So I'm still in planning phases for a big surprise trip for wife and me (40th bdays and 10th anniversary). This is for summer 2020.

My latest idea is Hawaii for 5 nights, then Fiji for 5 nights

Hotel will be Marriott points, (booking 4 nights with points gets a 5th free), and I see these over the water bungalows in Fiji are surprisingly well in my budget (Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay), as compared to the ones in Tahiti.

Cash/point combo is 140k points and about $1500 for the presidential OTW bungalow or $1200 for standard otw bung., leaving me 180-200k points for the 4 nights in HI which is enough for 90% of what they have there.

I'm also looking at Qantas business class flights, one way from Nadi to LAX (I picked a random day in June) is only $1200 usd, is that right? This seems really cheap, so I'm thinking I'll use that for the long flight home. Overall itinerary is looking like:

Den-HI on SW (using points)
HI for 5 nights, probably arrive Tuesday, leave Sunday
HI to Fiji on whatever airline is cheapest (5-6 hour flight)
Fiji 5 nights, arrive Monday leave Friday
Qantas business class with the lie flat seats for nadi-lax, which is 10 hours, arrive in LAX on friday.
Then lax-den home on SW (points).

I think I have those days right, also I don't know if these airlines fly on all days, I'll figure that out later.
I could also switch it and do long flight over, then to HI, then home, but I think I'd rather have a nice relaxing sleep on the way home, after a gluttonous 10 days.

A few questions:
Does this seem like too much traveling for 10 days? It's ~26 hours of flying, but spread out over 4 flights.
What is there to do in Fiji for a couple who doesn't scuba dive? The resort, looks a bit isolated. We would a enjoy a hike, open jeep tour, some water activities, etc. I'm afraid we might get bored, but then I remind myself it's only 5 nights.
What is the low end of cost for a flight from HI to FIJI, and what city has non stop on what airlines?

Quick math gives me $1500 (otw bungalow) + $2400 (qantas) + HI-Nadi flights (~$1000?) + food/drink for 10 days, so all-in is ~$6500.
I have $1500 in reward cash on an old USAA card I haven't used in forever, so that puts me at $5k which is about my budget.

I'll burn through my Marriott points that I've been saving for 4 years, but this is worth splurging for. I'll have companion pass so the domestic flights won't drain too much of my SW bank. I figure Den to HI will be 15k-20k and lax to den will be 10k.


Any tips or ideas are welcome. I originally was just going to do HI for 10 days, but now I have this itch to get over to south pacific since it's not that far from HI, and I see this lie flat seat for only $1200, which is the one requirement wife would need to make that length of overnight flight.

So I'm seeing the qantas flight I saw is called 'business sale'. The business saver is 60% more, and the business flex is twice as much.

This is still a lie-flat seat in the same area right? Is it just different cancellation fees, etc?
It is available on the weekdays, but not on sat/sun.

Are you going to fly direct from Honolulu to Fiji, that would be the deal breaker for me.

Ag CPA said:

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Are you going to fly direct from Honolulu to Fiji, that would be the deal breaker for me.

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Yeh it's nonstop on a few airlines.. this says 5 hours:
https://www.fiji.travel/information/getting-to-fiji

But I'm only finding one at like 6.5 hours.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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I have never been to Fiji, but have been to Bora Bora twice and Maui. I would just pick one location and stay there unless you pick Hawaii and you could easily do 2 islands over 10 days. Hawaii to Fiji is a really long treck and you cross over the international date line and will lose a lot of time and be tiring, just not as relaxing. We have been to Bora Bora twice and I would choose there or Moorea over Fiji. Many in Bora Bora didn't paint Fiji in a real positive light that is was very special. I am sure there are exceptions though as there are a ton of islands in Fiji.

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I checked french polynesia, and marriott only has two properties there and both are category 7, which makes a big difference compared to the fiji ones at category 5.
Also looking at qantas LAX to PPT business is $2500 ea. one way, so twice as much.

Tahiti wouldn't cross dateline though, which is a bonus.

