Oahu

Last week in Part 1 of the Hawaii travel tips shared some of the things you should do in Hawaii, and now this week in Part 2 going to share a few things you might want to avoid.

Don’t

• Back side of the Road to Hana – This is  HUGE don’t.  Everything we heard before going was if you go to Maui you should go on the road to Hana because it has some amazing sites.  It really did have some amazing waterfalls, and things.  The one thing no one told us was to stop when you hit Hana and go back the way you came toward Paia.  When we got to Hana we kept going on the back side to Hana cause we thought would be the easier & quicker way back to hotel, or it looked like it on Google Maps.  However, it is actually not even a road.  Luckily we were in a Jeep.  You ended up on sides of cliffs with no road, and extremely bumpy.  It was all dirt, and actually saw other cars even coming our way.  The stretch of no road was so long we wondered if we were ever going to find road again.  Seriously was about a hour of driving before we saw road again.  Of course after we did this Jeremy was reading online and found people saying not to go on the back side like this article.  Now we know why they had shirts saying I survived the Road to Hana.
• Spend your whole time in Oahu –  I am so glad our travel agent gave us the advise to not stay in Oahu the whole trip cause we would probably be disappointed, and we should go to Maui.  She was so right.  The whole reason we wanted to go to Oahu was to go to Pearl Harbor. Oahu was just a lot more commercialized, and not what I was expecting Hawaii to be.  Maui was more what I was expecting.  If I went back I would go to Maui, and now that I have seen Pearl Harbor would skip Oahu.
• Road to Hana and Sunrise at Haleakalā in same day –  The reason I say don’t do both in the same day is because it will make for a crazy long day.  We did, and really wish we had split it up.  To make the sunrise we had to leave the hotel really early to be at the top at 6:30 am.  Cause of fog that day we didn’t even get to see the sunrise.  Then we decided to do Road to Hana since was on way back to hotel.  Road to Hana is pretty much a all day thing.  It was around 5pm before we got back to hotel.  Those roads were way to bumpy to be in the back of  a Jeep all day.  Ended up making mom & I both car sick, and I never have gotten car sick.

Once again I hope you have found these travel tips helpful.  If you have been to Hawaii would love to hear what you think of my tips or what tips you would give someone going to Hawaii.  Please leave a comment below.

P.S If you want to see more of my travel pics you can follow me on Instagram, and check out my hashtag #travellane.  Feel free to share any of your travel pics using #travellane.

Very excited to finally be sharing this post on some Hawaii travel tips. It has been a long time coming, and it has turned out to be such a long post thought better to do it in two parts.  This being Part 1.

We went to Hawaii back in August to celebrate. It was Jeremy & my 6 year wedding anniversary, my parents 35th wedding anniversary, and my Mom’s birthday. What better place to celebrate than Hawaii. This was my first time to go to Hawaii, so wanted to share some of the takeaways I learned from my first trip.    These tips are focused on Oahu and Maui since those were the two islands we stayed on.

Do’s

• Use a travel agent – Usually we book our own travel, and do a ton of research to find the best deal.  We had decided we were doing this trip to Hawaii about a year ago, and had been researching it for a while.  This time we did something different, and went through a travel agent to book.  The main reason we went though the travel agent was because the trip had a ton of moving parts.  We had decided to island hop (which I will explain more later), and that made it a little more complicated to book online on our own.  Island hoping meant another flight, another hotel, rental car, and airport transportation.  When we researched it was hard finding good way to book the island to island flight.  The travel agent ended up being able to bundle everything together, and get a better rate than what we were able to find online.  She had access to flights we were not able to find online, and gave us valuable information on what to do in Hawaii.  Travel agents are the ones that can also setup to have a greeter meet you when you land, and give you a leis. Really cool after a 8 hour flight to get off the plane and have someone holding a sign with your name to greet you & they give you a leis.  Had a friend tell me this is not customary is has to be setup, and it is travel agents that do that.
• Hula Pie – Before we went I had several people tell me I had to try Hula Pie while I was in Hawaii.  Mom and I were out doing some shopping when we ran across Kimo’s that had Hula Pie, and we gave it a try.  It is seriously life changing it is so good.  Ended up going back with Jeremy and my dad later so they could try it.  It is a must to try!
  
• Pearl Harbor – This was the whole reason we decided on going to Oahu.  If you can’t tell from my previous travel post we love going to historical places.  That is why no way were we going to Hawaii, and not going to Pearl Harbor.  We learned a lot, and found it very interesting. You will want to book your spot ahead of time to make sure you get in when you want.  They offer a ton of different packages for tours.  You can go to individual sites, or do a pass book to go to all sites.  The reservations are open 30 days out.  We booked the narrated tour of the USS Arizona through the government website, and it was only $7.50. Doing the narrated tour gave you a lot of good information, and was very interesting. Would recommend purchasing the narrated tour, so you really get a good feel for what happened.
• Gazebo Resturant –  We had breakfast at Gazebo the day we left cause a friend told us to try while we were in Maui, and really enjoyed it.  Have to watch the birds cause they will try to eat your food.  It is a little hard to find so make sure to map before you leave.
  
• Sheraton Maui – We stayed at both the Sheraton Waikiki, and Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa during our trip.  Would highly recommend the Sheraton Maui.  The Sheraton Maui had a more all inclusive tropical feel, and the rooms were nice.  You even had a nightly cliff dive at the Sheraton Maui you could see.   The Sheraton Waikiki was more commercialized, and the rooms were on the small side.
  
• Luau – Of course if you are going to go to Hawaii you have to experience a luau.  You have a lot you can choose from.  We decided to do the one at the Sheraton, so we wouldn’t have to drive.  It was interesting, and you learned about the culture.  It was a little on the pricey side, and don’t know I would do it again if I went back.  However, it is just something you should experience at least once. 

Hopefully these are some useful tips.  Monday I will have Part 2 continuing with some of the things you might not want to waste your time on when you go to Hawaii, so hope you come back to check those out. If you have been to Hawaii would love to hear what you think of my tips or what tips you would give someone going to Hawaii.  Please leave a comment below.

What has been your favorite place to travel to?

P.S If you want to see more of my travel pics you can follow me on Instagram, and check out my hashtag #travellane.  Feel free to share any of your travel pics using #travellane.