Back when Travis and I were planning to get married, it was our dream to get married in Hawaii. That didn’t work out, so then it became our dream to honeymoon in Hawaii. But then the heat pump at my townhouse broke. Sigh. So then, our dream became to go to Hawaii for our 10-year wedding anniversary.
We celebrated 10 years of marriage back in October…and it’s happening!
It is NOT a drill. We are GOING TO HAWAII!
As if that isn’t enough of a reason for celebration… it gets even more exciting.
This is our first kid-free vacation in 7 ½ years.
The last time we traveled kid-free was our babymoon cruise when I was pregnant. Which now that I think about it, wasn’t really kid-free since Jack hitched a ride in my belly.
So the fact that Travis and I are finally going to Hawaii AND we are going just the two of us is basically like a honeymoon all over again!
After much consideration, we decided to go to Kauai. We booked a fabulous looking condo through HomeAway in the Poipu area. Our condo is about a 5-minute walk to Brennecke and Poipu Beaches (voted ‘Best Beach’ in America by the Travel Channel). We are also within walking distance to Shipwreck Beach, if we want to mix it up a bit.
We rented a car so we can get around the island easily, but most days we will probably just walk to where we need to go. Our plans are to be really lazy, eat delicious food, spend time on the beaches, and go for a hike or two.
The only other thing I’ve booked is a mountain tubing adventure trip. We will be four-wheeling through the Lihue Plantation before hopping into a tube and taking a nice ride through the open canals and tunnels. At the end of our trip, we will enjoy lunch and a swim in a nearby natural swimming hole. I. Can’t. Wait!
Other things on our potential ‘to do’ list:
- Go to a luau (current front-runners are the Smith’s Family Luau or the Auli’i Luau)
- Catamaran tour of the Na Pali coast/dinner cruise (Captain Andy’s has been suggested)
- Eat all the food
- Drive the Waimea Canyon
- Rum tasting at Koloa Rum company
- Coffee tasting at Kauai coffee
- Visit the Kilauea Fish Market
- Hanalei Bay (shopping/dining)
So, here’s where I’d love your help! Is there anything you think we absolutely shouldn’t miss? Do you have a restaurant or food recommendation that we should be sure to add to our list? Anything you think we should know? Something that I should absolutely add to our pack list? Feel free to fill up my comments section with your tips!
I’ve been to Kauai for a couple of days on a cruise. We did a very similar tour with the tubing. It was awesome!! We had so much fun. We also did a tour of the island, which was great. Our ship sailed past the Na Pali coast, so I think a dinner catamaran sail would be amazing. This was my favorite island that we visited. Although, if you can find a deal (and it would have to be a heck of a deal) the Arizona memorial in Honolulu is incredibly moving. They have day trips that you can book, but they can be pretty expensive. Our cruise left from Honolulu, so we were able to do that on our last day in the islands before flying home.
Thanks so much! I don’t think we will be hopping over to any other islands on this trip, but maybe next time!
Girl. I will send you an email.
You MUST MUST MUST do the tubing with Kauai Backcountry Adventures. Hands down best part of my honeymoon!
Oh and if you’re doing the rum tasting, there’s actually a luau right there. We managed to do both in the same night. Rum tasting followed by the luau.
Thank you!!
Love Kauai! My favorite place, we have been numerous times. Alway stay in the Poipu area. I think you have a good list of things to do. The tubing is lots of fun. The canyon is beautiful!
Some of our favorite restaurants are Eating House 1849, Dondero’s at the Hyatt (but only if you get a table on the outside patio) The Beach House for the view, maybe just try to go get a drink and appetizers in the bar around sunset.
Take a drive north as far as the road is open, it is just gorgeous up there, even though we prefer to stay in sunny Poipu.
Awesome, I love restaurant recommendations! And I’m SO EXCITED for sunny Poipu!
You know that I am so excited for you. After our Big Island trip this weekend, we were still longing for the lushness of Kauai. Hopefully you’ll fall in love and will be joining us at She Lives Aloha. The snorkeling at Poipu is so amazing so rent gear for the week for your daily fish hello!
Your recommendations have been awesome, thank you so much! I’m planning on packing our snorkels!
I have been to Maui for 10 days and to Oahu for 2 weeks. The most fun we had was taking the Jeep all around Maui doing the Road to Hana. We love sightseeing. So that is my suggestion is to sightsee a lot. When we were on Oahu we didn’t sightsee as much, and we wished we had.