Maybe HI and BoraBora might work. I don't know I want to do 10 days in a place like fiji or bora bora, I think we would get a little bored of it at that long, considering they are so small.

Looks like a great vacation. I'd go for it.

Ironically, back in Y2K, when the kids were too young to travel internationally, I heard of a trip similar to yours. The thought was this...fly to Fiji, welcome the new year there...then fly to Hawaii the next day. Of course, by the time you arrive in Hawaii it's December 31...and you ring in the New Years one more time.

My main driver of splitting this up is I'd love to fly in one of the first class pod deals once in my life, but round tripping that is out of budget. So I figure, if I split up one leg with HI in the middle, it makes getting there more tolerable with a 7 hour domestic flight and 6 hour inertntl flight, then have the business class on the overnight flight home.

5 nights in each destination seems long enough to me to not have jetleg ruin the trip.

Go to Fiji if you are looking at doing any diving. Went there on my honeymoon and the diving was beyond words. Even if you are going to go snorkeling, I'd still recommend Fiji.

I also agree with other posters - do one or the other. Personally, I'd go to Fiji and spend all your time there. As far as jet leg - it's 6 hours earlier there than central time - so it's not that much of an adjustment.

I don't think there is anything wrong with splitting your trip; when we went to Bora Bora last summer a lot of the other guests were parlaying their stay there with Australia, New Zealand or Hawaii (our days were limited so we did not).

I would recommend Oahu and Maui for your 10 day trip, very short flight from Oahu to Maui, also very cheap...I think I spent $200 RT last year from Oahu - Maui.

Guppy said:

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Go to Fiji if you are looking at doing any diving. Went there on my honeymoon and the diving was beyond words. Even if you are going to go snorkeling, I'd still recommend Fiji.

I also agree with other posters - do one or the other. Personally, I'd go to Fiji and spend all your time there. As far as jet leg - it's 6 hours earlier there than central time - so it's not that much of an adjustment.

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Well, it is actually +18 hours. It is across the international date line. Jet lag is horrible. It took us 2 or3 days to normalize. It's a LONG flight...

Wouldn't recommend anything less than 1.5 weeks there.

Would do all Hawaii or all Fiji. Plenty of places to go in both island chains to change things up. Just go to different islands. For instance in Fiji, there is the big island with mountains and white water rivers, desert islands where the blue lagoon is, and lush tropical islands with natural water slides in the rain forest.

There IS a travel warning in Fiji right now though, but if you stay away from the crowded cities you should be fine.

-6 or plus 18 is the same. Yes you go across the date line, but your body does not know that.

And no, jet lag is not horrible. Maybe it's just me, but I acclimated immediately. So did my wife and 2 friends. Perhaps to people who are on a very rigid sleep schedule? We slept decent on the flight over there (in coach), landed at 6 am and hit the ground running. Mind over matter perhaps? Either way, the time change didn't affect us one bit. And I've done multiple international trips. Just don't think about it. IF the sun is up - so are you.

I'm not worried about jet lag; that's another part of the whole idea of splitting it up.

Hawaii is 3 hours earlier than us. We'd adjust to that no problem in 5 days. Then if we went to Fiji it would be just 2 hours earlier than HI. The different day doesn't make a difference. If we did bora bora there is no time change from HI.

The biggest time adjustment would be when we return home, but with a first class lie flat seat we could get legit sleep overnight, and the wife is off for summer anyway so no worries. I'd plan to get back a day or two before going back to work. I'm not worried about adjusting, I adjust easily.

Looks like I have some thibkinh to do.

All I am saying is why do both when there is a TON to do at each place. You coykdnever see all of Fiji in even 2 or 3 weeks. Why rush and do both... makes no sense.

jet leg coming home was the main issue. Not that bad I guess but still, why do both places. Just take 2 different trips and enjoy and experience each place... just my opinion, of course do what you want...

Also our biggest regret on our Fiji trip was not taking the short jump over to New Zesland or Australia... we were so close.

