Hilton Head, South Carolina

We're wrapping up Season 2 with an episode dedicated to one of our favorite family-friendly beach destinations—Hilton Head, South Carolina. This coastal gem offers the perfect mix of relaxation, adventure, and natural beauty, making it an unforgettable getaway for families.

In this episode, we’re diving into what makes Hilton Head so special, from its stunning beaches and unique atmosphere to the sense of safety and community that sets it apart. Whether you’ve been considering a trip or just love discovering new destinations, you won’t want to miss this one.

Join us as we share why Hilton Head holds a special place in our hearts and why it just might become your next favorite vacation spot!

Transcript

We're the Essary family and we're exploring America. One destination at a time on this episode of TravelEssary, We are going to share with you why we love Hilton head South Carolina so much. Let's chat.  

Welcome and thank you for joining us as we talk about one of our favorite places. To ever go to. Which is none other than Hilton head island in South Carolina. A wonderful spectacular.

Stupendous place to go. In my opinion, it would totally be  

You sound like.

Uh, ringmaster.  Introducing everyone to the circus. Uh, spectacular. Wonderful. Not main event. 

Also. Let's address your Vivity Bobbity.  

it just means magical.  And so it was just a magical place to go. I mean, everything was so good and so great. It was just baby Bobby.   yes, to the mortification of our teenagers. We are trying new words. And we're making them up as we go, you know, just like this new generation. Does whenever understand what they're saying? 

So we thought we'd return the favor. And they hate it.  

But it's going to catch on. It's got to be fetch and everything's going to be great.  Stop trying to make fetch happen. Okay. And I was there. He is. Hilton head, South Carolina. It is in my top five favorite. Vacations that we've ever taken. Absolutely. And.  It will definitely stay in the top five. For a long time until something is just.  Almost beyond words. I mean, I would even put it into my top three vacations ever.  Which says a whole lot.  Um, but it was just because it was one of those. From the very beginning from us just leaving our house. To getting back to our house.  So many great things happen now where there's some downside was there, you know, some, some valleys we had to go through. Yeah. Tentatively.  And emotionally. We took three teenagers with us. 

So yes, there. Few bumps in the road. But we still had a great, wonderful time. 

And. I guess the reason we liked it, the most. Is because it was one of those trips that we as a family really enjoy. All the way from the road trip.  To us getting there to the great food that we had. And then it was just so relaxing.  Even the time, even the time that we went, it was still relaxing for the amount of people that were out specifically during that time. 

Yeah. Yeah, it was the week of 4th of July week of 4th of July.  And there was a lot, there was a lot of people that were out, but it was still one of those things that even with the mass amount of people, because it was at a beach and there was so much space. That.  People had all to themselves. It was still very enjoyable. Yeah, just like we talked about. , in our very recent. , episode of making the most of a beach destination. There's just something about beaches in general, that is so laid back and so relaxing, but it was like that times 10 at Hilton head.  And it wasn't that Hilton head had anything that was.  I only want to say over and beyond anything that we've ever experienced anywhere else. But the atmosphere. That Hilton head. As a whole. Was the vibe they had was just super chill and relax. I think it's a combination of things that make it a really great and unique beach vacation. , One of it is the white sand beaches, which you don't see everywhere in America. 

It's only in certain places. And it was so soft, like powdery, fine white, beautiful, clean sand. And.  Living in Texas, you know, we don't get that here anywhere. And it was, it was beautiful. And the, the beautiful.  Blue calm waters. Again, it's totally different than what we get here , on the Gulf. 

It's just, it's so beautiful.  I mean there's 12 miles. Of just glistening, Sandy coastline. That.  All the people that can fit on the island. All have their own little piece of beach that you can just go enjoy. Relax. If you want to stretch out and play a game, or if you want to do some outdoor cooking on the beach, or if you want to have picnic, or if you just wanted to get into the water. I mean. You, you weren't climbing over each other for that to happen. 

It was just so relaxing. And one thing I will say, especially for the aesthetics of Hilton head island. Um,

As far as a city goes, it was one of the most. Cleanest.  

