In panic, messed up car rental reservation
Dec 17th, 2017, 07:21 AM
#23
I have zero Big Island experience, but if I were in your shoes, as things stand now, I would get the hotel room ($140 sounds fine) and wait and make the drive first thing the next morning in the light.
Dec 17th, 2017, 08:37 PM
#24
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I agree with everyone about how it is worth the cost of a hotel. Getting injured or even just driving frightened in the dark after a long flight with two small kids --- not worth it. It's a small investment in your vacation and I bet you'll enjoy the time alone, which is probably overly abundant in your life.
Wouldn't your husband rather deal with the kids alone for one night than risk his wife driving on a dark road? Besides, then you can drive the Saddle Road in the morning which is supposed to be stunning.
Make sure to go to the spectacular Botanical Gardens near Hilo -- and forgive yourself for having made the error. I once screwed up a Grand Canyon reservation by a day (and we travel a lot) and the way we bought ourselves out of it was staying in the Bellman's suite of the most expensive hotel because that's all there was. The bellman's suite is two rooms, but it is in the basement. Nonetheless we had a great time and Thanksgiving lunch turkey picnic 1/2 down the canyon.
You and the kids will love Vulcano national park. It's lunar.
Wouldn't your husband rather deal with the kids alone for one night than risk his wife driving on a dark road? Besides, then you can drive the Saddle Road in the morning which is supposed to be stunning.
Make sure to go to the spectacular Botanical Gardens near Hilo -- and forgive yourself for having made the error. I once screwed up a Grand Canyon reservation by a day (and we travel a lot) and the way we bought ourselves out of it was staying in the Bellman's suite of the most expensive hotel because that's all there was. The bellman's suite is two rooms, but it is in the basement. Nonetheless we had a great time and Thanksgiving lunch turkey picnic 1/2 down the canyon.
You and the kids will love Vulcano national park. It's lunar.
Dec 18th, 2017, 10:17 PM
#25
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KONA beach Hostel has private rooms for 90 and dorm bed for $40 so that could be an option. My Hawaii has a private for 80, dorm 40. Have not stayed in either, just looked at Hostelworld.)
But $140 doesn’t sound that expensive to me and with two kids under 7, a solo night in a hotel might sound glorious.
I do understand not wanting to drive in the dark- I have terrible night vision and often stay the night places so I can start out in the morning. But if you really don’t want to be alone, I would change everyone else’s flight and just treat it as a group adventure with your husband driving.
But $140 doesn’t sound that expensive to me and with two kids under 7, a solo night in a hotel might sound glorious.
I do understand not wanting to drive in the dark- I have terrible night vision and often stay the night places so I can start out in the morning. But if you really don’t want to be alone, I would change everyone else’s flight and just treat it as a group adventure with your husband driving.
Dec 19th, 2017, 04:29 AM
#26
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One of the most common pieces of advice ignored by visitors to Hawaii is about not driving at night. The majority of mainland drivers have little / no experience with the driving conditions you'll find in Hawaii. Dark, curvy, two lanes and little other traffic - but often fast or fast and impaired drivers.
Our condo is in the southern part of the island and at night almost tell time by the traffic heading back to Kona after dark from VNP. I shudder to think about the jet lagged, exhausted people driving too fast after a long day in the park...
Our condo is in the southern part of the island and at night almost tell time by the traffic heading back to Kona after dark from VNP. I shudder to think about the jet lagged, exhausted people driving too fast after a long day in the park...
Jan 1st, 2018, 03:50 PM
#28
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Hello, we are back from our trip. Thank you for all the suggestions! I wanted to give an update. It wasn't clear from my post, but we are from the west coast and spent a few days in Oahu first, so I wasn't expecting to be jet lagged after the flight to Kona. I viewed the roads on google and decided to do the drive on Hwy 19. I had changed my flight to an earlier time, so I could hopefully start the drive when there was still some light but unfortunately my flight was late arriving into Kona and it was dark by the time I started. I was able to pick up the car early.
Luckily all went well. The dark windy roads weren't too bad. The glare from headlights of oncoming traffic bothered me the most, but that was mostly on the west side when there was still considerable traffic. There really wasn't much traffic on the east side. I was surprised how fast people were driving. I stuck to the speed limit which was 55 mph at the most, and lower on the windy parts, but it seemed like some people were going 20 miles over the limit! The drive took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I didn't find out until the next day, but there was a snowstorm up in the mountains that night, so not sure how that would have affected the drive on Saddle Road which I never considered seriously in the dark.
We had a great trip! The highlights were viewing the glow from the lava lake at Halemaumau Crater, hiking down to the beach and seeing the wild horses in Waipi'o Valley, and Hapuna Beach where the kids could dig in the sand!
Luckily all went well. The dark windy roads weren't too bad. The glare from headlights of oncoming traffic bothered me the most, but that was mostly on the west side when there was still considerable traffic. There really wasn't much traffic on the east side. I was surprised how fast people were driving. I stuck to the speed limit which was 55 mph at the most, and lower on the windy parts, but it seemed like some people were going 20 miles over the limit! The drive took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I didn't find out until the next day, but there was a snowstorm up in the mountains that night, so not sure how that would have affected the drive on Saddle Road which I never considered seriously in the dark.
We had a great trip! The highlights were viewing the glow from the lava lake at Halemaumau Crater, hiking down to the beach and seeing the wild horses in Waipi'o Valley, and Hapuna Beach where the kids could dig in the sand!
Jan 2nd, 2018, 08:35 AM
#29
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Great that you took the time to update - too many threads on discussion forums are just left with no ending! Glad it all worked out for you and you didn't have any troubles.
There seem to be two types of local drivers - the ones who go 47 in a 55 zone and the ones who do 87 in a 55!
There seem to be two types of local drivers - the ones who go 47 in a 55 zone and the ones who do 87 in a 55!
