Kudos
When we're on vacation, we find that our experiences, both good and bad, are often a result of the services by others. We like to focus on the positive, so we take this opportunity to say thank you to those that helped make our vacation better.
The self catering apartment we stayed in on Maui was part of
a condo complex called the Hoyochi Nikko. The Manager, John and his wife Irene were
out daily at dawn organizing, cleaning, watering, and in a nutshell beautifying
the surroundings. They ensured the barbeques were clean, cleaned and dried the
beach chairs, trimmed and raked to make the place picture perfect every day. It
was by far the best cared for rental complex we've seen in our travels. They were
friendly with helpful advice, gave us fresh bananas from their tree, hosted a weekly
Pupu party for guests and provided all the pupus. Thank you John and Irene for
helping make our Maui stay exceptional.
The Chicken in a Barrel BBQ grill in Hanalei Bay, on the
Island of Kauai was a great little outdoor restaurant in the otherwise
expensive tourist town. They provided large
helpings, quick service, tasty food, with a simple decor, for very reasonable
prices. We had chicken and ribs with homemade bean salsa sauce and rice. The fact
the local people ate there made sense, and was a good clue for us.
The Quality Hotel Dorval and the 3rd Party Booking Agent,
Park Sleep Fly provided us with overnight accommodation in Montreal with free
parking for 21 days. We've used this combination a number of times. Through the
3rd party internet booking agent, Quality Hotel Dorval offers the deal with as
little as one night booking. When we fly out of Montreal, the chances are either
our departure is very early so we stay over the night before or the return arrival
is quite late, and once again we could stay over. Then of course, we need to
leave our car for an extended period somewhere anyway. The cost of this package is
about $130, which is about the same cost
for Park and Fly. This combination helps make our travel safer, and saves us
money.
At the Montreal airport, Canada Customs has an automated document
scanning system for returning Canadians. They've eliminated the old "interview
everyone system" which often created an hour or so wait in line. The new
system is much more efficient and I suspect more effective. Congratulations to
them for embracing technology, and improving our travel experience. The new
system could use a few tweaks but it's a big step in the right direction.
Other Thoughts
We have various experiences that often don't fit into our other stories, so we take this opportunity to add them here.
The Islands had wonderful weather, 20 at night and 30 during
the day. The normal trade-winds blow out of the northeast and provide a welcome
relief on a hot day. On a day without
the trade-winds. the sun was brutally hot between 10 AM and 5 PM, and we
learned to find shade when possible. Typically, clouds would build over the
windward side of the Island, resulting in the very wet and green north side of
the Island and a very sunny dry south side. We experienced both. We stayed on
the dry side in Maui, and the wet side in Kauai. To learn about the Hawaii
weather phenomena - http://blog.sailtrilogy.com/understanding-mauis-wind-weather-and-waves/
Both Maui and Kauai had good roads and we felt safe driving
there. We noted, there were no motorcycle helmets required.
Food cost about 30% more than home with the exception of
wine and beer. Gas was a little cheaper too.
We had large sea turtles visit our beach in Maui. We felt lucky
to see them breach the surface of the water, take a breath and swim by. They are
vegetarian ,and eat seaweed, so they don't pose a risk to humans. With strong
sunshine, their silhouette was just a dark oblong shape passing through the
water. Apparently, they would crawl up on the beach from time to time, but we
weren't fortunate enough to see one.
Hawaii is not Disneyland, but in many ways its similar. It's
all so tourist commercial. We were on the Islands in the relative off-season,
but everything that was identified in the guidebooks was busy by 10:00 AM. It was
hard to imagine what it's like in the busy tourist season. The helicopter rides
are the ultimate for the tourists to see it all at a glance but not actually
touch it. The downside for us was we'd be on a trail early in the morning, and were
often just getting the feeling we were in a remote part of the Island, when not
only one helicopter would fly by, but sometimes 2 or even 3 within sight and
earshot at the same time. There were still natural adventures to be had, but the
experiences weren't pristine.
We didn't surf while in Hawaii, but it would be a great Islands experience. I learned the
planning for it needs to start with the choice of rental vehicle, which we
didn't think of. The scenario would be to take a lesson with board included,
then rent a board by the day or week, and be able to transport it to a suitable
beach when weather and surf conditions were right. The rental vehicle probably needs
roof racks and will cost a little extra, however I did see a short Hawaiian guy
fit a short board, about 6 feet long, into an old Toyota Corolla. If we return to Hawaii sometime, I'm going to make surfing a priority.
Unusual things happen on the beaches of Hawaii. One day we
were out and about, and saw a film crew down the beach. Curiosity lead us to check
it out. They were filming Yoga sessions like what we'd see on TV.
Thank you for joining us in Hawaii. We hope you're looking forward to our next adventure.
