Author Topic: Hawaii Take 2  (Read 4894 times)

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Hawaii Take 2
« on: February 10, 2021, 12:40:02 AM »
Trip Planning:

I have always wanted to visit Hawaii but felt overwhelmed by the idea of planning it but this summer when we were invited to a Bar Mitzvah in LA I decided it would be the perfect time to do a Sunday-Thursday trip of Maui. I booked UA from ORD-LAX rt for $76 pp and then waited until they made a small schedule change on the flight to LAX and had them change it to ORD-SFO so we could spend the first Shabbos with family in Oakland. Our flight from SFO-OGG was on Hawaiian Airlines for $70 pp and then from OGG-LAX was on Delta which we had credit for. Our itinerary was all planned for early December including our free Covid testing appointments at Walgreens but it wasn't meant to be since I tested positive three days before our departure date. I had made sure everything was fully refundable prior to booking (besides for Haleakala sunrise reservation) so I was able to rebook it all a month later for the kids winter break instead. Since we had missed the Bar Mitzvah I decided to extend our time in Maui from Sunday-Motzi Shabbos. I had opened the Marriot Bonvoy credit card which gave us 5 free nights at the Residence Inn Wailea and the last night was 36K points.

We landed in SFO at 9pm on Thursday night and went to sleep soon after. Friday morning we went to Muir Woods National Park (you need to make a reservation for parking beforehand) and had the 4th grade national park pass which let us in for free. We all really enjoyed walking on the path and then we went to the top of the mountain and looked down at the beautiful view. It took us around 1 1/2 to get to the top but my 5 year old had no problem with it.


Sunday we got to SFO for our 7 am flight on HA but I got very nervous seeing that nobody was at the check in counter. Turns out that there were only 30 people on our flight (we were 6 of them) and they had already checked in. Once we got to the gate over an hour early they boarded us and said boarding was complete. It was our first flight on HA and it was amazing. The flight attendants were so attentive and when they handed out sandwiches which we couldn't have they kept on coming over to me asking if we could have any of their first class snacks and even tried giving us the crew food of fruits and fruit cups! They were constantly coming down the aisles handing out water and soda which was completely different from our UA flight where we needed to beg for a bottle of water. We landed an hour and a half early and proceeded to the line where you needed to show your QR code and negative covid test. I was warned before hand that the line could be hours long but when we got there nobody was online. I hadn't planned any activities on Sunday since I wasn't sure how long everything would take but we were out of the airport by 11am and saw in the forecast that it was supposed to rain the next day so we started off running and went straight to the West Maui Mountains. We went to the Nakelala Blowhole and hiked down, I had decided not to do the hike from the Acid Warzone since I thought it would be too hard with the kids, but nobody had mentioned that just going down to the blowhole was no walk in the park! It was pretty scary going down since there is no real path and very sharp lava rocks that will catch your fall....Thank God we made it with no casualties and I was praying that we didn't come all the way down for nothing since I have heard sometimes it is not blowing, thankfully it was blowing at least 30 feet in the air and totally awesome to watch.


We continued on to the Olivine Pools which is a few miles away and we hiked down another unpaved path with lava rocks everywhere which took a good 30 minutes and finally arrived to the pools which were beautiful and the kids had a great time swimming around and looking for fish.




We started heading back to the car as it started raining and we got totally drenched by the time we got to the car. I was nervous about the driving the WM loop since I heard it was one lane and unpaved for parts of it but my husband had no issues with it and I personally found the PCH road a lot scarier. Once we got to the hotel and checked in we went to the pool area where the kids went swimming and had a BBQ for dinner.

Monday it rained the entire day which the locals said they have never seen before. We had reservations for Haleakala sunrise but we were told that if we valued our life we should not go. The Residence Inn provides free breakfast and it included bagels that were kosher and pas yisrael, jelly, cream cheese, Chobani yogurt, and granola that was also kosher. The only item that we couldn't have was the hard boiled eggs so I asked for raw eggs instead which we made in our room since we had a stovetop. It was really helpful to not have to worry about making breakfast and the kids were able to go down to the lobby every morning and eat it there. After spending half the day in the hotel we decided to try to venture out and went to Front Street in Lahaina. We went souvenir shopping, got ice cream and Dole Whip at Lappert's, saw the Banyan Tree Park and enjoyed the street musicians.



Tuesday we had booked SUP lessons for the family with Outrageous Surf in Lahaina, I had confirmed with him early in the morning that the conditions would be OK. We got there and it was beautiful and sunny, walked to the beach with the paddleboards and we were about to start the lesson but apparently it started getting windy which made it too unsafe to go out to the water. He was very apologetic that we came out all this way for nothing but I was grateful that he didn't have us go out in unsafe conditions. We decided to go to Kaanapali Beach instead and it was gorgeous and empty.


After a while we walked over to the Hyatt Regency which was right next to the beach and the kids enjoyed the slides, bridges, waterfalls and all the animals especially the penguins.



