mindless ramblings

Before I start talking about the trip, I feel it is a good idea to mention the preparation and how we ended up going to Maui in the first place. We first talked about this a couple of months back, and some quick browsing online didn’t turn up any good deals. I was pretty much set on going to Mexico, when ITravel2000 came to the rescue with a $1500 package for a week at the Maui Coast Hotel, and with a car rental included! This was too good to give up, especially for a Christmas vacation, so I booked it ASAP.

With the trip itself confirmed, we now looked towards finding activities to do. The first thing that we definitely wanted to experience was a lu’au. The best one appeared to be the Old Lahaina Lu’au, so we booked that online. This turned out to be a good idea, as there was barely any space for us left, so I’d definitely recommend booking that very early.

A good guidebook was the next thing that I got. Avoiding the usual Fodor’s, Frommer’s and all that, I went for the best: Maui Revealed. This guide would turn out to be absolutely invaluable in planning every facet of our trip, from activities, sights and food. Just about everything that we did, saw and ate ended up being from the book. It only cost $13 from Amazon.ca and I’d highly recommend anyone going to Hawai’i to get it!

The one other activity that we booked from Vancouver was snorkeling aboard the Four Winds II. Esther made all the calls to Hawai’i via Skype, which offers free US and Canada calling till the end of the year (not long left!).

The last thing to do was to confirm our flight with Harmony Airlines, and we did that a couple of days before departure. All you have to do on the departure day itself is turn up and present your passports. No need for anything else.

Keep reading for the trip itself!