Well thought out.  Very friendly place that we've ever been to. Yeah. And there's a reason for that. So the average age of residents on Hilton head is 58. It's nice. It's really kind of a retirement community. I mean, majority of the people there. I think only 20%. Of the residents are under the age of 18. 

And of course, many of those wants they. Um, become an adult and move out of the house. They move away from Hilton head. 

So it is, it is definitely. A retirement type community, which means it's very well-kept and there's very low crime.

Yeah. There's only about 40,000 residents that live there. So it's not a huge city. That you would normally go to, it's not a, an Austin, Dallas, New York, San Francisco type place. It is a place that you're going to go on vacation specifically to chill at the beach.  Now there's a whole bunch of other stuff that you can do on the island. But that is definitely the number one go-to thing. And it's.  Definitely what we loved most about it. It's also a biking paradise. There are so many beautiful nature trails for biking or walking. It's definitely a place for nature lovers. Although you do want to be careful because there were a few times that we were there, that we found some alligators along her path. So watch out for that.

 That's just one of the many adventures that we get to have.  They're at Hilton head, , because it's such a clean. Um, safe environment. It's very well kept it. It's a really great places for families. Not all beach destinations. I can say that about. , there are definitely some beach destinations where they've kind of become like homeless drug encampments, and they're not safe, or you have to worry about being robbed on the boardwalk. Or something like that, but as far as Hilton head. , goes taking your family there.  I feel a hundred percent safe.  Taking my kids there, like, well, I think another way is because it is a. I'm an island. It's an island and it's a retirement community. It is a little bit on the more expensive side. 

Like their average cost of living is 4% higher than what , your national averages, which to me is worth it. If it means I'm getting a safe, clean environment. Absolutely. And so with the limit expenses allows them to do a little above and beyond, and it tells you. And throughout the entire city, because we drove from the moment you cross over the bridge and get onto the island. 

Like even the bridge itself. It's, it's so unique compared to say, when we went to south Padre, which we love south Badri. But totally different environment, totally different environment. And you could tell. And we drove all over the island. I mean, we got off the beaten path or we got an off the main trail. Onto the beaten path. 

We went into residential communities, um, different kind of housing places, and all of it was clean. .  The community and public spaces are very, very well maintained. And.  Like they're top notch too.  Actually I remember specifically thinking, I'm pretty sure I said it out loud at one point. Of wow. 

For how much we paid here. It looks like we don't belong here. Because it looked very upscale. Like would that first day we got there looked very ritzy and upscale. I remember things like their McDonald's being super.  Ritzy compared to every other Mac Donald's out there. Like everything just looked top knot.  But it wasn't that much more expensive than anywhere else we've been.  And I think  that's what helps create that relaxing low key. Family style atmosphere. 

Also, like Jeremy said, um,  for the time of the year that we went. It really didn't seem that crowded.  I know that Hilton head. Is well-known like whenever we announced, we were going to Hilton head to some friends and family, there were several people that were like, oh, I love Hilton head. But even going on 4th of July. And the week, the following week. It really did not feel crowded. 

And I feel like it's.  It's kind of further away from the hustle and bustle of your typical tourist destinations. 

Hilton head is committed to preserving as much as the natural environment as possible. They actually have really strict building codes and they focus on a lot of eco-friendly practices. Um, just making sure that the island stays pristine 

and I really appreciate how much that adds to the environment. Of Hilton head.  

I mean, I can speak, especially from a city standpoint, they did a fantastic job. Of keeping everything. Kind of out of your face.  They really care about nature over there. And blending nature and. , they do such a wonderful job as far as just keeping it. Low key, laid back. Um,  And not just like.  Everything just popping up in your face. 

Oh, like I can south Padre. 

,  When you're going along the main strip it's like neon lights.  Yeah. Like the nightlife. You know, something that catches your eye. Uh, the, the way that their buildings are all painted, almost different colors. Just so, you know, they're trying to be as unique as possible. So, you know, they bring standout. So they can bring in more customers where Hilton had everything is like,  And I guess it's to your own preferred style, but everything is a lot more, you unified. And uniformed. Unified uniformed. 