We BBQed dinner on the beach and then headed
to Haleakala for sunset. We got in for free with the handy 4th grade national pass and changed into our winter clothes at the visitors center. We got to the summit about an hour before sunset and were amazed at the sight. It was cloudy where the sun was setting so it wasn't the best visibility but it was definitely worth the trip up. We stayed around an hour and a half so we could see the stars and then went to the hotel.


Wednesday we did the Road to Hana. We stopped at the Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, swam in Ching's pond, Three Bears falls, lava tubes, fruit stand that let us try all the different fruits for $10, Black Sand Beach, cliff jumped into the Venus Pool and hiked Pipiwai Trail until the bamboo forest. There was no traffic on the road and most of the stops we did nobody was there. My kids loved going through the lava tubes so much that they did it by themselves a second time. We did the complete loop and it was beautiful, so cool seeing all the animals grazing along the road. My son decided to take a bamboo stick as a souvenir which turned out to be interesting...











Thursday we took a snorkeling trip to Molokini on the Calyspo. I choose that boat because it was the top rated boat in Maui Revealed. They have three levels, glass bottom, 5 slides and a jumping platform. They give out breakfast which was a muffin and fruit so we enjoyed the fruit. I had bought Dramamine in preparation for the trip but had forgot to pack it so I hoped for the best. About 10 minutes before we got to Molokini my 7 year old and 5 year old stopped talking which is a bad sign. Once we got there my daughter was fine but my 5 year old son was still feeling nauseous so I took him down to get off the boat which would hopefully make him feel better but right before we could get off he threw up all over the floor. The crew was really helpful and got him ginger ale which made him feel a lot better. We finally got off the boat and started snorkeling and it was amazing. All my kids (ages 12,10,7 and 5) were able to snorkel on their own. Once we were done snorkeling we jumped off the platform and went down the slides, the kids had the best time ever. Then we continued on to Turtle town which was the highlight for my 5 year old who loves turtles. I had thought that there would be a lot  more turtles around but after searching for a bit we found a massive turtle by the rocks who we needed to back away at times so it wouldn't touch us (we were warned about the fines). We weren't at Turtle Town for that long and had to get back on the boat. They had unlimited beverages which my 10 year old definitely took advantage of with constantly refilling his cup with different soda's. On our way back we saw some whales from a distance but then the captain stopped the boat because three white whales came close to our boat and then they actually went under the boat and around it! The captain said they haven't seen whales this close up this season even on their whale watching tours. It was pretty incredible.




After we got off the boat we went to Maui Kosher Farms where we had scheduled a tour. I thought anything after the snorkeling trip would be a let down but it was definitely not. Chani gave us a tour of the mikvah they just built a few months ago, all the fruit trees including a banana tree that she had my kids cut down, all their animals and so much more. After picking some starfruit, herding the sheep, feeding the goats, collecting the eggs from the chickens and ducks we went inside their house and had a taste test which we had to guess which was the chicken, duck and quail eggs (we got them all wrong). Then Chef Mendel prepared dinner for us which was delicious and it was great to have Chani and Mendel join us as well. We left on a huge high but needing to get back to prepare for shabbos. I lit two yartzheit candles before shkiah without a bracha.




Friday we walked to the Wailea Beach where we saw some turtles by the rocks and the kids had fun in the sand and water. Then we walked around The Shops at Wailea where we got ice cream at Lappert's and more souvenirs. We got back to the hotel and the kids went to the pool to swim. I had ordered shabbos meals from Mendel and he delivered them on Friday. His shabbos package has everything you need including wine, candles, matches and a havdallah set. The food was delicious as well as abundant. We were especially excited to see banana bread since my kids were constantly seeing signs for banana bread on the Road To Hana so now they could finally try it. Since we were leaving Motzi shabbos I didn't book the room for that night so I figured we would just leave our suitcases by the front desk before shabbos and hang out in the lobby until shabbos was over. But on Thursday night we started seeing a lot of ants in our room so I told the front desk and they gave us a new room to switch to. I asked if we could have a later checkout for the inconvenience of changing rooms and they said the latest they can give me was 4pm I told them I really need it until 7 pm since it is our Sabbath after a little convincing to the manager she agreed so we were able to have our room for the whole shabbos. After moving rooms and talking during Shabbos we think we figured out that the source of the ants was the bamboo stick my son had brought into the hotel room from the Road to Hana...BH the stick didn't move with us into the new room.






Shabbos was really relaxing and towards the end we took a walk to the Wailea Beach Resort where they had a luau. We sat on the grass and watched the show and a little bit later the manager came up to us and offered us a tray of desserts but we graciously declined so he returned with ice waters and cut up fruit! After shabbos we packed up and headed to the airport where we were taking the red eye to LAX. All the screens on the right side of the plane were not working so I complained and was given $25 pp vouchers.
Sunday we spent the day in LA going to Mensch's for breakfast, then hiked by the Griffith Observatory and Hollywood sign, Pizza World for lunch, Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Shmorg for the plane ride home. We took the red eye from LAX to ORD and slept half of Monday.
It was an incredible trip and can't wait to go back just can't imagine the other islands can beat Maui.

