The veil is lifted, the secret is out, I’m finally ready to talk about our time in Hawaii.
JUST KIDDING it was not that dramatic at all!
This is basically a travel blog about a photographer and her husband's anniversary trip to Kona-Kaulia Hawaii, how we did it, a cost break down, things we wouldn’t eveeer change and a few we would, so no not super dramatic but if you have ever thought it was totally un-doable thats so not true and you CAN plan and do it on your own!
Let’s get started!
For us planning our anniversary trips is pretty much a continuous conversation all year long lol.
We start by talking about what we’d like to do or a place we would like to go but honestly normally God just gives us a lead and we both confirm it with each other.
What does that look like?
Some friends of ours went to Hawai’i for their honeymoon and then years later for our anniversary trip (or as we like to call it “Honeymoon part 3” since this was our third year going on one) we were talking about not knowing where to go or what to do (We went to Florida the first year for our anniversary) and while, going to another state sounded fun we REALLY want to start traveling overseas, so thought it would be cool if we could do a mini-test run by just leaving the continental US.
What it REALLY looked like?
Me sitting on the couch on pinterest and Brandon suddenly saying “Hawai’i!” as I literally felt this calm about planning that so I was like “Perfect! Let’s have dinner!”
This started the process and I absolutely LOVE planning trips, period, like I should probably have just been a travel agent I love it so much but that’s the very beginning haha
The first thing I wanna figure out is where we are going in general and then look at tickets online so I can start to make a budget (I’ll have the whole breakdown at the end)
Next I wanna figure out where we are staying and how we will get around, for this trip we figured out pretty quickly that since were big airbnb fans for what we wanted it would cost the same to get extra rooms and split the cost with some friends so we invited 4 other people to join us, one couple and two friends which obviously brought the cost down significantly!
After Finding an Airbnb
(We based the location off the volcano lol)
We made the call early on not to visit the other smaller islands, basically for two reasons.
- When I am in an area I love to actually get to know or see that area, not just stay there and hop around, the whole big island is still pretty small but since we would only be there for a little under a week it just didn’t make sense to us to try hopping around and instead give ourselves a more restful time and more time in general to explore the National Park there.
- Cost, Ferrying or catching a quick flight over to the next island when we wanted to stay in one place didn’t make sense for us personally, we knew people who really loved doing this but to ride over to one island and back the same day just felt off to us!
Day one:
We actually flew out of ATL and since thats almost 4 hours from us we chose to spend the night at a hotel and then be shuttled over to the airport the next morning for our very early flight, We booked 1 room for the two friends and Brandon and I for that night and my only thought here was that we should have spent the extra and had our own room as the room set up was a little different then we first thought so we pretty much ended up sleep girls in one bed and boys in another. (perfect for the first night of honeymoon part 3 right? haha) But we did leave well rested!!!
By the time we landed at Kona Kailua we were ready to hop off the plane but met with THE most paradise-like view of sunset over a tropical airport completely outside.
I cannot describe the way the air felt like we were in paradise so just imagine.
We picked up our car and drove to walmart to buy groceries for our stay and then very sleepily drove the twisty 2 hour drive to our “home” in Volcano Hawai’i.
After getting generally unpacked and showering we were ALL ready to sleep the night away.
Until about 3am Hawai’i time.
Day two:
It was probably the most hilarious part of the whole trip is that since we are all on the east coast none of us adjusted quickly enough over the week so we basically woke up super early and then tried to stay quiet until we heard enough confirming sounds throughout the house to know others were up and it was now polite to start actually being awake lol
We actually spent most of the first day just walking around the town of Volcano and planning our next adventure on the island, no I’m not a super planning to the ninth degree, I would MUCH rather get the lay of the land first then start making plans once I’m there haha
That afternoon-evening we did decide to go to The Volcano national park to visit the steam vents and then the Black sand beach after for a hot and cold swim, I’ll just say here DREAMS I’ve wanted to go to a black sand beach foreeeeever so I was chomping at the bit to get to this one.
I did a pre-schedualed portrait session there once the sun started to set which was a blast and then before packing up at the beach we got to see one of the last monk seals in the world which has the national geographic kid in me still screaming and the animal lover a little heartbroken, but what a sight! He reminded me of our cat sleeping away his time.
A roasted and salty drive home and we all tucked into bed easily.
Day three:
We went to Hilo right before noon to find a waterfall and explore some little beaches along the way - I just wanna say here that I am stunned by how many stunning places are just everywhere there, like, literal side of the road humbly being better then a whole dang venue here haha
Anyway as we also made a stop by the store and pick up some more easily perishable items that we didn’t want to make a two hour trip with the day before and this store was much more local then walmart haha, so many foods I didn’t recognize and things I did but definitely polynesian style! So obviously we got more snacks too and then went back to the national park to explore the Lava tube, walked across the Kilaua Volcano, then back to the house for grilled cheeses and Gladiator 2.
SPOILER: Did NOT like the end of that movie so I’ll be pretending it never happened, haha
Day four:
Around noon again we packed lunch and went back to the National Park for the day.
This time planning to drive along the coast and see all the sights, we hiked to different lookouts and ate beside the windy cliffs (Would 1000% put a leash on a toddler here if we had one cause sssshhhheash! It was a rough drop!)
