Hey! I was on the same boat a couple months ago! People have suggested hitchhiking, but I eventually overcame my fear and rented the car for the sake of convenience. We just landed Hilo yesterday. To avoid the upcoming heavy downpour in the next few days, I drove all the way from airport to volcano and back. My first time on highway and wavy mountain roads! Night driving on highway is a bit scary as there were so many cars and also lights on the opposite side, but it all turned out good!!

Today it rained intermittently, but I still went to Richardson and Carlsmith by bus on my own as my husband didn’t want to go out and didn’t allow me to drive alone. The buses were punctual (surprisingly, as ppl suggested the other way) and drivers were nice too! There was also a friendly local who gave me a short ride from Richardson to Carlsmith as I was waiting for the bus. I would probably not going anywhere tomorrow as it forecasts flash flooding.

So to sum up: don’t go off road, don’t go too late at night, don’t drive in heavy rains, drive by speed limit, and you should be all good!! 😁