Back to reality! My husband and I had won a free vacation and used it last week to visit Maui. With his work and my set back with four of my books, it was a much needed vacation.
It was a weather phenomenon in the state of Hawaii. The Big Island had a snow advisory after it received over a foot of snow in the mountains. Kauai and Maui received drenching rains which caused beach erosions. We were told to stay out of the brown water in the ocean because that's where sharks lurk, looking for food. The island of Oahu was hit just as badly as the others.
Other than having only two days to enjoy the sunshine and the pool...(remember, no swimming in the ocean and the beaches where we were staying were not safe), we still had a great time. The whales kept us entertained as well as the birds singing at sunset. There is plenty to see and do. The staff at the restaurants and hotels are great.
As with the Kasznia's, things always seem to happen to them. On Wednesday, we decided to explore the western part of Maui. We've always hung around up north because of the golf courses and our time share's location. As we set out, we rounded a curve and the dashboard lit up with an error message. We were losing tire pressure in the right rear tire of our rental car. I called the Roadside Assistance from Alamo and they were very helpful. If we could limp it back to the airport where the rental agency was located, they would give us a new rental with a full tank of gas. Or, if we didn't think we could make it, they would send a tow truck to repair the tire.
The road we were on is only a two lane road and heavily traveled. It wasn't raining yet, so we decided to continue our trip to the airport. We made it with seconds to spare. The tire went totally flat the minute we drove up to the gate. Alamo staff saw to our needs imediately and within ten mintues, we were in another car with a full tank of gas.
Back tracking our way to the highway, the skies opened up and the rain came down in sheets. Now it was lunch time and my husband had a craving for Fish Tacos. He had read in the brochures that the best tacos are Maui Tacos, in a strip mall on our way to the west side of the island. We pulled in and ran through the parking lot to the shop. We looked around only to find it was a take out place. There was no indoor seating. You make do. We ordered our tacos and made a bee line to the car. The tacos were delicious but messy, but it was a way to pass the time as we sat in the car. When we were done, we looked at each other and decided we really needed to wash up before we continued. We stopped at an Outback and ordered a beer and used the facilities.
Back to our journey only to learn that the road we needed was closed due to flooding. We headed back to the condo and hunkered down for the night.
Thursday, the sun decided to make an appearance and we relished it. We went swimming and soaked it up. Friday, we played golf and had a great time.
Saturday was check out and that's the other thing I have to warn you about visiting Maui and other islands in Hawaii. Affordable flights are red eyes which leave during the evening hours. They range from five to eleven pm. The check out time is noon. What do you do from noon until eleven pm? I'm talking about the CST and EST. If you're on mountain or the west cost, this is not an issue for you. I wish they'd move the check out time to at least two.
After an eight hour flight, we arrived at DFW at six in the morning. Tired and cranky, we went to get our luggage. Oh. We watched the carasoul go round and round and only three bags of luggage were on there. Um, those three were not ours. We waited an hour while the clerk tried to locate our bags and couldn't. We had to file a missing luggage report and catch our bus to the Park N' Fly where our car was parked. Guess what? It was cold and pouring down rain.
The bags were finally located and we got them at two in the afternoon. I so need another vacation even if it's only two days to get back into my rhythm. These are life experiences which I call research are for my next book!
