Traveling with young child, first time to Island...

Hey all, I%26#39;m hoping anyone can give me advice on travel to the Island, is this a safe place to travel with our young daughter? Looking to travel the end of January beging of February, first is this a good time for the weather, we are going to rent a condo/villa, on what part of the Island is a good place to look, I%26#39;v been looking but I am all over the place with many rental%26#39;s...... we like to do the beach thing and relax, but also enjoy seeing the sight%26#39;s by car and walking/hiking and getting to know the true culture of any Island. Thinking of going for two week%26#39;s, also maybe seperating the two, to two different Islands... are option%26#39;s are the big Island or maybe Oahu, any opion%26#39;s on this? or should we just stay put? we dont mind packing up the child and moving on, she%26#39;s a good traveler! Thank%26#39;s alot Melissa.... any info would be much appreciated.

Traveling with young child, first time to Island...

Hawaii islands are famous of being family vacation spots, or any kind of vacation spots.

You didn%26#39;t mention how your kid is. What kind of safety issue you concern about?

We will be traveling with our 3 year old to Maui in March. It will be our first trip with him to Maui, but we had been to Hawaii many times, and had taken multiple trips with our son to different islands.

Hawaii is pretty much like the states, very easy to travel with kids.

Traveling with young child, first time to Island...

Thank%26#39;s.... Well my most concern is issues with water? my little girl will be just turning 1, she is still on formula so I mix her milk half with water, wondering if I need to boil water, is it safe to drink from tap, or should I buy bottle? And also should I bring my own car seat or do most car rentals have the option here? I havent gotten that far yet as to check into the rentals...

Water is great. but babies tummies can be sensitive so I would buy a gallon of bottle water. You can refill the gallon at Safeway or Star Markets from their Reverse Osmosis Machines for 50 cents.

Don%26#39;t know about car seats.

I think you will have a wonderful vacation with your little one. Keep in mind that the sun is extremely strong at this latitude so keep baby well covered (hat, shirt etc.) and be very generous with the use of sunscreen. Don%26#39;t take your eyes off her for a second while you are near the water (pool or ocean)!!!!

If you are looking to do lots of island exploring I suggest staying on South Maui...there are lots of condos to choose from all the way from Kihei to Makena.

Your little girl will probably be fine with the tap water unless she has a very sensitive tummy. If you are concerned go ahead and buy the bottled water.

I am sure that the car rental companies on the islands rent car seats....but check ahead for availability. If I were you I would bring the baby%26#39;s own car seat...it is what she is used to. In fact...if concerned about baby safety I would purchase a seat on the airplane for the child and use the car seat for the air travel portion. Your little girl will be safer and you will both be a lot more comfortable for the duration of the trip.

One island or two??? Well, once you get me on Maui it%26#39;s awfully difficult to get me to leave! :) I opt for staying put!

Have fun planning your vacation and much aloha to you!

Just so every knows, Maui is NOT a third world country and is part of the US. Our drinking water is just as good as any other area of the mainland!! No need to boil water or have the added expense of bottled water. The only time I use bottled water is when I am at the beach.

The Big Island of Hawaii is truely HUGH. It generally is not a destination for first timers to Hawaii. Keep Oahu on your agenda, but re think going to the Big Island at this time.

I see, she is only 1, so maybe just learned walking and still takes 2 naps.

She is probably mobile enough to get around, but totally unaware the danger of waves and her surrounding. She might enjoy water than playing sand. You might want to find baby pools or baby beach. One year old can enjoy playing sand, but they really don%26#39;t play sand as much until a bit older, simple bucket or plastic cup should be enough.

I would buy distilled water for baby formula. I do that anyway.

I brought everything when we took our son to islands when he was younger. I packed very light for myself, but rather not forgot a thing for him.

1. Car seat, since he had his own seat in the plane.

2. Light weight stroller, easy to fold.

3. Back baby carrier, for hiking or terrain that light stroller cannot be easily used.

4. floaty with shade on top.

5. I bought SPF t-shirts for him to play on the beach

6. sun block

Sorry Fuzz but I didnt mean to offend the Island of Hawaii by thinking that it was a third world, I am just a new mom and a bit nervous each time we travel with her, weather it%26#39;s in the states or else where in the world.... I%26#39;v only started putting my own tap water with her formula, and was just hoping a parent with a young child who%26#39;s traveled the Islands, would ease my mind with info on what they did as parents....

And as to the travel to the big island, thank%26#39;s for the input...your right.....I think we are going to skip that one for now.... the more I read the more I think we would be better off going to Oahu?

Thank%26#39;s for all the reply%26#39;s..

Our first trip to Hawaii was the Big Island and absolutely loved it. You can easily spend two full weeks touring it by itself.

With two weeks, changing islands is certainly an option. You lose a half day or so changing islands, considering airport and rental car hassles. But with two weeks, it%26#39;s less of a loss of time.

With the Big Island, you%26#39;ll either have to pick a side of the island or stay at multiple locations; a circle island tour takes 7 hours with no sightseeing. The Big Island has it all...except a lot of beaches. A lot of oceanfront, to be sure. But because much of the lava is new(er), fewer beaches have formed.

If your goal is to get an oceanfront condo and relax a lot, you might prefer Maui over the Big Island. Many more options to choose from on Maui. We%26#39;ll be making our first real trip to Maui, but one thing I%26#39;ve noticed from my research is that there seemed to be much more sightseeing available on the Big Island versus Maui, with the exception of the Hana Highway. (Which, as I understand, isn%26#39;t recommended for youngsters due to the twisting nature of the road...)

We also once spent a day in Honolulu, and we didn%26#39;t find much to encourage us to return. Too crowded for our tastes.

Molly13-

You%26#39;ll may get people telling you that you should wait until your daughter is older. That happened to me while we were planning our trip to Maui in August 2007. We were there for 10 days with my (then) 2.5yr old daughter, along with inlaws and 9 yr old nephew for total of 7 of us.

We stayed in Napili. I wouldn%26#39;t recommend the Road to Hana or Haleakala though. The windy roads made my daughter sick. However, she LOVED playing in the water and sand at the beach.

We rented a private condo across the street from the Napili Kai with air conditioning.

The Bayan tree in Lahaina was wonderful to see. We have some great pictures with our daughter there.

We rented a toddler bed, safety rail and safety gates (2 story condo)from a akamaimothers.com since she was not in a big girl bed yet.

Take any negative posts with a grain of salt. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion just like you are entitled to listen or not listen to them. Good luck on planning and have a great trip. There%26#39;s got to be some good deals right now with the economy as it is.

I ditto the recommendation to get a seat for the baby and bring your own carseat. It%26#39;s a long flight (6 hrs from CA, not sure where Eastern township is) and their own car seat is more familiar and you know that it has not been in any accidents.