Feeling a bit discouraged today about the time difference from the East coast to Hawaii. Not sure why. Was thinking of adding two days to the beginning of the trip in Waikiki to a five night stay at Aulani, but will that be enough? Should I just do a couple days in California first? And I am not even thinking about coming home.
We flew nonstop from Atlanta in September, so Hawaii was 6 hours behind. They do not observe daylight savings time so if you travel during the winter months, they will be 5 hours behind east coast time. IMO, with California being only 3 hours behind us, it wouldn't have made that much of a difference adjusting. And frankly, we just wanted to get to Hawaii and maximize our time there since we only had a certain number of vacation days to use. After arriving in Hawaii, DH and I were ready for bed by 8pm and wide awake by 4-4:30am for about the first 2-3 days. After that, we acclimated fine. One thing that helped is that Hawaii doesn't have much night life and most of the activities we did started early. Because of this, we were up around 6am local time most days and ready for bed by 10-10:30, so the adjustment wasn't that bad.
We spent 3 nights in Waikiki at the start of our trip. One benefit of being in that area as you are adjusting to the time change is that many things in that vicinity are open quite early or even 24 hours. I remember going to a breakfast buffet at the restaurant in our hotel around 6:30am, and the streets outside were busier than I expected - I would have thought it was mid-morning if I didn't know the time. We also opted to do Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor tours while adjusting to the time because we knew those activities were best done early and we'd have no problem being wide awake. I believe our Diamond Head pick up was 8am and our Pearl Harbor pick up was 6:30am.
On the way home, our flight out was at 4:30pm local time so it was a red eye. We slept a little on the plane and arrived in Atlanta around 6am eastern time the next morning. We connected to Buffalo and were walking into our house by 11am. We made sure we stayed up, without napping, and went to bed at a normal time that night. We slept fine that night and woke up at a normal time the next morning. We had no jet lag or trouble adjusting to the time on the way home. Even though a red eye can be uncomfortable and over-tiring, I think it was worth it to not have issues with the time change back home.
That is why I am wondering if 7 nights is enough time.
It depends. Its a big commitment for only 7 nights - a lot of travel time and a lot of money. While I think you can certainly maximize your time over 7 nights, it just depends on whether you think you'd be able to return in the future for a longer time. If yes, then I would hold out for that. If not and Hawaii is a bucket list item, then I would go for it. FWIW, DH and I spent 16 nights between 3 islands on our first trip. If/when we return, we would do a minimum of 10 nights between 1-2 islands.
I might just look at Xcaret in Cancun.
One thing I always tell people is that you should travel to Aulani if you want a *Hawaiian* vacation. If you're looking for a beach or resort vacation, there are many resorts and beaches that are much closer to home, a fraction of the price, and honestly nicer than many of the beaches in Hawaii. Cancun is on the gulf so it has powder white sand, with clear, warm, and calm water. Aulani beaches are on a manmade lagoon and they are a coarse, dark sand that gets very hot on the feet. Many other public beaches in Hawaii can have rough ocean waters that require a person to be a strong swimmer. If someone is going to spend the time and money to travel to Hawaii, they should be interested in the culture, history, customs, nature, and beauty of the islands and want to explore that. If none of those things are of interest, then I think it should raise the question of whether Hawaii is the right place to meet your vacation desires.