Perks of Kauai

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We’d set our alarm for six in the morning. Sharon had moved the last of our laundry from the dryer at midnight; but, I was asleep long before that. I showered, folded my laundry and packed everything into cubes, and from there fit everything into my suitcase and carryon. My suitcase now was two pounds heavier; but, at 45 pounds I was still golden. Sharon must have rearranged her luggage because she came in at 46 pounds; but, still under the 50 pound limit.

We filled up the tank on our way to the airport. Check-in was really easy at the Fox rental car; and, to make things better the van was already there and we were on our way without a hitch. With all of the trouble and ordeals, and lengthy process or renting the car, and taking careful images of the car’s condition, check-in was done with little more than, “Is the gas tank full? Yes. Great. Any problems? No. You’re all checked-in, the van will take you to the airport now!”

There was no real dining options at the inter-island terminal at Maui’s OGG’s airport in Kahului. Other than of course for Starbuck’s; but, the line was long for that, and Sharon wasn’t in the mood. She had her heart set on a McD’s Big Breakfast; but, there was none to be found. We had a couple of hours to pass, and waited at our gate as flights departed for Honolulu, Kona and Hilo. We boarded for our flight to Lihue (LIH). I’m just adding a couple of airport codes in case we have a future trivia question on them on one of the Holland America challenges.

Sharon had a nice conversation with the woman seated at the window who lives in Kauai but was returning from visiting her boyfriend who is very ill and in a hospital in Calif. She gave Sharon several ideas on things to see while we were here.

It must be a Hawaii thing that rental car shuttles pick people up on the center island in front of the baggage claim exits. This time we had perhaps a fifteen minute wait for our shuttle; but, it did show up. They had our car ready for us, and they did the hard sell for their extended insurance coverage, really emphasizing the No-Fault State rules that allows the rental car company to charge you the daily rate for a car for each day it is being repaired. Evidently, in Kauai, that typically can take six to eight weeks. This was the first rental company that wrote down my company’s insurance information. The car was brought up for me to load luggage; but, first came the visual inspection. This agent spent a full ten minutes clicking photos with her tablet and recording several video clips, of a wide array of minor damage and dings to just about every panel and surface. I had to point out several obvious damages that she failed to note. But we were finally on our way.

We had to drive up to the Northside of the island on the eastern side to the Wyndham Bali Hai Villas. Our check-in went smoothly; and, we were directed to the concierge to get our boarding pass. We declined the “free breakfast/ownership update review” citing that we’d just attended such a meeting in Honolulu just last week. Normally, this would have been good enough to not be invited; but, evidently since Wyndham has adopted less high-pressure tactics in attempting to get you to increase your Wyndham ownership (where the agents are paid commissions based on their sales); and now the only way to get a pass on one of these “breakfast meetings” is if you actually buy something in the previous six months. A number of freebies or discounts were thrown at us; but, we just said “No Thank-you”. We did get directions to Foodtown and were given a Foodtown Membership card (for member prices) and a coupon that gives 10% discounts on purchases of $50 or more.

We found Foodtown, and stumbled on a Sandwich Deli Shop in a local Mall/Square. My sandwich was quite good; but, this very laid back store offers a new definition for “slow service”. I’m not sure if the lady making the sandwiches was more interested in texting than making the sandwiches, but it easily took her 20 minutes to deliver the two sandwiches. That was after they couldn’t make me a Philly Steak sandwich due to no beef, and couldn’t give me an iced tea because of no tea. Sharon did get a nice turkey breast sandwich on a hot roll. We filled up at the Foodtown after our lunch/dinner. Afterwards, Sharon had her eye on a Shave Ice vendor, and we both had dessert. I had a coconut/guava shave ice; while, Sharon had Root Beer and Blue Raspberry. Mine was quite good. The coconut flavor was again very pronounced; but, the guava was subtler. Sharon is already looking online for shave ice machines. Why do they have these everywhere in Hawaii; but, are seldom seen elsewhere?



We got back to the timeshare, in our second story unit. There are no elevators so I had to lug the suitcases up a flight of stairs, and now had to do the same with the groceries and bottles of water and San Pellegrino. The humidity was also quite stifling, and after examining each room I realized that the 2-bedroom suite that we had (a Presidential Suite) had no air-conditioning. Evidently, this is not normally a problem, when the trade winds are following their normal flow. Every room does have fans and the windows were open in each room when we arrived. It also means that you can hear everything going on outside your suite, and I can only assume that everything going on inside your suite can also be heard. I settled in watching the History Channel and drinking half of the San Pellegrino that I’d bought.

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