Traveling to Hawaii?
View from the Ko Olina Marriott’s Vacation Club
Mahalo!
I’ve been fortunate to travel to Hawaii three different times. Each one was a completely different experience: 1. staying a resort with just a friend with minimal plans; 2. traveling with my brother, his wife, their kids, and family and 3; traveling with grandma and staying three days on four-different islands. Which one did I enjoy most? Well that is a difficult one to answer. I really enjoyed the first one, which consisted of visiting five different islands over the course 12 days. However, that was only because I knew we had planned to come back in the future to stay for a week at just one location. As you have probably found in the blog ‘how to maximize your vacation’ , you’ll learn I like to keep things simple and slow.
The first trip with grandma to visit each island, was a bit overwhelming. We spent three nights at four different island and did a day-trip to Molokai. We had just about every day scheduled to go see different things—this was the last trip I had a travel agent plan for me. Perhaps the most exhausting part was knowing that every-other-day we needed to pack bags, get through airport security, and travel to the next island—to do over in two days. but it also allowed us to the ability to see the best of what Hawaii had to offer. From the Dole Plantation visit to Pearl Harbor, to a macadamia nut farm.
When I returned the next year, I spent a week at the Marriott Ko Olina and enjoyed some great rest and relaxation. It had a lot of offerings to do, one of the best luaus I’ve attended and the beaches are amazing, calm, and don’t seem to be overcrowded.
This past week, I had the chance to tag-along with my brother and his wife and their two kids (and some of my sister-in-law’s family) and enjoyed a week again at the Marriott Ko Olina. While it has been about seven years since I’ve been here, it was just as great as I remembered. We wavered back and forth between this hotel and Disney’s Aulani—in fact, originally, they were going to stay there and I was going to stay at the Marriott and use some points. But ultimately, I think price and availability led everyone to Marriott.
A final performance of the show, fire.
One of the things I loved the most about the Marriott was the full house set-up. Their two-bedroom suite had four beds total, full kitchen, and washer/dryer. My one-bedroom had the same amenities and when you’re enjoying the beach and pools, it’s always nice to be able to wash the swim suites after each use. At the same time, the ability to hit Costco on the drive towards the hotel from the airport, makes it much more economical for a group of nine.
However, I think the next time I visit Hawaii, I’m going to try out the Disney property. Why? Well, I am a Disney fan at heart (check out my Disneyworld blog) and after having a character breakfast one morning, I think it would be worth the experience and then I can make a determination about whether it’s worth the cost.
Hawaii is a great travel destination and at this point, my recommendation is to stay at the Marriott Ko Olina Vacation Club on Oahu if you’re visiting—but standby and I’ll update after my next visit. Aloha!