We live in the West Coast, California to be exact and we knew we wanted to trial our 3 1/2-year-old daughters air travel experience to determine if future long-haul flights to Europe would be a possibility for us. As mentioned in my previous post, flying into Honolulu, Hawaii is a 5.5. hour flight from Los Angeles Airport (LAX) so we figured this would be a good test run. Plus, aside from road trips, we really didn’t have any out of state or country travel since she was born. If you are a new parent, are looking to travel or are just curious as to what our vacation plans with a toddler looked like in Waikiki beach then read along. And spoiler alert… we loved our trip – we planned for a relaxing vacation and came back feeling that way! A lot of that had to do with the expectations and planning that we established early on.
Breakdown of Travel Days
Our flight departed on Wednesday, January 25th 2023, from Los Angeles (LAX) airport. We opted for a late morning flight at 10:50am to allow us time to arrive to the airport without having to wake up too early. We knew that Honolulu (HST) was 2 hours behind us, and we were okay with a late afternoon arrival.
Let me just say that TSA PreCheck made a huge difference. We never had this travel perk before and travelling with a toddler, we knew we wanted to streamline as much of the airport check-in process as possible. My Capital One VentureX credit card provided me with reimbursement of my TSA Pre Check enrollment fee ($78) and kids under 12 years old can go through the TSA Pre Check line without paying as long as a parent is TSA PreCheck eligible. That meant my husband was left to pay his $78 fee (he doesn’t have any credit cards yet that reimburse him like mine did). I also want to note that my Capital One Venture X has a $395 fee. So knowing that I’ve already received a $78 credit towards my annual fee makes me confident about the cards benefits. Priority Select is a lounge benefit access that I was hoping to have at LAX with this card and it was a complete fail. Essentially very few lounges are accepting Priority Select through credit card partners anymore. That was a change that took effect in 2023. So we were left with no available lounges and just paid for our breakfast and snacks at the airport. No biggie though.
Airlines Likes & Dislikes
On our flight to Honolulu we flew with Alaska Airlines. The flight was seamless and with great service. I did my research beforehand and knew that there wouldn’t be any (free) in-flight meal service. Travelling with a toddler means that you have to be prepared and have a well-fed child. I knew that I could purchase pre-packaged meal boxes in flight. Alaska Airlines also has a feature through their online app where you can order your meal box 24 hours ahead of time. I missed that deadline and read that meal boxes options are subject to what’s left available. They specifically carried a toddler meal box which what I was hoping to get. Before boarding I asked the airline agents at the gate if there would be sufficient available, and they recommended that I just purchase food at the airport and bring it onboard. I did just that, the only problem was that my toddler refused to eat her grilled-cheese sandwich once in flight. She did eat her other snacks but refused the main dish. Luckily, when the flight attendants approached us for service, I was able to place an order for the meal box and she ate a good amount of what came with it. They were reasonably-priced and I appreciated that they included some healthy options.
Our flight back home was through Southwest. I have to say the flight was economic and met our needs. They didn’t have meal options available for purchase, but they fully disclose that on their website. It’s important to fully research these things before traveling with an airline so you know what to expect and how to prepare. We simply had lunch at the airport before boarding our flight and ensured we had plenty of snacks on hand. The Starbucks at the Honolulu Airport had a great selection of snacks for toddlers.
How we prepared our toddler for airline travel.
Set those expectations and talk about it aloud frequently. About a month or two before our travel, we began talking about airplanes and Waikiki Beach with our toddler. We showed her pictures, videos, books and told her countless stories to help build not only her curiosity but also her excitement. We asked her to help us pick out her luggage and she practiced rolling it around our home a few weeks before our travel. She even helped us pack. By the time our travel date came, she knew about flight crews, what they looked like and where we were headed.
Although we had the snafoo of no airline lounge access, we stuck to our plan and ensured we were well fed before our flight, had sufficient activities planned for her in-flight and made sure she walked plenty at the airport to help get some exercise before that 5.5-hour flight.
