Hawaii spring break 2023

Planning

There is so much to see in Hawaii, it is difficult to pick the things to do in the time we have. We got a baseline itinerary from from a friend of ours and then tweaked it to the places we wanted to see.

Our plan is to spend a couple of days on Oahu and a couple of days on the Big Island. We wanted to see the USS Arizona memorial and Pearl Harbor, lava flows, Waikiki beach, eat pineapple, seafood, visit the Dole plantation, waterfalls, diamond crater, Mauna Kea, cultural heritage sites… it’s a long list. There are various tours that can be purchased on Viator and other sites, but we decided to go with the “Explore on our own” option.

Getting flights from Houston to Oahu was the next challenge. Looks like all Houstonians are getting out of town, and no good options for flights were available. Best we could do is drive to Dallas and take the flight from there. Later we found out that there are direct flights from Austin to Oahu… Something to consider if you are traveling out of TX.

Some of the places you would want to visit need advance reservations. Read up on them. Here are some that you might want to make:

Day 0: Houston Dallas – LA – Oahu

Woke up early, had breakfast and we were all in the car by 7:15am. Flight is at 4pm but decided to head out early, just in case. Drove to Madisonville and stopped at Bucee’s for gas and a break. Filled up, had a muffin and headed on. Drive went smoothly. Parked at Parking Spot. 

Nice smooth ride to LAX on American Airlines. Will be reaching around 5:25pm at terminal 4 and need to be on the flight to Honolulu before 6:15pm at terminal 5. Bit of a panic. Don’t know how far the terminals are at. Luckily it wasn’t too bad. Took the escalator down then tunnel across and escalator back up. Made it with time to spare … and so did our luggage. Good! Grabbed some mozzarella basil tomato sandwich from grab and go and got in line for the flight. 

On the flight we are told our flight to Oahu will reach at 11pm. Will take longer due to strong headwinds, the National car rental counter closes at 11pm… arrg. Now what?  Oh… looked at the reservation and looks like I picked the incorrect day for pickup! Oh well! I will cancel the reservation and make some course corrections. Will Uber to the hotel and then will look at options for the car rental. Anyway. Let’s relax now. We have a 6 hour flight. Excited to be headed to Oahu. 

Landed in Oahu at 11pm

Checked into the hotel La Croix. It’s pretty nice hotel. We got a room with a kitchenette, so we can cook if need be. Showered and went to bed. 

Day 1: 

Woke up around 7am. For today’s plan, we are going to walk around. Have brunch at Castro. Then head to the Waikiki beach, and meander our way to the Diamond head park.

Brunch at Castro’s was really good. Very fancy! Walked a bit thru the downtown and then took an Uber to the Diamond Head national monument.

Walked up Diamond head. It was a strenuous hike. Loved the views though. Took an Uber back to the hotel.  Ordered food on the Uber eats app, and we are now going down the watch the Honolulu Spring Festival parade. 

Day 2

We woke up early and were ready at 6 am. We decided to book a Jeep Rubicon on Turo. While I was picking up the Jeep, the family went to Holey Grail donuts to pick up… of course donuts!

Today is going to be a long day. We plan on going eastward, then loop around and go west…

  • We started out by heading to Hanuma bay, which was unfortunately closed (mon, tue) 
  • Halona blowhole viewpoint 
  • Makapu point lookout -light house trail
  • Nu’uanu Pali lookout 
  • Byodo in temple
  • Dole plantation
  • Stopped for lunch at North Shore-Giovanni’s, where I had the hot shrimp and Anagha had the scrimp scampi. It was really hot… but good. 
  • North shore macadamia nut coffee & nuts – bought coffee, tea bags, macadamia nuts, shortbread cookie 
  • Waimea waterfalls, at the falls area till 5 pm. Didn’t know you could go swimming at the waterfall. They have life vests etc. make sure you are prepared for that. 
  • Pupukea beach park -stayed over an hour, 
  • Kids had fun playing in the water. We watched the sunset 
  • Picked up food from Food Land which was across the park. 

This was a long day, and we accomplished a lot today! We got to the room at 8:30 pm

Day 3

Up at 6:30am once again! We all got ready, and headed out to Pearl Harbor. We plan on spending the whole day there, paying our respects and soaking up on history.

