My husband and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary in October. We had originally planned to go to the Big Island in July (2006) to celebrate our anniversary, but a few months ago we decided to change the trip to October, since we thought it didn't conflict with any major activities.

We just found out that our son (who will be a senior in high school) has his biggest band competition during the time our trip is planned. And so now we have a dilemma -- do we postpone the trip to January?

I was able to find frequent flier tickets from Atlanta to Kona in January 2007.

If we do change our trip, what does everybody think about Kona in January? We like to sit by the pool, beach, snorkel, hike. We were planning to stay at Fairmont Orchid for 6 nights and then at a B&B near the volcano for 2 nights.

Also, if we change our Hawaii trip to January, we plan to go somewhere for about 4 or 5 nights in October (from Sunday to Friday afternoon -- this way we won't miss any ballgames/competitions). We're considering San Francisco or New York City. Any ideas?

Actually, our son has told us that he is fine with us being gone during the competition, but I'm afraid as the date gets closer we'll feel guilty about not being there and won't enjoy ourselves as much.

Thanks for your help.

Sherry

IMO you can always go to Hawaii but the band competition is only one time...go to it.
January in Hawaii will be good.

January on the Big Island is cool. I would postpone to the following May.

We can't go in May (that's graduation). It seems like something always comes up when we're traveling without the kids.

I think it's my feelings of guilt about not being there for the competition that have me thinking about postponing the trip. My husband is fine with whatever I want to do.

The weather will be nice in January. I was in Kohala area twice in the winter and did not find it cool. It was in the high 70s during the day and high 60s/low 70s at night. It rained a few times on and off. I know a lot of people who would die to visit the islands in the middle of winter. GO!

-Bill

January is usually pretty nice on Hawaii esp. compared to the rest of the country. One good thing is that the whales will be there. From late Dec to mid-late April the whales come to Hawaii, esp. the big island and Maui. It is one of my favorites times to be there.
July and August can be pretty humid. Whatever you choose, it's hard to have a bad time in Hawaii.
Aloha.

Sherry,

You are such a grand person and devoted mother. I do hope you had the wonderful Mother's Day that you so deserve.

You will make the right decision.

i'2

Jan on the big island is fine - your big problem may be hotel rooms since Jan is peak travel time to Hawaii - everybody is escaping the cold. But don't worry about the weather there. A little windy but I've been to the big island twice in January and never had trouble.

Thanks so much, everybody, for the responses. And iceeu2, what a nice compliment! I had a wonderful Mother's Day (every year I ask the kids for TIME with them, and every year they give that to me, plus a present -- this year it was a travel jewelry case!)

We're leaning now toward going to New York during anniversary week in October for 4/5 nights (this way we wouldn't miss any ballgames or competitions), and then going to Big Island in January; but we're still not sure. I'm afraid if we postpone this trip again we'll end up not going to Hawaii.

Well, after tigerhawk said it might be hard to get hotels, I checked, and the Fairmont Orchid is WAY too expensive in January.

So I guess we're going in October. We'll miss one competition and one away football game, but other than that, we'll be at every football game, every competition, exhibition, and also will be there and help at most practices. I will try VERY HARD not to feel guilty about going on our trip -- I talked to our son again and he said he's fine with us being gone.

So it's off to Hawaii in October to celebrate our 25th!!!!