from it. I could not take my eyes off the dancers, men and women, in their grass skirts and extravagant headdresses.

I left the Old Lahaina Luau overly full and with a new understanding of Hawaiian culture and history. I highly recommend going to this particular one if experiencing a luau is something you are interested in.

surfing

My father wanted to go surfing in Hawaii on his 65th birthday. I myself was very excited as well, even just to say we did it. We ended up renting boards for the day from Hi-Tech Surf shop for $30/24 hours. We also hit golf balls at the range in the morning, and it turned out to take a little longer then we had anticipated. We ended up only having around 2 hours to surf, but for my father this was enough. The place we went to— where the surf shop keepers recommended— did not have great waves, but it was enough to get me up on about 5 waves and my father up on 3. It was a very fun experience, so don’t be afraid if you have little to no experience!

golfing

For my fathers birthday, he wanted to go to the golf course. He didn’t care to play a whole round, so we found a public course and went to their beautiful driving range. The course was called The Dunes at Maui, it has an excellent view of the mountains and is very centrally located. A large bucket of balls was maybe $10, and they had a selection of golf clubs to use for free. There were several people there when we went, but there was still plenty of room. I really enjoyed this and it turned into one of my favorite things we did on our whole vacation.

Cultural experience

Being in Hawaii was strangely enough one of the most distinct cultural experiences I have had while traveling. The Polynesian culture is very alive there, the people are very willing to share their culture with visitors and speak on the historical impact of being admitted to the US as a state. Our night at the luau was a very enlightening experience that taught us the long history of the island of Hawaii and its peoples traditions and customs. The dances were beautiful, the stories were rich, and the food was uniquely curated. I was very unaware of the impact of tourism that weighs on Native Hawaiian people; it is very difficult to find affordable housing, many have been pushed out of their land due to the Hawaiian culture of not having deeds, and it has developed into a conveyor belt for new people who are unfamiliar with the area and can be disrespectful. It does go to say that tourism generates so much of the states revenue, so they are very grateful and gracious to the tourists, it is just sad to see their culture capitalized.

would I return

Overall, I would probably not return to the islands of Hawaii anytime soon. My main issue was that it was so overpriced, for what you will spend you could have a vacation five times as nice in the Caribbean or in southeast Asia. Secondly, I did not feel very welcome at all times by the locals because they have become so used to tourists and can spot them a mile away. It was a somewhat in-genuine experience trying to talk to locals as they talk to new people who ask the same questions every day. There were many very kind people but it was the first time I have traveled somewhere where I have felt this way.

Hawaii has lots to offer and is a very worthwhile place to visit for a beautiful vacation, but I can’t say it was the right vacation for me at the time. I enjoyed spending time with my father, and it was a great learning experience, I just cannot say it was worth the money compared to other more genuine traveling I have done.