Things I Wish I Knew Before Going to Hawaii for First Time

Before leaving for Oahu, I’d heard from friends and read on social-media groups that getting around could be difficult. My fears of sitting in traffic for the whole week set in before I even stepped foot off the plane.

In reality, my family and I never got stuck in gridlocked traffic over our six days on the island.

A hotel worker we met said that, no matter which part of the island you are on, the big secret to avoiding traffic is to head out after 9 a.m. and try to make your way back either before 3 p.m. or after 6 p.m.

My family and I followed this rule every day of our trip and never had much traffic to deal with while we traveled from Ko Olina to Pearl Harbor and from Ko Olina to the North Shore.

We also found the drivers to be much more courteous than we’re used to back in Florida. No one weaved in and out of the cars around us.

One of the most talked about spots on Oahu is Leonard’s Bakery, known for its Portuguese-style doughnuts named malasadas.

The main store is near Honolulu, which was about a 40-minute drive from where we were staying. I’d pretty much accepted that we’d have to budget a few hours one day to try the sugary treats.

But once we landed on Oahu, we noticed a Leonard’s Bakery food truck — lovingly named Malasadamobiles — about 10 minutes from the resort.

The truck dished out hot malasadas to order, but it didn’t offer the main bakery’s extended menu. That was the only real trade-off for us, but it was worth it to save on driving time.

My packing list for Hawaii was long, but one of the most important items was sunscreen. Hawaii is close to the equator, so the UV rays are even stronger on the islands.

However, I wished I’d known more about the islands’ rules around reef-safe sunscreen before I started packing.

Hawaii has banned the sale of sunscreens with the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate, which can be harmful to the local reefs — and some counties allow only mineral-based sunscreens.

I ended up using Sun Bum sunscreen throughout my stay, and now that I know more, I’ll continue to use it in Florida to help protect coral reefs.

The weather can be drastically different around Oahu. For instance, when my family left Ko Olina on the western side of the island to drive to the North Shore, the sun was out, and it was very warm.

About an hour into our drive, we passed by Kualoa Ranch (a filming location for “Jurassic Park”), and it was suddenly cooler and cloudy.

Once we got to the North Shore, the sun was back out, and we were able to enjoy our day of beach hopping.

Knowing some key sayings and phrases in a native language goes a long way with locals, no matter where you’re traveling. I knew some basic Hawaiian words — such as “aloha” (hello) and “mahalo” (thank you) — but I wish I’d learned a few more.

While I was there, I learned a new phrase that came in handy: “a hui hou,” which means “until we meet again.”

We stayed in some spots for a few days, so it was nice to say that to the people we’d connected with on our way out.

This story was originally published on April 30, 2024, and most recently updated on December 29, 2025.