Hawaii Vacation Part 1: Flight and Condo for under $800

This blog post is the first of two about my family vacation to Hawaii.  The first part is how we traveled round trip to Honolulu and spent 7 nights there for under $800 (flight and condo). The second part is about our trip and how we spent that time.

Waikiki Beach near the Lagoon

I have always wanted to travel more.  I go to conferences and visit family and friends, but I don't really travel like the bloggers and Internet famous (or infamous) that often capture my attention.  My mother has the same wanderlust that I do.  She is usually my road trip buddy. It doesn't matter where  we go, she's always game. My father is way more selective in his trips.  He's not interested in the beach.  He's not really interested in international travel either. He's a homebody who has made it clear that there's enough in the USA he hasn't seen to fulfill his travel desires.  Two places he hadn't been but often said that he would love to visit were Hawaii and Alaska.  He's talked about those destinations for years.

Me, mom, dad and aunt on Waikiki Beach

After seeing blogs and social media posts of trips people have taken, I just had to know how they can afford to travel to so many places.  One natural hair YouTuber that I follow @thechicnatural did a video about her travels where she named a friend from whom she gets travel tips: http://www.beyondbmore.com  On that site, Brian, has so many helpful travel tips.  Among them are the sites on social media to follow for great deals.  I started with Secret Flying on Facebook.  I followed the page and get the alerts. I was amazed at the prices.  The first day I signed up, I saw round trip flights to European cities for $466, the Caribbean for $200 and to Hawaii for $535.  Needless to say I was motivated to figure it out. From other internet research I found Fare Deal Alert and Airfare Watchdog also on Facebook.  You can't book directly from those sites.  So I had to do a little homework to figure out the booking process.  I found www.google.com/flights to be extremely helpful in finding the flights for the prices mentioned in the social media pages.  From there, I had to find a booking site that not only offered the flights but that I trusted.  So many things on the internet aren't what they seem so I'm more of a skeptic.  I have booked through Travelocity, Expedia, Priceline, friend's travel websites and directly through the airlines before this trip to Hawaii.  After practicing with other deals I had no intentions of taking, I felt ready to jump on a deal if it came up.  I just hoped that the Hawaii deal wasn't a one time deal that I missed.

Caveats: I am self-employed and my parents are retired.  We are flexible for the most part. I have found that most of these deals have a short shelf-life.  You may see a deal at noon and it's gone by 2 pm. You also have to be willing to fly at odd hours, during the week day and in some cases overnight. You may also have to have multiple stops and on different airlines.  None of these were problems for me and my family. I told my parents if I found a flight for around $500, I'd book the flight and tell them later.

So a few days later, I got an alert on Facebook from one of the sites and immediately looked at the information.  It was to Honolulu for $515!  It was a nice range of dates.  I went over to Google Flights and looked up which flights were eligible for the rates.  Early March was best for us.  I got flight numbers and connection information then went to a friend's travel website.  Unfortunately, the flights weren't listed on her site.  Then I went to Priceline.  I found them and called my parents to confirm that we were going just before booking. Through a series of events, my aunt Estella made our trip a party of 4.  Meanwhile, the price had gone DOWN!  The price dropped to $485 while talking to my mom.  Taxes and fees included, each round trip ticket came out to $499.  I felt confident since Priceline gives you 24 hours to cancel without penalty.  That gave me time to find accommodations or a better all-inclusive deal if one was out there.

I had never rented a house, condo or anything like that.  Hotels, timeshares and friends' homes were the only way I ever traveled.  Many of my friends talked about how great the other options are.  So I went to Air B n B, and Home Away to check out the cost, locations and procedures.  It was a bit tedious, trying to wrap my mind around total costs of each, locations in proximity to where I wanted to be.  My parents are in great shape, but I knew they didn't want to walk great distances for touring. I didn't want to rent a car either as the expense of parking wasn't appealing either.  I also wanted us within walking distance of the beach.  My parents may not be beach people.  But I am.

After reviewing transportation options such as The Bus (Honolulu's public transportation system), and the Waikiki Trolley, I settled on finding something near Waikiki Beach that was along the Waikiki Trolley line.  I reviewed pictures and reviews for probably 15 properties and settled on a newly renovated unit at the Ilikai Resort.  Home Away had the listing for $903 per week ($1170 with fees, taxes included) for 7 nights.  The small condo faced the main street (not the beach) on the 8th floor.  But compared to the other units that were available, this one was good for us.  The view of the mountain and city streets were just fine.  The beach view wasn't worth the extra money to us.  The amenities in the condo were well suited for us.  It was a 5 minute walk to the beach without having to cross any streets.  There was entertainment in the evenings and we could see the Friday fireworks from the courtyard by the marina.  It was also a stop for many of the major tour companies.  The Hawaiian Vacation Properties LLC process was easy, quick and clear.  I'll definitely use them again.  They have multiple listings in the resort.

Sunrise from the City side/Mountain view balcony

Our final itinerary from March 7th to March 15th included a 6 AM flight from Atlanta to Dallas, an hour or so layover, then a 9 hour flight from Dallas to Honolulu. The flights weren't full so it was a relatively comfortable trip going.  We were able to spread out. It was around 13 hours of travel. We checked into the Ilikai with the cipher lock code after 3 pm.  We left on a 2 pm on Tuesday, March 14th on a  flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles, then to Charlotte, then to Atlanta landing around 10 AM Wednesday.  With layovers it was over 15 hours of travel overnight.  That was tough since the flights were all very full.

Flight and lodging was less than $800 per person.  We kept our other costs down by using the Waikiki Trolley as our main mode of transportation.  We got the 7 day all line pass for $63 giving us access to all 5 lines.  I love hop on hop off tours.  When not traveling in large groups, I use them wherever I go. See the next post for more information on the trolley.  We only used Uber for travel to and from the airport and for a grocery store run.  My parents love soul food through and through and are pretty picky eaters (they were NOT trying anything new).  So we ate in the condo most of the trip only eating at a few restaurants where there were food items they knew they would enjoy.  It was definitely a money saver.  Then you can spend more or less money on activities, luaus, other tours and shopping according to your own budget.  I'd say we kept within $1100 on average.  I spent more since I did a 5k race and bought more souvenirs.

Recap: Like and follow Secret Flying, Fare Deal Alert, Airfare Watchdog and other travel sites on Facebook. Familiarize yourself with Google Flights and be ready to book when you see a fare that suits you.  I used Home Away to find a condo.  It may take some searching for the best deal, but that is subjective based on your needs and standards.

Now I'm looking for the perfect getaway to Alaska for 2018 for my parents.  If I find something great for the Fall say to Italy, I'll let you know.  :)