  • We started with USS bowfin, a submarine,
  • Pacific fleet museum. 
  • VR video of USS Arizona 
  • Boat tour to the USS Arizona memorial
  • Battleship Missouri 

it is a truly amazing experience to be here. It started raining heavily and we are tired. We will skip the aviation museum and head back to the hotel. On our way back, we stopped at Leonard’s bakery at 5pm to pick up their famous donuts, I also picked up a at another place Poke bowl. We returned our Jeep, let the kids stay in while and my wife and I took a walk around Waikiki

Day 4: Oahu to Hawaii Island

Woke up around 7am. Took it easy. Packed everything up. Had a good breakfast. All showered up and took an Uber to the Airport. Had lunch at the airport, I had lunch from ChaoMein rest of the family had lunch from Burger King. 

At the terminal… terminal 10. Flight is supposed to leave at 1:35pm… but is delayed to a maintenance  issue. Will just wait I suppose. Airlines gave us some snacks and drinks. Just hanging till then… Flight finally leaves at 5pm! Kind of messed our plans for today. 

Landed in Kona, Big island at 6:30 pm. It’s a beautiful sunset as we get off the airplane. But then, we get the message that our car reservation was cancelled, since there were no cars available! Took an Uber to Kona Place. Got there by 7:30pm Will book a Turo tomorrow. 

Day 5: Tour Hawaii Island (Big island)

Woke up at 7:45 am. It’s a beautiful apartment. Booked a Jeep Renegade on Turo and while we were waiting for the car, decided to take a stroll. Grabbed some Kona Coffee and strolled on the Kona beach. Got the Jeep, and then packed up for the day and went to Herbivores for lunch. After lunch we headed out. We decided to go across the island anti clockwise. We started with,

  • Keahou bay
  • Drive along Kona Coast, which is an amazing drive
  • Stop at the Punalu bake shop where we bought malasadas, ice cream & guava bread
  • Drove to Punaalu Black sand beach
  • Next we drove to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
  • admired the Crater Rim West- Sulfur vents
  • walked thru the Thornton lava tube (Nahuku)

We take our time to absorb the wonders of Hawaii. It’s been along day! 7:30 pm. We drive back to Kona Plaza, order Dominos on the way. Reached Kona plaza at 10 pm, and enjoy our pizza dinner, and get some well deserved rest.

Day 6: Mauna Kea

Woke up at up at 7 am. For ready, did our laundry, had some Kona coffee, picked up some groceries at Safeway, had breakfast on the patio and then started our day. The plan is to visit Mauna Kea and then the east side of the island if we have time. We headed out at 10:50 am to Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in the world, when you count from the seabed. We arrive at the visitor center at 12 pm. It is beautiful out here. Need to stay here for 30 min, so we can acclimatize ourselves to the altitude. We are at currently at 13000 ft elevation. Glad we were able to rent the Jeep. We are not allowed to go further without using the 4 wheel drive vehicle option. We put it into 2x low mode and slowly made our way up towards the peak. My wife is feeling dizzy and the significantly bouncy ride is causing her a neck pain 😞… but we drive on, slowly. As we reach the top we pause to take in the magnificent views. It is truly breathtaking. Snow capped mountains!
We are physically done for the day! Drive back down at 1:30 pm, reach the visitor center at 2 pm, do a brake check (temperature) and drive back to Kona plaza. We get back to the Virbo by 4pm. In the evening, we strolled around the Kona downtown, get some Swirl Tea-ice cream, pick up a few t-shirts, dresses at the ABC store and am back in the room by 7:15 pm

Day 7: Flight back home

Our final day here, wish we could have stayed here longer. There is so much to do and see. But as with all good fun things, we now need to get back to our routine… we wake up at 8 am, get ready, pack up. While I return the car, the rest of the family went out, wandered around to pick up some wooden decorations and macadamia nuts. We had some breakfast, and then did our rechecks, and then take a Uber to Kona airport. We arrive at 1:15 pm, get on the flight at 4:20 pm local time. Smooth 4.5 hour flight into LAX, landed at 12 am local LA time. Have an overnight layover here. We try to get some rest… but it’s difficult while sitting… but we try. We board flight for Dallas at 6:10 am local time, this one is a quick hop, 2.5 hr flight. Landed in Dallas DFW at 11 am local time, grabbed some Starbucks, picked up car and head home.
My wife is driving while Im navigating. Stopped at Buccees at 2:45 pm to grab some lunch, filled gas, and then I drove the the family home. Reached home at 5 pm on Sunday.

It has been a fun and exciting week. It’s been a wonderful vacation.