- New Year's week on the Big Island of Hawaii -Waikoloa
- Celebrating New Year's at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
- Hilo and snorkeling heaven in Kapoho
One thing that I had learned on my very first trip to the Big Island (that we had applied on our trip over a year ago) was to split the hotel nights up across the island, from west-to-east, or vice versa. It had taken over three hours to drive from Kona to Volcano one way, which made for a very tiring day excursion from Kona and we hardly got to see much of the national park. I planned a west-to-east itinerary for this trip, spending three nights in the Waikoloa area, followed by a couple of nights in Volcano, then ending with three nights in the Hilo area.
A learning from our last trip to the Big Island was that it was a drag to drive four hours back to Kona airport from Hilo. So ideally, we'd book flights going into Kona, but departing from Hilo. Unfortunately, the price for the open-jaw ticket was $600 more for the four of us than roundtrip Kona, so we decided to suck it up and wake up at 3:30am on the last day of our trip to drive back.
We enjoy having the convenience of a kitchen and laundry while on vacation. Trading for a timeshare on the Big Island was out of the question because of the way the nights were planned across the island. The timeshare would have been for seven nights in Kona. I turned to using Airbnb and VRBO to rent nights at condos and homes. Some properties require a minimum number of nights (even weeks!) so I was locked out of some properties due to the short stays. Plus, it was late September when I started searching, and many places were already booked for the holidays. Try to book Hawaiian holiday rentals as early as you can to ensure a good location for your budget, as prices normally won't budge due to high demand. There have been some horror stories regarding vacation rentals; be sure there are plenty of reviews for the properties you are interested in so you are prepared.
The Onizuka Center for International Astronomy on Mauna Kea was on my to-do list, so I had my eye on an inexpensive Waikoloa Village condo on VRBO, as condos within my budget at the Waikoloa Resort were already booked. The location was relatively close to Mauna Kea (about 1.5 hours away) and I didn't care that it was not near the beach. However, someone rented it just as I sent the inquiry. The next few days, I ended up sending a few more inquiries to ads for neighboring condos, but no response. Fortunately, I decided to check Airbnb again, and a new listing had been posted for a beautiful condo in Waikoloa Resort within my budget, and our dates were available! I immediately booked it (as you can purchase directly on Airbnb) and got very quick replies from the owner. I was lucky to find a place at such short notice and great price within the Waikoloa Resort, right next to the Kings Shops and Queens Marketplace. Since it was a new listing (the owner switched from a traditional property manager to Airbnb), there were no reviews, nor did the property calendar show any nights had been rented, but based on the information listed in the ad, I was able to find reviews of that specific condo elsewhere on the internet, which settled my doubts.
I'll talk more about the other properties when we get to that point in the trip...let's dive in!
On Friday morning, the four of us flew on Hawaiian Airlines from San Jose to Kona, transferring in Honolulu. I prefer to fly on United to collect frequent flyer miles and have an opportunity for complimentary upgrades to first class for myself and a companion due to my Premier Gold status, but Hawaiian had a much lower fare and I wouldn't be able to get all of us into first class anyway. The airplane was a Boeing 767 2-3-2 configuration; at booking, two sets of two seats were still available for assignment, yay! Hawaiian still serves hot meals in coach class. Last time we flew Hawaiian back in 2009, the meal was served in a cardboard box and consisted of an unappetizing enchilada (a burrito on the return flight) and a brownie. What can one expect for free? Then a few months before this trip, Hawaiian switched to "new coach service" with improved meals and wine inclusion...very similar to offerings on international flights.
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| not too bad |
In Honolulu, we landed in one terminal and walked to another terminal for our connection. The airport walkways are partly in open air, so when we exited out the terminal doors, we were caressed by a warm breeze and brilliant sunshine, a contrast to the winter environment we had left six hours ago (if we are allowed to complain about California weather...). We're in Hawaii!
In the second terminal, there was a food court, so we got some lunch, none of which qualified for a blog picture.
The flight from Honolulu to Kona was on a smaller Boeing 717 plane. Since it was a short flight, there was just packaged guava juice service. I rented a full-size car from Dollar using a code that I unexpectedly found on my employee discount website. Usually I find better codes and coupons on carrentalsavers.com but not this time. Since holiday car rentals in Hawaii are very expensive, it pays to try out every code and coupon combination you can find. Another good website to try is discounthawaiicarrentals.com.
First stop...Costco! We bought items with the knowledge that we would be moving from place to place, making sure things could last outside of the refrigerator for a bit, especially when we went from Kona to Volcano. (though I did splurge on some poke that I knew we'd finish in the next day or two) For smaller items such as cooking oil, butter and ice cream, we stopped by the Island Gourmet Market in the Queens Marketplace.
Afterwards, we drove half an hour to our home for the next three nights, the Fairway Villas at Waikoloa. The condo was exactly as pictured (so I didn't bother taking any pics), and it felt like we were staying at a friend's house, which was nice. There were condiments in the refrigerator, basics in the pantry like foil, plastic wrap, sandwich bags, and coffee filters. Even laundry detergent! The golf course was just right outside the balcony, so it was entertaining to watch inexperienced golfers whacking at the ball. There was internet available, but it was a wired connection requiring an ethernet cable to connect to the modem, which we didn't have. What we ended up doing to get a connection was to sit close to the balcony, as the Kings Shops free wi-fi signal was strong enough to cross the lagoon.
The condo complex had a community barbeque area so we had purchased steaks for easy meals. However, if you got to the barbeques during prime dinner time, you had to wait in line because everyone had the same idea. Best to show up early!
On Saturday, we visited the Waimea Homestead Farmers Market in Waimea. There wasn't much there, more cooked food and crafts than fruits and vegetables, but it could have been because we arrived late in the morning. We did buy a few fruits and I was able to find a pack of the rare white tea from Volcano that Kaleb and I enjoyed on our last visit. On the way back, we happened upon a makeshift fruit and vegetable stand in front of a small house adjacent to a laundromat, and ended up buying a ton, including some longans, one of my favorite fruits. My mom would ask the price of various bagged items from the boy tending the stand, and he would respond "two dollars". Every inquiry was met with "two dollars". We didn't believe everything was just two dollars because of the amount in the bags and quality. Perhaps his parents would yell at him later for selling everything for two dollars each.
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| yummy longans |
That afternoon, we walked over to the Kings Shops, which were just across the lagoon from the condo complex. Some nice higher end shops and restaurants were there, such as Louis Vuitton, Coach, Roy's and Merriman's. The small Macy's there contained designer clothing.
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| our condo was on the top floor of the building in the picture |
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| lagoon adjacent to the Kings Shops |
We didn't buy anything, though we did spend some time looking at real estate listings posted outside a realtor's office. For mere millions, you could own a home in paradise! (or ~$500k for a condo like the one we were staying at)
Sunday, we headed out to Hapuna Beach, which is known for its soft white sand and perfect waves for body surfing and boogie boarding. The condo had some beach toys stored in the closet on the back porch. Unfortunately the boogie board was broken in half under the lining, but the chairs and umbrella came in handy. Parking was scarce, but fortunately I only had to circle once before someone backed out.
The waves were coming in pretty hard that day, but that didn't stop folks from entering the water.
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| Hapuna Beach |
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| Mom and Dad enjoying the sunshine |
Since the waves were too strong for regular swimming, after enjoying the sounds of the ocean and having lunch, we returned home and took a dip in the condo pool. The water was pretty brisk!
This was our last night on the west side of the Big Island. We didn't get a chance to visit the observatory...next time perhaps. Tomorrow, we're off to Volcano!
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