Mini Trip Report: Princeville, Hawaii

On our most recent trip to Hawaii, we spent three nights in a condo on the north shore of Kauai in Princeville. We spent our fourth night on the island at the Grand Hyatt Kauai on the South shore close to Poipu.

This post will focus on our experience with our condo in Princeville and I will post about other portions of our trip in coming posts.

First of all, when traveling with the kiddos, condos are a great option! They generally give you more space and they have amenities like a full kitchen and a washer and dryer that are priceless when you have kids. They often can end up costing less for a longer trip than staying in a hotel (especially when you factor in the cost of eating out or going to a laundromat.)

When searching for a condo, you have a lot of different options. Craigslist, Homeaway, VRBO, and FlipKey are all available nationally (and sometimes internationally). We searched all of these sites but weren't able to find just what we were looking for.

If that happens to you, do a google search for condo rentals in the location you are looking to visit. When we did that, a few more local sites popped up.

We ended up renting through alohacondos.com which has properties available on the Big Island, Mauai, Kauai, and Oahu.

Sadly, I don't have any of my own pictures of the property where we stayed. I wasn't initially planning on reporting on this trip so I focused less on taking pictures and more on spending time with family.

We found a great three bedroom, two level condo in the Nihilani at Princeville town home complex. It had a huge kitchen and eating area, two and a half baths, three lanais, and was close to all of the beaches we wanted to visit.

Kitchen and Dining Area (photo credit)

Since we packed all three of us into two carry-ons and a personal item, it was very necessary to have the laundry facilities. It was especially nice to be able to throw our swim gear into the laundry every evening so it stayed clean and always dried faster after going through a spin cycle in the washing machine. 

Master Bathroom (photo credit)

Since we brought my mom along with us on the trip, we had do get a little creative with the sleeping arrangements. At home, our kids currently have their own rooms. This helps a lot at nap and bed time since they both like to talk or sing themselves to sleep. 

Second Bedroom (photo credit)

With the second bedroom being used by my mom, we decided to put our youngest in the walk-in closet that was off the master bath. It was just big enough to fit a pack-n-play in it and stayed plenty cool. It was also nice during naps because it was a little darker in the closet than anywhere else in the condo.

Another benefit of renting out a condo is that they can also come with access to different types of gear. The condo we rented had a pack-n-play and highchair available to use for free. They just asked that you request it in advance. 

They also had tons of beach and pool gear in the garage that you could use free of charge. It was nice not having to get sand toys for the kids or rent snorkel gear (or sit in the sand instead of a beach chair).

Garage with beach supplies (photo credit)

One thing that could be considered a negative of staying in a condo is that not all of the properties around you are being inhabited by vacationers. In the few condos we have stayed in while visiting Hawaii, there are always people who live there full time. Sometimes, you can feel like you are a bit of a nuisance to regular residents. 

In the Nihilani, there were a number of rules that needed to be followed regarding use of pool toys and noise in the pool, garbage disposal, and parking. It's important to familiarize yourself with these types of rules before renting or arriving at the property. 

Pool at Nihilani at Princeville (photo credit)

Unlike a hotel, if you knowingly break a rule, you may not be the only one who gets in trouble. It's possible that since you are considered a guest of the condo owner, they may also get fined or be reprimanded in some other way.

In the end, I'm very happy that we spent a good portion of our time in Hawaii in a condo. It was much better than a standard hotel room and provided us all of the convinces of home. 

Have you stayed in a condo during vacation? If so, what did you like or dislike about it? Would you do it again?

Dealing With Time Differences

Today I've been thinking a lot about time differences and how to best handle them when traveling with little ones.

Our family recently returned from a 4 night trip to Hawaii (5 nights if you count the night we spent on our redeye coming back). It was a wonderful trip and we were able to bring my mom along to share the beauty of Kauai but boy oh boy, are we struggling with the time change.

Sunset - Our first night in Hawaii

Hawaii is 4 hours behind our home time zone so when it is 1:30 in the afternoon at home, it's 9:30 in the morning in Hawaii. While we struggled a little the first morning (kids woke up at 5am), the hardest part was coming home.

Our return flight departed Hawaii at 8:30pm. When we booked the flight, I thought it would be fantastic. It allowed us to have time to play in the pool before lunch and then the kids were able to take great naps. We ate dinner on the way to the airport and didn't end up having to wait too long before boarding which was great.

Once we got on the plane, I realized that the redeye may not have been the best idea. It took us an hour after take off to really get the kids settled in and get through drink service. So, our five hour flight quickly turned into four possible sleep hours. It took our two year old a little longer to get to a place where he was willing to fall asleep. By the time we landed at LAX, I think our two year old had probably slept three hours and our one year old had maybe slept three and a half (and I didn't sleep at all).

For those of you with toddlers, you know, that is not enough.

Our layover in LA was just over two hours, which was the perfect amount of time to eat some food and get a few wiggles out before boarding our plane home.

We were expecting that both kids would sleep some on our flight out of LAX but since it was light outside, and the flight was rather short, they stayed awake (and quite fussy) for the entire flight.

The kids and I were all exhausted when we got home and daddy had to hurry off to work so the three of us took much needed naps. I decided to set an alarm so we wouldn't sleep too late.

This morning, I let our two year old sleep until he woke up (10:30am) and then we woke up baby sister at 11:15am so we could make sure to still get them down for their naps.

Most days, I will let the kids sleep until they wake up in the morning. I'm a little more strict about wake up time after nap. After trips when the time has been more than an hour different, I do what I can to keep us all on schedule in our current time zone. Often, that means waking the kids up before they would wake themselves.

What our two year old looked like when I forced him out of bed after nap

Tomorrow, I'll be waking the kids earlier than usual since we have to restock our kitchen after our trip and hopefully, between waking up earlier and being out and busy during the day, it will kick us right back into our regular schedule.

What have your experiences been with dealing with time zone differences? Are there things that work really well for your or your child? What about things that failed miserably? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Introduction

I love reading travel blogs. I probably spend way too much of my free time reading them. I also love to talk to other people about travel.

My hubby and I do tons of travel with our kiddos so it's always great to share the things we have learned (and continue to learn).

Both of our kids started traveling around six weeks so we have a lot of experience traveling with babies and now, with toddlers.

Here is our little guy on his fourth flight when he was 10 weeks old

In any event, I'm excited to share our crazy travel adventures with you. We have some pretty awesome trips planned and I also have some pretty recent trips to review for you including a family trip to Hawaii and a one parent, two toddler trip to Portland.

I'm hopeful that this blog can be of use to someone and help you as you prepare for a trip with your kids. If you ever have any specific questions, please feel free to email me at toddlerswilltravel@gmail.com and I'll do my best to get them answered for you!