If you’ve been looking for concrete numbers for a two week vacation in Hawaii but just keep getting averages and feel like its too confusing or just downright overwhelming to tackle on your own, then this blog post is for you.
Finding ways to be more savvy and less overwhelmed by our lives is actually really easy with this breakdown. These tips will help you be a savvier traveler and give you some peace of mind at home.
So before Chan and I went on our two week trip there were some things we ended up having to purchase and do first.
Day 0
392.02 – First car rental
1,188.56 – Second car for rest of trip
481.80 – Flights to Hawaii
562.80 – Flights back home
258.00 – Flight Upgrades
380.00 – E Learning – Paid Training
200.00 – Pet Sitter
Day 0 Total: 3,463.18
Debrief: So we decided to get scuba certified and boy were we glad we did. Hands down the best and worst part of our trip. Definitely recommend getting certified by Reef Pirates Diving! We ended up going while the car shortage conundrum was going on where car rental places were charging $400 a day for Nissans so we ended up getting lucky renting through Turo.
Day 1
50.00 – Heavy Bag Charge
30.00 – Regular Bag Charge
6.47 – Ginger Ale
47.00 – Surf N Salsa (Dinner)
Day 1 Total: 133.47
Debrief: Wish we would have just brought an extra bag instead of having to pay the heavy bag charge. Most of the day was spent traveling to Oahu. Once we landed we picked up the car and had dinner. Surf N Salsa is our favorite Mexican restaurant on the island and we go every time we visit, I always get the carne asada fries.
Day 2
7.00 – Waiola Shave Ice
320.36 – Costco
Day 2 Total: 327.36
Debrief: Time change is killing us so didn’t do much. Drove around and got some shave Ice from Waiola shave Ice. Really popular and not bad for two people.
Day 3
261.00 – Aloha Stadium Swap Meet
36.45 – Chu Wah Cam Noodle Factory (Lunch)
17.80 – Foodland Farms
Free – Vons Chicken (Dinner)
Day 3 Total: 315.25
Debrief: Definitely recommend goin to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet as you can buy all your knick knacks and souvenirs here for a lot less than in Honolulu. Made a video about it! Friends we’re staying with treated us to dinner!
Day 4
32.17 – Forty Niner (Breakfast)
71.18 – Costo (Towels & Umbrella)
37.21 – Gas at Costco
15.00 – China Town Dragon Fruit
Day 4 Total: 155.56
Debrief: Had to drop off the first car and pick up the second one we’d have for the rest of the trip. We ended up getting gas from Costco our entire time there since it was so much cheaper then anywhere else. Ended up making some ribs for dinner we picked up at Costco.
Day 5
26.19 – Zippy’s (Breakfast)
Free – Koko Crater and Kuli Ou’ou beach park
70.34 – Moku Kitchen (Dinner)
Day 5 Total: 96.53
Debrief: Spent most of the day hiking Koko Crater Railway (views are worth it). Kuli Ou’ou is our favorite beach, never packed, lots of parking and the water is always clam.
Day 6
54.00 – Molokai Hot bread
5.00 – Papaya
17.00 – Farmers Market
Free – Kahe Point Beach Park
136.13 – Island Family Chiropractic
52.34 – Costco (More Towels)
Day 6 Total: 264.47
Debrief: Highly recommend getting a massage or seeing a chiropractor while on your next trip. Sitting on a plane for that long messes up your body. Cannot recommend Dr. Carie Kwan enough, she just started her own practice in Pearl City – The Chiropractic Studio.
Day 7
62.90 – Moena Cafe (Breakfast)
Free – Lighthouse Hike & Sandy Beach Park
120.52 – Bar Leather Apron (Dinner)
Day 7 Total: 183.42
Debrief: Spent most of the morning completing our scuba diving training. Lighthouse hike was really easy and paved so definitely kid and stroller friendly. Reservations for Bar Leather Apron are highly encouraged.
