My family and I took a week-long trip to Hawaii for me and my twin brother's senior trip in the summer of 2022. We stayed on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Since there are 8 of us in my immediate family, it was a bit of a struggle to find a reasonable place for us during our stay. We ended up finding a beautiful house in Wailea that was just a short walk from one of the many beautiful beaches of Hawaii.
While in Hawaii, my family had made plans to attend a Luau, go on a submarine ride, snorkel at Molokini Crater, take the road to Hana, and soak in the sunshine.
The Luau was definitely one of my favorite parts of our trip. It was incredibly interesting to me to be able to learn more about Hawaiian culture. We got to try different Hawaiian food like Poi, watch Hula dancing (while we even tried ourselves), and celebrate Hawaiian culture. If you take a trip to Hawaii, be sure to include an evening at a Luau!
Snorkeling was a good experience, but I struggled with it simply because I'm terrified of the ocean and sharks! Thankfully we didn't see any sharks, but we were able to see a plethora of gorgeous fish and even some sea turtles. The boat ride to Molokini Crater was roughly an hour long, but our tour guide provided us with snacks and even some snorkeling gear that took some time to put on.
Now I wasn't the biggest fan of the Road to Hana, but I definitely think it's something you NEED to do at least once when you visit Hawaii. When considering taking the road to Hana you essentially have two options. (1) Use your rental car and drive the Road to Hana yourself and hope for the best. (2) Hire a tour guide to drive you in a nice van while your tour guide tells you about the places you stop at and the sights you see. If you couldn't guess, my family decided to hire a tour guide. If you're unfamiliar with what the Road to Hana is, I'll give a brief explanation and also include a link to a site where you can learn more about it. The Road to Hana is a 64-mile highway that consists of 620 curves, 59 bridges, and a multitude of waterfalls. The Road to Hana is quite curvy and narrow, so if you get pretty bad motion sickness, it might be a good idea to take something to help with that before your trip starts or at least keep it on hand. It also seems like you're about to drive off the side of the cliff at any given moment. The Road to Hana was a gorgeous, all-day event. One of the places we stopped at was called Aunt Sandy's where there was delicious banana bread. We also stopped at one location on our trip that had a black sand beach! It was pretty hot to walk on. I've never seen anything like it. I would recommend doing the Road to Hana at least once because I truly believe you will see such beauty that will take your breath away. With that being said, if I ever get the chance to go back to Hawaii, I would not be doing it again. Simply because I've already experienced it, and it takes an entire day out of your trip. Learn more about the Road to Hana here: Road to Hana
Some of our favorite places to eat included Lava Rock (so good we had to eat there multiple times), Monkeypod, and any shaved ice place we could find. The shaved ice in Hawaii is so much better than what we have in Arkansas. It's most likely because they put a little bit of ice cream in the cup and then top it off with the shaved ice. Hawaii remains one of my favorite places to visit and I would love to go back there someday.