Hello all,

just want to share a quick review of my day trip to the Big Island.

As planned, took the early 5:49 a.m. into ITO from HNL with Hawaiian (booked with UA MP miles), which meant getting up at 2:45a.m. to get from the Hyatt Regency to HNL.

Got my rental with Hertz, which is easy enough to find, as it's located just outside the terminal.
Had breakfast down near the Hilo harbour, was on my to VNP by 7am.

Went to the VNP visitor center first and then took the Crater Rim drive all the way, made stops along the way to stop for pictures and to take in the scenery.
Unfortunately this is were my camera battery died and I went back to the visitor center to re-charge.
By that time I was hungry, so headed out of the park and took the drive to Punaluu Black Sand beach Park, stopping in Pahala to grab a sandwich.

After that small excursion went back to VNP to hike the Kilauea Iki trail, which took me about 1h 20min. Good hike with some interesting views, I was drenched by the time I made it back to the parking lot, it was quite hot in the afternoon, as there was hardly any wind.

Left VNP at about 4pm to drive back to Hilo, stopped for "dinner" at Subway before heading back to Hilo airport.

Would I do it again?

I feel it was worth the expense to experience VNP, however, I believe the trip would have been "more complete" if I actually got to see lava flowing.

Probably will go back to Big Island on one of my future Hawaii trips, as I am sure it isn't the last time I will take the journey to experience the Hawaiian Islands!