hawaiian islands

Planning a Trip to Hawaii on a budget

March 10, 2019 By Joni Kinney 2 Comments

Our last trip to Hawaii was a three-year process in the making. We could have done it quicker, but I still wanted to maintain our other trips. So how do you go about planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget?

Figure out your flights. The majority of your cost is going to be getting to Hawaii. You can find decent deals on hotels and food can be as inexpensive or as expensive as you make it in most places. But flights are always the wild card when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget. Here are our considerations for keeping costs down.

General Flight Considerations

To give you an idea of the airline costs; for the three of us to fly round trip from Chicago to Honolulu, it was 135,000 miles total. Joni and I can fly to Cancun from Chicago round trip for 20-25,000 combined usually. It is possible to get the points pretty quickly if you want to do the credit card sign up bonus game.

Southwest Airlines recently got approved for long haul flights from the West Coast to Hawaii. Their first test flight was completed with government review and they have just recently opened up flights to Hawaii. When the news initially broke about Southwest getting closer to having another carrier flying from the Continental United States, some of the other carriers started to run specials with some of the lowest costs seen in a long time.

It is believed that the increase in competition will drop the dollar amount and airline miles required for that once…or twice… in a lifetime trip. With this news, I am having to keep four different airlines as potential options.

Keep in mind what airline and what airport you want to travel out of when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget. Are you ok with a layover? Want a straight through flight? Are you willing to travel super early or want to be flying all day? With a flight this long you may want to travel during waking hours or you may want to fly mostly overnight. These are important questions you need to ask before you book your trip.

Consideration # 1 – Inter-Island Flights with Hawaiian Airlines

Joni had mentioned she wants to go to Maui along with Oahu this next trip. So when we are planning our trip to Hawaii on a budget we have to consider this additional cost. Hawaiian Airlines runs cheap flights between the islands. I have seen prices ranging from about $150 round trip or 15,000 miles between the islands per person. Hawaiian Airlines has a secure online shopping portal where I already picked up around 4,000 miles in the last 4-6 months doing shopping at a couple online stores I like. This will definitely help our budget.

The other quick options for miles if I need for these on shorter notice is through Barclays. They have a Hawaiian Airlines card where just the general offer is 50,000 miles for $1,000 in purchases over 3 months. I also over the past year have seen an offer as good as 60,000 miles after one purchase. That would be 3-4 round trips between the islands for an annual fee of $99.

Flights to Hawaii

Option #1 – United Airlines again (Chicago to Hawaii)

This is what we used last time. Right now we are mostly getting our miles using their phone mobile app making purchases at Buffalo Wild Wings and Starbucks. I already have enough in the account for one round trip ticket. I don’t think Joni would approve on me going on a solo trip for this one. I do not want to lock miles hard into United Airlines as they do not have the best options for Las Vegas.

Option #2 – Southwest

This is more likely the direction we will end up going. I do prefer Southwest over United just as a personal preference. Most of my Southwest miles that I use for my Vegas trips come from the Ultimate Rewards program now with Milwaukee having non-stop flights there.

The superior flexibility that Chase has with their Ultimate Rewards points program is that I can transfer those points to either Southwest or United. This offers us great options when we are planning trips and will certainly come in handing when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget.

Option #3 – Delta through Minneapolis

Delta is my second favorite airline. If I am not flying Southwest to Las Vegas, then most likely I am flying Delta. They have many non-stop flights all over; including some to Hawaii. Delta also has options for flights out from many of the regional airports to get to Minneapolis, Detroit or even Salt Lake City as places to connect from.

One of the new cards I have been looking at over the last 4-6 months is from American Express. Delta Miles take a long time to accrue using their branded credit card at 1 point per dollar for regular purchases. I do carry it and pay the annual fee as I am ahead just on bag fees every year and it also gets me earlier boarding.

But the American Express Gold Card gives 4 Membership Reward Points per dollar spent on Groceries and Restaurants. These points can be converted into Delta Miles. Groceries and restaurants are more substantial expenses in our household, so I am still working the math to see if the cost of the annual fee makes up for the difference.

So what is the next thing we will have to consider when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget? Hotels… stay tuned we have tips for that too!

