Hawaii to Mainland- how often do you fly? (Honolulu, Kailua: to rent, credit card)

[divagotstyle07]

TL;DR if you have family off island, how often do you travel to them & how do you make it work??


Ok we are getting ready to move in the next year or so.... (ive been around the boards for a while so update-
originally we were supposed to move NOW but then I decided to go back to work and postpone move until after I had some more cash, and after the wedding, since boyfriend proposed a few months before our anticipated move, yay!)

And things have gotten REAL! I am overcome with nervousness about making the wrong decision and locking myself into a place that is sooooo far from east coast mainland where my family lives. (I know it doesn't have to be forever, but once you make the move it can be hard to recover from that after you've sold off your whole life and settled into a new one on an island....so trying to think of it as "forever")

I have been trying to come up with something that is a win win for all involved.... maybe seeing family 2-3x a year is perfect, and in that case- that is probably feasible.

But I am worried that it will be harder than I think....flights are like $1000+ and takes a full 16 hours or so.... we have to get someone to watch the house and the dogs....we have to have a job that gives us vacation and can get the time off while not also using up all our vacation time since I would love to take an actual VACATION!!!.....and then there is the hassle of travel.

How often do you travel? Is it common to just become a jet setter more often as part of the island life??? It's just fact, you're in the middle of nowhere, so you sacrifice a bit and make the trips to the Mainland?

I understand many can't afford it. And I am concerned about that as well, but would likely cut back or do a side job to be able to fund that type of travel.

Curious as to what is the "norm" for those that have family back on the mainland or....5000 miles away in another direction.

[hotzcatz]

Two or three times a year isn't likely to happen. More like maybe once a year and maybe miss a year here or there. Or just one person goes and the other stays, depending on who's seeing which family, sometimes it's easier.

Last January we had to go to the East coast for a relatives' 90th birthday party. Sucked to use up travel funds to go to the East coast during the winter. Urgh! That pretty much wiped out our travel funds for awhile so when one of our close childhood friends died several weeks ago, only one of us is off island going to the memorial. I didn't know the person all that well, so my SO is off to the memorial while I'm here holding down the fort.

We have several credit cards that give us travel miles. We have the Alaskan air card which gives us a 'companion' fare once a year. But it's still expensive since we also usually have to rent a car when we get there.

Sometimes I'll go along with a friend to help her travel since she's older as well as short. She can't reach the overhead bins on the airlines so I'll be luggage wrangler for her and she uses one of her companion fares for my fare. I pay for it since I have relatives near her relatives, so we'll travel together and then spend time with our own relatives while we're there. She doesn't like to do the journey all in one long trip, so we will overnight somewhere on the West coast and then continue on to the East coast the next day. On the way back, sometimes we will overnight sometimes we will come on back without an overnight stop. It seems easier traveling this way than the other. I suspect that may also be why folks really like Hawaii. They feel miserable when they leave, but some of that may be because they're fighting the time zone differences.

Hopefully your family will come visit you here, too, so you'll be able to visit without having to fly. But don't be surprised at how few of them actually show up. I guess the folks on the mainland aren't used to spending the same amount we are when it comes to travel.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by divagotstyle07

And things have gotten REAL! I am overcome with nervousness about making the wrong decision and locking myself into a place that is sooooo far from east coast mainland where my family lives.

I have been trying to come up with something that is a win win for all involved.... maybe seeing family 2-3x a year is perfect, and in that case- that is probably feasible.

But I am worried that it will be harder than I think....flights are like $1000+ and takes a full 16 hours or so....

Jeez. What a train wreck of a story. Nervous already? It's going to get much worse. Travel 2-3 times a year to the east coast not work related? Come on, you are in huge denial. But, it costs nothing to be a dreamer.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by divagotstyle07

But I am worried that it will be harder than I think....flights are like $1000+ and takes a full 16 hours or so.... we have to get someone to watch the house and the dogs....we have to have a job that gives us vacation and can get the time off while not also using up all our vacation time since I would love to take an actual VACATION!!!.....and then there is the hassle of travel.

It looks like you've summed it up pretty well. You need to ask yourself how many times you can afford to pay for airfare and have the time off. If you think that will miss your family and need to visit more than once a year, then you need to be able to afford it. Otherwise, you may not be happy living so far away.

We travel to the mainland once a year. We use the time to see children and grandchildren, visit our doctors, and do road trips. Luckily we have a friend's car that we use for a minimal cost. We are retired, so we can spend more time there. We have a house sitter come stay with the dog (we found someone to do it for free), but that too is a hassle getting it set up. I can't imagine going through all the trouble to do this more than once a year!

[divagotstyle07]

Thanks to all for your responses. Hotzcatz thanks for the tip about the Alaska airlines card. I have mine now and definitely plan to make it work for me!!!

It can be done. Everything is a trade off, but I will prioritize what is important to me, and try to make it the most economical way too!!!

[hotzcatz]

Certain times of the year there's a direct flight from Kailua-Kona to California, that may come in handy. If you can catch a direct flight to the mainland, I think it's only about five or six hours of flight time. If you have to get to the East Coast, well, then it can take a full day since that's usually multiple flights.

[Ian_Lee]

Two times to Mainland and two times to Asia in average per year. In fact, I just flew back from JFK this morning. 10 hour 20 minutes. Not too bad if you have an aisle seat and two meals and Hawaiian music which Hawaiian Airline provides.

Unless you fly during X'mas, usually round trip ticket to Mainland costs less than $1,000. Flying to Asia is even cheaper. For the same distance, the fare costs about $600.

[terracore]

"Jeez. What a train wreck of a story. Nervous already? It's going to get much worse. Travel 2-3 times a year to the east coast not work related? Come on, you are in huge denial. But, it costs nothing to be a dreamer."

Agree with the first few sentences.

In over 5 years, we've never gone to the mainland to visit family. Though many have come to visit us many times. If you are retired and wealthy, maybe 2-3 times a year is doable. Otherwise you will be overcome by expenses, time constraints, and competing priorities.

[divagotstyle07]

I guess it depends what your priorities are. For me, I can't see any good reason NOT TO fly back 1-2x a year. It doesn't seem too big of a burden financially or time wise- out of anything, the time spent is probably the biggest factor since you only get so much time off work!!

Thanks for some good news about the flights being more affordable and ways to make it work!

[NW4me]

Hawaiian Airlines has nonstop flights from Honolulu to NY...