Spent a crazy amount of time just looking over the cliffs and just stayed in the park. Enjoying the beautiful Hawaiian landscape.
For “thanksgiving dinner” we roasted veggies and chicken and chilled at the house.
Packing and running laundry before heading to be since the next day looked like it would be the melancholy ride back to the airport and boring flight back to South Carolina, already missing our Volcano “home.”
Day five:
Time to head home! Or was it?
Not long after getting up we all got texts saying our flight had been delayed so we spent some time navigating that by praying and making a few phone calls and decided to extend our car rental and just slowly make our way to the airport (Nice thing about Hawai’i is that no matter how far we drove we were never more then 2- 2.5 hours from the airport lol)
This was both terrifying and exciting since we definitely needed to get home but no one wanted to leave just yet haha
We found a stunning little blue beach right next to it with white sand and swam for a while before dropping off the car and waiting on our flight, obviously our connecting flight in LA was then missed so the airport put us up in a hotel and we flew out early Saturday morning, which actually turned out for the best because we were desperately in need of showers from swimming before hopping on a plane.
And that's the highlights of the whole trip! Below is the cost breakdown
and some useful insights and tips if you’re more interested in that part, definitely good information to have if you are considering going yourself!
Flights
We spent 2100.00
For two round trip tickets from Atlanta International (ATL) to Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i (KOA)
The tickets were a little less but we had to pay an additional fee for carry-ons.
Lodging
The total for five nights was 2200.00
Divided six ways for us it was 740.00
We were located in town and walking distance from the local stores/cafes
Vehicles
We rented a mini van for about 600.00
Again divided six ways we spent 200.00 on it.
Things to do
Surprisingly to us most of what we wanted to do was free! No one in our group are drinkers and we mainly just wanted to enjoy the nature scene on the island so the only thing I can think of was the 37.00 National Park entrance fee and gas.
Places to eat
I’ll list here the places we ate here with how much we spent including tip (If it’s underlined there's a link)
Grocery shopping total (including souvenirs) Between Walmart, the Kilauea General Store and the gift shop at the visitor center at Volcanos national park
= 350.00
Kens House of Pancakes = 40.00
Lava rock cafe = 60.00
Eagle's Lighthouse Cafe = 30.00
I wouldn’t say that any of these spots are “touristy” ALL good spots but they are very much local eats which was nice.
Sights to see
We mainly spent our time at the Volcanos national park however I will list the other little spots we stopped at to explore.
Volcano national park
Punaluʻu Beach (Black sand beach where we saw a monk seal!)
Hōlei Sea Arch
Rainbow falls, Hilo Hawai’i
(There is actually a "rainbow falls” Here in South Carolina that I’ve also been to so thats pretty cool)
Hilo Breakwater Park
Onekahakaha Beach Park
Carlsmith Beach Park
Richardson Ocean Park
Leleiwi Beach Park (Wai’uli)
Lehia Beach Park
We also found a lot of stunning rolling hills all over that I wont bother listing here, so go and go explore!!
Relationship stuff
Honestly not a lot to comment here but just a few photography pro tips…
Get the hair cut before you go, nails done whatever help, honestly it made photos so much easier to look back on because we were both already put together.
I would HIGHLY recommend co-ordinating your outfits before you go, it was nice to look “couply” the whole time we were there.
Make sure to have established time to yourselves if you’re in a group.
We went on walks, grabbed coffee and breakfast alone, took time to just hangout in our room, went on grocery runs and the other couple did as well as sometimes eating separately during meals which maintained a little privacy.
Since we were in a group I’ll add that communication is sooo needed, one car and six adults could get very dramatic if expectations are not clear or if you're just not really thinking things through. I think we did great but I could see it getting more than a little heated occasionally.
Fun things to note!
We went over Thanksgiving(Cause yesss Also Brandon get’s some PTO) so most things we had to book were slightly more expensive then normal, we all were totally fine with that but it’s good to keep in mind that holidays just cost more.
Beaches in Hawai’i owned by Hotels etc, have to allow public access to everyone so don’t feel like if you see a great spot but it’s in front of a Hotel like you can’t hangout because you definitely can I’d be careful with it though.
We have two animals at home so they were watched for us but don’t forget to budget for a sitter if that's a consideration.
The Volcano National park fee was 37 dollars and covered multiple visits for seven days of purchase so it was waaaay cheaper then we originally thought and we could spend time there and circle back to see all of it!
Not sure if this is everywhere but we didn’t drink the water, from the tap at our Airbnb, we bought bottled water and they had filtered water in a keg for us upon arrival as it was advised not to drink the tap at all.
Our Airbnb and most places we visited in Hawai'i had no AC which was fine because it was paradise pretty much all day but cooler in the mornings.
I did mention that we had delayed flights, while this wasn’t expected it wasn’t the absolute worst it could have been, when you book with airbnb almost always the last day you are booked you have to check out in the morning (9-10am) so we went ahead and purchased another night so we wouldn’t be rushed to leave, this can very much in handy since our flights were delayed several hours and potentially for the day at one point and while you don’t “have to” I highly recommend.
And that’s it! If you’d just looove more of a “How to plan” Type blog hit me up in my email or dm me on instagram or facebook and let me know!
Xoxo
-Jean Estelle