I think a new parents main concern is the possibility of ear discomfort for their child due to ears popping due to altitude adjustment. That alongside the potential boredom or tirelessness that may come along with a longer flight. I packed some of her favorite fruit snacks and chewable candy so that once the aircraft took off, she could chew it and help with any discomfort due to change in altitude. Big tip here is you want to wait until the aircraft has taken off and is UP in the air, otherwise you’ll be out of candy and options. I knew that I wanted to space out the few activities I had planned for her so that the flight would seem less boring, so I allowed her to enjoy things like putting the arm rest down, placing her seat belt on, looking out the window, etc. Right at take-off I reminded her of what we had talked about at home and how fun it would feel to go up in in the air and look at the clouds. We had given her the window seat to make sure she had views of the sky to put it all together.
I want to add that we booked economy seats both ways and found it spacious enough. Our toddler was even able to nap by placing her head on my lap and laying sideways with her feet up on her seat. Months before travel, I had debated purchasing a luggage that converted into additional leg space for kids, I’m glad I didn’t go that route as our seats were good as they were.
Keep in mind that once you board the aircraft, you are pretty much still seated for about 30-45 minutes before you take off, so that’s a good opportunity to have your tot explore their seat, open the window cover, play with their seat belt, etc. It takes time before you reach the actual altitude that allows their ears to adjust due to cabin pressure. That’s the time I used to have her chew on her snacks to help with this. I also would tell her to pretend to chew bubble gum throughout the flight to help with any pressure. I’m glad to say this must have all worked because she didn’t complain once on either flight.
About an hour in the fight (to HNL), I made sure she had her “lunch” and then made a cozy spot with a light blanked I took and she laid her head down on my lap and she napped for about two hours. That was a huge win that I was praying for but not expecting. Again, we timed our flights as best we could to allow us to have breakfast at the airport on the way to HNL and then lunch in the airport back to LAX and we bought lunch and dinner to bring on board to our HNL and LAX flights respectively. This allowed us to mimic her normal routine and it was so worth it. I have to say that she napped on her flight back home too for the same amount of time.
As far as in-flight entertainment goes, I packed a few things.
On our flight to HNL:
- I had cut out different/large shapes in construction paper with crayons for her to decorate.
- Magic Marker Activity Book (Target Dollar Spot)
- Fun Snack of her choice
- Tablet (She only used this for the last hour of her flight).
On our flight to LAX:
- Coloring book
- Dry Erase Activity Book with Markers (She loved this!)
- Fun snack of her choice
- Tablet (She used this for the last hour of her flight)
As you can see spacing out the entertainment, goes a long way. My husband was able to catch up on his shows in-flight and I rested during her naptime. Win-win for all.
Benefits of Flying Carry-On Only
I think this may come as a shocker to a lot of parents but we decided to fly with only carry-on luggage. That meant adults had their luggage and so did our daughter (hers was the kid sized luggage so that she could help roll it at times). I packed a back-pack as my personal item where I stored the in-flight snacks/meal, entertainment activities, blanket and a change of clothes for the tot should she have needed it. My husband used the stroller backpack to carry the gb Pockit stroller. Other than that, this is all we carried and it was perfect.
Husband and I also each had a fanny pack (stylish of course) to quickly access our important items like phones, ID’s, passes, cash/credit cards.
I also want to say that we had a 5-day vacation to a beach destination, so packing carry-on was definitely feasible.
Transportation
I know the big question everyone must have is: what about a car-seat? What did you do, how did you get around? Pretty simple – we booked a shuttle service to and from the airport. It counts as a commercial vehicle where car seats are not required. As for the island, we walked. We didn’t plan any offsite activities that would require driving so there was no need for a car. Honolulu traffic has really increased and we were happy to not have to drive in it. Getting from our airport to our hotel was a good 45 minutes. For the amount of miles we drove, I would have expected a 20 minute drive max. Again, setting our own expectations as adults really helped fulfill our satisfaction with the results of our travel.
