Hawaii

Gerry and I drove to Vancouver to drop off Fergus at his parents house (they are always so generous with their doggie-sitting) and then headed to the airport to meet my parents for our flight. Did I tell you I was going to Maui with my parents?

I really wanted to do something super special for my Dad’s BIG birthday this year (he’s 29 – again 😉 and I thought a fun family trip to Maui would be a great way to celebrate this milestone birthday.

My parents found a great hotel/travel package via aircanadavacations.com and even though I normally do everything I can NOT to travel with Air Canada because of bad past experiences (ask Janice at Arsenal Pulp – who books my book-tours how much I hate them) … but for this I went with the flow. I mean, it’s my Dad’s BIG birthday so I wanted him and my Step-Mum Denise to stay anywhere they felt comfortable.

My Dad chose a GREAT hotel. We stayed at The Aston Mahana at Kaanapali and I thought it was awesome. It’s the first hotel I’ve ever stayed at that actually looked like the photos/360*video on the website. Each room in the hotel has a view of the beach/ocean and the view did not disappoint … but more on that later.

**NOTE**
If you ever stay at The Mahana  you should know that each suite is different because they are personally owned and then rented out by the hotel. Our room was fantastic. My parents – not so much. So if you stay here and you don’t like your room then ask the front desk for another one.

So I have been wanting to take Gerry to Hawaii (Maui in particular) since I first met him 15 years ago. My Zeyda used to have a condo in Maui and the family would visit every winter (actually maybe it was only a couple of times we came … but in my childhoods mind’s eye we visited Maui a lot). I have so many fond memories of Maui and I wanted to share them with my hubby but I’m actually glad that it took this many years to come to Maui because not only do Gerry and I have a well seasoned marriage (that deserves a vacation) but to be able to share this experience with my parents at the same time made the trip doubly sweet.

We arrived in Maui at night so it was kind of a drag that Gerry wouldn’t be able to see the sights as we drove to the hotel … but it didn’t matter because the first thing I wanted Gerry to experience (who has never been anywhere tropical) was the smell of Hawaii.

As a child I loved that exotic, salty, breezy scent you would catch as you walked through the open-aired airport and I’ve been telling Gerry FOR YEARS about how great it smells so when he got hit by that first blast of the tropical night breeze and he looked at me with excitement I almost started crying in the airport. *laugh*

After a long drive in the dark down a curvy 2 lane highway we arrived at the hotel exhausted. We made plans to meet up with the parents at 10am in the lobby (to go shopping for provisions) and then went to check out our room.

It was a really nice studio suite (very similar to the website video) but before we un-packed – like I do in every hotel I stay at – I did a quick check for bed-bugs.

Bug free we dumped our bags, opened the windows and lay on the bed breathing in the tropical air and listening to the crashing surf below…  and the next thing I knew it was morning.