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Published: February 25th 2020
Our beach
Napili Surf Beach Resort on Maui.Well, we are actually back in Canada after two weeks on Maui. Where was the blog you say? In the excitement described herein, I managed to lose my computer charge cord and my iPad Mini isn't up to the job of blogging. So back to the beginning...
In 1994, Dianne and I went to Hawaii. We had such a great time that we said we should come back "next year". Well, next year finally arrived, albeit 26 years later. Friends go to Maui every year in the January time frame so we decided to bite the bullet and join them for a couple of weeks.
The weather in the south coast area of B.C. has been a bit weird this year. Snow and strong winds have played havoc with ferry and air travel. Because we had an early flight on Wednesday we decided to go over to Sidney the afternoon before and booked a hotel near the airport, one that had a courtesy van to pick us up at the ferry on Tuesday and drop us at the airport at 4:30am (gasp) the next day.
Tuesday morning the snow started to fall so we decided to take an
Victoria airport
Pretty quiet. Maybe the weather is a factor? earlier ferry as many ferries had been cancelled. Our cunning plan involved driving the Forester to the ferry and leaving it in the roadside "parking lot" to await our return. We loaded up and set off for the ferry, stoping to check for mail. The Forester has been giving us a problem where the key wouldn't turn. Usually jiggling it, waiting a few seconds or some other gyration would solve the problem but not this time. THe Forester was now stuck at the mail boxes.
We had been planning to take it in to the garage on Pender because we had several recommendations attesting to their good service. So I walked back to the house to get the truck. We drove to the station to discuss the needed repairs. Unfortunately, they don't do towing so went back to the car before calling the BCAA as we had no idea how long that would take. Luckily, the car started this time so Dianne drove the car back to the station where they will work on it while we were away. Off to the ferry, the one we had originally planned to take.
The ferry ride was uneventful and Dianne
Day one in Victoria
Pretty nasty out there. And we are wearing our Hawaii clothes. had arranged for the hotel shuttle to pick us up. We waited in the terminal for the indicated 20 minutes before heading out to the pickup location. It was at least another half hour before the van showed up. We were a little bit protected in the pay parking shelter but it was still pretty cold. The driver jumped out to load our bags but we couldn't get the sliding door open ; it was frozen solid. I had to climb into the back seat over the console. Good thing I was still fairly mobile. But then déjà vu struck. The driver couldn't get the key to turn. Same problem we had with the Forester! He called for help but before it arrived the van finally started and we got to the hotel.
After getting settled we discovered Jane and Chris would not be able to join us for the girls' birthday dinner because they were snowed in. We decided we would make the five block walk to the restaurant of choice before we went outside to discover the wind was blowing pretty hard and the snow had started. The walk to and from the restaurant wasn't that enjoyable
More of the same on Day Two
The only good thing was that because we were going through Calgary on a jet we didn't have to go outside! but the dinner was great.
Then we got an email from WestJet that our flights tomorrow had been cancelled and we were rescheduled for later in the day. The good news is we didn’t have to be up before 4:00am and we get our "free" breakfast. The bad news was we would get into Maui pretty late. But it is what it is. Tons of flights and all of today's ferries have been cancelled. The "Boarding" sign was turned on at our gate but an announcement was made that the flight hadn't left Vancouver because of a problem with a passenger and bags had to be removed before the flight could leave. Another announcement was to the effect that our connections were not in jeopardy but what level of confidence does a person have? There were still lots of gate personnel hanging around so we were hopeful.
But hopes are often dashed.... the plane was so late leaving Vancouver that there was no chance it could turn around in time to get us to our connection to Maui. Back to the Travelodge. A suite deal this time; sweet only in that it was the last place left. Other
hotels would likely be just as crowded. There were a lot of people in the same boat. Several people in line with us cancelled their trips as they were only going for a week and it wasn't worth going that far for such a short time. We were rebooked for Thursday morning through Calgary! Seems crazy considering the weather there but it (hopefully) beat going through Vancouver with the weather and traffic chaos there. This, of course, assumed we get out on the flight to Calgary. It was delayed in the morning. It is hard to type with your fingers crossed. At this point we had been on the road for 44 hours and we were 33 miles from home. Hope springs eternal....
To pass the time I read the online news.... Not a good idea when one reads of some people 'trapped' for days in Mexico when their flight is cancelled.
Progress! We finally got on a plane, even if it was going the "wrong" way. Calgary's airport is pretty well organized. Nice shuttle gets you most of the way from domestic to international gates. Having to have your boarding pass scanned half a dozen times seems
King sized relief
Our unit was just a studio but had all the conveniences one could ask for. weird but the process of getting into the U.S. worked pretty well. I don't think us being on a really tight connection was a factor but the speed was very much appreciated.
The flight from Calgary to Maui is almost 8 hours but what is that compared to what we had invested so far. When we arrived at the airport in Kahului it was 57 hours since we pulled away from the house.
Our friends, Barb and Bob picked us up and whisked us off to the resort for a birthday supper for Dianne. This was a real treat after our trip!
After this much excitement, what can Hawaii offer to compare? Well, in Calgary it was -27C at noon; on Maui at 8:00 pm it is still +28C. I think that is a good start. Little did I know what was in store for us.
ToBeContinued
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