HAWAII BLOG FEBRUARY 8th and 9th, 2026 - HAWAII BIG ISLAND to HOME

 

2/8/26– A well deserved good night’s sleep as we have no set plans for today. The sky is full of clouds with the rain pouring in presumably all day so unsure what‘s on the agenda anyhow.

We look through travel videos to see what we could do yet almost everything is outdoors, but we spot a distillery tasting in Kona that looks promising. I call ahead to confirm they’re open due to the Superbowl going on and they are. Score!

 

        

The 12th Hawaiian Distillery is less than ten minutes away and has five local tastings for only $5. Most are honey infused and taste quite good, although very strong by themselves, so we have a splash of soda with each pour to even out the burn and it’s quite good. They even make a smoky, old fashioned drink which I would highly recommend. We stay for a few hours chatting up with another couple there before grabbing some burgers on our way back to our AirBnb.

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2/9/26– Our last morning in Hawaii. Our flight isn’t until 2:40pm and we are able to extend our checkout to 11am to better match up. We fill up our tank, grab some subway sandwiches for the long flight, drop off our rental car and take the free shuttle to the airport.

Checking in is simple and security basic (so glad I don’t have to take my camera equipment out of my backpack now as that’s always a pain). While waiting for our flight, as we are over 2 ½ hours early, we overhear from another incoming crew that their flight in was a bit bumpy. Apparently we are under a wind advisement today so this should be interesting.

Waiting in the outside terminal and then walking up to the plane makes me wonder what happens when it pours down rain. I would think everyone would get soaked before their flight which doesn’t make much sense. They must make a killing on selling ponchos at that time.

We board the plane, find our seats and somehow Sharece has the entire row to herself. Good for her. The five hour flight back has some jitters to it, mainly toward the end, but we make it back to San Diego before 10pm.

It was a short adventure for us this time and happy the weather held up as it did because the rain is supposed to keep going this entire week. I will say I won’t miss the 15 mile per hour zones in one lane traffic, but everything else helped make our vacation well worth it.

I do have to thank our AirBnb host who gave us a great place to stay, Alaska Airlines for taking care of our round trip flights with miles and the people we met in Hawaii who were all very hospitable and helpful along the way.

END OF BLOG 

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