Trip Report: Maui

Black Rock Beach

July was a whirlwind! At the end of the month we went on a road trip that included a visit to Glacier National Park and camping with my sister and her family. Then, my kids got to spend a week at their home in Montana, and Isaiah and I got some amazing alone time. It was such a gift!

At the beginning of the month, we went on a dream trip to Maui for 9 days. And when I say dream trip, it is not an exaggeration. My parents once took me and my sister to Maui and Kauai when we were little. My dad's army buddy was from Kauai, and he took us all around to the spots locals went to. Everywhere we stopped, we heard him say, that's my cousin so-and-so. It was such a memorable trip. (We usually went to Disneyland every year for our family trip, so going on a plane across the ocean was extra memorable.) Every time I smell fresh, ripe guava, I think of that trip. I even came home with two pen-pals! My sister was just four years old, and she remembers so many details of that trip, like how we got pulled on stage with the dancers at the luau we attended. What a special place. 

It's also a very in-your-face place. What I mean is, you can't live on the west coast of the U.S. without encountering people who just got back from or are about to go to Hawaii. When you take all the amazing stories you hear from other people who have visited and add it to my fond childhood memories and Isaiah's memories of a too-brief stop there when he was in the Navy, plus the strong desire to take our kids to one of those magical islands, it's no surprise that Hawaii had been at the top of our dream-trip list for YEARS. Year after year, though, it just never seemed possible, just so cost-prohibitive for our family. 

All that changed when I jumped into the points and miles game. Our trip to Maui could not have happened if I hadn't figured out how to offset the cost with a free 7-night stay at a resort hotel and free airfare (minus the taxes paid with cash). See this post for the breakdown of how many points the hotel and airfare cost.

And, well, it's not lost on me that here I am getting in your face about our trip to Maui. But for good reason! If you are like us, dreaming of going to Hawaii, I hope our example shows you that it's possible to make the trip happen! Maybe it will take you no time at all to rack up the points or maybe it will take you a couple of years to save up the points (plus the cash to pay for food, rental car, activities, etc.), but no matter what, I think the pay-off is worth it.

Anyway, we got to swim in the sea and snorkel and hang by the pool and hike to a waterfall and just be together, enjoying (almost) every minute as a family. The thing that that threw me off about this trip is how little I thought I needed to plan in advance. I had asked a couple of people for suggestions and bookmarked some travel blogs, but I didn't make a long list of things to do or places to see like I did for our trip last summer. I guess we just figured since it was a beach vacation vibe we'd go with the flow, but a little more planning probably would have been helpful. At the same time, I didn't know what I didn't know. Like, I didn't know how much we'd love snorkeling, so I didn't know to sign up for the "Snorkel Report", published by one of the local gear rental shops, ahead of our trip. Oh, well! In no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on the the trip, a mix of points stuff and general notes about Maui...

1. HOTEL in West Maui: We booked a room at the Hyatt Regency with 2 queen beds for 29K points per night. It wasn't an ocean view room, but we could see the ocean from the balcony! We don't have Hyatt status or anything like that, so we didn't get any upgrades, but they did give us a bottle of sparkling wine at check-in. The resort property is really beautiful and super busy. Hotel guests have access to the pools at the neighboring Hyatt Vacation Club (time share property), and we preferred the swimming pools over there. I would definitely stay there again (on points)!

2. VACATION RENTAL in Hana: We booked 2 nights at Hana Kai Maui. I splurged for oceanfront, and it might have been better if I hadn't. No AC meant we slept with the windows open. It was not hot for us at all -- perfect temp, actually. But a couple people in my family found the noise of the crashing waves too loud and they didn't sleep very well. It was a lovely rental with a kitchen that we used to prepare and cook breakfast and one dinner. I also loved napping out on the lanai (patio).

• I'd also like to point out that this side of Maui is what I picture when I think of Hawaii. The dense, lush, tropical landscape was spectacular. A lot of people say to skip Hana, but I think that depends on what you want. If you want to walk through bamboo forests to see waterfalls, the Hana area is the place to be. We could have easily stayed one more night. On our one full day in the area, we visited Waiʻānapanapa State Park in the morning (reservation required). Then, after lunch, we enjoyed Hana Bay Beach Park for swimming. The kids and Isaiah did some body surfing. A boogie board would have been awesome! We loved Hana! (Except for the mosquitos. I should have bought and used repellant.)

Pipiwai Trail to Waimoku Falls in Haleakalā National Park

3. FOOD: We did a mix of food trucks, take-away, grocery stores, markets, poolside dining, one luau, and one sit-down restaurant.

