waverly sounds like an overall good trip! We’re planning to do Hawaii next Christmas (leave the 26th and stay a week). But it’s not that long of a flight for us. We’ll go to Kauai/Poipu. I’d prefer to go during my kids’ fall break in late October, which I’m sure would be cheaper and less crowded, but if just doesn’t make sense child care wise and since I will have just returned from maternity leave. So crowded and expensive Christmas it is.
sdlaura, Maybe Kauai will be less crowded. On the resort we found the 24th started to get crowded and on the Big Island, we found actual Christmas to not be bad but that Friday started to get crowded again probably because of the weekend, so actual days of the week seem to matter as well. Book your lodging and car rental early. We can still get stuff, but were limited especially for Kauai which is why we ended up on the Big Island. Air BNB and VRBO are being restricted mostly on Oahu, but could spread to the other islands, so double and triple check that. The Big Island was still OK, but laws can change in the next year. For cars it was funny because all that were left were jeeps, minivans and convertibles. We saw numerous jeeps on the Big Island. Regular cars were OK on Oahu. It just cracked us up looking at the car rental lot in Kona.
waverly, sdlaura, I was thinking about going to Hawaii next Christmas too. It is a short 4 hour flight for us since we are west coast. But now looking at December 2020 the dates don't line up to being very conducive to me taking time off and I don't know how I feel about pulling DD for a full week school to go when it works better for me to take time off.
waverly good call on booking early. I’ve already found the place I want to stay on Kauai and plan to book once flights are released - the price lists a line for taxes, so it seems to be licensed, but I will ask. It’s on VRBO. Our babysitter will come and we’ll get a hotel room for her using points so we can use the hotel amenities. Then she’ll stay and vacation with her husband and my parents will come after that and also stay in a hotel. I usually wait too long to book a car, so that’s good advice to book that early too. We need a minivan so glad they were available!.
186momx our kids are off for 17 days at Christmas - a full two weeks of school plus a day. Really annoying for planning childcare but gives us plenty of time for a full week trip after Christmas.