How much time to travel inter-island?

[bus man]

Originally Posted by jobaba

Thanks for the responses...

BTW, I'd like to mention something funny I noticed on Trip Advisor and other travel sites.

Most people advise visiting one island if you have 10 days or less (and we may do that) and pretty much imply that you're crazy to try more. But I notice the same people mention stuff like, "On our 5th trip to Hawaii, we split 12 days between two islands and it felt rushed, so on our 6th trip, we spent 10 days on Big Island and that was perfect."

LMAO, like I have the $ and time to spend 12 days in Hawaii, and then anticipate that I'll be able to come back next year and spend another 10 days on another island. It was hard enough to get the time off work and this trip is probably going to cost us at least $4000 easy.

Might be the first and last time I see it ever, so it'd be nice to get 2 islands in. But we'll see.

In my own personal opinion, 5 days is the minimum you want per island. Anything less than that and you're going to feel too rushed to properly enjoy it. So if you have 10 days in total, you could do 2 islands. If you have 9 days in total, you maybe could do 5 days on one and 4 on another, if you have a clear "first choice" and "second choice" island. But really, anything less than that, you should just stick to one island.

The only exception to that "rule" that I would make is if there is one thing, and one thing only, that you really want to see on a particular island. In that case, it's feasible to just fly there for the day and then return to where you started from that same night, so you don't have to pack up your stuff and check out of your hotel and check into another hotel, etc.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by jobaba

Says the ticket from Maui to KOA is $39.

Is that really accurate? Costs almost that to drive from Jersey to Queens, lol.

Who says the ticket is $39?

Maybe that was a one-time sale by Southwest Airlines to celebrate their new service?

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

Who says the ticket is $39?

Maybe that was a one-time sale by Southwest Airlines to celebrate their new service?

Southwest does - prominently displayed on the Southwest homepage as I write this.

Thanks for having us, Hawaii.
Nonstop interisland flights
One-way as low as*
$39

*21 day advance purchase. Select markets - book 2/4 to 3/30

[jobaba]

Originally Posted by bus man

In my own personal opinion, 5 days is the minimum you want per island. Anything less than that and you're going to feel too rushed to properly enjoy it. So if you have 10 days in total, you could do 2 islands. If you have 9 days in total, you maybe could do 5 days on one and 4 on another, if you have a clear "first choice" and "second choice" island. But really, anything less than that, you should just stick to one island.

The only exception to that "rule" that I would make is if there is one thing, and one thing only, that you really want to see on a particular island. In that case, it's feasible to just fly there for the day and then return to where you started from that same night, so you don't have to pack up your stuff and check out of your hotel and check into another hotel, etc.

Understood.

But I hardly think doing 1 island versus 2 in 8-9 days is the difference between the time of your life and an absolutely miserable time.

Travel junkies are extremely opinionated people.

[hotzcatz]

I just went along with a friend for a medical appointment on Oahu last week. We live on Hawaii Island so it's a 45 minute flight. It's an hour's drive into Hilo, so for a 7:30 flight we were up at 4:30, left the house at 5:30, got to Hilo at 6:30, through TSA by 7:00 and on the plane at 7:30.


Out to the cab area by 8:00 am. In the cab by 8:15, to downtown Honolulu by 9:00. The medical appointment was over by 10:30, the return flight was 4:30. We had to be picked up at the medical office so we couldn't go too far from there and we were walking, so we went to downtown Honolulu for lunch. Fortunately, from Queen's Medical, it's an easy walk. Went through the state capitol because it was along the way but didn't peek inside any rooms. My friend is vegetarian so lunch at Umeke's, which is good if you want a veggie lunch. Then we went to I'olani Palace and did a pretty quick tour there. We would have stayed longer but had to get back to the medical center for the cab to pick us up by 2:30.





I'd always wondered why they bothered to set the whole building down into the ground with sort of a moat, yet not a moat for water. The lower floor's ambient temperature was very cool, almost as if it was air conditioned.






It was a nice tour, although we did the walk around on your own audio tour since we didn't have the time to wait for a docent lend tour. But as mentioned, we had to rush a bit to fit it in so we could get back to our pickup location on time.


At the pickup location at 2:30, cab arrives at 2:50, to the airport at 3:45, TSA Precheck so TSA was only about fifteen minutes, so to the plane at just after 4:00 for a 4:30 flight. Out of Hilo airport by 5:30, one stop at a grocery store and out of Hilo 6:00 pm, home at 7:00 pm.


This was two people, no luggage and not checking into any hotels and using cabs instead of Uber or renting a car. With the amount of traffic and lack of parking on Oahu, renting a car would have taken longer. Since we had to wait a bit for the specific cab the medical group uses, we could have shaved about 45 minutes off the timetable.


If you're traveling with a large group and a lot of luggage, then going between islands could be a pain, but if you travel light and you're not a huge group, then it wouldn't be as bad. It will still take up at least half a day's worth of vacation time because of the packing up and checking out, the travel to the airport, the TSA, the flight itself, then gathering up luggage, the trip to where ever you're staying, checking in again, unpacking.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

The lower floor's ambient temperature was very cool, almost as if it was air conditioned.

Not almost, the palace is air conditioned. The stuff inside would never last otherwise.

[hotzcatz]

Ratz! I was hoping the 'moat' around it was the cause of it. Would you know why there's that dry moat around it? I've always wondered but never really asked anyone about it.


Honolulu did seem significantly hotter than Hilo. All that concrete, perhaps? Although Hilo is windward side and Honolulu is leeward side.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Honolulu did seem significantly hotter than Hilo. All that concrete, perhaps?

Honolulu temperatures are often lower than Kona and Kahului.

Hilo is mostly cooler as it isn't as sunny. Honolulu averages 100 more sunny days more than Hilo per year - and since it has the fraction of the rain, isn't as humid. You also caught a warm day.

In winter, the windward side of Oahu is warmer than Honolulu due to ocean temperatures and trade winds especially at night.

Senator Will Espero wrote a paper on the moat - the moat represents the Pacific Ocean that surrounds the Hawaiian Islands - nothing more than that.

[hotzcatz]

Well, maybe finding out new and different things is one of the best reasons for wandering from one island to another although on vacation, I'd expect visitors would have enough to do on one island that they'd not want to take the time to travel to another. But, to each his own.



I'd never actually toured the palace before and having toured it, still hadn't found out about why the moat. I'm glad you were able to fill me in on it. It seems a fairly strange architectural detail and even representing the Pacific Ocean, it's still kinda strange.