Many people that come to Hawaii come to either relax on the beaches or to explore the beautiful jungles, mountains, flora, and fauna that make up the islands. Many of these adventure travelers to Hawaii tend to know what they are doing in the backcountry, but others don’t. Regardless of your backcountry experience, you have two options when planning your trip.
When planning your outdoor adventure vacation to the Hawaiian islands for your family vacation, honeymoon, or get away; you basically have two ways to do things. You can go the “do it yourself” route or use and outfitter. Both of these have their and pros and cons, but in the end it depends one what works out best for you and your budget. Hopefully this article will help you see pros and cons of each.
Doing It Yourself
One popular method of vacationing in Hawaii is to just do everything yourself. By everything I mean booking plane tickets, making hotel reservations, planning activities, and everything else that goes along with vacationing. One reason this train of thought works out for vacationing is because it allows you to plan things on your schedule. You get to pick the attractions, activities, and campsites that you want to stay at and see. It results in a vacation planned around you. So, whats the downside to the do it yourself vacation?
One of the major drawbacks in planning your own vacation is that it leaves a lot of room for error and headaches. This also means that when things go wrong, you rarely have someone to blame other than yourself. Planning your own trip usually requires you trekking your gear thousands of miles across the skies. It is all to common for your gear to get lost at the airport, end up in China, or arrive late. If you vacation is on a strict time line, this can be a real damper.
However, if you have backpacked across the world and enjoy the planning, logistics, and using your own gear; doing it yourself can be a very rewarding trip.
Using an Outfitter
If you don’t have a lot of experience in the backcountry then you should seriously consider making your plans through an outfitter. It is strongly advised to avoid backcountry trips if you don’t know what you are doing and don’t have the gear for it. One of the best parts of using an outfitter is that many of them supply the gear you need to enjoy the trip. Some outfitters will supply everything from a backpack, tent, and everything short of clothes. Others will supply group gear like tents, cooking ware, and things of that nature, but supply you with a packing list.
These types of trips are great for both the novice outdoorsmen and the regular backpacker. The guided trips offer you the opportunity to meet other like minded people and make some friendships during your vacation.
The only major drawback these outfitters is that they usually cost a lot more than if you were to do it yourself. But, the extra cost is well worth it. The end result of the extra money spent on an outfitter is a stress free vacation where you don’t have to worry about anything except about what to pack.