5 Tips for Planning the Perfect Cheap Hawaii Vacation

January 16, 2019 By Jason Kinney 1 Comment

Previous posts I have always listed as something like “Las Vegas on the Cheap.” Unfortunately, there is nothing cheap on the islands of Hawaii. So the biggest thing is reducing the costs. This article covers some of our favorite cheap Hawaii vacation tips.

1. Flights for your Cheap Hawaii Vacation

When Joni, Cheyenne and I flew out to Hawaii, we did this on miles. Luckily for us, we found an excellent redemption deal on United Miles for 45,000 miles each round trip for a non-stop flight from Chicago. This still took a long time to save up for, but this also gave us time to plan out our trip.

Southwest Airlines is currently looking at having flights for Hawaii. Rumors are that they will be available within the next year and that will most likely cause more significant competition meaning more affordable flight costs. These new flight option will be great for anyone trying to plan a cheap Hawaii vacation.

2. Plan for Parking Concerns

Something we learned while we were out there is that the cost of driving in Hawaii is unreal. We did get a rental car deal going through Enterprise with our work account which was better than anything else I could find. The rental cost isn’t the issue; the cost killer is the parking.

With the island being so tight for space, parking costs are at a premium. Most hotels charge for parking which will add another $40 a day to most hotel stays. Vacations are also meant to be relaxing. The bumper to bumper traffic that is so bad, that even the interstates have speed limits of 45 MPH makes it a pain to get from point A to point B.

We ended up returning our car several days early because of this and the upcoming hurricane. We did not want to deal with any weather damage claims and saved ourselves the extra parking fees as an added bonus. The best benefit of the car was those off the path restaurants (Like KoKo Head Cafe) and getting to some of the tourist destinations (Like beaches and Shaved Ice) we wanted to see again.

3. Best deals for Hotels in Hawaii

With Hawaii being so famous, you have many choices when it comes to booking your hotel stays. Options ranging through Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton are plentiful. Almost every major hotel chain has a hotel and many let you use points you have accumulated.

We ended up staying at a boutique hotel that is part of the Marriott group right of Waikiki Beach. Not only is this a great tourist destination it puts a lot of things within walking distance.

4. Best Tourist Destinations

Luckily Joni did the research on the site seeing and the best deals. If you don’t plan ahead and just show up at the events day by day, you will find the costs to be huge, or not even able to get access as entrances at certain items are limited.

The “Go Ohau Card” is part of the “Go City Cards.” These cards allow you to visit several tourist stops throughout several days depending on the options you purchase. Usually, these are a good deal if you plan to visit a number of the locations the cards offer anyway.

Our Go Oahu card gave us a choice of using a premium feature such as swimming with dolphins. We were able to then purchase these cards through a shopping portal through Groupon to get even more travel points instead of getting them through their website alone. The tours are highly recommended, especially the circle tour at the beginning of the trip.

The tours gave us a chance to see some of the tourist places around the island and even if we didn’t stop during the tour we were able to take our car and visit the next day. The things we did were:

Pearl Harbor
Oahu Hidden Gems and Snorkeling with Turtles
Makani Catamaran Sail
All of Oahu in one day Tour
Iolani Palace
Bishop Museum

5. Be Patient

This trip took almost two years for me to plan out and ten years of Joni asking for us to go to Hawaii. The biggest and probably most important tip is to be patient with your planning. Maximize your points and take advantage of points deals to get bonuses and extra savings. If you are looking for a cheap Hawaii Vacation, you will probably need to plan it for several months.

Matsumoto Shave Ice – Review

December 3, 2018 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

When I first heard about Matsumoto Shave Ice I admit I didn’t think it could possible be all that great. I mean what could possible be so special about ice in a bowl with some flavors thrown on top. Well let me tell you all, I was so wrong.

Matsumoto Shave Ice

When we visited Oahu in August 2018 we happened to be there when Hurricane Lane decided to pay the islands a little visit. This meant a lot of the things we had originally planned to do were unavailable or got moved around. We had never even planned to visit Matsumoto Shave Ice.

On one of our tours, we couldn’t go to see a couple of the scheduled things they had originally planned. This left us with extra time so the tour guide decided to drop us off in Haleiwa to do some shopping. We had purchased most of our souveniers already so we decided to head to Matsumoto Shave Ice instead.

The line was super short due to the Hurricane coming and most of the businesses were starting to close up. This was great for us because we got to skip straight to the front of the line. We each got a bowl and sat down to eat, and we were blown away.

