It sadly already feels like a distant memory, but from what I recall, Mark, Keira and I had an incredible spring break in Maui late last month. It was Keira's first time on this Hawaiian island and just about 13 years for Mark and me. The last time we were there, I was a maid of honor in a friend's wedding, but it was just a couple of months after my mom passed away. Between grief and the frenzy of weddings, I don't remember much other than having difficulty finding a place to eat at one point. If it wasn't for photos, I'd be left thinking I had never been there.
Anyway, we received a phenomenal offer ($798 + taxes and fees) to stay at the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas and our only obligation was to attend a 90-min presentation to become "owners". Before you roll your eyes, I highly recommend going this route if you don't mind giving up 90 minutes of your vacation to stay at an amazing resort for a fraction of the cost, especially places like Maui where it's more expensive than most places. You also need to be very comfortable saying, "No." While the sales folks didn't apply pressure and were very nice and energetic, they were also skilled at trying to turn your "no" into a "maybe if". Thank goodness Mark was there to give them a firm, "No," when I almost said, "Well, maybe." Ha! Anyway, if you get a similar offer for this particular property, or if you're fortunate enough to afford staying here, you should! The property and proximity to the beach, town, etc. were phenomenal!
But, let's rewind back to Day 1 which was mostly a travel day. If you didn't already know, it's nearly 3,900 miles from MN to Maui. The Hawaiian islands are 5 hours behind and it takes roughly 8-9 hours on a plane to get from here to there. What I'm trying to say is, if you go to Hawaii, take the time to enjoy it because quite a bit of your time will be eaten up getting to and from, it's not an easy adjustment to the time difference and there's so much to see and do!
We had a bumpy start the day before we left. Mark and I both worked a full day and Keira went to school. We frantically packed when we got home knowing we had to get up and out the door by 4:45am. Yuck. On top of that, we had a moment of panic when I received a call from United airlines 12 ours before our flight to tell me they were proactively reaching out to customers to see if we'd be willing to opt for a direct flight with Delta which would delay us by several hours, but we'd be compensated for the change. Because of the grounding of the Boeing Air Max planes, United had to bring in "spare" planes (um, what? you are going to put my family on a "spare" plane - you just have them sitting around?) and these spares couldn't accommodate the same number of passengers, so they were now oversold. Gah! After vetting the options, we decided to stick with our original itinerary and hoped we wouldn't be turned away nor canceled upon.
Fortunately, that was the worst of our travel hiccups. We got to MSP by 5am and sailed through security thanks to TSA pre-check (spending $100 or about that much on Global Entry which comes w/TSA pre-check is one of the best investments I've ever made). At the airport I ran into a guy I worked with at BBY and we also ran into our neighbors. Small world! We flew from MSP to SFO, had a 2-hour layover there, flew to OGG (Kahului, Maui) and arrived about 3pm Maui time (8pm CST). Our friends Adam and Noah flew in from Honolulu to join us for the first part of our trip. We were definitely on island time -- by the time we got our luggage, got our rental car and drove the 45 minutes to our villas, we didn't arrive until 6pm. Whenever I first arrive, the slow pace and lackadaisical approach drive me crazy. But by the next day, it's what I love most - slowing down and enjoying life.
The drive from the airport to the villas was beautiful and what I expect every time we visit Hawaii - beautiful lush mountains on one side and brilliant blue waters of the Pacific ocean on the other side. After the many snowstorms and record-breaking snowfall back at home, this was just what we needed. The sun and warmth helped temporarily revive us from our sleep-deprived state. We even saw a beautiful rainbow partway through the drive.
Anyway, once we arrived, the crew settled into our villa while I met with concierge for 15 min to get our packet of information for our stay. I was a zombie as it was well after my bedtime back in MN. We knew it was important to stay up for as long as we could to more quickly acclimate to the time zone change, so we grabbed a quick dinner at Pailolo, a bar and grill on-site. We were in bed and passed out by 8pm (1am in MN). If we had slept on the flight over, it may not have been such a big deal, but as it were, the three of us were close to almost 24 hours with no sleep by then. No wonder I strained to understand the concierge and our waitress that evening.
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