Arriving to the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort & Hotel
Checking in at Hilton Hawaiian Village was a breeze. This resort hotel sits on oceanfront land and your are instantly greeted by tropical gardens and waterfalls throughout. I do have Diamond status with Hilton and had access to a faster check in. (My Hilton Honors Aspire credit card gives me this elite status). We did arrive to the hotel later than expected due to the traffic. So, by the time we arrived I was just happy to unpack and we agreed to dine on the resort to have a nice dinner and not risk having a cranky toddler. Tropics was a great choice as it was kid friendly and gave us a sunset dinner view we weren’t even expecting. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that the $123 tab would later be credited/refunded as my Hilton Honors Aspire card allows me up to a $250 refund on any Hilton resort expenses charged to my room and paid at check out with my card. Again, nice win! The annual fee on that credit card is hefty ($450) but tons of perks come with the card that offset that fee.
Pools & Beach
This hotel was perfect as it had so many fun resort activities built in, making for the perfect family vacation. Our room was located in the Tapa Tower and this resort tower has the Tapa Pool right next to it. The pool is much more low key and less busy than the others. We hung out at the two main pools and the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon due to its walking distance and proximity to the sandy Kahanamoku beach. With a 5-day itinerary, it was the perfect amount of time to get to enjoy the resort style and kid friendly pools. One of the pools was super kid friendly as it had a small pool slide and a larger one that was extremely popular. We are normally huge fans of having a cocktail and dining pool side, but because we directed our time to explore and eat in the city and other parts of the resort, we really didn’t get to do this.
During times when we visited the beach, we took beach towels for seating, snacks and beach toys we purchased at Longs Drugs. We highly recommend making purchases at Longs Drugs if you can versus the popular ABC stores as Longs items are priced cheaper and are literally the same exact products. During the time we visited it wasn’t hot enough to warrant a beach umbrella we just made sure to lather up in SPF and wore hats.
I do want to say that the location of this resort is walking distance to the beach, truly an oceanfront retreat in Honolulu. On several days we were able to explore different sides of Waikiki Beach and set up at different locations each day. The side of the beach where we were on was a bit more rocky and as you walked further out towards Diamond Head, the waves were much calmer and the shore less rocky. But you can honestly not go wrong in any area of the beach you decide to visit.
Dining with a Toddler
Where to eat with a toddler? I’ll make this quick and I’ll include the recommendations for places we dined at that were a success:
Tropics at Hilton Hawaiian Resort – We were so lucky that they sat us outside before sunset. Meal portions are pricey, but large. For the price we paid I thought it was so worth it because we had a clear view of the beach and caught the sunset. Our toddler was able to get up from her chair, chase some birds off the patio and it was roomy. Perfect for a kids and family.
Aloha Beer Garden – Great lunch spot with outdoor seating. Perfect location for families. We opted for flatbread style pizza – Mila loved the POG juice and parents enjoyed a glass of the local beer. Location was walking distance from our resort (10 minute walk) and right next to it was a Longs Drug store.
Waikiki Brewing – Now this was probably one of my favorite places to eat because it had a really local vibe. Their burgers and fries were delicious and we sampled some of their beers. This was probably a 10-15 minute walk from our hotel. The good thing about having a toddler is that you end up eating around a schedule so we were done eating around 6:30pm which is when we noticed patrons were lining up waiting to be seated. Seating here is great, we ate outdoors in the park style food tables, again just great for toddlers who sometimes like to move around.
Giiligan’s Food Truck – Great lunch option if you want to break from the pool for lunch, we decided to grab the garlic shrimp and fish from here during lunch and ate on the beach.
Wiki Wiki Market – We stopped here for Shave Ice and Ice Cream. For not having to leave the resort the higher price was well worth it. Just be ware, the Shave Ice portions are large! You can charge to your room if needed.
Lapperts Coffee – Great coffee and pastries in the resort plaza. You can charge to your room if needed.
Round Table Pizza – Delicious options for families. Wait time on weekends is high but worth it. We opted to take ours to the beach and had a little picnic there and then caught the Friday night fireworks. You can charge to your room.