• The one sit-down restaurant we ate at was Monkeypod Kitchen at Whalers Village and it was pretty good, but what I found interesting was that it was pretty much the same price as the food trucks (i.e., expensive!). We really liked the shave ice at Island Vintage in Whalers Village, and the guys there recommended Smash Maui food truck for sushi and poke bowls, which were super yummy. Two people, one local as well as one friend who travels to Maui often, recommended the poke bowls from Foodland supermarket, but we didn't have a chance to try them. I lost count of how many musubi my kids ate. 
• We attended the Old Lahaina Luau and it wonderful. It was my favorite meal of the trip and the performers were great. Paloma kept wondering when people would come out to perform with fire, but this was not one of those luaus. It was very traditional and full of storytelling.
• We ate poolside twice, basically out of convenience. 
• Note: We booked the Hyatt stay as soon as we had finally accumulated enough points for 7 nights, so I hadn't considered a room with Club access. (I booked the flights first, and then it took a bit of time to replenish the points we needed for the hotel). If I had had an extra 56K points (so 37K points/night instead of 29K points/night), I would have seriously considered booking one of the rooms with Club access. 56,000 points is a lot! But Club access means free continental breakfast every morning and snacks in the evening. Considering how much cash we spent on food, including breakfast at the coffee shop at the end of the lobby/courtyard nearly every day of our stay, it would have been nice to not have to figure out breakfast every day, eat a big lunch out, and then graze on snacks in the evening.

4. ACTIVITIES: Once we arrived at the resort in West Maui, after visiting Hana, we only had three things on our to-do list (other than play at the swimming pool daily). See the Haleakalā crater, attend the luau we booked, and visit Kapalua Bay, which two separate friends had recommended. If I could do one thing over, I would have been more flexible about when and where to go snorkeling from the get-go. The "Snorkel Report" I mentioned earlier comes out every morning around 7:30am and lists which beaches have the best snorkeling conditions that day (plus tips for parking). But instead of waiting for better conditions, we decided to visit Kapalua Bay on the day we had penciled it in our plans. It was still really fun even though conditions weren't optimal. (We paid $15 for all-day parking at the Tennis Garden.)

Then for our second day of snorkeling, we had in mind to drive down to Wailea, another resort area friends had recommended, but when we saw the conditions were better at Black Rock near us, we changed plans. We saved a couple of hours by not driving far, enjoyed a great beach and clear water for snorkeling, and the kids and I got a photo with our favorite kids lit author! (To think, if we had stuck with our loose plan to see Wailea, we would have missed seeing this author. The serendipity of it all!!) Plus, we scored free parking, one of 18 spots at the free beach access part of the Sheraton parking garage. (BTW, we brought our own snorkels from home, but we rented flotation belts. We are all strong swimmers, but the belts gave us peace of mind so we could swim away from shore and not worry about getting tired.)

• Note: Many people make reservations to see the sunrise at the crater, but we decided against waking up so early, so we went for the sunset instead. It was nice but cold. I'm glad I wore pants and brought my light puffer jacket!

5. PACKING: We did not check bags, just one carry-on and one personal item each, and I still brought outfits I didn't need. I packed like I was going to go to nice dinners with my husband. LOL. We spent so much time in bathing suits that all I really needed was a cover up and maybe like two outfits: one for hiking and one for leaving the resort to eat. We wanted to dress nice for the luau, so we brought one nice outfit, but we all ended up buying something to wear at a Hawaiian shirt shop (see below).

6. HAWAIIAN SHIRTS: If you want a huge selection of authentic Hawaiian shirts and dresses, make an appointment at MauiShirts. It's an online shop mostly, but they will let you in by appointment and you can try stuff on. Isaiah and Hunter each got a shirt, and Paloma and I each got a dress, all made in Hawaii.

7. PHOTOS: While I love the lo-fi quality of the photos you get from underwater disposable cameras, I am thinking of investing in a point-and-shoot digital camera for the kids that can go underwater. We spent a small fortune on disposable cameras and developing the film only to yield a handful of photos that turned out OK. By the time I thought to tell the kids to save half of their exposures for our second day of snorkeling, they had already used up the whole roll, and the conditions weren't even that good. (See point #4.) The water was so much clearer on Day 2 that we ended up buying another camera, and those photos turned out so much better. Isaiah and I each had one of those Pelican waterproof phone pouches, but they do not work for taking underwater photos. I was able to get an underwater video of a sea turtle but no stills. I think the pouch is mainly so you can protect the phone if you decide to keep it with you at all times while in the water. Oh yeah, and overall, I wish I had taken more photos!

Can you spot the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a?

8. CULTURE: I have to admit, I had mixed feelings the whole time we were in Maui. I was feeling so excited and happy and lucky to be visiting such a beautiful place, but I also kept thinking about how Hawaii belongs to the Hawaiians, not to the USA. (To be clear, I feel this way even where I live now because I know it belongs to the Snoqualmie and Snohomish peoples.) We did our best to be respectful travelers. Isaiah pulled over for locals whenever we were driving on winding roads at a leisurely pace for enjoying the sights. We went to a farmer's market in Hana and bought locally made kombucha, ate at several food trucks to support local business, and reflected on what we learned about Maui's and Hawaii's history told through stories at the luau. It's the best we could do, I guess.

9. AGRICULTURE: We did not know that all bags need to be scanned for produce prior to checking them in and even after going through security but before heading to the gates. We even had to have an "inspected" sticker placed on Paloma's booster seat before we could drop it off! 

10. OVERALL: It was a very special trip that I am sure we'll look back on fondly for many years to come. We truly felt the spirit of aloha while we were there :)

I'd love to visit any of the other islands as well, and I think that if we get to go back, we will aim for a self-catering type accommodation to save some money on food. And, gosh, I really miss swimming in the sea!