Coming from Volcano National Park, Yen’s place is about 15+ minutes off the main road with lots of hills; it looks closer on the map than it felt in real life. Going in/from Hilo was a little smoother, about 6min.
As of mid-to-late February, their neighbors are undergoing some serious construction, and they work well into the night (past 10pm) and start early in the morning (before 8am). As this area feels like a rainforest, we were directed to keep the windows open and the fan moving as much as possible to prevent mold. As such, we heard the construction (and the neighbor’s dog barking because of the construction) pretty loudly.
If there wasn’t any construction going on, I’d easily rate this 5 stars. The bed was comfortable, bathroom was clean and practical, and the hanging lights + picnic bench outside were a nice touch! It was a little cumbersome having to get out of the car and manually open/close the gate behind us, though, but it seemed like all the houses in this neighborhood were fenced in so it wasn’t unusual.