lsquare

Recently I booked a 10 day trip to Honolulu with two other individuals. We were planning to just spend the 10 days and relax there .I have been to HNL and Maui before .The other two will be going to Hawaii for the first time. A few days ago, they're telling me that 10 days is too much in HNL and want to go to another island .I don't want to change the airfare now that it's been paid for. I still haven't booked the hotel yet .So I guess I'm asking, if you were me, how would you modify this trip to fit in two islands including HNL? I'm thinking Kauai. I can't get around the fact that I'll have to fly into HNL first.

Thx .

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

When are you going?

Is there a change fee associated with your tickets?

I would fly into HNL , spend a few days on waikiki or wherever and then book an intra-island flight separately and go to another island ( I personally love the Big island of Hawaii and the Hilton Waikoloa village)


Regards

TBS

guv1976

For nightlife, Maui. Otherwise, for sheer beauty, Kauai.

Depending on where you are starting from, you might have needed to connect somewhere anyway to get to Kauai.

DELee

This. No change fee and you can pick which island or islands to go to.

David

lsquare

Yes, there is a change fee so I'll have to for into and out of HNL. So how would you spend 10 days then? 3 days in HNL first and then a few days in island #2 before flying back to HNL?

philemer

Yes. For sheer diversity I'd suggest the Big Island. Next choice Maui. Kauai is our least favorite. Beautiful island but too slow a pace. I'd do 2 or 3 days on Oahu and the 6-7 on "island of your choice". Then back to HNL for trip home. Inter-island flights can be "purchased" with HA, UA or AA miles if you have any.

FlyinHawaiian

As others have posted, it is relatively easy to nest a three to five day inter-island itinerary within a mainland roundtrip to/from HNL. In my mind, the best thing to do would be to start the nested trip on the same day as arrival into HNL since you will be there anyhow and who wants to spend extra time of vacation getting to/from the airport and dealing with security and luggage? Flights to/from HNL to the Big Island, Maui, and Kaua`i are all non-stop and plentiful. The only thing to keep in mind is that there will likely be no interline luggage transfer from mainland to inter-island, so allocate enough time to collect your luggage from the mainland flight, get over to the inter-island terminal, check luggage, clear security, and be at the gate (I would estimate two hours).

tatterdema

I personally would do Kauai or Maui. Not enough time imho to do the BI. Lol, I am exact the opposite of Philemer, in that I prefer Kauai. I did not find it to be too slow at all. I would not go back to Maui simply because it felt like a Hawaiian Disneyland to me.

7Continents

Agree with the above, and having been to HNL more than 5 times, 10 days is way too much, especially with the other islands being relatively easy to move around.

philemer

You enjoy having the roosters waking you up at 5am? Not me.

tatterdema

I travel to Mexico a lot. Lol, enough said.

SavvyTravel

Slight hijack of this thread to ask a specific 'help wanted" about left luggage

We've booked 10 days on the Big Island (in and out of KOA from LAX (from PHL out and to NYC back, all on AA) in early January. Obviously with baggage (2 people, one suitcase each).

Our hotel plans are now firming up but we've decided that that really want to go to Oahu (specifically Pearl Harbour plus the rest of the island) for a couple of days.

We have baggage but to avoid the $25 per bag charge (total $100 for two bags return) and the 'waiting for bag' wait times, we'd ideally like to leave our suitcases and do a couple of nights on Oahu HBO. We are thinking that we'd travel KOA-HNL Sunday night (or Monday morning, if we spent a night in a hotel that could look after our cases) and back Wednesday morning (our flight leaves KOA for LAX/NYC at 1.53pm). The airport info for KOA says the left luggage is closed for security reasons.

So, does anyone know where we can store our bags for three days, ideally very near KOA because otherwise if we have to get a cab from KOA into Kona to collect them then that's $50 return



Thx

tatterdema

I cannot help with leaving bags behind, but I can with saving a little taking them with you. If you are flying Hawaiian, and join their FF club, it will only cost you $60 instead of $100. If you book one of you in first class, 2 bags fly free. It would still cost you $100, but one of you would get to fly first each direction. I did the First class deal last time I flew as a small surprise and treat to my partner. It was only 1 way, so it cost me about $20 (if I figured in what the luggage would have cost). The luv I got in return was worth a lot more than that....

There are new services similar to Air BNB in cities that store luggage for you. I do not know the names of them off the top of my head, but I doubt they have one close to KOA anyway, they are mostly in cities.

One last option I can think of is a rental car. A half a day rental car to go into Kailua-Kona and get your bags can be as low as around $29 depending on your date.

SavvyTravel

That's very welcome advice, thanks so much. I like the First idea for sure, Mrs ST would be happy, I'm sure.
And the more I think about it, the simplicity of having our bags with us as we fly back from HNL to KOA and on again to LAX etc is good for peace of mind!

lsquare

Thx for the idea Phil! How's the weather on the big island at this time of the year? I'm just afraid of rain. I experienced a bit of rain on the rainier side of Maui 6 years ago in December. Unfortunately I got really busy and now I'm in crunch time to sort out the details. I'll probably end up paying a little more, but it is what it is. Should I book my car rental now?

I got Avios to burn. Can I use them to purchase inter-island travels?