I spent $4,500 on a weeklong family vacation on Oahu. Take a closer look at how expensive Hawaii can be to visit.

When my family relocated from the northeast to the West Coast, I knew I wanted to plan a trip to Hawaii. I thought it would finally be easier and cheaper for us all to go than when we lived in New York.

As I started researching, I set my sights on Maui. I had been before and knew it would be a great mix of beautiful beaches and family-friendly resorts with plenty of things to do with my toddler.

But, I found a standard hotel room at a four-star resort with the amenities I wanted — pools, beach access, and on-site restaurants so this tired mama didn't have to cook — showed no less than $750 per night on Google before taxes and fees.

Even when I planned to pay with credit card points for a portion of the trip, I calculated we'd spend close to $10,000 if we went for a week, to cover flights, a hotel, rental car, and spending money on fun activities and good food.

Considering that's the same cost as a few mortgage payments, that was a no-go.

To go to Honolulu on Oahu, however, flights from Los Angeles were under $400 per person, and standard hotel rooms in Honolulu on Waikiki Beach started around $250 to $300 per night, according to Google search results at the time.

By using my credit card points to offset the cost of Honolulu hotels, I was also able to splurge on two nights at Disney's Aulani Resort in Ko Olina.

All together with a rental car, food, and activities, Oahu would be half the price of a week on Maui.

When I typically plan a week-long trip for my family of three, I expect to spend anywhere between $1,000 and $2,500 when I factor in flights, hotels, rental cars, food, and activities.

Choosing to go to Hawaii meant I was agreeing to pay a premium. My research showed that it cost more than if we'd chosen another tropical location near the West Coast, such as Mexico.

But after a long pandemic where we spent very little on travel, and with a preference to vacation domestically with my young child, I decided spending more on Hawaii felt like a worthy and much-needed investment in making memories for this one time.

Flights on Delta for my husband and I cost $388 each. Since my daughter was under age two at the time, we were permitted to hold her on our lap, as opposed to purchasing a third seat.

But our airline costs didn't stop at our combined $776 fares. We also had a lot of cargo.

Flying with a young child isn't easy, and for us, it's not low maintenance, either. For seven nights and eight days, all three of us needed a full-size suitcase each, and we also traveled with a car seat, stroller, and Pack 'n Play crib. While my Delta credit card offered me one free checked bag each way per person, and a car seat is free, we still had to pay a $40 fee for our Pack 'n Play each way.

Plus, we live about two-and-a-half hours away from LA, and had to leave our car in long-term economy parking at the airport, which cost $100.

For the first three nights on Oahu, we stayed in a one-bedroom suite at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu. It was beachfront with all the amenities I wanted and I knew my daughter would love all the pools. Insider received a discounted media rate of $189 per night, but with taxes and fees, it still came out to $670.

We then moved on to Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, where two nights in a standard room with partial ocean views cost $1,826.06 with taxes and fees.

Finally, we spent the last two nights in a junior suite at The Royal Hawaiian back in Honolulu on Waikiki Beach. I booked with my credit card points and only owed $100 for taxes and resort fees. Had I paid full price, it would have cost another $1,613.74.

While our most expensive hotel, Aulani, didn't charge resort fees, the other two did.

At the time of our stay in August, Hilton Hawaiian Village's fee was $50 per night, plus tax, and The Royal Hawaiian's resort fee was $42 per day, plus tax.

While these fees included things like Wi-Fi, activities, and discounts on local services such as water sports, with two nights at each property, they collectively added around $200 to my total vacation cost.

I booked a rental car for my family on Oahu. I thought it would give us freedom to explore and travel between hotels, and that it would be easiest to install my daughter's car seat once and be done with it, rather than move it between shuttles and transfers.

I booked our weeklong rental car through Costco Travel for $476, which I thought was a good price. But I had not considered parking expenses.

At Hilton Hawaiian Village, the self-parking charge for registered hotel guests is $57 per night; that meant $171 for our three-night stay.

At Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, self parking or valet parking are both $37 per day; for two nights, it cost $74.

And at the Royal Hawaiian, self parking was $45 per day, so our two-night stay cost $90.

That all totaled to $335 spent on parking alone. I later ultimately decided this was a mistake, and it would have been cheaper to book cabs and airport transfers.

A week in Hawaii in hotels meant a week of dining out, whether it was a restaurant, a casual cafe, or take-out.

I was excited to try local specialties like acai bowls for breakfast, poke bowls for lunch, and fresh fish for dinner. But they weren't cheap.

I especially felt sticker shock when I ate in hotels. That convenience I wanted by not cooking was expensive; my much-awaited poke bowl cost $28, a simple fish sandwich was $27, most dinner entrees cost $35, and a regular burger was $29.

Even dining outside of hotels was costly. In Ko Olina, we went to the much-recommended Monkeypod Kitchen, where my fresh-caught ahi tuna cost $45.

According to The Royal Hawaiian's website, the original Mai Tai cocktail was created by "Trader Vic" Bergeron in 1944 and brought to Hawaii in 1953, where it was first served at The Royal Hawaiian hotel.

So, I knew I wanted to have one at the aptly-named Mai Tai bar when we stayed on-site. My husband and I each ordered drinks, and I was shocked when the bill showed mine as $20. We both lived in New York City for a long time and were used to expensive cocktail prices in big cities, but couldn't believe we were paying more than we would in NYC for a tropical drink at a casual beachfront bar.

Every drink was pricey, ranging from $17 to $22.

Despite paying those resort fees in Honolulu, they did not include the use of beach chairs and umbrellas on Waikiki Beach.

According to a sign I saw posted at the stand in front of the Hilton, one chair cost $25 to rent per day, and an umbrella cost another $40. That would mean $90 for me and my husband to both sit on the beach for just one day out of a week.

Similarly, at The Royal Hawaiian, two beach chairs and one umbrella cost $95 per day if you use their partner vendor, according to their website.

Only at Aulani were these amenities included in the hotel price.

Given that we'd easily spend around $500 if we paid to do this every day at the beach while staying at those hotels, we opted to just sit on the sand on our towel.

Skipping the beach chairs wasn't always comfortable, but it was smart.

And did I have to spend over $1,800 for just two nights at Disney's resort? No. Did I want to? Yes. I knew with all the characters and family-friendly pools that it was a place my daughter would love, and I felt like it was a cost that could be balanced given the lower prices of the other hotels.

We also could have left the resorts more to find cheaper dining options where meals might have cost less. But I was traveling with a toddler, and easy places that were close by were always the best choice for our family.

And I could have skipped the car rental if I'd considered we would mostly be spending time on-site at hotels.

I could have also booked a shorter trip. Rather than hop between three hotels, I could have done just two properties for a few less nights, and shaved a few hundred dollars off my total bill.

While I'd love to repeat some variation of this trip annually, I think Hawaii will remain a special splurge for my family that we only do every few years when it makes sense financially.

But for a one-off, much-needed vacation, I think it was worth the cost for the high-quality hotels and food we experienced, and the memories we made. And I'm glad we didn't spend as much as we could have on another island.

But next time, I'll implement a few of those small changes to try and offset the cost more.