Earlier this year my husband and I traveled to Hawaii for the very first time and visited both Kauai and Maui. As empty-nesters traveling to Hawaii, this was a trip we took alone instead of with our kiddos. We loved it so much, we are planning on bringing them to Hawaii in the future.
We really had no idea what to pack and bring and I did a good amount of research to help us not over pack and have what we needed for almost 2 weeks away. Since I found so much great advice online, here are a few ideas from our own trip on what worked and what didn’t. One thing I know for sure, it was much easier to pack for just the two of us instead of for the whole family.
Pack a beach blanket/sheet. This was probably our most used item other than our swim suits. I found this extra large lightweight blanket and it was awesome to have. The sand shook off of it easily when packing up for the day, even if it was a little wet. I since recommended it to a friend and she loved having it too. Its really quite large and with just the two of us we had room to spare. If you had 4 – 6 people, you may want to consider two of them. Four people would fit on one snuggly, but if you want to spread out, bring two.
Sunscreen – This is a tough one because if you want to carry-on your luggage instead of checking it on the plane, you are definitely limited to how much liquid you can have. But unless you are going into town to a large store, sunscreen in a resort area is going to cost you in Hawaii, so bring your own if you can. Also, in the ocean you will need to use a reef safe sunscreen in Hawaii, so keep that in mind.
Leave the snorkel gear at home – Unless you are a bad a$$ almost professional snorkeler, just rent it there and save the weight and space in your suitcase for something else. We bought totally cheap snorkel sets from Costco and brought them with us and they really were terrible. They leaked and were a mess. There are so many places to rent good snorkel gear and you can even rent affordably for a week at a time. Plus, if you go on any excursions, most will provide snorkel equipment for you.
Ladies – consider a RipSkirt Hawaii. I bought one of these after someone recommended them and I wore it almost every day. I plan on buying another this summer. I loved the longer length (length 2) and I wore my RipSkirt to the pool, the beach, on boats and even out and about to restaurants right over my swim suit. It was perfect!
Use packing cubes to condense your clothes and stay organized. I have fallen in love with packing cubes and these by Compass Rose are my new favorites. Not only can you pack a ton this way, but you can keep everything organized and tidy. I don’t think I will ever travel without them.
Have a cooler for your outings and the beach. If you are renting a condo in Hawaii, chances are a cooler may be provided for you. But if you are staying at a resort, make sure you have something to keep beverages and snacks cool for the day when you are heading to the beaches and other areas. My husband used this Coleman cooler backpack as his personal item on the plane and once we arrived we used it instead as our cooler. We brought empty gallon sized ziplock bags to fill with ice and were able to keep waters, sodas and other beverages nice and cool along with snacks all day long. It was high on our list of things we were very glad we had with us. Especially on Kauai we spent days driving around to different beaches, some we had to hike a bit to get to and we were so glad we had a lightweight easy to carry cooler.
Leave large beach towels at home, especially if staying at a resort. Since we had never been to Hawaii, we didn’t know if beach towels would be provided for us. At both resorts that we stayed at we were easily able to check out beach towels for our days off property. I definitely won’t be hauling our own to Hawaii next time, and if we really needed them we could have bought some inexpensive ones at Costco, Walmart or Longs Drugs in Hawaii.
Bring a portable charger for your devices. Unless you are 100% sure your charger in your seat of the plane is going to work, you are going to want a charger for that long flight to Hawaii. If you are flying the new routes to the islands on Southwest Airlines, there are no outlets for your use. And if on another airline, you may have bad luck as I did and your seat outlet doesn’t work. I was very glad I had my Jackery battery charging device all charged up. It is also great to have on long days exploring to keep your phones charged.
Have a great water bottle that will keep everything very cold. We have become pretty loyal to Yeti and may have even brought a few of the Yeti wine tumblers and wine lids. 🙂 My favorite water bottle from them is the 20 ounce tumbler and I have a separate cover with plastic straw which is perfect for the pool.
Speaking of straws, I don’t want to get into the whole straw and plastic debate, but if you plan on sipping a Pina Colada poolside or anywhere for that matter in Hawaii, you need to bring your own reusable straw. You will only find paper straws in Hawaii and they just are not going to cut it for more than about 30 seconds with a frozen drink. Bring your own. If you like frozen cocktails, make sure it is a thick, wide straw. If you bought the Yeti tumbler I mentioned above with the straw, that will be perfect. Besides, once your eyes sight a beautiful turtle, you will never want to use a plastic straw again.
Consider if you will need a portable wireless speaker. Many resorts will have this in the room, but if not, you may want to bring a portable wireless speaker to play your own music while you are relaxing in the mornings or evenings. It can be a nice touch to your Hawaiian vacation. We did not bring one and we wish we had one in Kauai but our resort in Maui provided one for us to use in the room.
Pack casually. Hawaii is very casual. Very. Bring bathing suits, shorts, T-shirts, sandals, flip flops and good hiking shoes if you are going to hike. That’s about it. Ladies, a sundress if you like but it is not necessary. I tried to pack light and still way over packed. It just isn’t necessary. Nights can get cool, especially in the winter, so bring a sweatshirt or sweater and at least 1 pair of pants.
Consider renting beach chairs and umbrella. If you are staying at a resort and don’t plan to leave, this may not be necessary. But if you are going to venture out and about, you may want these items. We drove to many different beaches all over Kauai and Maui and even though we had our trusty beach blanket, I would have liked a chair and umbrella at some beaches. I love to read on vacation, and sitting in a chair for a bit would have been nice on my back. Shade at the beach can be tough to come by and we definitely would have gotten our money’s worth out of a rental for the weeks we were there. Many places rent the Tommy Bahama backpack sturdy low beach chairs with matching umbrellas at a very reasonable rate. There is no reason not to have one if you want one.
Speaking of shade, you are going to need sun protection in the way of a hat. Wallaroo has great SPF packable hats for women and men in so many styles. And if you are going to do a lot of snorkeling, make sure you have a rash guard SPF T-shirt to protect your back and shoulders.
Those are the do’s and don’ts on my packing list. Have a great time and Aloha!
