My goal is to visit all 50 states. This August I got to check one of the more difficult ones off my list when we visited the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Flying to Hawaii from the Southeast is no short trip, but we were lucky enough to be able to spend a night in Phoenix with JP's family to break up the trip. We arrived in Phoenix at 10pm, and immediately got JP's favorite burrito from Filibertos. The next morning we were at the airport bright and early to catch an 8am flight to Honolulu.
We decided to only travel with carry-on baggage to help save money. As we sat waiting to board our plane, I could not help but laugh at the difference in my luggage and JP's luggage. JP's on the left says, I'm a business traveler. Mine, on the right, screams child.
I had never been on a 6 hour plane ride so prepared myself with many distractions. JP's favorite distraction was the service dog that was sitting two rows in front of us.
Our flight to Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines was not bad at all, and we were pleased to receive a free meal even if, as JP would point out, it was just sliced fruit and cheese & crackers. Once we got to Honolulu, however, we had a 4 hour layover until we could take the less than one hour flight to Kauai. This is what did us in. Thankfully there was an courtyard so we did not have to stay inside the entire time. We also got our exercise in walking all the airport with our luggage to kill time.
When we finally arrived in Kauai, we quickly took the shuttle to the Thrifty Car Rental to get our car. If you are ever going to Hawaii, you should definitely check out discounthawaiicarrental.com which has great deals from the major car rental companies. We hoped into our Jeep, convertible, Crown Victoria and went to get some groceries at the only WalMart on the island. (Yes, you read that correctly. We drove a Crown Vic around Kauai that whole week. JP, for some strange reason, really wanted this car, and it was one of the cheaper options. Although the Altima was slightly cheaper, he insisted on this police car look a like).
By the time we got to the place we were renting (more on that later), the time change and travel was really starting to get to us. We had had very little to eat all day and were hungry but were so tired we really had no desire to really get out. After talking to the lady we were renting from, we learned there was an Italian restaurant within walking distance.
Casa di Amici ended up being the perfect place for us to relax and eat after a long day. We sat outside on a small lanai in the most perfect weather while listening to live piano music. Although it ended up being one of our more expensive meals, it was totally worth it. I really don't remember what we got other than a soup as an appetizer, but it was all very flavorful with portion sizes large enough for leftovers.
After dinner, we headed back to our place and went to sleep at 8:30- which felt like 1:30am to us! Although we were tired, we were very excited to be starting our adventure.
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