It’s been ten years since Sharon and I made the trip to Hawaii. Every time we visit we say we’re not going to wait as long until our next visit. Ten years is a long time and we tend to forget things about visiting the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Here are seven things I forgot about when visiting Hawaii.
Hawaii is FAR from the east coast. Like, REALLY far!
I booked the flights and made the plans but still, it didn’t sink in how long it takes to get from the East Coast to Hawaii.
That looks so close on the tiny IFE of our Delta flight to Hawaii.
We needed to take a six-hour flight to Los Angeles and another six-hour flight to Kauai. Add on a four-hour layover and that’s a long travel day, even if you land at 5 PM local time.
It’s incredible that you can fly this far and you’re still in the USA.
Despite the travel time, you get off your plane just like any other domestic flight on the mainland. Sure, there’s some additional screening required but you don’t need to show your passport, exchange money or learn a new language. When you get to the hotel, this is the view you’ll get. Pretty cool, huh?
The landscape is amazing and the ocean is an incredible shade of blue
Sure, we had to ride on a catamaran for 2 hours over 6-8 foot waves to get here, but the view was worth it.
The food (in particular the sushi/sashimi) is almost the best in the world
Undoubtedly the best raw fish in the world is found in Japan. However, if you want to find something that’s almost as good, the next best place to visit is Hawaii. With a large number of Japanese tourists and access to imported fish from Japan, the sashimi and sushi are amazing.
This was our dinner at Stevenson’s at the Grand Hyatt on Kauai and it was by far the second-best meal we ate on the trip.
Poi is still disgusting
I figured that after twenty years, maybe my taste buds had matured enough to appreciate poi. I tried it at the luau we visited and it wasn’t any better than my last experience.
You don’t always have to pay money for an amazing experience
After some of your suggestions, we spent half of our time on Kauai staying in Princeville and visiting the north shore. Our best evening was going to Hanalei Beach and hanging out for sunset.
After twenty years, there’s no one else I’d prefer to watch the sunset with.
It’s been a long time but also feels like just yesterday. There are plenty of places in the world we will visit but no matter where we are, there’s no one else I’d rather spend the evening with while watching the sunset.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.