And , it's almost all kind of. Natural colors. Yeah. And , it's like they have probably regulations on what colors. What it can look like. Yeah. Because even, like I said, even the fast food restaurants all had a similar style and it's, and it's gorgeous. It's beautiful. . It makes the island unique. 'cause like, even right now, I'm mentally visualizing. What the island looks like based off of. That one unified perspective all of the buildings have. 

And so whenever you were talking about the McDonald's. Is, you know, it kind of looked like that. Upbeat ritzy kind of McDonald's is because they did the color scheme. And the building materials to match the rest of the city. And it just kind of brought that up. That's not your typical, bright neon yellow. Em and stuff. 

Um,  Blings in your eyes. I remember when we were first getting there when we were pulling into our first stop. Um, our teenagers being like, I don't think we belong here. Like this place looks way too expensive. And way too. Lindsay for us. No, that was, that was definitely a conversation that we had, right from the very beginning. Did we come to the right place? 

Are we going to be able to afford this vacation? I mean, that was what, that was one of the very first questions that I had for. I remember you saying, how much did you pay for this? Yeah. I was like, baby. Do we just go bankrupt? Coming to Hilton head. Don't worry. It's a way cheaper than Disney world. So it was, it was actually surprising. 

Um, I, I guess just from, from looking on the outside of how. 

Affordable. It was.  And it's such a nice space, such a. Nice space. And we've been to a lot of places that were nice that you definitely paid for it. Yeah, but it didn't feel like we paid for the niceness. Like the nicest was just, was just a bonus to us. So I was really curious and I had to look up. What is the average price for hotels and Airbnbs in the area? And it's really not. That bad. 

I mean, To me. It's no different than staying in Dallas. During there.  You know, peak seasons are when big events are going on. The average is 170 a night. Which is not bad. No, that's not bad at all. And that's for Airbnbs and hotels. So that's what your average night is. Um,  And you're getting so many different amenities with that. Especially, if you get the Airbnb, like we did a condo Airbnb, I think we stayed on the Hilton head resort. 

Yes. And we stayed for five days and we only spent a couple hundred dollars. I didn't think it was that bad. And of course, like most places, the longer you stay the cheaper each night is so it's definitely, we're staying several nights instead of just one or two. But, um, I think for the experience that we had.   I don't think it was a bad price at all. 

I mean, we were just a short little walk to the beach. We had like our own private access for the Hilton head resort. , it was wonderful letting the kids like when they wanted to go to the beach, just to let them go and walk down that little path to the beach and do whatever they wanted to do. Um, or to walk back to the condo to take a nap or to go to the bathroom or grab a sandwich or something like that. Definitely, definitely worth the prices. 

And I have been in way more expensive areas than that. That we're not near as nice. Yeah. Because we stayed in the Hilton head resort. , the little, I. I'm going to call it a compound, but the four buildings, I mean, it had two outdoor pools ahead of indoor pool. , indoor hot tub, indoor playing area at tennis courts, pickleball courts. , and then you got a nice walk, your own private little walk. 

You could even take a cart that they had every once in a while they were taking the cart back and forth, and then it led to, , a little grill right there on the beach called Coco's. And then it opened up to. A white beach. A beautiful white Sandy beach. And you can just enjoy the beautiful vastness of the ocean.  Um, not to mention Hilton head puts on a lot of family friendly oriented events, and we like our events. Yes. For instance, they do Harbor Fest. They do the Hilton head island seafood festival, which is probably amazing. 

And then like we went on 4th of July and they had special events on 4th of July. Um, there was a. What do you call it with planes? Fly over an air show or something? What is it called? There was an air show on the beach, which was really cool.  I couldn't tell you what flew by Jeremy probably could, but. I'm not the military person. 

So they do a lot of events on the island. And then, you know, just 45 minutes away is Savannah, Georgia, which there's so much to do there and beautiful, beautiful country. And it's a beautiful drive from Savannah to.  Hilton head. 

I mean, let's not forget also that Myrtle beach. Yeah. It's just right up the road as well. And Myrtle beach has, um,  Especially for spring break. There's a ton of events and stuff that goes on. But they have, um, isn't there like an amusement. Park or something on Myrtle beach, kind of like there is on Galveston. Yeah, there's that? 