Offline Something Fishy

  • Global Moderator
  • Dansdeals Lifetime Presidential Platinum Elite
  • **********
  • Join Date: Jan 2011
  • Posts: 8707
  • Total likes: 6069
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 44
    • View Profile
    • Kosher Horizons
  • Location: Iceland
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2021, 12:49:53 AM »
Check out my site for epic kosher adventures: Kosher Horizons

Offline SSLPhD

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Gold Elite
  • ******
  • Join Date: Jul 2015
  • Posts: 764
  • Total likes: 276
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: My couch
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2021, 09:10:56 AM »
Makes me want to go back.
44/50, 46/63

Offline Dan

  • Administrator
  • Dansdeals Lifetime 50K Diamond Elite
  • **********
  • Join Date: May 2008
  • Posts: 67598
  • Total likes: 16909
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 16442
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Location: CLE
  • Programs: UA GS, AA EXP, DL Dirt, Hyatt Glob, Fairmont Lifetime Plat, DD Diamond, Blocked By @NeriaKraus
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2021, 10:26:20 AM »
Great TR! Glad it all worked out.

Where is the Aloha pic from?
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2021, 10:53:57 AM »
Great TR! Glad it all worked out.

Where is the Aloha pic from?

Thanks, it was at the Wailea Beach Resort.

Offline yg1836

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite
  • ****
  • Join Date: Mar 2014
  • Posts: 278
  • Total likes: 14
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: Los Angeles
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2021, 11:52:03 AM »
Also stayed in the Residence Inn Wailea, it’s a great hotel
If you’re there for sometime, full kitchen, and also lots of their breakfast foods were kosher. They were very accommodating. Additionally they were not on the beach, so helps tznius wise

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2021, 12:33:04 PM »
Also stayed in the Residence Inn Wailea, it’s a great hotel
If you’re there for sometime, full kitchen, and also lots of their breakfast foods were kosher. They were very accommodating. Additionally they were not on the beach, so helps tznius wise

I agree and if you do want to go to the beach it’s only 5-10 min walk away.

Offline ltttc

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: May 2019
  • Posts: 673
  • Total likes: 133
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2021, 07:22:24 PM »
How many bedrooms did you have?

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2021, 11:27:24 PM »
How many bedrooms did you have?

1, it has two queen size beds and a living room area with a pullout sofa.

Online sam28

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2010
  • Posts: 1876
  • Total likes: 137
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2021, 04:13:18 PM »
Wow thanks for the nice write up and pictures. at least u heed good weather on the RTH . still working on my TR

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2021, 04:38:09 PM »
Wow thanks for the nice write up and pictures. at least u heed good weather on the RTH . still working on my TR

It was raining on and off pretty much the whole day but it didn’t affect us besides for not being able to go to the Red Sand Beach.

Offline PBaruch

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: May 2013
  • Posts: 2269
  • Total likes: 296
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
    • View Profile
  • Location: HutzNPlutz
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2021, 02:24:08 PM »
Very nice!  Glad you finally made and had a great time.
What do you do after your dreams come true?

Offline njmacman

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Gold Elite
  • ******
  • Join Date: Jul 2009
  • Posts: 963
  • Total likes: 32
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #12 on: February 25, 2021, 03:55:04 PM »
Awesome!

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #13 on: February 25, 2021, 05:01:45 PM »
Very nice!  Glad you finally made and had a great time.

THANK YOU for all your help planning the trip!

Offline eandd

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: Nov 2016
  • Posts: 169
  • Total likes: 15
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #14 on: February 27, 2021, 08:21:25 PM »
Thank you for the TR, looks like an amazing trip!

Offline bestwatchman

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2010
  • Posts: 289
  • Total likes: 53
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #15 on: February 28, 2021, 10:37:04 AM »
Amazing tr! Thank you!
Please enlighten me, why the Yahrtzeit candles?

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #16 on: February 28, 2021, 10:57:45 AM »
Amazing tr! Thank you!
Please enlighten me, why the Yahrtzeit candles?

We were keeping a “two day shabbos” so I needed to light candles on Thursday that would stay lit until Friday night so I could make a Bracha on it.

Offline AsherO

  • Global Moderator
  • Dansdeals Lifetime 30K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • **********
  • Join Date: May 2008
  • Posts: 30533
  • Total likes: 7830
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 79
    • View Profile
  • Location: NYC
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #17 on: February 28, 2021, 02:42:00 PM »
We were keeping a “two day shabbos” so I needed to light candles on Thursday that would stay lit until Friday night so I could make a Bracha on it.

This is the halachic guidance you got?
100% of Likes will be donated to support our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Hawaii Take 2
« Reply #18 on: February 28, 2021, 03:09:40 PM »
This is the halachic guidance you got?

Yes