Aloha 2 Hawaii Vacation Tips

Budget Vacation Tips

Lodging and car rentals are both generally cheaper by the week. By staying only 5 or 6 days, you might be missing out on a free day or two with your lodging or car rental. Some vacation rentals will advertise 7th night free, or 10th night free. The savings might justify paying a little extra for flying on a weekend. (Flying on weekends usually will add $10-$25 or so to each ticket.)

Staying in a condo with a full kitchen can save you money, even if you all you use is the fridge for is cold drinks. Making your own breakfast, lunch or dinner saves a bundle on your meal budget. Some condos even have a barbecue area for the guests to use. You can dine poolside or on your lanai overlooking the ocean! Even fast food tastes great with a view like that! Gathering around the barbecue at dinner time is also a good way to meet your vacation rental neighbors and exhange day trip ideas.

Once in Hawaii, packing a cooler with deli or homemade sandwiches, drinks and snacks to take on your sightseeing outing each day goes a long way toward cutting down on restaurant bills. Besides, you can pick your own awesome view as the backdrop for your dining experience, even if you're just eating tuna sandwiches and a soda pop.

If you are staying a week or more, you'll save money on a variety of items if you shop for your groceries wisely. Bring your Safeway discount card, Foodland Maikai discount card, or Costco card to get discounted prices on your groceries. Let's face it groceries are expensive in Hawaii. You need all the help you can get. There is a Costco on Oahu in Honolulu, Hawaii Kai, and Waipahu, and on Maui, near Kahului Airport as well as at Kona on the Big Island. Kauai doesn't have a Costco, but there is a Cost-U-Less in Kapaa, which offers warehouse prices on a smaller scale, with no membership card needed.

When shopping for souvenirs to take home, keep in mind that Walmart, K-Mart, ABC and Hilo Hattie often have the same souvenirs as the resort shops, but for quite a bit less. Costco and Cost-U-Less also have high quality items unique to Hawaii to bring home. Music and books can be found there and at discount stores and bookstores in the islands.

Packing Tips:

The rule of thumb for packing is "If in doubt, leave it out." You really don't need much over there. If you are staying in a condo with a washer and dryer in the unit, you really don't need more than a few changes of clothes. Nylons or Neckties? You won't need them!

Check to see what your accommodations will have for you to use. Many condos and guest houses have beach towels, a cooler, sand chairs, guide books, maps, a hair dryer, and even binoculars for guests to use. You can avoid bringing heavy or bulky items that will be furnished. A well equipped condo might also furnish an iron and ironing board, answering machine, and even CDs for your use.

While I used to suggest that people save money by checking through a cooler with frozen meat, or a bag of snack food items, laundry detergent, etc., it's probably less stress for everyone if you leave those things at home and pack as little as possible. Where luggage inspection isn't a problem, there are some food items that are easily packed which can likely be purchased for half the cost of what you will pay in Hawaii. Spices, sauce packets, can make for more economical cooking. Don't bother packing rice or liquor - those are pretty cheap!

Air Fare Tips:

Obviously, using your Frequent Flyer Miles is the cheapest way to get to Hawaii. Space on flights for those free seats are extremely limited, so make those reservations about 330 days in advance, if you can.

Booking directly through AlohaAir or HawaiianAir is simple and is often the best rate available.

Next best thing is using the consolidators fare, through your travel agent or Expedia. It's sometimes cheaper than going directly through the airlines, because you can often get fly/drive packages.

Want to shop around for air fare on the internet? Expedia and Travelocity are good places to start. Arrange your flights all the way through to your destination island, for the best deal. You usually get a break on the inter-island leg of your trip that way. (Cheaper than buying the inter-island tickets separately.) However, if you want to tailor your trip to allow time to sight see on Oahu before heading off to your destination, to to include day trippin to outer islands, you'll need to purchase inter-island tickets separately.

Discounts and Coupons:

You will find coupons of all sorts in the Visitor publications like "This Week" and "101 Things to Do" etc. It doesn't hurt to flip through one of those magazines to see if there are some coupons for a restaurant or activity you are planning to do.

The Hawaii Entertainment Book is chock full of coupons and discounts for restaurants and activities like helicopters and boat rides. Using just one coupon can sometimes pay for the book - for example the Polynesian Cultural Center coupon will save you $27. The Entertainment Book is geared mostly for Oahu, but also has many coupons for outer islands. I have an info page and link to the Entertainment Book for Hawaii for your convenience.

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