KB's Hawaiian Adventure Part 1

Lovely Hawaiian sunset from my hotel room

This past week I was away in Maui, Hawaii for my cousin's wedding. I never thought in a million years I would be able to go to one of the Hawaiian islands and was overjoyed that I could go. So on Friday afternoon, I hopped a plane for the official start my Hawaiian adventure. I took a lot of pictures to tell the tale of KB's Adventures in Maui!

To get to Maui, there are various ways to get there. One way is a 10 hour direct flight into Honolulu, where you take a 30 minute small plane ride into Maui. Or you can deal with layovers. I was in the layover category. The first part of my trip was 5 hours out of Newark, NJ and into LAX (Los Angeles, CA) airport where I had an hour layover and then grabbed a flight for the final leg of my journey- another 5 hours plane ride straight into Maui. I was very proud of myself that I didn't go stir crazy. Sitting on a plane for many hours is not a fun thing. And I was on a place where I could plug in my laptop and do some writing.

I arrive in Maui under the cover of darkness late on Friday night around 9pm. Since there is a 6 hour time difference, and I was still on East Coast time, you can imagine how tired I was. My hotel, the Hotel Wailea in Wailea, Maui, HI was about a 30 minute ride away from the airport.

Picture from Hotel Wailea website

Because the Hotel Wailea is one of the more affordable hotels in the area, let's just say my family and I were less the pleased with the accommodations. You really notice a difference when you are down the street from The Four Seasons, only one of two five star hotels in all of Hawaii (The rooms there can cost up to $800 a night as well as renting out your own condo bungaloo for $2000 a night). The Hotel Wailea is a very nice property and the rooms were nice, but the hotel charges you $20 a day for such amenities as parking, shuttle service and internet. We were given all these things BUT the spa was out of order, no fitness center, no bar service at the pool, no snack bar or drinks, meaning no vending machines. So if you were hungry or thirsty, you had to get in a car and drive to a convenience store on the main road. Also there was a promise of a private beach for the Hotel Wailea beach in conjunction with the Grand Wailea resort. But this was a fib. We were allowed on the Grand Wailea Resort's beaches but were not allowed to use their towels, chairs or umbrellas as we first were led to believe. We had to make due with white towels that could barely wrap around your waist, old wooden chairs that looked like that were 80 years old and these old moldy looking orange-white umbrellas.

But even with these issues, the hotel has very nice look to it and you feel as if you are in your own little world:

Front of hotel/ Hotel Pool

Koi fish in the hotel pond

My hotel room is the second story right hand corner

Living Room in hotel /Bedroom (The couch is a pull out couch that I slept on. The hotel only has one bedroom with a king size bed where my parents slept)

The bathroom had a very strange setup. There are no doors to the bathroom and no shower door or cover, as well as a long mirror across from you as you shower! You can watch yourself in the buff as you shower. This is the strangest shower experience I ever had while staying at a hotel. At least the toilet was in another room with a door you can close.

View from hotel balcony. Isn't it beautiful with the Pacific Ocean in the background?

The beaches in Maui are unbelievably gorgeous! On Saturday I hung out on the beach. It has been awhile since I've gone to the beach or sat under the sun. And that day just happened to be the one day of the year where the sun is directly overhead. So you can imagine how a pasty whiter than white redheaded girl with  did in the sun even though she drenched herself in SPF 30. The outcome looks a little like this:

If you look very closely at my chest, you can see the sunburn. My back is ten times redder. So my first day in Maui is where I was burnt to a crisp and splotchy in certain areas on my body that are best left covered.

Can you pronounce that large word above? How about closing your eyes and try to spell it? Can you ever guess what that word means? Here's a hint: it swims in the ocean.

Beware the Maui Tiki gods! They see all and known all!

By late afternoon, we headed back to our room to get ready for the night where we had plans to meet up with my cousin and his fiance, including seeing many familiar faces, as well as new faces, that ranged from family to close friends. We ended up at the Tiki Lounge for some fruity drinks and bar munchies:

Nice refreshing margarita! (This drink cost $8 in comparison to the regular prices drinks in Maui that average anywhere between $12-$15. Alcohol as well as food in Maui is very, very expensive. So if you want to eat well, expect to spend over $30 on a single entree. The Tiki Lounge food was pretty on par with the price I usually pay at home)

KB with the lucky couple- Brian and Michael. Don't we look like the natives with our festive outfits?

My first day in Maui ended with a great day at the beach, a nice burn that I hope will fade into a tan and a get together with wonderful family and friends.

Nothing can compare to seeing a view like the Hawaiian sunset below.

This ends day one of my adventure in Maui. The next post will be about the 12 hour car ride fun around the island known as The Road to Hana, or as some fondly call it, Highway to Hell. And the pictures I took during this trip of the flowers and scenery will blow your mind away.

More to follow...