Now you might be thinking, what is the significance of Costco in Hawaii? Honestly, and generally speaking, nothing. However, in our specific case, it was huge.
Costco was our first stop in Maui after landing and getting our rental car. To our surprise (and glee), Costco and the airport are practically neighbors! We found a parking spot and our first stop was the food court.
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| Everything is infamously more expensive in Hawaii, but the food court prices at Costco are the same! |
After grabbing our first meal in Maui, we proceeded to do some shopping at Costco to prep for our week long trip: a case of water (which we completely finished by the time we left!), a 5 lb bag of Cuties, and a pineapple. We weren't sure if Hawaii Costco was going to sell beef jerky at higher prices so we bought two bags in Plano and brought them over. Turns out the ones in Hawaii were slightly cheaper I think. Oh well, we didn't know.
After buying pineapple in Hawaii, I don't think I can ever buy another pineapple elsewhere anymore. I had talked with one of my student's mom before we left and she had told me to beware of the fruit stands in Hawaii who try to rip you off. Her mother had taken a trip to Hawaii and paid $10 for a pineapple. When asked if it was any better than the pineapple in the continental U.S., she said it wasn't that different! I knew this going in and was prepared to forego my Hawaiian pineapple until I came across them at Costco: $2.50 for the most golden, ripe pineapple I've ever seen in my life.
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| Look at that golden color evenly distributed across the pineapple. I didn't even have to be picky - the ones in the pile all look like this! They're quite large, too. Probably twice the size of the ones I see in our local grocery stores. |
In addition to being convenient to prep for a week in Hawaii with some 15+ miles of hiking across two days, our Costco membership saved us about $20 dollars. How did we do this? Costco gas.
We rented a car for the entire time were in Maui and did some preplanning. In my notes, I estimated that we were going to be driving 500 miles total. Assuming that our rental car had an 18 gallon tank and we'd get an average of 25 mpg, we would be using approximately a tank and a half of gas. Using $3.50 as the average gas price in Maui, we were projected to spend about $100 on gas for the week. I hope all my math teachers out there are proud of me for remembering how to apply my simple algebra skills into real life. :D
It turned out that we drove about 580 miles for the week. We also did not average 25 mpg for the first 3-4 days because driving the Road to Hana only allows you to go a maximum of about 30 mph in certain places because of the tight hairpin turns. The majority of the road I think we were driving between 20-25. Luckily, we had a Costco membership, and gas was only $2.67! That's nearly a dollar savings per gallon compared to every single other gas station on the island. Our rental car ended up having an 18.5 tank capacity so that was a great estimate on my part. In the end, we spent less than $60.00 on gas for the entire week driving around the island. Huge savings for our entire trip!
I'm very thankful that we had our Costco membership for this trip. It was totally coincidental because we had no idea a year ago when we signed up for one that it would save us this much money. I also didn't think that Costco would be so conveniently located on the island to where driving by it is pretty easy when getting around.
I will say this: the lines for gas are no better. Have patience. Lots of it.
Next time: Why I'm Glad This Trip Wasn't Our Honeymoon
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