Family Gap Year Post #26: The Big Island—Lodging & Food (Aug-Oct, Part 3)
Today I share the highs and lows of our lodging and food situation during month of island hopping across Hawai’i.
Lodging
Highs
We found a guesthouse a little over a mile away from our friends in rural Hawai’i in the town of Pepe’ekeo. The neighborhood was perfect for us! There was sprawling acreage and an ocean view, and it was only 15-20 minutes away from the town center of Hilo.
We found the guesthouse using Furnished Finders, which is a site for professionals seeking housing for longer-term stays. Our house cost about $2,200 per month. I appreciated how affordable it was.
The boys did great sharing a room together, and I loved my daily walks around the neighborhood. Our landlord lived in the house next store and constantly shared fresh fruit with us. She also invited us to dinner on our last night on the island, and we have plans to meet up with her in her home country of Singapore in a couple of weeks.
Lows
I struggled with the kitchen! There was no place to prep food (except for on top of the stove), and the refrigerator was difficult to see into.
Of course these complaints are minor, but I’ve been very focused on trying to develop healthier eating habits these past couple months. I’ve been trying to eat more vegetables and reduce my carbohydrate intake. So it hasn’t been easy!
Also, Matt and I shared a tiny and very jiggly bed. Our sleep has been pretty terrible!
Food
Highs
I joined Noom again and got into a good rhythm of walking every day and drinking smoothies for breakfast.
Lows
I do not recommend trying to eat in Hawai’i on a budget! We tried to eat a lot of meals at home, but the groceries are so expensive! So then we would try to conserve money on groceries. But that meant we never had enough snacks or interesting diversity in meals! It was a challenge. And it frankly wasn’t very fun. It led to a lot of bickering between Matt and me.
I did a ton of research to try and identify the most affordable restaurants. But even at those restaurants, we spent ~$50 per meal (with no appetizers or drinks and sometimes with no sides!).
And Hawai’i is surprisingly not very vegetarian friendly. My, oh, my!
I don’t mean to sound like such a Complainy Pants. I’m just trying to be honest!
Stay tuned for next week’s post when I talk about our Exercise & Budget. In the meantime, you can see daily update on Instagram or weekly updates in my newsletter!