How to Plan an Active Vacation in 6 Easy Steps
Certain islands offered things we couldn’t do anywhere else on earth … like run through the Kona Ironman finish line area. After a trip to Kona Brewing Co., that is.
Step 2: Research your options
I think this step might be the most fun — it’s like window shopping for all the amazing things you could do. This is not the time to hold back — start researching what’s available in the area you’re visiting (and surrounding areas, for that matter), and keep track. I used a spreadsheet with a different tab for each island when planning this — it made it really easy to see at a glance how many things we were dying to do in each place, which helped us determine how long we’d stay on each island.
I strongly recommend keeping notes as you go along as well. I had columns for:
- Price
- Requirements (like whether we needed to spend the night before or after due to an early morning start or late night finish)
- How far ahead we would need to book
- Date restrictions (like weekends only or less crowded on weekdays)
- Whether we considered it a must-do
- Whether something similar was available on another island
- URL so I could pull it back up easily
- Notes (so I could remember that it was rated No. 1 on Trip Advisor, or that a friend recommended it, etc.)