We traveled to Hawaii and boy did we have a GREAT time! I decided to do a recap of everything and put it all together and here we are! To start before we left mainland we had to test for COVID within 72 hrs of arriving. We also had to fill out a ton of info through their safe travels app, check in with negative test results at the airport and then again at the resort( yeah they are not playing about COVID in Hawaii!!) which I was thankful for 🙌🏾. We had 5 days in Hawaii and were able to pack a few fun and notable places into our itinerary. So if you go or are going to Maui this might help out!

Day 1: Travel

We traveled ALL day yall! Literally all day! We were in Atlanta and Los Angelos before we touched down in Maui 😩 Seems like it took FOR EVER! We left FL at 9am made it to our destination at about 7pm Maui time…(which is 5 hrs behind Central time) the time change had me all messed up! We pulled up checked in showered and fell out! So be prepared if you’re coming from the east coast or the south east like us. Dress comfy and bring a neck pillow!

Day 2: ‘Iao Valley State Monument

So after a long day of traveling on the first day we had to jump right in full force for day 2! Everything was so nice! I was excited having an ocean view from our room! We woke up to the breeze off of the ocean and the beauty of Hawaii right on our patio. Talking about calming and peaceful🤗 🙌🏾🌊 We got ready,headed down for breakfast, explored the resort, and then we hit the road to look around.

After checking out everything at the resort and walking on the beach we decided to visit ‘Iao Valley in Wailuku, HI. SO glad we did! If you’re wanting to hike and you’re a beginner, like me,👀 it’s perfect for you! You get to experience ‘Iao Needle Lookout trail and Ethnobotanical loop 😍 You’re literally walking through the rainforest in the middle of a valley. It is beautiful!!!! The history behind this beautiful place is also displayed so it’s an all in one! It’s beautiful,educational, and you get to hike.

Before spending the day in Iao Valley I forgot to mention we ate at the cutest restaurant called Java Jazz! I took more pictures of the inside than anything! It was THE cutest! The music was great and the food was too!

So back to ‘Iao Valley. After the hike we enjoyed our scenic ride back to the resort and just hung out a bit more at the resort. We got drinks & food then hung out by the pool.

Day 3 Road to Hanna, Garden of Eden, Lahaina Front St.,

This was my favorite day! On day 3 we decided to drive “The Road to Hana” . If you go to Maui you should try to plan a dat just for this. This trip is about 64 miles of scenic views, small roads, one lane bridges, and places throughout the stretch where you can stop to eat or take pics. It took us about 3-3.5hrs to complete and that’s not including the stops we made along the way. One thing I can say is be prepared to drive or ride the crazy curves, twists, and turns. We literally had a curve the shape of a U 😳… talking about being on edge! 😂Not only that, you’re also going up a mountain as you drive. You’ll see cars…mostly Jeeps and drop tops pulled over on the sides of the road where there is extra space to squeeze and park. Everyone will be parking so they can walk to a view like a waterfall, creeks, the ocean, anything beautiful.

While on our drive we stopped at a botanical garden called “The Garden of Eden”. If you could envision the actual garden of Eden this would be the closest you could get to it. It had trails, areas where you could picnic, views of the ocean, huge trees, beautiful flowers/plants and waterfalls. We walked around soaking everything! There were even peacocks just casually walking around. This place is definitely what I could see the garden of Eden looking like. Pictures don’t do it justice but you know I had to take them any way 😂.

Day 4 Lahaina, Hawaii

Day 4 was definitely a laid back, relax, go buy souvenirs type of day. We ended up going back to Lahaina Front Street which is by the Lahaina bay. This area has the cutest shops, restaurants, and the ocean is right there as well! We ate, I got shaved ice from Breakwall Shave Ice Company…OMG delicious! They do adult shave ice, regular, and or you can add a scoop of ice cream at the bottom of your ice. I got a regular with a scoop of ice cream🍨. It was well worth it! We shopped for family souvenirs, searched for a Hawaiian 🌺 brand chocolate that we eventually found 🙌🏾 and later that evening took a sunset cruise

Day 5

First and foremost if you come to Hawaii I’m going to tell you try to come when you can stay 7 or more days… whenever we come back hopefully we stay no less than that because we had more we wanted to do. Day 5 was our last day on the island but we didn’t leave out until late so we still were able to do a little bit before saying goodbye. This day we got everything ready to head out that night and hit the streets again. We road around took in the scenery for one last time. We just rode… but we kept our map 🗺. For lunch we wanted to eat by the beach so we went to Duke’s Beach House. I had yellowfin Tuna with fries and it was on point! It was my first time having yellow fin but I wanted to try something different. The hubs had a fish sandwich with yellowfin and fries as well. After eating we went out to the breach right in front of us and walked around. The breeze and the sound of the waves 🌊 were so relaxing 😌 😎. Leave!?!?….I wasn’t readyyyyyyy😩.So after exploring a bit more closer to our resort we headed back that evening, ate dinner at a local food truck spot, and chilled at our resort until it was time to head to the airport. We will be back! I’m putting it into the atmosphere! I’m claiming it!

One thing that I loved was how Hawaiian culture was strong & it was everywhere. It’s all around you! Language, history, traditions, food…we loved it! If you go I’ll suggest that you look for and abide by any signs if they ask you to do or not do certain things and then just soak everything in. I know being respectful is a given but I still wanted to put that in there. Overall this trip was definitely my favorite of all time right now… hopefully we top it out over and over throughout the years to come though 🤞🏾. So…Mahalo Hawaii! You don’t owe me a thing… we just owe ourselves another trip back 💜🏝🌈🌺⛰🌄