Quote:

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Hawaii is 3 hours earlier than us.

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it will be 4 hours earlier by the time SWA starts flying to Hawaii. Hawaii doesn't follow DST.

Plus you will change planes in CA somewhere from Denver. It makes for a long day no matter how you cut it.

Question on this part:

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Qantas business class with the lie flat seats for nadi-lax, which is 10 hours, arrive in LAX on friday.

Then lax-den home on SW (points).

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Do you have to go through customs in LA? Then go to a different terminal and check your bags on SWA. or does Qantas ship your bags right to SWA? If you go through customs, I would get the the Global entry. Makes it somewhat easier. Also make sure you have a passport not expiring within 6 months of your trip.

Nothing is more fun than landing at LAX after a 10 hour red eye then going through customs then changing terminals to check your bags to home on a SWA 737. I hope it's easier than that.

aggiedata said:

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Quote:

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Hawaii is 3 hours earlier than us.

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it will be 4 hours earlier by the time SWA starts flying to Hawaii. Hawaii doesn't follow DST.

Plus you will change planes in CA somewhere from Denver. It makes for a long day no matter how you cut it.

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Didn't know HI stayed standard time all year. Good to know.

United has non stop from den to 4 Hawaii airports. I'm comsidering doing that now, since it's only 40k points for a nonstop and I have 80k.

aggiedata said:

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Question on this part:

Quote:

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Qantas business class with the lie flat seats for nadi-lax, which is 10 hours, arrive in LAX on friday.

Then lax-den home on SW (points).

---

Do you have to go through customs in LA? Then go to a different terminal and check your bags on SWA. or does Qantas ship your bags right to SWA? If you go through customs, I would get the the Global entry. Makes it somewhat easier. Also make sure you have a passport not expiring within 6 months of your trip.

Nothing is more fun than landing at LAX after a 10 hour red eye then going through customs then changing terminals to check your bags to home on a SWA 737. I hope it's easier than that.

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Yeh I'm second guessing as well.

I searched nan to den on qantas and it has same flight to lax, then finishes off to den on AA. About $1400 per person, with a two layover in lax. I'm guessing my bags would make it all the way to den on their own? Would I do customs in lax or den?

Question; Fiji airways uses a330 but has angled flat seats 2-2-2. Qantas has a330 with lie flat seats 1-2-1 and says it's operated by Fiji airways. Seat guru shows qantas a330 business is clearly different than air Fiji a330. I'm confused. Whose plane am I flying on? I would def want the qantas lie flat.
Flightsfrom.com shows only airline nan to lax is fiji airlines. I guess I don't understand the whole airline partner thing works.

I really think you're trying to cram too much into one trip, I fly 120 plus times a year, domestic and international. I have around 5 trips a year to Hawaii for work and I can tell you the jet lag is legit, trying to add in Fiji on top of that in my opinion is just too much and will take away from your experience. Hawaii is an absolutely amazing place and with multiple islands that will easily fill a ten day itinerary, just my 2 cents.

There is a chance we're doing this with a couple who are lifelong friends for a joint 10th anny. They are in Singapore, so they can't get to HI easily at all. If they want to do this, us doing all HI is out. It would have to be all fiji or another destination that we can both get to relatively easily.

I would second the option/idea of just picking one spot, which in this case sounds like Fiji is a better option for you and your friends from Singapore.

5 days isn't all that long in paradise... day 1 and day 5 would be your travel day, so then you are left with only 3 full days basically... not nearly enough time to do a whole lot.

62strat said:

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So I'm seeing the qantas flight I saw is called 'business sale'. The business saver is 60% more, and the business flex is twice as much.

This is still a lie-flat seat in the same area right? Is it just different cancellation fees, etc?
It is available on the weekdays, but not on sat/sun.

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Same seats... just different change/cancel structure

62strat said:

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aggiedata said:

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Question on this part:

Quote:

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Qantas business class with the lie flat seats for nadi-lax, which is 10 hours, arrive in LAX on friday.

