Hawaii has been high on our travel wish list for a long time. Mike and I had the beginnings of a trip planned for January of 2020, which never panned out for various reasons. Then we seriously considered taking the whole family this past Christmas but just couldn't swallow the inflated prices on an already expensive trip.
We weren't even thinking about it for spring break (we already had a condo booked in St. George for the week) when Mike sent me this text out of the blue: "I think we should go to Hawaii for spring break."
I resisted the idea for several days:
Me: "It's too expensive."
Mike: "It's just money. Let's spend it!"
(This is something we both agree on: we want to prioritize vacations now, while our kids are still young, even if it means putting off other purchases and projects. Mike, however, usually has an easier time embracing the actual spending.)
Mike: [Airbnb listing in Hauula, Oahu.]
Me: "Very nice. And expensive."
Mike: "Whatever. So cheap! BEACHFRONT."
Mike: "We know we want to go to Hawaii before Aaron graduates. We have the time and money right now. Why wait???"
After a few days going back and forth discussing the possibilities, Mike thought we had spent enough time on the subject. He said, "If good flights pop up, I'm not going to ask you about them; I'm just going to book them."
And he did. He also booked an Airbnb in an apartment complex with a semi-private beach in Punalu'u on the northeast side of O'ahu.
Once we had a way to get there and a place to stay, we both started getting excited (but Mike more than me since he is fueled by possibility and I am fueled by anxiety).
We told our kids we had an epic trip planned and had them guess where we were going. Funnily enough, they all assumed that "epic" did not mean "St. George," and we had guesses for Costa Rica, Brazil, Spain, and Siberia (apparently, they were thinking very epic). But Aaron guessed Hawaii because it was the place he wanted to go to the most.
Over the next few weeks, we (mostly Mike) collected recommendations for activities, beaches, food, hikes, and sights. He started plugging them into his spreadsheet, shifting things around and swapping, adding, and eliminating possibilities.
One wild card in all of the planning was Kilauea, the active volcano on the Big Island. Ever since he was a little kid and saw an episode of Reading Rainbow about Kilauea, he has dreamed of seeing it. The fact that it was currently in an eruption pattern, and that it was only a short plane ride from O'ahu, was just too big of a temptation. He left some flexibility in our itinerary because if it looked like it was going to erupt while we were there, he was going to drop everything and go.
I'll just spoil it right now and tell you that it did not work out. The volcano pulled a fast one on us and instead of erupting at the end of the week like the volcanologists were predicting, it erupted overnight several days before.
As cool as it would have been to see it, there was so much we wanted to do on O'ahu that it wasn't a huge loss. That dream will just have to be fulfilled another time.
By the time, we stepped onto the airplane, we had a solid itinerary with plenty of built-in flexibility and a a collective anticipation that was through the roof.
And let's just say, Hawaii did not disappoint.
Stay tuned for more Hawaii installments: beaches, hikes, Polynesian Cultural Center, food, ziplining, paddleboarding, and other adventures!
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