Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip to Maui (2014)--Prologue
5/1/2014
Overview
You could say that. over the years, Patty and I have become Maui addicts. The hook was set in 1996 during an 11-day wedding/honeymoon trip where we were introduced to Oahu and Maui. We really liked Oahu, but quickly fell in love with Maui. Its beaches, its people, its sights all played a part. Add to that we were married on a hill overlooking Wailea Beach, and the stage was set. We knew we had to return...someday.
Since that initial trip, we have visited Hawai`i seven more times, and Maui was a part of each of those trips. Each trip reinforced the idea that Maui was heaven for us.
In the process, we morphed from being travelers who wanted to do everything and see everything, to travelers who were just as happy sitting on the hotel lanai (balcony) staring out at the island of Lanai (viewable from the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort, our resort of choice whenever we visit Maui). Sure, we always did a few activities during our stays--and some had been an absolute blast, from the Old Lahaina Luau, to the West Maui helicopter tour, to snorkeling trips, a day trip to Lanai, etc. But a perfect day (to me, at least) is getting up, eating breakfast, walking the beach, getting a lot of sun, going out to dinner, relaxing in the hot tub and chatting with other visitors. We don't require much in order to be satisfied. Most days, just being on Maui is enough.
When the opportunity (and the cash) presented itself last summer, we decided to make our ninth trip to Hawaii. For me, part of the fun, part of the ritual is in the planning. Once we know we're returning (and this decision is usually made about the same time flights become available for booking), I start checking the Delta and United Airlines websites, comparing prices for the cheapest air & car combination (we almost always book these two components together). Eventually, when prices reach a "critical mass", in other words, we think the prices are reasonable, then we check rates at the Lahaina Shores using a variety of methods--hotel website (never the cheapest option), vrbo.com, All About Hawaii (which for several years had a very nice "third night free" option), and more recently, Chase N Rainbows.
Our preferred time to visit Maui has usually been in late April, after Easter. And that was what we had initially planned, to depart on April 21 and return on May 12, giving us three weeks of fun in the sun. One day before we were set to reserve our room, we found someone else had reserved the room we wanted for the week of April 28-May 5!
At this point, we had two choices; we could go from April 7-28 or go from May 5-26. It was $20 more expensive per day to go earlier, and that made our decision easier--but we would be making our latest ever visit to the Aloha State.
What to do about activities? On our previous trip, we had done very little, and Patty was somewhat displeased with this. She likes to be more active than I do, so we had to come up with a compromise--we would book four or five paid activities, and then add some hiking to our itinerary.
Our initial plans were to do a West Maui/Molokai helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, a van tour past Hana and around the backside of Haleakala with Valley Isle Excursions, parasailing with West Maui Parasail, ziplining with Flyin Hawaiian, and a tour of central Maui and Haleakala with Polynesian Adventure tours.
At least, that was the plan. Then things got shuffled on and off the list over the next few months--the only activities which stayed intact were the Blue Hawaiian and Valley Isle Excursions. By the time we had left for Maui, we had booked a cocktail cruise with Paragon, a Haleakala hike with Hike Maui, and a cart tour at Ali`i Kula Lavender Farm.
We also generally make an attempt to decide which restaurants we want to dine at. Since we stay at Lahaina Shores with their fully functional kitchens, we almost always eat breakfasts and lunches in our room, and then head out somewhere for dinner. We utilize Top Maui Restaurants, a great dining guide authored by James and Molly Jacobson, Trip Advisor reviews, and usually browse reviews in Maui Revealed (although, as other sources have become better over the years, we rely on this guidebook less and less).
So, with everything booked, the countdown ensues. The pre-trip ritual has become a big part of the fun for us. A checklist for packing I started developing a decade ago has become invaluable, and is a necessary guard against that "Oh crap! I forgot to bring ______!!" which I used to suffer on trips.
About these pictures
All the pictures you will see on the daily entries were taken with either a Nikon D7100 or a Canon S90 Powershot camera. Almost all images were shot in RAW+JPEG mode, and RAW images were processed using Lightroom 5. A circular polarizer was used at times on the Nikon--the lens was a Nikkor 16-85mm lens. I had also brought a 35mm f1.8 lens but it never left the camera bag. I had also contemplated bringing my 18-200mm lens, but chose the 16-85 due to its superior optics.
Restaurant reviews
Reviews of the restaurants we ate at are interspersed throughout the daily blog pages. To view our ratings of the Maui restaurants we visited, click here.
Previous: 1/2/2014--Embassy Suites Waikiki
Index of Blog Pages
last updated november 14, 2021
|