I mean, but then there's Charleston that's in between the two, which is, has a huge Navy base as well. How far of his drive is it to Myrtle beach from Hilton head? It depends on which direction you go, but it's about four hours. For hours.  

Further. For a day.  

I don't know about that. Savannah is only 45 minutes. Yes. I mean, Savannah is definitely the closest, really, really good Southern cooking. It's totally worth it to head on down to Savannah. Absolutely. All the amazing places that are there. Uh, speaking of food, Hilton head has a unique food culture. 

It's known for its seafood. And traditional low country dishes that showcase Southern flavors. So it's a mix of like, What you would see in Savannah?  You know, those Southern flavors and seasoning. Mixed with like the seafood culture you would find in Maine. So it's, it's a mix of those two food  cultures, and it makes it so unique and delicious.  

It is really one of those interesting spots because it does give you that. Fancy.  Upstate Maine feel to it. And that, you know, just that deep. Seafood feeling. But you have that soul food, that's kind of added into it because it's so close to the Southern, especially Savannah. And.  It was, I mean, the seafood that we had was just amazing. That whole entire week.  Yeah. 

And most of the restaurants offer outdoor seating at Hilton head, which we did get to experience a few times. Um,  Not so much like your fast food joints. , but more of your mom and pop. Independently owned restaurants, they have outdoor seating, , which is a great way to take advantage of the climate and the scenery of Hilton head.  I mean, the weather was phenomenal. The whole time we were there with just.  A little hot. Though we did go in. You know, July. 

Yeah. I mean, but even with it hot, it's still not Texas hot. So you still get the ocean breeze. And so by sitting outside, it doesn't matter what side of the island that you're at, that you're, that you're sitting outside. You always have a nice breeze because it is right there on the ocean. And. It was. Phenomenal. 

We love sitting outside and eating. I do recommend making reservations at one of these restaurants during the peak seasons. Um, especially, , at the beginning of the dinner rush. , Darren spring and summer, because they will fill up very, very fast. So, and a lot of them will take reservations.  

Definitely. You know, research ahead of time of where you want to go and make those reservations. If it's during a peak season, if it's not, you're fine.  

 So real quick, what was your favorite aspect of our Hilton head trip? Like, what was your favorite thing about Hilton head? 

The two things. Number one, my favorite thing. Especially for someone who's doing all the driving or having to get around the town. It was super simple to navigate.  I mean, you there's really only one road that comes in where you've got to come off of the bridge. But then that one road. Loops around the entire town. So as long as you're on that road. You can get anywhere you want to on the entire town and in and out. So it's super simple. 

It's very well laid out. Um, the second aspect was because we got a. Uh, Airbnb right there.  On the beach. It made everything go into the beach and coming off the beach, just super simple. Yeah, that would have to be my favorite thing. I think as well, especially since we took three teens with us and teens tend to be. Want to be a little bit more independent. Um, being in the location that we were Hilton head itself and then the resort right on the beach, they were able to have a lot of that independence without me worrying about them. So much, it's a lot of freedom. It was, you know, , our son is definitely. , our number one morning child.  Um, Ariel is a morning person as well, but I mean, as soon as Justin, his eyes open, like he wants.  Yeah, he wants to go. So him being able to go with you on some mornings to go walk on the beach or to get up that early. You know, that was a great thing. Or.  And Tori she's the late afternoon. Late afternoon. The rest of us are crashing. 

Yeah. When we're all tired. She's a little bit more than the rest of us are late afternoon. She's like she wanted to hit the waves and she was determined to learn how to wakeboard. And found some friends. Yeah. That she hooked up with that were wakeboarding and. They taught her how to do it. Letting her go out and do that when we just wanted to have like chill in the Airbnb and the condo, or just on the beach or something, let her go off and do that. 

That was, it was nice. 

Yeah, it was something that.  With the age that our children were at. It was.  Phenomenal in going.  They look we're here. If you need us. Yeah. But, I mean, we still get cell phone. Yeah, we still kept an eye out on them because number one is the ocean. Currents, all the other kinds of stuff that goes along with. We're parents and that's just what we do. 

