Johann & Sandra's Maui Trip

Our trip began on an ominous note when our flight from Portland to San Jose on Alaska Airlines was delayed for over an hour for a backup generator malfunction. We had just endured our fir Worldmark at Kihei st taste of enhanced airport security, and the resulting long lines, and now this. Once in the air, however, we took off like a bolt of lightning, as we sped over 600 miles per hour to San Jose. With the aid of a 180 knot tailwind, our flight was on time even after the delay!

We switched planes without incident, and after enduring The Princess Diaries (with the help of unlimited free wine!), arrived seven hours later in Kaluhui Airport aboard an American Airlines 757 jet; on schedule! We made our way to the Alamo rental car counter, where we were greeted with New York-style rudeness. They eventually brought us around to our Jeep, which smelled wet, like it had been driven with the top down in the rain.

We headed out into Kahului, which was a rather ugly town, with American-style strip malls, factories, and chain stores, and made off to pick up our AOA Gold Card, which gave us substantial savings throughout our trip. You just have to make sure you're planning on the activities that it sponsors! We quickly noticed that gas was over $2.00 per gallon at a time where the gas back home was under $1.00! We did notice, however, that the prepaid gas offered at the rental car agency was not any less than several stations around town. We turned down the gas and the insurance (most insurance companies cover rental cars) as usual and went off to find our hotel.

Worldmark at Kihei was our choice of lodging, which looked painfully out of place in a resort community. The "resort" condos were actually just a regular old Pacific Northwest-style apartment complex with no real amenities or things you would expect from a resort. Room service was available on a limited basis from the restaurant next door, but for a hefty fee. Although our room was nice, the community as a whole was quite disappointing, and we told them so. At shortly after 12:30 we hit the sheets.

DAY 2