I realize it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything travel related, and I do have a previous trip to add in that occurred before this one that I just haven’t gotten around to. In case the title phrase isn’t enough of a hint, though, I’m saying good evening to you in Hawaiian because we arrived in Maui at 11:00 p.m. Hawaiian time. Yes, that’s right, Maui. Not our typical type of adventure, but it’s been 38 years since I was here as a teenager and Dan has never been here. I knew there were adventures to have that I wanted Dan to experience. When Dan ended up with an unexpected three weeks off in January I suggested we go to Hawaii. He wasn’t sold on it at first, saying he didn’t really want to go anywhere hot. I reminded him that Hawaii in January is not exactly hot. Certainly better than home! But not hot. It wasn’t until his brother John talked up Maui to him that he agreed to go. I grabbed onto that and refused to let go, so here we are!
11 Jan 2025 – Travel Day
Our Westjet flight was scheduled to leave Yellowknife at 7:00 this morning (it of course didn’t leave until well after that, what with de-icing and such), which is an ugly time given we had to be at the airport two hours early. But we napped on the flight, and other than meeting three separate sets of friends (two with completely different destinations and one with exactly the same destination), the flight was uneventful. Even, dare I say, peaceful?
We had about a three-hour layover in Calgary where I took advantage of the time to get more than half of my steps in and do a round of stretching at the so-called yoga room. I say so-called because for what’s supposed to be a relaxing exercise space it’s full of an awful lot of chairs and assorted seating and not a lot of space to actually exercise. Regardless, I claimed a rectangular area and just went ahead and did what I wanted.
The next leg was an hour and 45 minute flight to Vancouver, followed by a 3.5 hour layover plus another 0.5 hours, and then a 5.5 hour flight to Kahului Airport. This entire period was incredibly uneventful, although the in-flight meal I purchased was absolutely wonderful! Mushroom risotto with steamed peas, greek salad, a warmed bun, and berry cheesecake. And served with real cutlery, too! Wow, right?
Our flight landed at about 10: 30 p.m. or so, our luggage took almost half an hour to reach the carousel, and then we took the lovely tram from the terminal to the rental car building. It must have been about 11:15 or so by the time we got there. We waited in line to get our car. They tried to give us a Chevy Malibu, but when I couldn’t get my knees under the steering wheel I ask for something else. Ended up getting a Dodge Charger. Yes, that’s what I said, a Dodge Charger. And it’s even red! It was nearly Midnight by then and the lot staff had to nudge us to get out of the lot so they could go home.
It was nearly 1:00 a.m. local time by the time we got to our hotel, the Days Inn by Wyndham Maui Oceanfront. It really was a lovely hotel, super clean, and very friendly staff, but as with pretty much everything in Maui it was way more expensive than you would think it should be for a Days Inn. At any rate, we had a really good sleep.
Guigon Travels 