We are a family of five that decided to leave our normal lives behind and travel around the world for 180 days. Joey and I are both physicians back home in Lexington, KY and our kids are Wilson (a smart, funny, pragmatic 14 year old who approaches life with the wisdom of an 80 year old and the mischievous grin of someone who gets the inside joke), Bailey (an opinionated, strong-willed, compassionate 12 year old who never misses anything and may rule the world someday), and Gus (an energetic, passionate 9 year old who lives every second of his waking life with everything he has and would give the shirt off his back to ease the suffering of an earthworm). We love traveling, trying new things, meeting awesome people, eating good food, and adventure sports. In this blog, we will be sharing the stories of the places we experience along the way. We will share our successes and our failures in hopes that this is inspiring, helpful, and entertaining to our friends, family, and anyone else who happens to discover us. For more on why we decided to do this, see our blog post on “Traveling is my favorite thing”. Read More About Our Philosophy.
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Hiking to Hanakapi’ai Falls in Kauai with Kids
I truly loved this trail. If you are up for a challenge, it is worth every step. It was a great trail for our active and experienced 9 and 14 year old boys, but I would not recommend taking young kids or kids without hiking and creeking experience on this hike. Just know what you are getting into, give yourself plenty of time, and be prepared.
Which Hawaiian Island is Right for You?
If you have ample resources and can only visit one island: Maui.
If you want to see Hawaii but you are on a budget: Oahu.
If you are into hiking or less developed destinations: Kauai.
If you want to see volcanoes: The Big Island.
Ideally, when planning a trip to Hawaii, I would recommend picking two islands and taking a weekday Southwest flight between the islands if possible. The inter island flights are super easy and cheap and you get the bonus aerial view of the islands. When we come back, I will likely plan 9 days in Maui and 3 days in Kauai to hike the Na’Pali coast. My advice would be to pick one island for a longer stay (7-10 days) and then a second island for a shorter stay (3-4 days) just to hit the high points.
Lu’au Kalamaku
No first trip to Hawaii is complete without a lu’au. A lu’au is a feast that is often held to celebrate a significant life event. The lu’au traditionally involved the serving of specific dishes, often massive quantities of food, and was accompanied by music and hula. Until the 19th century, there were strict hierarchical elements incorporated into the traditions, which involved men and women eating separately and certain foods being consumed only by the royal class. Over time, the lu’au has evolved into a tourist attraction and a way for visitors to get a glimpse of some of the traditions of Hawaiin culture.
Maha’Ulepu Heritage Trail, South Shore Kauai, Hawaii
What: This is a lovely, easy trail that winds along the cliffs and beaches of the Southeastern Shore of Kauai
Where: Starts at Shipwreck Beach, near the Grand Hyatt and Poipu Bay Golf Course and extends to Punahoa Point and Mahaulepu Beach.
Distance: 3.7 miles total out and back
Difficulty: easy
Pay out: 7 (scale of 1-10)
The Kalepa Ridge Hike: what not to do
Mistake 1: When it comes to picking a trail, I usually spend several hours researching trails in each area before picking one for our family. Difficulty, length, and pay-out all have to be taken into consideration. I had done this for Kauai, but decided, at the last minute, to abandon my careful research and take the advice of a local on this one. I did a quick search to find the location, read a brief intro to the hike, saw that it was only 1.9 miles long with great views, and we went for it.
Four days in Kauai
We had originally planned to spend a whole month in Kauai, but our month-long rental fell through the week after we booked our plane tickets, and we couldn’t find another good place to stay in Kauai. After much deliberation, we decided to book a short stay in Kauai and then spend the rest of the month in Oahu, where cheaper monthly rentals were more abundant. As a result, we only got a small taste of Kauai, enough for us to know we want to come back.
The Sun Rising over Kauai from Poipu Beach. January 23rd, 2022