Then lax-den home on SW (points).

---

Do you have to go through customs in LA? Then go to a different terminal and check your bags on SWA. or does Qantas ship your bags right to SWA? If you go through customs, I would get the the Global entry. Makes it somewhat easier. Also make sure you have a passport not expiring within 6 months of your trip.

Nothing is more fun than landing at LAX after a 10 hour red eye then going through customs then changing terminals to check your bags to home on a SWA 737. I hope it's easier than that.

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Yeh I'm second guessing as well.

I searched nan to den on qantas and it has same flight to lax, then finishes off to den on AA. About $1400 per person, with a two layover in lax. I'm guessing my bags would make it all the way to den on their own? Would I do customs in lax or den?

Question; Fiji airways uses a330 but has angled flat seats 2-2-2. Qantas has a330 with lie flat seats 1-2-1 and says it's operated by Fiji airways. Seat guru shows qantas a330 business is clearly different than air Fiji a330. I'm confused. Whose plane am I flying on? I would def want the qantas lie flat.
Flightsfrom.com shows only airline nan to lax is fiji airlines. I guess I don't understand the whole airline partner thing works.

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Where ever your point of entry is in the US, no matter where you go after that, you will need to clear customs and immigration.

So for those interested, I have booked a hotel for a wife and kid trip to Hawaii for her 40th bday, which will be a surprise that she'll find out on Xmas.

Sunday Dec. 29-Jan 3 (her bday). I plan to change this to the 28th, but it depends on flights. United has a cheap flight on sunday for now (22.5k points, so I have enough for 4), but hopefully SW will open my options. Wife has companion pass expiring this year, and I may possibly get it this year (and still valid next year). So going there we may get both kids free, but coming back, only 1 would be.

Staying at the Westin Maui resort at Ka'anapali beach, booked on points.

So now I'm just planning for our 10th anny in summer 2020, and it will be a single destination. Not sure if it will be Fiji (still working with our singapore friends to see if we can work something out), we'll see how I feel in 4 months when I can start looking again. I am considering Europe now, since we have a week in Palm beach this summer, HI in Dec, then next summer a week in Orlando, which is a lot of beach action.

Thanks to all for the help. Any suggestions for activities with young kids are welcome (ages will be a month shy of 4 and about 5.5)

They have a nice aquarium near there in Maui that the kids... and parents, will enjoy.

Definitely think you made the right choice, hope you guys enjoy Hawaii....one of my favorite places on earth.

Sounds like a good trip.

Most times Ive done something similar I regretted having to regroup and travel again. Lately, I prefer to just chill more where I'm at.

So I've now changed it to the 28th-3rd; 6 nights. 5 would seem a bit quick I think, considering the 2 travel days.

Hell I may convince myself to bump it to the 27th at some point! I used points for 5 nights, so as it is I'm only paying 1 night, ~$600.

Flights will be SW, and all on points.

I'm checking out this for a day excursion:
https://www.prideofmaui.com/trips/morning/

Molokini and Turtle town. Snorkeling at both locations. They give us breakfast, lunch, and booze. Kids will be 5.5 and right at 4 at that time. Not sure if the 4 year old will be quite ready for snorkeling but hopefully some swim lessons this summer can get him close.

Might try and find a whale watching tour as well. Other than that, there are lazy rivers and pools and slides all over the Westin resort, so we'll be spending the rest of our time there. We can walk down to black rock and maybe let the kids practice snorkel before the excursion.

For young kids you may look into Napili beach and Kapalua beach for snorkeling. They are 10-15 minutes north of Kaanapali. Both are small, crescent shaped beaches that have calm water and lots of fish to see.

Yeh I guess I didn't expect them to really snorkel. More like put floaties on and swim/play around. My oldest (now 4) already does that in pools; he just floats off on his own and is totally comfortable in a pool and can kick back to the side.

Anyway, They sell this location as really calm because it's a caldera. It says they provide a lifeguard in the water to help those who can't swim.