Just because we're on Maui doesn't mean we're not having troubles. So those of you still back in moist, cool Oregon (or anywhere else other than Napili Bay), don't be envious of us. Consider what we're putting up with.
--Sweating through the Hawaiian Airlines luggage weigh in. Well, this applied to Laurel, not me. She always pushes the 50 pound limit, both coming and going.
I have to travel lighter, because I know that when it comes time to pack for our trip home I'm going to be handed a bunch of women's t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other assorted clothing items with a "Could you fit these into your suitcase? I don't have any room."
When we got to the Portland airport, put Laurel's suitcase on the scale and the readout showed exactly 50 pounds, I had to whip out my camera. Not sure what the other people in line behind us thought as I excitedly zoomed in on the display. First photo of our Maui trip, honey!
--Enduring the trek down to the beach from our Napili Kai Beach Club condo. This is the first time we've gone to Maui and stayed somewhere other than Napili Shores, which is centered on where the light triangle shape on the upper far right of the photo is (that's the Gazebo snack bar).
You can see how close Napili Shores is to Napili Beach. And you also can see from the photo, which was taken from the deck of our room, how unbelievably distant our Puna Point condo is from the beach.
This morning I timed our first walk to the beach. Laden down with grass mats, beach bags, snorkel stuff, and my boogie board, it took us five minutes to finally touch the sand. That's a heck of a daily commute, compared to the two minutes or so it used to take us from Napili Shores.
Weep for us.
--But save some tears, for there's more. Though jet-lagged, yesterday afternoon I excitedly unpacked my laptop and hooked it up to the cable that supposedly provided me Free High-Speed Internet Available in Your Room, according to a card prominently displayed on a table.
Next to a cable. Which I plugged in. After dutifully following the start-up instructions, nothing. I was crushed. What a way to start a vacation on Maui—no high-speed Internet!
I phoned Oceanic Time Warner Cable and pleaded for help. Though it was only 4:30 pm, a whole half hour before most employee's quitting time, I was told that a repair wouldn't be forthcoming until the next day.
I had to wait until 1:00 pm today for a service guy to get the modem up and running. More Maui suffering. Which won't end soon, because this cable connection is so much faster than the satellite broadband we've got back in Oregon, it'll be tough to go back to the usual speed.
--Lastly, we always enjoyed people watching from the room we usually got at Napili Shores. It overlooked a path to the beach, and some of the beach itself (trees and shrubs obscured much of the sand, a fact I was frequently reminded of after trying to follow a shapely young thing through my binoculars and having my ogling interrupted by a palm frond).
Where we are now, there's not much opportunity for that. I saw a couple of snorkelers go by while we were eating lunch a little while ago (the two dots on the right). Other than that, the people-watching from our room has amounted to zilch.
Not that the beach was a whole lot better. We seem to be in a visitor lull between spring break and summer. Napili Bay is as uncrowded as we've ever seen it. Young people and children are in short supply. Mostly we laid on our mats and watched middle-agers and older walk on by.
Not exactly like Waikiki (from what I've heard—have only seen the beach briefly once).
Anyway, we're managing to soldier on through our vacation even with all of these difficulties. Your prayers and wishes for the alleviation of our sufferings are welcome, but we're confident that these hard times will make us stronger in the end.
Now, it's time for a nap. Then back to the beach before shopping and dinner in Lahaina. Who knows what fresh travails await us?
Will we find a choice parking spot in the Prison Street lot? Will they be out of our favorite dish at our favorite restaurant?
Maui vacations—only for the strong.
Dear Brian,
It is quite regretable that your life is such a continual series of hardships. Your karma must be horrendous.
Robert Paul Howard
Posted by: Robert Paul Howard | April 25, 2007 at 09:58 AM
Robert, you're right. Don't get me started again on our horrible karma. But since you mentioned the subject...
Last night we went to Mala's, a little beachfront restaurant on Front Street. Supposedly we could be seated outside by the water within a few minutes.
But get this! We had to sit at the bar for almost half an hour! Sipping a enjoyable glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, and munching on some freshly made tortilla chips with tofu and salsa dips.
Excruciating! Eventually a table opened up and we did indeed get to look at the waves lapping on the rocky beach while we ate our favorite middle Eastern combination plate with fresh pita bread.
Yes, it's a tough life. To top it off, I found a dragon'ish Tai Chi'ish shirt made in Indonesia at Hilo Hattie's in my usual XL. But then, my generous Buddha-like self took over and I got engaged in finding the best design in L as a gift for my Tai Chi instructor (batik-like shirts are all unique).
I kept replacing shirts on the rack, looking for the L that had the best feel to it, until I unthinkingly put back the XL earmarked for me. So I got back to our room, eager to try on my new shirt, and found that I had two Large's.
More bad karma! Now we've got to go back to Hilo Hattie's tonight and exchange the L for an XL. Then we'll do more shopping and god knows what else will happen.
Yes, it's tough for us here on Maui. Super-tough.
Posted by: Brian | April 25, 2007 at 12:46 PM