Traveling is expensive, but it does not have to be. Experience is far more important than money will ever be.
Hawaii is a little on the pricier side. I noticed at the grocery store that a box of strawberries cost $7.50, which is VERY expensive for a small box of fruit. Taking a trip to the islands requires quite a bit of planning and research. Lucky for you, I have decided to share my cost-friendly tips and ticks from my week in Maui!
Now to the fun part: money. $649.25 was the total cost of my five day trip in Hawaii. Including my round-trip flight, accommodation, transportation, tours, souvenirs, and food! This may sound expensive, but an average vacation to Hawaii is $3,738 per person for five nights. Crazy, right? A HUGE numerical difference.
Cost Breakdown:
Flight:
My roundtrip flight to Maui from San Jose, California was $278 through Alaskan Airlines. Let me just remind you that this price is a great deal! A roundtrip flight to Cedar Rapids, Iowa from San Jose is $600, on average. Very, very, very good price for a trip to Hawaii.
While looking for flights, I have several tactics and backup plans. Always making sure that I find the best deal. My favorite tricks are:
1. Download several flight apps on your phone. My favorites are Hopper, JustFly, Expedia, and Kayak! These apps find the cheapest flights possible for any dates and send you notifications when prices decrease, which is fairly often! Life savers! I have found flights to Maui, Norway, and Iowa through JustFly!
2. Always check alternative dates! Be open to different days! This can seriously make the difference between a $100 and $600 flight! Tuesday and Thursday are the two cheapest days to fly. Not 100% sure why, but just trust me on this.
Accommodation-
Banana Bungalow Maui Hostel is where I stayed for five days. Now, I would be lying if I said our hostel was the best. It was dirty. Full of bugs, a rat crawled under our door, and the bathrooms were absolutely disgusting. I am not someone to complain, especially since this is not a fancy hotel. But seriously, it was gross and we paid too much for our stay.
Overall, the cost of five nights was $280 per person. $56 per night. For Maui, that is a good price for accommodation. We paid too much for what we received. If you are planning on visiting Maui, please do not stay in this hostel. There are other hostels in the area to choose from. I do recommend hostels for cheap travel, though. Just do your research beforehand!!!!
Free tours and the pancake breakfast caught our attention with this hostel. These two factors saved us a lot of money and we are very fortunate for that! My friends and I went snorkeling and beach hopping with individuals from our hostel for free. (We did tip them after the tours!) When deciding an accommodation, check to see what free amenities they provide! Always a good thing to consider.
Hostelworld is an app that shows hostels around the world. You can book rooms, contact the hostel, and read reviews within the app. Recommend downloading Hostelworld and Airbnb on your phone if you want to travel for cheap.
Transportation-
In Maui, there are several forms of cheap transportation. May not be the 'recommended' form of transit, but will get you to points A and B at a low price!
Overall, I spent a total of $28 on transportation. An average of only $5.60 per day! This price includes our rides to/from the airport, bus tickets, shuttles provided by our hostel, and Ubers/Lyfts!
We relied on the bus system quite a bit. A day pass is only $4 and that really helped with keeping costs down! Maui's bus system does not cover the whole island but reaches several beaches and towns! We took the bus everyday to different beaches and beach towns: Paia and Kihei. Otherwise we used Uber/Lyft and took advantage of our hostel's free tours and shuttles.
Oh, yeah. The other form of free transportation I did not mention is hitch hiking! My favorite way to travel! Sorry mom and dad, I know you do not like when I do this. Throughout the trip, people would suggest hitch hiking across the island. It is common in Hawaii. We hitched a ride from two different people! What an experience. Seriously some of the nicest people I have met!
Just be careful if you decide to hitch hike! Not everyone has the mindset to harm you, but there are scary people out there. I recommend this though, it is a great way to meet new people and learn about the culture!
Maui does offer rental cars but you have to be 21 years old. My friends and I are only 19 and 20 so we are not old enough to rent one. It was unfortunate to rely on public transit and sometimes we felt restricted from doing our own traveling because of the limited bus stops. On the bright side, we saved A LOT of money by not renting a vehicle.
Food-
For five days, I only spent $61.50 on food. Fresh produce at the grocery store is not cheap in Hawaii. As someone who loves fresh fruits and vegetables, I was struggling to eat healthy and save money. Some sacrifices were made and I had to eat unhealthy to stick to the budget, but oh well. Things happen. Not going to complain because I was....in Hawaii.
In order to eat healthy and stay within budget, I bargain shopped. I was lucky enough to find a box of fresh strawberries for only $3.50! I ate those throughout the week during breakfast to 'balance out' the amount of pancakes I ate. The pancakes were free, of course we ate as many as we could! Also, I bought a few individual bananas throughout our beach tours. One hand of bananas would have been $7-$8, so I bought them one at a time and ate them right away! Helpful little tip!
Cracker Barrel Bites were my go-to lunch several days throughout this trip. I believe a pack was just $1.50! I would pair the cracker bites with a banana for an inexpensive, but filling meal.
Souvenirs-
Before I left for Hawaii, the youngest boy I nanny for asked what I was bringing back for him. I laughed and said I am not buying anyone souvenirs. Souvenirs are nice to have; do not get me wrong, but I would rather enjoy my trip than spend my travel money on overpriced stickers and pins that remind me of my vacation. Would much rather reminisce on the memories made from my trip than on souvenirs.
But I did give in and decided to buy some post cards for my family and myself! I spent a total of $1.75 on postcards for seven people. Still need to send those out, whoops.
Overall, my total was just $649.25 for flights, accommodation, transit, food, and souvenirs! Just want to remind you that traveling is expensive, but it does not have to be! Make sure to do your research beforehand, limit your spending on foods and souvenirs, and find the cheapest flights, and hostels/Airbnbs!
Maui was a dream. This vacation was the best and I loved every moment. Unfortunately I did not do as much research before my trip as I should have. I wish I could have done some things differently, but I will know for next time! If you are planning a vacation to Hawaii, here are some things I want you to consider before visiting:
Things to Consider:
1. Do not overpack. I brought way too many clothes for five days. All of the outfits I bought just for this trip were not touched. Friendly reminder to only bring a carry-on bag and bring less clothes!!!
2. The views of the local people were not as I expected. A bus driver nearly kicked me off of the bus for wearing a swimming suit. A guy from our hostel almost got kicked off of the bus for wearing just a swimming suit, as well. My friends and I were told that we look like sorority girls for wearing tank tops and shorts. We did not let it bother us, but we were surprised. Difference in culture is something to consider when traveling to a new place!
3. If you stay in a hostel, bring shower shoes! I only packed my Birkenstocks and Reeboks and had no shower shoes. Kiara let me wear hers, thank goodness. Lesson learned!
4. Have the time of your life! Put your phone away and live in the moment. Watch the sunset, surf the waves, and start the conversation with the people next to you! So glad I did.
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