On the Island of Kauai, Hawaii with Travel Mom Vanessa
In this episode, Travel Mom Vanessa joins us while on her family’s adventure on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. They decided to spend a month during COVID in the beautiful destination.
Vanessa is a self-proclaimed Hawaii addict, and founder of She Lives Aloha, a quarterly subscription for people who love Hawaii and all things tropical. Visit the website for all the details and use code KEEKEES for $10 off your order.
For more family travel ideas, listen to more podcast episodes. Adventure Awaits!
What is your family’s current adventure?
We are currently as far west in the United States as you can go, on the South Shore sunny side of Kauai. I’m with my husband, 3 kids (9-year-old and twin 6-year-olds), and Grandma.
This is my happy place. I’ve been over 20 times. It all started on our engagement trip in 2006, and we decided to get married here.
Back in September, my husband suggested we spend a month on Kauai as the kids are homeschooling and we work from home. I was hesitant but then got excited.
Now that we’re here, it’s so nice to have a little slice of normal for us all.
How did you plan and prepare?
Planning was horribly different this time with COVID vs. other trips. It was complicated, and I had to keep the end goal in mind while working through all the details.
On October 15, Hawaii introduced the Safe Travels program. Anyone over the age of 5 had to take a COVID test before arrival to avoid a 14-day quarantine (which can only be done in a hotel or property you own). We had to get 6 people tested, and the negative results had to be in hand before we got on the plane. My advice is to plan your flights around your testing plan.
I also had to have a full back up plan. Thankfully the hospitality industry has been so generous with its change policies.
We rented a house with a pool. I wanted to make sure we had our own place that was pretty self-contained.
Then there was the packing. Packing for living for a month with 3 kids in school is very different from vacation packing.
Read much more about her preparations here.
What are your favorite things to do in Kauai?
I love Kauai as it’s quiet, it’s lush, and very green.
I wouldn’t recommend coming at this time if you’ve never been. Just like at home, you’ll find businesses and attractions with shortened days and hours.
Here are some of the things we’ve done this visit…
- Beach is the central attraction. Poipu Beach is our favorite with 4 protected reefs where the kids can get used to snorkel and see fish. We also saw the honu, the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles.
- On the North Shore, we went miniature golfing in the botanical gardens which was both fun and educational.
- At the Kauai Humane Society, we adopted a dog for a day. It was so fun for the family. They’ll also help you adapt it if you want to take it home.
- The Kauai Coffee Estate: We visited the largest coffee farm in the United States.
Other great things to do…
- Waimea Canyon State Park
- Fern Grotto River Cruise
- Ziplining
- Tubing the old sugar cane tunnels
- Napoli Coast Boat Charter: It’s a huge movie filming location, and you can see the area only by boat.
Next trip your planning or dreaming about?
We’d love to replicate this trip with a month on each of Hawaii’s islands. When you have more time, you don’t rush through things.
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Mahalo for joining us, Vanessa, and for sharing your Kauai, Hawaii adventures. Aloha!
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Check out She Lives Aloha on Instagram and Facebook. And they’re offering a special for listeners, $10 off your order with code KEEKEES.
For more Hawaii, check out this episode. Adventure Awaits!