Duke’s – Parent’s do yourself a favor and splurge on the Vintage Mai Tai. Family friendly restaurant and we ate in the outdoor area that had a nice view of the beach.
Aloha Melt – Oh my goodness. This place opens at 6pm till evening. Local spot that we definitely recommend for takeaway. There is a McDonalds walking distance so if you have little one’s you can grab a to go order there as well and then all head back to the hotel for a delicious meal you won’t regret. We actually chose to dine in the very small indoor venue and in retrospect I would have just ordered to go as dining there with a toddler is just too difficult. Check out their instagram.
One of the great things about all these places is that we were able to dine as a family, enjoyed the scenery around us and did so without having to entertain our toddler with a tablet. She truly enjoyed the environment and people watching.
No Car Rental, No Problem.
I mentioned this earlier but as you can see from our itinerary there was no need for a car. And quite frankly with the Honolulu traffic, I’m glad we didn’t spend any of our time packing a car seat or having to lug it around. We travelled by foot and that was a great form of exercise for all of us. Our hotel was located in a safe area where walking at any hour felt safe.
Returning Home
We already had pre-arranged reservations for a shuttle to take us from our hotel back to HNL Airport. We waited at the designated lobby next to the parking garage where all shuttles do pick up and drop off. It was seamless! We were able to leave on time at 9am with no issues to depart to our flight at 12:50 pm back to the mainland. The only difficult part was leaving such a beautiful resort! For our first family vacation that included air travel, the number of days we stayed there was perfect.
What I Would Do Differently.
There isn’t much that I would do differently except that maybe I would consider doing an offsite excursion. The shuttle pick up and drop off appeared to be seamless. Shuttles are arranged to pick up and drop off at the hotel so you can still manage to do this with no car or car seat. My husband and I really wanted this vacation to feel restorative and relaxing and we had decided if we opted for an offsite excursion, that would just insert planning and more packing/prepping as we had our 3 year old daughter with us – who by the way is great but as with any toddler can have unexpected potty breaks needed or other things pop up. My advice is to make a decision that both parents agree on and just set your expectations to limit disappointments.
Hilton Honors Aspire Card and That $450 Annual Fee.
This card doesn’t get enough love. I get that travel hackers out there look to maximize their points and gain as many as possible. But for someone like my family who likes to travel locally, domestically and internationally and only a few times per year (sometimes only locally and domestic) – this card fits our needs. So far these are some of the benefits the card has provided me with:
- 150K Sign Up Bonus Points after hitting a minimum spend requirement of $3K. I have already earned these points and continue to earn more as a I strategically use my card.
- Automatic Diamond Member status with Hilton Hotels. (Elite status, you can read up on the perks here)
- Priority Check-In at Hilton Hawaiian Village. I literally walked up to the Diamond Member check in counter while there was a small line of folks in the general line. Time is money when you are travelling, so this was a neat perk!
- $125 credit applied for meals I charged to my room. (Resort credit up to $250 , plus 14X points when using your Aspire Card to check out). Apply for an American Express Card with this link.
- I applied for the credit card on January 1st and it arrived in days. By March 2023 American Express granted me the free 1 night hotel at any eligible hotel (includes Waldorf Astoria and Curio Collection hotels). I’m looking forward to using that free night later this year.
Would we Recommend This as a Travel Itinerary?
Hands down we would! We walked away feeling like we were in a tropical hideaway, never having to really leave a world class luxury hotel. Service and amenities were fantastic.
Travelling with kids doesn’t have to be hard or not feel like a vacation. Have you heard people say “I need a vacation from my vacation”? Well that definitely was not us. We were so happy with our experience we weren’t anything short but grateful. You do have to be realistic with what you want to accomplish and plan for it so that it is an enjoyable experience for everyone in the family. That way everyone returns feeling content and fulfilled with their travel experience. As a family with two working parents, the amount of time we spent on the island was perfect and now we’re in the planning stages of our next getaway. If you have any questions about travelling with a toddler to Hawaii drop it below!
xoxo,
The Sun Queen