Our first encounter! ANY advice is welcome!

[LoveSlushi]

Hey, everyone! It's LoveSlushi here! I just thought I would come to the right place full of understanding people on a topic like this. Well anyways, my SO and I have been together for 6 months now! I know it's not long at all, but still. Recently, I went through some REAL stressful things that I shall not discuss...But I called my SO for comfort and said, "I just need to escape for awhile...I hate PA..." And he said, "You know what? We're going to....Get ready for this........Hawaii." So ever since we've been planning this awesome vacation that I'm so excited for! It'll be the first time we meet, which I'm nervous about, but we'll be traveling together, seeing the world together! We both have only been to a few states so we both are looking forward to traveling...

Now...Here comes all the juicy info on money, lol. I'll be flying to Indiana (where he lives) May 4th if everything goes according to plans. And we'll meet at the airport, where we'll spend a few hours together before our long flight to Lihue, Hawaii. (On the Kauai island)...I calculated how much money I'll have by then...If I just work weekends, it should be about $4,400. And he plans on paying for an American Airlines vacation package. Assuming it's a $4,000 package, (which is the worst case), he'll have $2,000 for the trip. I'm flying with AA, so I'll get a ton of miles!

Okay, thank you for sticking through this intense post with me! :P Now, the package we saw is about $2,700 right now, and we aren't sure how prices jump...So, things get a little complicated for saving up, because I have no idea where we'll stay, and how to be smart with food. The package will include flight, hotel, and car though, so that'll be awesome! And I want to make sure I'll have some money left over so in June, I'll have enough money to buy things in Ireland...My mom is taking me there so I don't have to worry about a hotel, or food for the most part. So, LFAD, any advice on the first encounter, and this trip? ANYTHING is highly appreciated! Thank you so much for reading this! <3

[LoveSlushi]

Also our vacation will be about 2 weeks! We'll be back in Indiana on the 17th where we'll stay overnight at a bed and breakfast and say bye on the 18th

[Moon]

Hawaii is very, very expensive, they have to import almost everything, so if you can work more than just weekends, you should. It's always better to have too much money than not enough Also, since it is your first meeting, and yeah, I know this sounds pessimistic, make sure you have enough money to leave on short notice. Just in case. If everything is good after a few days, splurge on the most ridiculous souvenirs humanly possible, but play it safe, even if that sounds stupid to you now.

I'm very jealous, have an amazing time Don't hate on PA though, we live in a gorgeous state!

[LoveSlushi]

Aww, thank you! Hey! Don't be jealous! You can save up for Hawaii too! Yeah, love that idea! I'd get the most random souvenirs if I'm that upset that I'll leave on short notice. :P Lol, you live in PA too? It's a lot of the people around here that I don't like. Not the state. Like in York.....Bleh.

[Moon]

Haha! I'm still jealous! My boyfriend lives in Finland, and so we take our side trips around Europe, so I doubt I'll get to Hawaii anytime soon! That would be an incredibly long flight for him But I may talk him into it one day! Yep, I'm in PA too, I'm in the Philly area.

[Haley53]

I've never been to Hawaii, but I think the best thing to do would be to do a Google search. Go to the tourist website, look through that. See if you can find forums or even Yahoo! Answers type sites/forums where people have asked and answered questions about going. If you know of anyone who's been, talk to them about their experiences. Essentially gather what you can about Hawaii. It will give you an idea of things to see and places to go, which you can research into and find prices for even if you have no intention of going for them (usually you can find an average price for activities in the area), and you'll possibly be able to find accounts of what expenses people had to pay.

As someone said earlier, it's better to go with too much than too little. Consider working more than weekends, if you can, a month or so before your trip. See if you can calculate a rough budget, total up money for a little extra (what if you see a nice local place and decide to go for a date night dinner, for example?), and then have what I like to call "emergency money," which you can only touch in the event you either absolutely need it, or you end up requiring more for the last few days of your trip. Anything extra can then go for your trip to Ireland come next summer.

Usually prices jump the closer you get to the occasion or you tend to get higher priced packages due to the fact the lower priced ones have been snatched up. Personally, I prefer to book sooner rather than later, but some people are able to snatch up deals last minute; really depends on if you know where to look, if you have the time to be there/online, etc.