Is this vacation possible in Hawaii?

Post date: 2021-07-22 09:24:33

My spouse and I are interested in visiting Hawaii since we live on the West Coast, but I would be the organizer and I'm getting overwhelmed by all of the different aspects to plan. Most of all I'm unsure whether the type of more laid-back/community-centric experience we like to have is possible or likely to have in Hawaii. More inside!

I think the term that gels with our desired experience is "homestay" but Google SEO/AirBnB/VRBO make it pretty impossible to figure out what is what. This is, in a nutshell, what's most fun for us:

* Arriving at a new place and having a day or so of downtime in a hotel, just sleeping, relaxing and walking around a populated area
* Spending a few days in a quieter "homestay" where we'd ideally have a comfortable but not luxurious room in someone's property who is friendly and will chat with us/share more of the experience of actually living in a place. They might give us a brief driving tour of their local town, and maybe drop us off at a state park/nature area and let us have 5-6 hours to hike around by ourselves. We could take a bus, rideshare and/or walk from their place to some coffee shops where we could overhear locals talking, and also visit historic sites of interest. Basically, the experience of visiting family or friends who live in a fun location, and learning more about the local history and culture of a place, except you're paying them fairly for their time and accommodations.
* Spending the last night back at a hotel before flying out.

I guess the experience I'm looking for is learning about local history and culture from someone who lives there, and getting good recommendations. I volunteer as a local history tour guide in my locale and I know a ton about my local area, and the information I give out is authentic, unlike the double decker buses/more commercial group tours. I'm wondering if this is possible in Hawaii since it's just so touristy and also so expensive for everyday people to live there.

We're not particularly limited on budget although we don't want to spend our life savings (as in, our "house down payment" fund that is sitting unused because of the house buying fever right now).

Thanks in advance!

Please click Here to read the full story.