Matsumoto Shave Ice in August 2018. So amazingly delicious! #matsumoto #shavedice #shaveice #hawaii

There is just something magical about this treat. It was amazing. We had some amazing food while we were in Hawaii including KoKo Head Cafe. Trying new foods is one of the things we look forward on all of our family trips, so I am super happy we found time to do this one.

This treat was amazing and probably one of the best things we did on the whole trip. Want to know what else we enjoyed? Read about some of our favorite breakfast spots in Hawaii

What are some of your favorite activities to do while on vacation? Write us a comment and let us know!

Food in Hawaii – I can’t believe I paid $20 for pancakes to go

November 23, 2018 By Jason Kinney Leave a Comment

Food in Hawaii is expensive. There is no way around it. There are ways to save, but towards the end of our trip, our options became limited due to Hurricane Lane.

Why we spent $20 on Pancakes to go

Let me start with the $20 pancakes. When everything was closing due to the hurricane, most restaurants shut down. Even Starbucks and McDonalds were closed down. Some of the hotel restaurants would only serve you if you were staying with them. The only options we could find was Burger King and IHOP nearby.

IHOP had a limited menu while they were open which means all deals were gone. One order of chicken strips and two orders of pancakes for Joni, Cheyenne and I were just shy of $60 on the pickup order. Under normal circumstances, there are some cheaper options.

Food in Hawaii – Food Trucks

Food trucks are very common throughout the island. We had grabbed food at a couple of these along with some excellent snacks. Cheyenne fell in love with the ‘rolled ice cream.’ I preferred to stick with the ‘Hawaiian Shaved Ice.’ Don’t call it a slushie; it is so much more than that.

If you find yourself up on the North Shore in Haleiwa during your site seeing, make sure you stop in at Matsumoto‘s Shaved Ice. The line is usually long, but it is so much more than a slushie. Also, make sure to add the condensed milk as it adds such a sweet option to it. Well worth the wait.

Fast Food Options

They do have fast food in Hawaii as well. Jack in the Box, Burger King and McDonald’s were close by the hotel we stayed at and found around Waikiki. Cheyenne and I would walk down to McDonald’s for a $1.50 ice cream cone to help us cool down. The costs are higher than back in the 48 states, but it was cheaper than some of the sit-down restaurants. Some of the ‘dollar menu’ items are still cheaper, so there is a lower cost alternative.

We did also do IHOP on the cheap for one meal also. IHOP loves to have them monthly specials they advertise for all their locations throughout the US. We found them to be the same cost as the ones back in Wisconsin. By getting the pancakes that were on special at that time instead of the general menu pancakes, it was the difference between $5 for breakfast for one of us compared to $18-20.

Convenience Stores for Quick Food in Hawaii

Cheyenne also learned about “ABC Stores.” They are a set of convenience stores throughout Hawaii and in Las Vegas. If you pick up snacks and munchies here and bring them to your hotel, it saves on the urge for the expensive snacks throughout the day.

We also brought some snacks from home in our luggage. Granola Bars and trail mix help cut out the snacking between meals. This is a great way to pay less for food in Hawaii.

Local Favorites

Koko Head Cafe

Sometimes though you do have to splurge, especially when we are talking about food in Hawaii. Cheyenne and I have found our new favorite restaurant. Cheyenne likes to remind me that I always let her pick where to eat for her birthday and she keeps telling me now its one of the local restaurant that a friend of ours recommended to us on Ohau.

Sooner or later Cheyenne should come to terms that she is not going back to Hawaii for her birthday. If you have a chance, there is a small local joint that serves breakfast and lunch called Koko Head Cafe. We loved it so much; we had to go here twice. Cheyenne would keep trying to steal from my plate.

To get an idea of the indulgence for breakfast, the meal of choice for Cheyenne was Cornflake Crusted French Toast with Billionaires Bacon, Pepper Maple Syrup and Frosted Flake Gelato. This eating experience and the fantastic food is worth the effort to go off the beaten path.

MAC 24/7

If you find yourself staying close to Waikiki Beach, MAC 24/7 is within walking distance to most of the hotels in the area. It is located in one of the Hilton Properties and featured on Man Vs. Food. You will find some of the best pancakes for breakfast here.

No matter where you get food in Hawaii, we hope you have an AMAZING time! If you have or find other local places to eat or tips others can use, please comment below!