Well, if you were patient enough to keep following along with my vacation pics a couple of weeks ago, you know that we took a very long overdue trip to Maui right before Christmas. I thought I would take the time to outline our trip and some tips and tricks that worked for us. Bear in mind, I am not an avid traveler but hopefully this will help someone like me who has never been to the island or wants to plan a trip in 2022.

First, we planned this trip almost 7 months in advance due to high travel costs, high demand for Hawaii and trying to secure reservations, mainly for a rental car, well ahead of time. We originally planned to go in the summer after my son graduated but didn’t plan ahead enough due to the uncertainties with Covid and it turns out, I liked the timing of this trip even better. After talking with friends, it sounds like once Hawaii opened in the summer, it was overpriced and very crowded.

We have never taken a vacation the week before Christmas but my brother’s family took this same trip to Maui the week before the holidays a few years ago and really loved it. Most people plan their vacations or trips for the week between Christmas and New Years so the timing was actually really nice. We never felt like it was crowded anywhere and we were still able to get 4 full days and 2 travel days in before heading home in time for Christmas. If you can swing it, I would highly recommend an escape right before Christmas.

Here’s another tip. Having this trip planned right up to Christmas forced me to be fully prepared before we left. I can’t tell you how much more relaxing it is to sit on the beach knowing your shopping is done and all the gifts are wrapped and ready. Typically, I am always wrapping presents on Christmas Eve so this was a welcome change.

Now, to the travel part. We flew Southwest and had no issues at all. I was nervous with all of the recent flight cancellations but everything went very smooth. The nice part about the flight to Hawaii is it is non-stop unless you are island hopping. With the Travel Safe Hawaii requirements, we had to upload our vaccination cards in advance and receive a QR code to check in at the airport. This part was huge as it kept us from having to wait in line and get cleared after we landed.

We stayed on the Wailea side of the island. Since I have never traveled to Maui and neither has my husband, we weren’t sure where to stay, other than near the Marriott resort since that is who my husband works for. Due to the demand on the rates, we actually didn’t stay at the resort but reserved an Airbnb nearby and it was perfect. With two bedrooms and a full kitchen and living room, we had plenty of space for two adults and two teens plus we were able to get some groceries for the week as well. I also loved that we didn’t have to be in the crowded hotel around a lot of other people, with all of the Covid surges happening. Our condo was close enough to walk to the nearby shopping mall, resort, beach and local places to eat.

In terms of food, we did stop at the local Target near the airport and got a few necessities and enough items to cook breakfast a day or two while we were there. It made it much easier on the mornings when we got a slower start to the day. We had prebooked a few dinner reservations in advance knowing how difficult it is to get in to many of the restaurants. For the most part, outside of a few short wait times, we really didn’t have any issues walking into more casual restaurants for breakfast or lunch.

Safety was of the utmost importance on the island and I can see why. After talking with a few locals, the shutdown they experienced due to Covid was devastating for so many of them, so maintaining a safe environment and being able to stay open to tourism was highly valued. In fact, I really don’t know how you travel there without being vaccinated as we had to show our vaccination cards and ID at pretty much every restaurant we went to. It definitely made me feel more secure about the protocols in place to ensure we had the best time safely.

In terms of plans, because we only had 4 full days on the island, we opted not to do any big excursions, like the Road to Hana or any boat tours. At some point, I would love to go back and experience Hana but we didn’t want to have our days booked out so much that we left ourselves no flexibility to explore and see what we felt like doing each day. Here are a few key things we did while on the island.

Experience a luau. It may seem cheesy or a very tourist thing to do but we knew we wanted to take our kids to experience a luau since they had never been to Hawaii and it felt like something you should do at least once while you are there. We booked it through the Marriott Resort and, while it was pricey, the experience was worth it. The show was great and, due to Covid protocols, we had our own private table for our family with tons of great food to go along with it. The weather turned out perfect the night we went and it was nice to get a little piece of the island history too.

Explore the island. We took one day to head over to the other side of the island and visit the Lahaina area along with Kappalua and Kannapali. It rained for part of the day so we drove around and checked out the resorts in that area along with some local landmarks. We settled for the afternoon in Lahaina and had the chance to check out Fleetwood’s on Front St. We had some of our best shopping in this area too with a combination of local shops plus some of the surf brands we are all familiar with.

Check out different beaches. My kids are 18 and 15 and they still love playing in the ocean, snorkeling and body surfing. Each day we spent a portion of our day checking out different beaches and discovering the best places to do each one. From the blue water to the coral reefs, there is nothing like the Hawaii beaches. While we are blessed to live near the ocean here in California, it is very different than the beaches there.

Have a mix of plans and free time. Each day had some plans on the agenda but we left the days open for the most part to allow us the flexibility to do what we felt like each day. I am a total planner so winging it usually makes me uneasy but I have to say, each day ended up working out perfectly and allowed us to keep each of our kids happy with activities that they both wanted to enjoy.

The biggest advice I can give is don’t put off planning those family vacations. I don’t know how much longer my son will travel with us for family vacations so I am truly grateful for the time and the memories shared. I can also say that getting everyone out of the daily routine allowed us to have some great conversations, laugh and just enjoy each other’s company. Hoping our next vacation will not take as long for us to plan. Whether your travel plans include Hawaii or anywhere else this year, remember to focus on what is most important, the time spent with the people you love the most.