Sometimes we must nourish and feed our adventurous spirit just as much as rumbling tummies, and this was definitely the case when I first proposed to my husband that we travel to Hawaii for our 2022 vacation.
Crawling out of our Midwestern winter hibernations, I was desperate for warmth, outdoor activity, and natural beauty. Hawaii delivered and then some. If you’re looking to travel to Hawaii in 2022, here’s how this foodie and her husband did it!
Travel in style
Wherever you’re traveling from, Hawaii is far away. If there is ever a right time to treat yourself and upgrade to first class, it’s on the long flight to Hawaii! That’s what we ended up doing, and it was such a special way to start our trip! Of course, the food was amazing!
Between the reclining chairs that went completely flat into a bed and the bottomless mimosas, first class was a lovely prelude to an incredible vacation. From now on, any flight longer than eight hours warrants an upgrade, in my opinion!
A few days on Oahu
We booked our first five days at the Marriott in Waikiki. This was our view! Waikiki is a popular beach neighborhood in Honolulu, which is the capitol of Hawaii and sits on the island of Oahu. We booked our hotel and rental car through Costco travel and highly recommend it.
In addition to getting a four-star hotel and Camaro at a significantly reduced rate, we also got $200 in hotel credit to use towards hotel parking or restaurants, a free cabana day by the pool, and an $80 Costco gift card.
First Night Dinner
We were very jetlagged our first day and walked around Waikiki Beach as long as we could before falling asleep at 7 p.m. local time! But I had to christen our first night by getting dinner at a local Hawaiian spot! Basalt is a grocery store and bar with casual Hawaiian food. There we shared two appetizers: charcoal bao pork belly buns and Peruvian-spiced beef on waffle fries. My husband is not the most adventurous eater and he really enjoyed Basalt!
Activities on Oahu
Lanikai-Kailua Beaches
Lanikai Beach was our first stop, and we got there early in the morning to snag parking close to the beach. We were the first ones to plop our chairs in the sand and dove in the calm, turquoise waters for some snorkeling. This was by far the best beach on our entire trip.
Kailua Beach is right next to Lanikai Beach, and you can rent stand up paddleboards (SUP) and kayaks in Kailua. The water was pretty choppy on the water in Kailua, and the transport from the rental place to Kailua is long and winding. I can’t say I would recommend it, however, there is a shave ice store next to the rental place called Island Snow that is divine.
Shave ice is a Hawaiian treat of delicately shaved ice soaked in flavored syrups. This one was Jim’s vanilla-banana shave ice. I aimed to have a shave ice every day of our trip.
Hawaii is a destination you’ll need a car for, and getting a convertible made our trip so much more enjoyable than a regular sedan. We got to capture views like this with the top down non-stop. I just love how the clouds hover over the green mountains.
Iolani Palace
Hawaii has a rich history, of which you can catch a glimpse of at the Iolani Palace. The docent-led tour we had was informative and a huge complement to the James Michener book I was (am still) reading on Hawaii!
Pearl Harbor
No trip to Oahu would be complete without visiting Pearl Harbor. This was Jim’s favorite activity of the entire trip! We split up Pearl Harbor into two separate half days. We visited the USS Arizona and USS Missouri in one morning, and the Submarine Museum and Bowfin in another afternoon.
Leave it to me to find the kitchen on the battleship.
This was taken on the USS Missouri, which is the battleship that the Japanese surrendered on during WWII. It actually was not even built when Pearl Harbor was attacked!
There are several food trucks in Pearl City (very close to Pearl Harbor) and they are absolutely worth checking out! These were insanely delicious birria tacos. It was quick, cheap, local, and a massive flavor bomb.
Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay
Another must-see on Oahu is Hanauma Bay, a snorkeling haven! The most resplendent, beautiful fish live in the corals there. I spotted a parrotfish and the Hawaiian state fish, the humu humu nuku nuku a pua’a!
Leonard's Malasadas
Ignoring conventional wisdom to avoid eating before swimming, we gorged ourselves on Leonard’s Bakery doughnuts before heading to Hanauma. Leonard’s makes malasadas, a Portuguese contribution to Hawaiian cuisine. They are filled with chocolate, vanilla, or coconut custard!
