I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii.
I have a deep desire to learn how to surf, and become one of those deeply tan, exotic beach girls who shake sand wherever they go.
But that’s a whole other thing.
In reality, going to Hawaii (or planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget) seems kind of impossible. Honolulu is known for being expensive. And even if you get out to the islands, you still need to pay for the flight. The flights can cost up to $600 or $700 roundtrip, depending on where you fly out of.
In this example, I’ll use North Carolina as the departure point.
From the get go, it’s at least $588 to book a roundtrip flight. And that’s not even a great deal because if you look closely, both of the cheapest trips will take you at least THIRTEEN HOURS TO ARRIVE.
That’s thirteen hours (at least) in an airport, on a plane, in transit. Meanwhile, you’re flying over all of these cool spots (San Francisco, Portland, Denver) and only enjoying the interior of their airport bathrooms.
Nope. Even if you have $600 to throw at this, not worth it. A lot of people hate travel for this very reason, the time they spend arriving somewhere. The discomfort of being on planes nonstop for a day. Etc.
That’s why I always flight stack.
It starts with finding the largest airport and closest airport to my destination, which for Hawaii, could be Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, etc. I’ll use Portland for this exercise.
When you look at Portland to Hawaii (and not just Honolulu, but every city), you get an array of options for under $200.
There’s a few things to consider here. First, these prices are for January yes, but if you use Google Flights, you can see that there are the same prices for February, March, and even April.
Second, look at the place that you’re considering going to. Like I said before, Honolulu can be expensive, so check out hotels.com, booking.com, Airbnb, etc. to check rates. For Hawaii, I would also look at other cities to see how they compare for rooms and rentals. You will probably want to book this flight first, then book your accommodations no more than three weeks later, depending on the time of year (demand.)
(Also, if you book a hostel, you can use booking.com and you don’t always have to pay upfront and can wait until you arrive at the property.)
As soon as you select your date and flight, you have the bones of a good drift. You will then need to gradually book the remaining flights. I tend to book the route there first, and then the route back, but whatever works for you. When I use the Google Flights feature, I can also compare rates to flying back to Portland then Raleigh, or just flying directly from Honolulu to Raleigh.
In this case, I’m lucky and the straight to Raleigh flight is cheaper.
But if you want to prolong your trip or explore somewhere, you can also have some fun here. My 24 hours in Phoenix experience actually came from this kind of drift, where I realized that I could get a $30 from Los Angeles to Arizona. I had never been to Arizona, so I tacked an overnight trip to the end of an adventure.
Overall, the extra $30 plus my flight back to Raleigh was the same as if I had gone right from Los Angeles to Raleigh.
You can pick a few cities and play around with how long a DIY layover would take, depending on how long you have to take a trip and what interests you.
Another thing to note is that yes, flight prices will fluctuate. It can be unpredictable. I would recommend booking the bulk of the trip first (Portland to Honolulu), followed by the next most expensive flight. Let’s say it’s Honolulu to Raleigh. Book that next, as soon as it’s feasible for you, and then follow suit with the others.
Sometimes, when I’ve done this, I’ve had to fly out of Myrtle Beach instead of Wilmington because the one way flight to New York went up significantly. Still, it’s more manageable for me personally to book chunks at a time instead of paying for everything upfront. I also tend to have more fun this way 🙂
Of course, there are other things to consider when you’re planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget. How do you afford rooms? I wouldn’t recommend hotel night stacking (lolz) because you’d be switching rooms every night. I have done two and two, which is two nights in a hotel and two nights in an Airbnb, but usually, I just go for the most affordable option upfront.
Play with Airbnb, booking.com, and hotels.com (secret deals) to figure out what’s going to be the best choice for you. I like having a kitchen, so I tend not to stay at hotels as much, but sometimes, it’s honestly the more affordable option. In some places, people charge outrageous prices for their Airbnbs (cough cough Raleigh/Durham), and it’s worth it just to grab a secret hotel deal for $100.
My other trick is to consider private rooms at a nice hostel. You get the private experience and the social benefit, and it’s often a little cheaper than a hotel. And when it comes to activities, there’s no better place to find cheap things to do. Go to the beach. Rent a surfboard. Go for a hike. Hunt for shells. Check out a local park.
Often, people feel pressured to break the bank on costly tours and excursions, and do things they actually don’t like. They do it for the ‘gram and return home feeling like they didn’t go on vacation at all.
Follow your interests and see where it takes you. Maybe you’ll go to a few cheap art galleries. Maybe you’ll hit up a cool bar. Let go of the expectation that you need to bankrupt yourself by going out to dinner each night, taking private tours, etc. and focus on what’s going to make you feel like you went to Hawaii.
(Now, I’m going to stop writing this before I book a flight to Hawaii right now.)
Want more travel tips?