For so many years, Hawaii felt like a dream destination that was so far out of reach it seemed impossible to visit. I remember growing up in the midwest, only “rich people” could afford to go to Hawaii. Yes, if you live in the midwest in a family of 5 kids and have a parent with severe flight anxiety, flying to Hawaii is probably out of reach. Now that we live in California, we had this realization that we are about the closest we can get to those beautiful islands and therefore, one of the cheapest flights! After traveling back and forth to visit family in Colorado and Minnesota over the holidays, we were VERY ready to enjoy some tropical weather.

Over the years I have become very savvy with booking flights, and this trip was probably one of my biggest wins yet! A few months back we went to a SF Giants baseball game, not because I really like watching baseball, but because they were running a promotion for where each person who went to the game got a BOGO flight voucher on Alaska Airlines. Obviously, I bought some tickets to the game and set my eyes on a trip for Matt and I to Hawaii. I looked ahead at flights to find the cheapest dates I could to travel and requested our time off work. When it was all said and done, we only spent a little over $300 on two round-trip flights from San Francisco to Oahu! BIG WIN!!! Traveling is one of my absolute favorite things to do, but getting a good deal on a trip makes it even more exciting!

So at the end of January Matt and I hopped on a flight to Oahu, Hawaii. We stayed in Waikiki Beach because our plan was to make this trip more of a relaxing/resort type vacation. Usually this isn’t our style of vacation, but after a busy end of the year, we really just needed some time to relax. We still made time to find some adventure while there though - we aren’t very good at relaxing for long!

Here are some photos from our time on Oahu.

paddling back in after surfing Ala Moana bowls

watching the sunset near waikiki, diamond head in the background