My Hawaii Hitchhiking Vacation

I have a lot of friends that have been to Hawaii. They always come home with stories of a unique and chill culture, great food, perfect weather, and a great time.

Hawaii has never felt like my thing because I am more nomadic. I don't like lots of people, and prefer nature to tourist spots. A couple of friends finally convinced me that I would love Hawaii, however, so I decided to do my own form of vacationing in Hawaii. I planned a trip hitchhiking across the state.

To preface this post - the trip was amazing. There are plenty of things in Hawaii for every type of person. Here is how my vacation went.

I started out on Oahu. I had low hopes for the island because Oahu is where Honolulu is and this means tourists. When I landed it was exactly like I pictured. I hitched a ride Waikiki and saw the thousands of tourists squeezing their bodies onto the beach.

However, after asking a few locals about places less crowded I was directed to the north shore. It was beautiful. It only took about an hour to get there, and that was hitching on two different cars.

There were signs as we drove in that were protesting new hotels and land grabs, which I found to be a good sign. My second driver dropped me off in a little town called Ha'ula. It was a perfect day. There was miles of beautiful beach in both directions, and the best part was that no one could be seen on the entire beach. I spent a few hours playing in gentle waves, then asked some locals at a shrimp shack if there was any good hikes. Turns out there was plenty.

I spent the rest of the day hiking to a gorgeous waterfall. I saw a few people along the way, but for the most part was on my own. Mostly it was natives making the hike. Many of them were doing it in bare feet - an incredible feat considering the amount of brush, rocks, and trees on the ground.

I camped that night next to the beach. I just brought a small fleece fabric blanket along with me, and used that when the temperature dropped below 70. The sand wasn't exactly soft, but I have slept on worse.

After spending a few days wandering around the north shore I felt ready to move on. I hitched a ride back to the airport. I should note that hitching a ride is incredibly easy. I never had my thumb up for more than 10 minutes without snagging a ride. The people were nice and friendly and I always felt safe.

I took a small flight from there to an island called Kona. It had a huge volcano. I had never seen a volcano up to this point and it was incredible. I was blown away by how close some people lived to the volcano! I wondered how much they were paying for volcano insurance.

Kona was even more rural. After getting away from the main airport I caught rides around the entire island, exploring beaches, hikes, and the volcano. It only took about 2 hours to get around the entire island. With the stops it took about 3 days, but the drive was a tiny part of it.

In Kona I also bought a cheap $10 snorkel and stopped to snorkel at a few beaches where I saw others snorkeling. It was fabulous. There were very few people, but incredible amounts of fish.

My last stop on the trip was Maui. The sand there was fabulous. There were beaches with this incredible black sand that I had never seen before, nor imagined. The people were just as nice in Maui, and the crowds were just as small.

Overall the vacation was not what I expected. People that think Hawaii is crowded just need to break away from the crowds and talk to a few natives. It is a beautiful place with plenty of privacy. I would recommend it to anyone.