traveler4ever

Okay, I admit it, it's probably a very ignorant question but I need to ask. It's so confusing to me! My sister in law and I are going to visit Hawaii in June of 2006 and we are going to stay at the HGVC in HNL. Flying into HNL for just five nights, my sister in law really wants to visit the "Big Island". She said she's looked into airfare and it's like $325.00 to go to Hilo (?) Somemone on a recent flight told me that we can get flights cheaper than that. Should we make plans way ahead of time to fly to another Island? I know to buy the entertainment book, but other than that, I'm kind of lost as to what to do. Advice from Slippahs (;-) ) would be greatly appreciated! I know, I know...do a search on these boards. I have and I will continue but if I could just get an answer about flights to the "Big Island" I'd appreciate it, because I thought HNL was the big Island!!

venice4504

HNL is on Oahu. Hilo is on the Big Island. You take a interisland flight to Hilo, or some flights from the mainland go direct. More people on this board will give you more info than I ever could.

philemer

Five days is just about right for Oah'u. Don't stress yourselves out and go to another Island. Life is too short to be spent going thru security lines, etc. Enjoy HNL & see the great sights on Oah'u.

Phil

cblaisd

There are no ignorant questions

Your confusion is not at all unusual.

There are eight main islands in the Hawaiian Islands chain (this isn't counting the hundreds of tiny islands and atolls that stretch northwest from the main islands for hundreds of miles; these are mostly uninhabited); roughly west to east:

Ni'ihau -- a private island; no outsiders/non-residents permitted

Kaua'i -- Oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands chain. Airport is in Lihue.

Oah'u -- While not the largest island, it is by far the most heavily populated. Honolulu (the state capital and main airport for the islands) is here, as is, e.g, Waikiki, the HGVC, and something like 90% of the state's hotel rooms.

Moloka'i -- About 3000 or so residents. Mostly ranching and farming with a bit of tourism.

Lana'i -- Similar to Moloka'i in demographics.

Mau'i -- After Honolulu, the main "tourist" island.

Kaho'olawe -- Now uninhabited island that was used for many years as a gunnery range for the U.S. military.

Hawai'i -- Also known as the Big Island. In area, more than twice the size of the other island combined. West side is dry, and is where all the upscale resorts are located. Kailua-Kona is the main town and the airport (Kona) is located a few miles north of the town. The East Side is much wetter and lush. Hilo is the main city on this side (fyi, there are no flights directly from the mainland to Hilo). Volcanoes National Park is near Hilo, and this is the main east side tourist attraction.

You can fly directly from the mainland to Kaua'i, Honolulu, Mau'i, and Kona. Other cities will require a connection in (usually) Honolulu.

Your price for two round-trip tickets from Honolulu-Hilo (or Kona) sound about right on either Aloha Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, or IslandAir. (You can also use 10K miles on many airlines for "partner awards" on Hawaiian Airlines interisland flights, and 5K United miles for partner awards on Aloha Airlines). However, if you join either Hawaiian's or Aloha's frequent flyer programs, there are often specials that lower the cost some for round-trip tickets.

While I would tend to agree with the previous poster who said for five days, stay on one island, if she is set on going to the Big Island for the day then decide what you are wanting to see on the Big Island and whether to fly, therefore, to Kona or Hilo.

There is a simple map of the main islands here:
http://www.only-maps.com/hawaii-map.jpg

There is a also a FAQ on this forum, "stickied" to the top of each page, that has a wealth of information that moderator slippahs has compiled. And I also know that some of the other "local" posters -- slippahs jtkauai KonaHi et al -- can also add good info and correct any misinformation I've give

Good luck and let us know what other questions we can help answer.

slippahs

Great post, cblaisd! And, to the OP, don't feel bad about the confusion. I sat next to someone on a flight from the Mainland on Friday and she thought Honolulu was the name of an island, rather than a city within Oahu.

karenkay

exactly, slippahs--don't fret, op--i was talking to the fine folks from apple computer the other day and they said i had to drop by to their store in honolulu to have my computer looked at. as i live on the big island, i had to explain to the tech why that wasn't really a good option for me--and i gave him a good lesson in the different hawaiian islands, although not as thorough as cblaisd's to you!

enjoy your holiday, wherever you decide to go--i'm biased, but i'd vote for at least a few days on the big island--the island of hawaii.

aloha!

cblaisd

Ack! I should have added karenkay to the list of kama'aina who could chime in. Mea culpa.

If you want to do some research on possible Big Island itineraries, search in the Trip Reports forum, the Hawaii Forum, and the Hilton forum (and maybe some other hotel forums that I'm less familiar with) for keywords "volcano" or "volcanoes" or "Hilo," etc.

Also, you may want to peruse the Hawaii FAQ in this forum, particularly the following parts of it:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=284514

Or the Big Island sections of these pages of the FAQ

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...16&postcount=3
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...17&postcount=4
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...19&postcount=6
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...23&postcount=8

(And as to karenkay's observation, it's always amusing to use online store locator websites and find the "nearest" store a plane ride away)

Ukalady

I understand, traveler4ever. Whenever we go to visit the Big Island and tell folks we're going to Hawaii, they assume it's Oahu--even though the Big Island's "real" name is Hawaii. Oh well, I'm just glad to go there, regardless of what other folks call it.