Yeah. Um, Ariel kind of stayed with us most of the time. Or her and Justin would go play in front of us. Uh, Toyota was a little bit more adventurous. She was the oldest. So she went around and.  She found friends and they kind of did their own thing as long as they didn't get in trouble or, you know, do something that they weren't supposed to do, then everything was fine and we really didn't worry about it. 

So it was really nice to be able to go to a beach. Unlike now in our last one where we went to south Padre. Yeah. Of where we could just relax and not have to worry, not really have to like keep a 100%. Uh, it's glued to certain people to make sure that they're safe. Yeah. Although the time of the year we went to south Padre, it was mostly just. Retired snowbirds.  But if we went in the summer, it had not been the same atmosphere of the summertime. 

We went in Hilton head, like I would have been way more concerned of their wellbeing and there's no way. That from where we were located in south Padre, I would've let the kids walk to the beach by themselves. No, absolutely not. Not with.  Having to cross that main strip, the main strip, and then having to go out, go down a couple of blocks. To even get to the beach, no matter which way they wanted to go. And then being able to find a spot. Yeah, because I looked at some of the, they have a couple of live cameras on south Padre. Um, and it was packed. Yeah.  It's definitely very different vibes. 

For instance, although we love south Padre and we plan on a wintering there. It's more of like a nightlife type beach. Yes. Destination. Whereas Hilton head is like a brunch vibe. Absolutely. No. I can totally see that. I mean, because one thing you have to understand is because it's a retirement community. There's so many golf courses. There's so many.  Nature things that happen. 

, they do their absolute best to be. Conscious of , the light pollution.  And so , they bring down. The, especially the late night activities that you get from say south Padre or from somewhere in , Miami places like that. Which are also more known, uh, there nightlife other nightlife and you, you get this place. I've CSI. 

I know. Oh yeah. But you get this place. That is absolutely wonderful. And there was so many times where we were walking either to, and from the beach. And because of our location and we were so close to a golf course. Like people were playing golf all through the week. It was really laid back there. Wasn't a whole bunch of yelling or noise or even vehicle traffic noise. Like the whole noise pollution thing was really on, on such a low key. 

And there were people riding their bikes. I know we've talked about this earlier, riding their bikes everywhere. Yeah. I guess the only concern I would have had for the kids on Hilton head is make sure you watch out for alligators.  Like watch out for alligators.  Even, even one of the places we digs. Excuse our one-year-old. 

He is not feeling well. He's very clingy and he's very chattery. What, right now, So if you hear that in the background, I do apologize, although he is adorable. So I don't apologize too much.  

And where we had to walk to get to the, the beach. Um, had too little. Flood  reservoirs. So it doesn't flood the entire place.  Is. It even said, caution watch for alligators.  And like,  Although . We only saw some small ones. Smaller ones.  We've gone through Louisiana multiple times and we've seen large ones, right. In east, Texas. And so that that's what came to our mind, like.  Uh, alligators. They're a six, eight foot alligator. We're thinking Louisiana, Florida style alligators. 

But, um, if there were, we didn't see any, I didn't see any of them. The, they were definitely the smaller, smaller ones that we saw. Um, whenever soul.  Any of them come out with their full bodies or anything. So we really couldn't tell, oh no, no, no, no. One time. I think I was with Ariel and we were walking back from the condo to the beach. And there was a little one just on the sidewalk. 

Yeah. So, I mean a little warm. I was just stepping off the sidewalk and walking around it. We took a very wide berth around.  Oh, also Hilton head is where I've.  I saw my first, like,  

Shark not let my first shock, but how do I say my first baby shark?  

First, um, wild shark.  And it was the last day that we were there in. We were all afraid to get into the water. You ruined it for everyone else. But that's that same year that all those shark attacks were happening up along the east coast. And so.  When that guy pulled that shark out of the water, I was like, Nope, we're done. 

We're done. And enjoy, enjoy the beach. We're going to have to keep it real. Okay.  

 like a quarter of a mile.  To find this person that was phishing. And they end up pulling in. This little short. Hammerhead shark. Yeah. And that's all it took. They came racing back, got Tory out of the water. And they were like, we're done, we're going home. 

And so we wrangled everything together and.  