Day 8
901.78 – Reef Pirate Hawaii Diving Cert
57.43 – Walgreens (motion sickness meds)
Free – Lanikai Beach
10.00 – Byodo Temple
69.49 – Ramen Nakamura (Dinner)
3.35 – Parking
25.00 – Waikiki Dancers
Day 8 Total: 1,063.7
Debrief: Paid for our scuba certification for both of us and for a diving session for later in the week. Ended up getting sea sick while doing our first certification dive. Recommend that if you’re either going diving or on a boat you take nausea medicine early that morning. Watch out for those dancers on Waikiki they’ll dance for a bit until you give them money and then the show will be over
Day 9
57.55 – Island Brew Coffee (Breakfast)
120.00 – Reef Island Diving Shirts
16.89 – Kona Brewing (Happy Hour)
257.49 – Gyu-Kaku Bar (Dinner)
10.00 – Tip for Hostess
76.92 – Bar Leather Apron
2.00 – Parking
Day 9 Total: 540.85
Debrief: Gyu-Kaku was definitely more of a splurge but well worth. It was all you can eat and we ended up taking care of the tab for the people that were hosting us.
Day 10
20.00 – Diamond Head Hike
Free – Mau’umae Trail
74.30 – Side Street Inn
317.60 – Savers
17.01 – Matcha Cafe Maiko
Day 10 Total: 428.91
Debrief: If you’re going to go on the Diamond Head hike I’d highly suggest getting there right when they open or an hour before they close. It fills up really fast even though we went right at open it was really hot. Mau’umae had one of the best views of all the hikes we did but is not for the faint. Over an 8+ hour hike (we did not do it all) with going up hill both ways, if it rained don’t do it since we did it while it was dry and slipped multiple times
Day 11
Free – Church
72.71 – Costco
Free – Waikiki Beach
49.22 – Marugame Udon (Dinner)
7.84 – Lahaina Shave Ice
70.59 – Sky Waikiki
37.00 – Arnolds Beach Bar
10.05 – Parking
Day 11 Total: 247.41
Debrief: Marugame Udon ended up being our favorite noodle place of the whole trip. Sky Waikiki has some great sunset views but other than that the drinks and food weren’t much to write about. Had quite a hard time trying to find another bar around Honolulu to go to. Shout out to the Tommy Bahama employee that recommended Arnolds Beach Bar. Definitely a locals spot with good drinks and even better prices.
Day 12
4.24 – Leonards Bakery
8.34 – Dole Plantation
Free – Waimea Bay Beach Park
162.17 – Savers
28.01 – Rainbow Drive Inn
Day 12 Total: 202.76
Debrief: Dole Plantation is one of those places to visit with the family. They do have a train ride but the lines can get long. Waimea Bay Beach was nice but parking can be rough. Savers can be one of those hidden gems if you’re into vintage Tommy Bahama, Tori Richard, Reyn Spooner and Kahala aloha shits.
Day 13
Free – Pillbox Hike
36.66 – Morning Brew Kailua (Breakfast)
Free – Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden
36.55 – El Palenque (Lunch)
9.42 – Matsumoto Shave Ice
57.59 – Whalers General Store
52.34 – Costco
42.51 – Gas Costco
172.69 – Fed Ex
5.00 – Parking
15.00 – Car Wash
Day 13 Total: 427.76
Debrief: Hoomaluhai Botanical Garden is the best free attraction, we spent hours walking around and I ended up making a whole video on it here. Matsumoto Shave Ice has been voted the best shave ice on the island and their flavors were definitely the best of all the places we tried. We ended up shipping home the Tommy Bahama Beach chairs and umbrellas we bought in Costco. They were way more expensive online so it was actually cheeper to mail them back home.
Day 14
100.00 – Extra heavy Bag Fee
30.00 – Regular Bag Charge
6.00 – Parking
Day 14 Total: 136.00
Debrief: Once again getting hit with the Extra heavy bag fee. We didn’t account for all the extra things we’d bring back so unfortunately we paid the price. All in all we didn’t think we spent too much until I added it all up…
Now in looking at all we spent you might have notice there were no hotel charges. While you are correct in noticing that, we were extremely lucky to have friends that let us stay with them for our two week stay in Hawaii.
So now the part that you have been waiting all blog post to see, the total.
The total for our two week stay in Hawaii is…
$7,986.63
Now that’s quite a bit more than we expected to spend. Hopefully this helps you plan your trip a little better.
What do you think we could have saved money on or improved on? Share them with us below!