Aloha Reader, My oldest has been to Hawaii about 12 times. At this point he has opinions. On our last Kauai trip he decided he wanted to do a serious acai bowl taste test. Every morning, a new spot. He kept mental notes, compared textures and toppings, took the whole thing very seriously. By the end of the week he had a definitive ranking. Sunrise Coffee won, if you're curious. That trip is a good example of what Kauai does to people who are ready for it. It slows you down in the best way....
6 days ago • 1 min read
Aloha Reader, There is a version of a luau where you sit at a long banquet table under fluorescent lights eating mediocre buffet food while someone on a stage performs a show that feels like it was designed for a convention center. And there is a version where you're sitting outside at sunset, the food is actually good, and your kids are completely captivated by the fire knife dancer. The price difference between those two experiences is sometimes almost nothing. The experience difference is...
13 days ago • 2 min read
Aloha Reader, My youngest and I were sitting at dinner inside Volcano House, the lodge that sits right on the rim of Kilauea caldera, and the lava was glowing through the window behind our food. Not a photo of lava. Not a viewing platform. Dinner. With lava. In the background. I couldn't stop looking at it. Neither could he. At some point we both just put our forks down and stared. That moment is why I think the Big Island is the most underrated island in Hawaii for families. Most people skip...
15 days ago • 1 min read
Aloha Reader, The rental mask fogged up about 90 seconds into our first snorkel at Molokini. My kid pulled it off, declared snorkeling was boring, and spent the rest of the morning throwing rocks on the boat. We tried again two days later with gear that actually fit. She's been asking to go back to Hawaii every year since. I'm not saying rented gear ruined that trip. But fit and visibility matter way more than most people expect, and rental gear is genuinely a mixed bag. Sometimes it's fine....
20 days ago • 2 min read
Aloha Reader, The first time we did an inter-island flight, I treated it like catching a subway. We showed up about 25 minutes before departure, bags in tow, fully relaxed. We made it. But just barely. And I spent the whole walk to the gate sweating through my shirt, which is not the vibe you want at the start of a Hawaii vacation. Inter-island flights are short (Oahu to Maui is about 25 minutes in the air) but the airport experience is completely normal. Security line, gate, boarding. Budget...
22 days ago • 2 min read
Aloha Reader, This is the question I get more than almost any other. Maui or Oahu? Which one should we do? And the answer I always give is: it depends on your family. Not in a wishy-washy way. In a very specific way. Because these two islands are genuinely different trips, and the right one for you has everything to do with what you're actually looking for. So let me walk you through how I think about it. You should probably do Oahu if: It's your first time in Hawaii. Oahu is the easiest...
27 days ago • 2 min read
Aloha Reader, I got an email a couple weeks ago from a mom who'd been planning her July Maui trip for months. Flights booked. Hotel sorted. She just hadn't gotten around to the luau yet. She wanted to know which one I'd recommend. I pulled up availability. Sold out. All of them. For her entire week. That's not unusual for summer Hawaii anymore. The window between "I should book that" and "it's gone" has gotten a lot shorter. If you have a trip on the calendar between June and August, some...
29 days ago • 1 min read
Aloha Reader, Someone emailed me last month asking if she should just skip Hawaii this summer and take the kids to Disney instead. I told her absolutely not. But I also told her the truth. Summer Hawaii is a different animal. And if you go in without knowing what you're walking into, it can feel overwhelming fast. Here's what I mean. Hotels that cost $300 a night in May are $450 in July. Sometimes more. Popular beaches are packed by 9am. Hanauma Bay sells out days in advance and you have to...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Aloha Reader, I had a consult recently that I keep thinking about. A couple reached out wanting help planning their granddaughter's first trip to Hawaii. They used to live there, and it was clear from the first few minutes that this trip meant everything to them. They weren't asking me to find the best resort deals. They wanted cultural experiences, real moments, things that would make her fall in love with the islands the way they did. They wanted her to feel it. Something about watching...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read