Waimanalo Beach
On several occasions, my husband would declare some obscure fact about Magnum P.I., a cop show starring Tom Selleck that was filmed on Oahu. To indulge him, we drove past the house where filming took place, and to indulge me, we stopped at this gorgeous lookout over Waimanalo.
Moana Surfrider
After our Maui leg, we spent the last day of our Hawaii trip back in Oahu. This time we stayed at the historic Moana Surfrider hotel, the oldest hotel in Waikiki. It was right on Kamakaua Avenue near the high end shops, and also right on Waikiki Beach. We even got to take a ukulele lesson here!
Honolulu Coffee Company
Serving premium Kona coffee, Honolulu Coffee Co. is another must-try for any foodies traveling to Hawaii in 2022! There is no coffee like it, and for a hefty $45, you bring home a bag of Kona peaberry coffee beans! At Honolulu Coffee Co. you can also get an iconic açaì bowl. The. açaì berry is indigenous to South America, is very high in fiber, and when frozen, shapes up like sorbet. It’s like healthy ice cream for breakfast! Topped with cacao nibs, bananas, blueberries, and granola, I have made this many times since we’ve returned from Hawaii.
Time in Maui
The island of Maui has a very different vibe to it than Oahu. Oahu is more developed and metropolitan while Maui has more untouched land and a laid back attitude. We stayed in south western Maui in a town where many locals live called Kihei.
A lot of people visiting Maui will stay on the west side of the island called the Kanapali coast, but having seen both, I can honestly say south Maui is superior in every way!
Surfing in Kihei
Surfing lessons was my top favorite activity of the entire trip. It was $100 for a two-hour lesson and sea turtles showed up to see me surf! It was an incredible experience, and I think about it all the time. I took my lesson through Surf Club Maui which is a truck right in the beach parking lot, and I highly recommend them! I was up on the surfboard after just a few tries! (I would also recommend a massage following surfing because it’s quite a workout.)
Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm
Grown into the side of Mount Haleakala is a serene and bucolic lavender farm. So many exotic species of plants and flowers grow here, and they are the kind of flora you’ve never seen anywhere else in the world! Jim was a bit bored here, but he was a trooper while I ogled this charming, mountainside garden and delighted in a lavender scone with lavender lemonade!
Maui Ocean Center
The Maui Ocean Center is one of the best aquariums in the world! One of the reasons it’s so great is it can pull resources right out of its backyard. We saw sharks, stingrays, octopuses, and an infinite number of beautifully colorful fish.
Maui Eats
Three’s Bar & Grill in Kihei was a big favorite for the garlic fried noodles and Kahlua pork nachos! Here is my husband eating with chopsticks! I’m so proud. One of the many reasons to love travel! Three’s was also right across from surf lessons, perfect after that workout.
Maui Brewing Company was another favorite where we got to try a flight of different beers and split a Neapolitan-style pizza and giant cookie. Jim works in the beer industry and provided me with a free lesson in beer processing while we waited for our table.
We adopted the Kihei Cafe as our daily breakfast spot where we’d share our morning observing wild chickens and locals. This chia pudding bowl topped with toasted coconut and blueberries was one of my favorites.
Of course, I had to get my daily fix of shave ice, and this one was guava-coconut-lilikoi (passionfruit), topped with mochi and bottomed with macadamia nut ice cream. Picked it up in Lahaina, which was the old royal capital of Maui, and is where the whalers and world travelers would port in Hawaii. Lahaina is very historic, albeit touristy.
Hoapili Trail
At the southern tip of Maui, past the affluent Wailea, is a hiking trail on black sand / ground up lava called the Hoapili trail. Waves shoot up through naturally formed lava formations and wild goats roam around while wind surfers and surfers bravely ride the gigantic waves. It’s a sight to behold and I will always remember it.
Kamaole Beaches (1, 2, and 3)
It’s not a Hawaiian vacation without putting in some time reading on the beach! We really enjoyed the Kamaole beaches in Kihei to just relax and walk off breakfast. We thought Kamaole II was the best beach! Not too crowded, and not too mulch-y/seaweed-y.
Future Travel
I think about our Hawaii trip every day and can’t wait to go back! I don’t like to return to many places after I’ve seen them once, but for Hawaii I will make an exception! For me, my next big trip is to New York City with my girlfriends, but for Jim and me, we drew places out of a hat to predict our next trip…Italy.