It's a rather short visit to split between two islands, in my view, but if you *do* decide to go to the Big Island on this visit (or in the future), you may want to start lurking around the KonaWeb.com site, especially the "Visiting the Big Island" forum:
http://www.konaweb.com/

traveler4ever

Thank you cblaisd and everyone else too. I feel like I've gotten a wealth of information from all of you. I'll be busy searching until June!

KonaHi

Another option might be flying into Kona, renting a car, driving around the island and then flying to Honolulu. You could reverse the trip also. That would save you one of the inter-island fares. Five days is not very long, but maybe a one day trip to the Big Island would encourage to spend a couple of weeks someday. Have a great time in Hawaii!!!!

jtkauai

We are indeed blessed to have our generous and knowledgeable moderators, cblaisd and slippahs. Happy Thanksgiving.

Lavarock7

Some info and some more info.

As you have seen, the Big Island is actually named "Hawaii" and yes, it gets complicated because it shares the name of the state, yet is not the place most people visit when they get here.

Over on Oahu there is a town called Kailua, so to avoid confusion, the Big Island's Kailua happens to be on the "kona" side of the island, so they call it Kailua-Kona. The airport identifier is "KOA" which is NOT related to KOA Campgrounds.

We also have a town called Waimea, but it is also known as Kamuela.

If you work a bit at it, even the pronunciation of long words gets pretty easy. A, E, I, O, U are generally pronounced as follows:

A, a - a as in above
E, e - e as in let but without off-glide
I, i - i as in pin but without off-glide
O, o - o as in note but without off-glide
U, u - u as in duke (oo) but without off-glide

There are some websites which can help, but not to worry, you will catch on pretty fast.

You cannot get lost on the Big Island (or really any other island). Mauka is towards the mountain, makai is towards the sea. Then mauka is either on your left or your right. North or south really don't help on an island, so people will just say they are Hilo-bound.

Although we call it "Paradise", please be very careful as some rocks are sharp and some are hot. Also, never turn your back on the ocean. Waves come in sets and small waves may be followed by big waves.

Kapu means the same as taboo which means please do not enter.

All the islands share the same area code (808) and calls across any island are local, but calling to other islands is a toll call. Your cell phone will probably work fine here, although some carriers work better than others. You MAY pay roaming if you are not on a nationwide plan. Also, calling cards like the MCI card from COSTCO are cost effective.

You probably NEVER want to make long distance calls from a hotel room! That is why they make calling cards and pay phones

We ARE the U.S. so be careful you don't say "back in the US...". There are some people here who would prefer that Hawaii was NOT a part of the U.S., but I'll let you investigate that.

You may feel right at home what with the Wal-Marts, COSTCO and ACE Hardware stores.

Don't bring fruit into the state and in fact, don't bring food here anyway. We have stores... :-) However, you will find that SOME snack foods are not what you might expect. Think seaweed and cuttlefish :-) That is not to say you can't find lots of stuff you back back home.

Speaking of buying things, Kona Coffee is grown here, but please be aware what you buy. a Kona "blend" is NOT a blend of Kona Coffees. It is 10% Kona and 90% foreign coffee. They can use "Kona" in the name cuz the law says they can. If you want that kind of coffee, by all means get it, but pure Kona will be labeled "100% Kona Coffee" and is a 100% American Product. Coffee labeled "100% Hawaiian" may be a combination of coffee from any Hawaiian Island.

If you see turtles "beached" on the sand, do NOT aproach them. They don't need help and are protected from harassment by humans. Please keep your distance!

If you see a nice lava rock, please do NOT take it. Bad luck will follow. If you just MUST have a lava rock, go to COSTCO and in the outdoor section there are bags of lava rocks for cooking. They are imported from the island of Atlanta Georgia. Take all of those that you want :-)

Most people pack too much. Don't pack too much!

If you see a stack of balanced rocks that looks as though they were placed there by hand, please let them be.

If driving and someone lets you merge in front of them, merge and wave and smile.

If driving and you see someone you can let merge, please do so and wave and smile.

If you have a horn in your car, there are few if any reasons to use it. Smile.

If you see someone who needs a smile, smile!

If visiting Kona the first Friday of the month, you are welcome to look up the KonaWeb members at KonaWeb.Com. They meet at the old airport for a picnic and welcome all visitors and residents. Just stop by COSTCO or Safeway and grab something to bring. You may make a new friend or meet your new neighbor....

You don't need to commit any of this to memory, but some of this may help.

rhwbullhead

You can visit this island through this outfit

Half day excursion $325. They also offer hunting safaris.

cblaisd

If you're still with us, how was your trip?

RLG

That's certainly true. I'm always amazed at the number of my mainland friends who think the "Big Island" is Oahu or that I live near Honolulu.

You got some excellent advice from our resident kamaaina.

I would add one small update, however, for anyone finding this thread in a search.

ATA now has nonstop service from Oakland to Hilo and connecting service from several other cities. I know of people who have taken those flights when they are substantially cheaper than flying in to Kona.