12 Tips for Planning your Hawaiian Vacation
Hawaiian Vacations are Affordable
Planning your vacation to Hawaii, you probably think you’ll go broke. Things can get quite pricey if you let it get out of control, there are ways to keep your spending low so you don’t go broke. The following tips will help!
1. Bundling goes a long way. Pay in advance by grouping as much as you can. Think about how you bundle your phone/TV/Internet service to save money; you can apply the same basic principle to travel? Book a package deal for all the expensive stuff like airfare, hotel, accommodations and rental car, you can experience money savings by doing them all at once. You can throw in other things too, such as all-inclusive hotels, tours, spa packages, golf packages, and airport and baggage transfers, all so you don’t have to constantly whip out your wallet.
2. Purchase airfare at the last minute. If you’re the gambling type, wait to buy your ticket until just before you’re about to leave. For example, if an airline has only sold half the seats on a particular flight 72 hours before take-off, they do all they can to fill those seats. If you’re not the type, book well in advance.
3. Research discounts on airfare. Airlines have special rates for senior citizens, small children, or members of the military. Also, there may be family fares or student fares to qualify for.
4. Book car rentals for a weekly rate rather than a daily. Sometimes they are cheaper. It’s easy to think just because you’re staying on Oahu for a few days, then stopping over to the Big Island for the next four days that you have to pay for daily rates on your cars. Ask the car rental firm if they honor multi-island bookings, which will save you a bundle.
5. Think about public transportation. Oahu’s TheBus system has super cheap fares of $2.50 one way. Taxi’s are the most expensive mode of transportation.
6. Book hotels well in advance and look for ones with free breakfast. Many hotels offer free continental or even full-service breakfast. This will help save on spending extra money somewhere else and even fill you up enough to hold you until dinner.
7. Get a hotel or condo with its own kitchenette. You can hit the grocery store and stock up with out always eating out. The cheapest stores on the island are Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, or Costco. If you can’t go to those, try Safeway.
8. Haggle on a room price. While you won’t get far with this tactic at fancy hotels that are booked up, you may luck out with hotels that aren’t as full. Particularly if you head there in the later afternoon/early evening, you may get a pretty good rate on a room simply because they just want to fill it.
9. If traveling with a large group, try a vacation home rental. Airbnb or craigslist are great for searching for this type of accommodation.
10. Make note of happy hours. Nice restaurants sometimes serve food and drinks for half the price.
11. Shop away from the Waikiki or tourist areas depending on which island you’re on. Everything is more expensive there. Google map places to go outside of those areas, you’ll notice a huge difference.
12. Bring your ID’s. Many places give you discounts if you’re a student, active member of the military, a veteran or a senior.
Plus, saving all this money will give you extra to go on epic adventure tours like shark cage diving on Oahu’s North Shore with North Shore Shark Adventures. Sure to be the highlight of your vacation to Hawaii and will feel well deserved after being determined to budget.