Maui Bound

Up at 5am, well I barely slept so I was up anyway. The shuttle was prompt as was self check-in, and we got put in the Pre TSA line so we didn’t even have to take our shoes off, etc!  We boarded early, a privilege of being older or with young children. Our flight even left early! Departure was 7:15am and we got here at 9:15am. Hawaii is 3 hours earlier right now, sometimes it is only 2 hours because they don’t have daylight savings time here.  We picked up our rental car and headed over to Maui Seaside Hotel for our one night before moving to the timeshare in Kihei. We did this one day early as it was the only way I could get free flights in one direction. Same reason we went in and out of OAK, the free flight with points. When searching for a good price I noticed the price is really a lot higher in just 2 years since we came last. Our room is not ready and they said to come back at 3pm, they did say we could park now, use the pool, etc. but we did want to shop for a few things at Wal-Mart. First we went to the Whole Foods store and bought lunch. It is a nice set up for lunch with even more choices than we have seen at Whole Foods on the mainland. We ate outside listening to a couple of locals playing the guitar and singing, they were pretty good. On to Wal-Mart… It was very run down and not terribly clean. Several selves were empty. Unfortunately I noticed the price increases even here. I hoped to get the calendars for 2015 I like so much and they didn’t even have them. Everything in the Kahului area seems much more crowded than I remember it being. But we love Maui and we are not unhappy, just noting the changes we are seeing. We did the Wal-Mart shopping, sat in the cool breeze of the lanai at the Maui Seaside Hotel when we got back and shortly our room was ready. I was horizontal moments after arrival and slept for about 12-13 hours, I really was exhausted. John watched TV I did hear that going on but it was so relaxing, so I can say the bed was nice and comfortable! I did wake up a little before 4am, and really never went back to sleep after that. I will say that is the usual time I get up anyway at home (6-7am). This hotel is not bad, it is not special either. It is clean and that means the most to me. Staff is friendly. Most of the rooms had a balcony, ours did not because they said we had the “Expedia rate” – which was the case. There is coffee in the room, Bath and Body toiletries, and nice hot water. There is a very narrow beach and it does not actually “meet” the ocean, it is more of a channel with a rock jetty on two different sides. Still nice for swimming of one chooses to do so. The price is decent for a one night stay. I couldn’t find any Airbnb.com spots willing to do one night. It is on the opposite side of the island where we usually stay and surrounded by a lot of the city, I suspect it is quite old, but nicely kept.

This and a soft drink, coffee, or water is ALL you get for free anymore…but wait, we did get a free Mai Tai just before landing!

Maui Seaside Hotel

Sparkling Coconut Water…Yum!