That was the end of our vacation.  We just didn't get in the water after that. It was the evening of our last day there. Anyway.  So we just stayed on the beach for the last little bit that we were there. Yeah. They wouldn't let anyone else. Back in the water. She's like,  Don't go further than your ankles.  Kind of get bitten by a shark. But yes, that's that's the same week, actually, that there were shark attacks, Lyrica along the east coast. So I was like east coast. 

I got kinda nervous after that. It was also. Um, tropical storm. So the hurricane that turned into a tropical storm that blew through. So it kind of disrupted nature all the way up the east coast. And there were a few shark attacks that were, I guess, chasing food or whatnot. I don't know how that works, but, um, Definitely a. Was scary, even though it was a teeny tiny baby hammerhead shark. 

I don't want that body in my ankles.  It was just our first close brush with nature.  

Um,  But. Even beyond that, just relaxing on the beach because the kids all kind of took care of themselves. And one thing that I definitely want to get to is.  . Our one-year-old is. Is now. Baby shark do to do.  Thank you very much.  

He's very loud in the background. 

The one thing that definitely stuck out in my mind the most. And , the funniest memory that I have besides the shark attack.  Is.  

Every day, we went to the beach. And me and Misty normally just kinda chilled there.  And then, but the kids would go out and play and they would get beat up for like,  Four to five hours a day. And whenever, especially the day before that tropical storm came in. Yes. Because  they were way bigger. And I remember that because Justin was out there. And we were like, okay, Hey, we're done for the day. 

Let's go get something to eat so we can rest. We know this storm is coming in. Let's make sure that we're off. The beach before, you know, any kind of heavy winds or something comes in. And we get to the restaurant. And Justin is literally falling asleep. Yeah, while waiting just to be seated, like he's standing up and he is still falling asleep because he got so worn out.  Plain in the waves. And then when we were sitting there, With our food. 

He was still falling asleep at the table. I have a video.  He's still trying to eat. He's still trying to like,  The conversation and like he was asleep almost the entire time.  

Because we played so hard in the water and that's the great thing about the beaches. You can go.  You can play hard and you can relax hard.  It relax hard. I like that. Relax. Relax.  And we are a family who likes to relax hard.  I mean, you go, when you get into the water you play for like 30, 45 minutes. You come back to your little location. 

You fall asleep for 10, 15 minutes. You get refreshed. You wake up, you go do it all over again. Yeah. So if you're a family and you enjoy beach destinations, we highly recommend Hilton head. Highly recommend. Um, It's it's definitely made for families. I really feel like it's a great, safe, fun place for families. Um, if you're a couple or a single on, you're wanting to hit the clubs, it's probably not for you, but I really feel like.  You're going to enjoy it. 

If you enjoy the beach and you have a family, you're going to love taking your kids to Hilton head. 

Or if you've been to other beach locations and have had a wonderful time there as a family.  We would love to hear about them. Yeah. So we can try all the beach. We love the tribe out and see how they compare it to Hilton head..   This is our last episode of season two. Thank you to everyone who has stuck along with us. And, um, been there since the beginning or even our new listeners. We were so happy that you're here.  Next week.  We will be starting season three.  And. So excited for season three, seasons three is what it's all about. 

Season three. 

Wow. So, I mean, if you take you in like, so we, we try to release one every single week, unless just adverse.  

Events happened into our lives. The flu bug. The flu bug and some other things that all kind of compounded on that week.  But we try to release one and then our seasons are, or how many weeks? 20 weeks or 20 weeks. So.  

We're getting close to a year. We're getting close to a year. July will be a year. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. So we will definitely have a one-year anniversary. One. Yeah. Can't wait for that. That's super exciting. And once again, To, to all of our listeners, whether you're old, new, or. You're going back and listen to these because you joined in at a later date. Thank you so much for listening.  Thank you so much for being a part of the adventure. Um, we hope that you find all of these. Helpful  at some point in time.  Either learning from us or duplicating some of the things that we have found to be successful. And we just want to thank y'all so much for, for being a part of our adventure and make sure  you tune in next week as we began season three, because we have been talking for the last few weeks now.  We've made it public. Of our intentions to transition to full-time travel. 

And next week we are going to break that down as to why and how and what that will look like. So we are very, very excited about this next chapter. And we hope you are too