We REALLY enjoyed our stay here! Hart was great, and very quick to respond whenever I had questions. As part of his info/welcome email, he listed many tips and places to visit, which was nice to have before coming. Below are some notes about the house, location, and food in the area. Overall, this house was a great place to be and to come back to after long days in the park: it definitely added to the quality of the trip. I highly recommend it.
House/Location:
We were only two people, so we didn’t use the upstairs loft bed/couch, or the second bedroom suite (with a separate entrance and its own bathroom - which might be great for a second couple in a friends/family vacation situation who want a little more privacy), but regardless, it was a great size and layout on the main floor. The dining room table was big (and great for eating at a corner and laying out all our day-bag equipment on the other ¾, lol [see my note about the coffee table below]). We enjoyed having our coffee on the deck and listing to the birds in the garden.
Our main goal was to spend time in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and (hopefully) film lava in the Halema'uma'u Crater, and this was a great location for it. The house is about a 5 mins from the park entrance, and 15 to the main parking for the (current) point to hike in to see the lava lake (she was active 4 of our 5 nights, we were very lucky!!). After long nights of shooting, it was great to be able to get back to the house so quickly. I had looked at other rentals that would have been 15-20 mins from the park, but I’m glad I didn’t rent those, because that would then mean 30 - 40 mins of driving late at night, and often in the thick mist.
If you are coming here for the park, this is a great location, but it does set you further away from everything else (which didn’t matter to us) so be ready for 1-2hr+ drives for day-trips to other parts of the island.
Good:
- The bed in the 1st floor bedroom was comfortable
- Plenty of closet space and a good dresser
- Great hot water and pressure. (I was nervous at first because I could hear the water pump push/cycle for even washing hands/dishes, and was worried that the hot water in the shower would be intermittent, but not so! It was great.)
- The stove/oven, toaster (“Great toaster!” - our remark after toasting our first bagel), coffee maker, microwave, fridge all were great, and they had fresh drinking water for us to use.
- Kitchen had main staples, and leftover non-perishable items from previous guests.
- Bathroom had "family-size" shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, etc. to use
- wifi was great
- Washer and dryer were great
- The gardens in the front and back were very nice and peaceful (but made it hard to have quick starts in the AM since they were so relaxing).
- Very few bugs
Don’t know:
- I’m not sure if there is AC (didn’t try to use it, the house stayed between 58 and 66 without heat or AC), and didn't try the portable humidifier that I saw under the stairs.
- Didn’t try the gas heater
- Didn't try the TV or entertainment system (they had a DVD player and a bunch of DVDs)
- Don't know the comfort of the other bedrooms
Things that DIDN'T bother us but may bother other people:
- No dishwasher
- Living room area is dim at night (not a problem during the day because of the sky light)
- The owners have a second little house on the property (for them only?) that is in view of the back deck and bedroom window. We never saw anyone coming/going, but if you want complete privacy, this could be an issue.
- The outside of most windows have spider webs, which may visibly unappealing to some people, but the inside of the house is very clean and bug/spider free.
Things that DID bother us, but might not bother other people:
- There is a big skylight in the 1st floor bedroom, so if you are an early riser you may love the sun pouring in, but since we were out late filming, and there was no type of shade/blinds for the skylight, it was very bright and quite bothersome. I ended up having my eye-mask (for the flights) by the bedside for the AM.
Not-so-great things:
- Both skylights in the main house, but especially the one in the living room, drip big condensation drops (at first I thought it was leaking, but it wasn’t raining) onto the glass coffee table and bed, respectively. We pulled the bedspread over the bed, and that seemed enough to protect the sheets, so that wasn’t as big of a deal, but we learned quickly: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR ELECTRONICS OR READING MATERIAL ON THE GLASS COFFEE TABLE or they will get wet/damaged.
- Hart contacted me before the trip and said there was a new tax starting Jan 2022 and I had to pay a little bit more money. It made me uncomfortable at first, because I’ve been on a trip with friends that got canceled because of some kind of scam via Airbnb, so I was wary. I googled it, and found out it was legitimate, so I paid it, but I wanted to mention it because I think it should just be part of the initial “fees and taxes” in the future and not added on after (though I know I made my reservation before it existed).
Food in the area:
We stayed for about a week, and I knew we’d want to cook at the house more than eat out, which turned out to be a good idea.
I don’t know if