Traveling with an 8 month old to Hawaii

Since I don't think too many people have attempted this feat, I would like to share how we did it.

Flights: from NY this is a very long flight.  11+ hours each way...and we did the slightly shorter flights from Newark.  We couldn't find a direct flight that worked for us so we managed to break up the trip on the way there by stopping overnight in SFO.  We also flew during the day to SFO and then Honolulu the next morning.  Honolulu is about a 5 and 1/2 hour flight from San Fran.  We also go pretty lucky because we although we did not purchase and extra seat for our newly crawling baby the planes to and from California were not full so we relocated to the back of the plane on both flights and had a full row to ourselves.

On the way back we took a Red Eye.  We did have a stop over in LA for an hour or so but this was basically a better flight than on the way there because he slept for a better part of the trip.

If you are flying with an infant under two I don't recommend paying extra for their own seat.  There's really no reason to.  I feel its not worth the extra money and you should take advantage of them flying for free while you can.  I was still breastfeeding at this time so I tried to feed him on take offs and landings.  One of the takeoffs he wouldn't eat but he didn't seem to have any discomfort.  When he didn't eat we tried to have him suck on a teether.

The only thing that did annoy me was that even though the planes to and from California had plenty of extra seats the stewardess refused to let us bring on the car seat and made us leave it at the entrance to go with the luggage.  I understand we didn't pay for the seat but since we got one anyway then let our baby be safer and have a seat that will actually hold him in place during any turbulence.

The best stuff for surviving and thriving on this trip:

Bebe Au Lait Nursing cover.  This really is the best nursing cover.  I would nurse him everywhere in this.  It's great because it has a little opening made with some wire on the top that allows you to see the baby, but not everyone else to see your nipples.

Ergo Baby Carrier:  this carrier cost us almost as much as our $130 cheap Combi stroller, but it was definitely worth it.  I tried several carriers before this one, even the famous and expensive baby bjorn and my back always hurt.  I would use this carrier over any $600 stroller.  We hiked all over Hawaii with it and it's great for the city.   The MTA's occasional elevators and non handicap accessible turnstiles are definitely not stroller accessible and neither are all the people on crowded subways.  If I don't need to bring a stroller to Manhattan I use this carrier. 

The best toys.  If your kid has some favorite toys, take them away and hide them week before you go and bring them out one by one, as they become necessary, as a special surprise for this trip.  We have this little butterfly that makes cute baby sounds and lights up when you pull it's tail.  This was the best distraction toy ever invented for this trip.

When we got to Hawaii we had booked a Norwegian Cruise.  This is mainly a cruise to see the islands, not the type of cruise where there will be much to do on the ship.  Basically, a expensive shuttle around the islands with some free food.  If you are looking to see all the islands with an infant I highly recommend taking a cruise, since it does make it much easier.  I would not recommend taking any tours, but do some research and rent a car on the islands you will want to explore.  We tried to do one tour on Hilo and the 4 hour tour to the volcano national park somehow ended up as a 7+ hour tour with stops at the Macadamia Nut Factory, the Orchid shop and the chocolate shop.  By the end of it, understandably our baby had had enough of being strapped to a car seat with only 1/2 hr intervals to see another tourist trap.  We are not the kind of tourists who go on trips to shop and all these tours seem to be mostly about that, maybe because for many tourists this is an important part of the trip.  Like the guy who came back from the Nut factory with his multi variety bags of nuts saying, "Man, I don't even like nuts, but they really sucked me in!"  Renting a car may seem a like more work to research where to go and more pricey, but its really worth it.  On Maui and Kauai we rented cars and did exactly what we wanted to do, visit some beaches, hike in a bamboo forest, look for whales and take in some gorgeous sceneries.