Hello again! I’ve been off the radar for a while since my last trip. I apologize, but my absence was due to something called a ‘job’ and having real-world ‘responsibilities’. I know it sucks right?
While I was slaving away at work, my friend from college planned a weekend getaway to Maui for his 30th birthday. I jumped at the opportunity since I’ve never been there (and also to celebrate my friend’s birthday, I guess 😬)
The flight tickets to Maui were not cheap. Not surprising since Maui is on the other side of Earth. The tropical island is about 4500 miles from where I live. We booked United flights with a stop in Chicago for $1,000. This is on the cheaper side since October is considered the off-season. We packed and set our alarms to wake up bright and early.
Narrator: They did not wake up bright and early.
It must have been the automatic reflex to turn off my alarm for work. My brain only woke up just enough to turn off the alarm at 4 and went back into REM. Fast forward two hours later and I finally wake up. I checked my clock and instantly yelled out “SHIT!”. My flight was in 15 minutes! In my 15 years of making my flights, I have never missed any of my flights accidentally until today. I frantically called United customer service to see if there were other options that would have to fly us to Maui that day. After a quick 20-minute call with customer service (and paying extra for additional fees) we were able to book additional flights that would get us to Maui 5 hours later than originally planned. 2 layovers and 20 hours later, we arrived at our airbnb in Maui! We caught up with my friends and hung out at the beach a little bit. We had scheduled the road to Hana trip the next day and wanted to feel refreshed.
There are a lot of tours you can find online. Our tour was about $230 per person.
The road to Hana is the quintessential Maui tour that is a must for any first-time visitors. It’s a full-day drive tour around the perimeter of the east side of the island. As you meander through the very windy roads, you are surrounded by the natural rainforests of Maui because this side of the island is mostly protected as a nature reserve. Our tour guide picked us up in a small tour bus at 8 in the morning and off we went.
Ku’au
The tour kicks off in the sleepy surfer town of Ku’au, just north of Kahului. Our tour guide was prepping us for how curvy the road was going to be. I thought to myself, it’s a small island; how bad could it be? We stopped at Ho’okipa Beach Park for a brief stretch and on we went.
Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees
The roads started winding soon after we left Ku’au. These tall rainbow eucalyptus trees surrounded the roads, so we were under the shades. These trees are unique in that the bark is smooth to the touch and very colorful. It looked like trees in a video game that hasn’t been fully rendered yet.
Twin Falls
We stopped at several major falls to take pictures, one of which was Twin Falls. It is one of the first falls during the tour and there’s a trail that takes visitors to the base. Visitors are also free to take a cool plunge into the water and swim freely. There is also another waterfall later on which thrill-seekers can jump off. There are no life guards around, so jump at your own risk!
Road Shops
A tour wouldn’t be a tour without stopping by several shops conveniently situated along the road. I didn’t mind the stops because the drive can get a bit monotonous and it doubled as a bathroom break. The shops sell all the nicknacks you can imagine from keychains, the locally made hot sauce.
Wailua Falls
About 4 hours into the tour, we passed Wailua Falls. It is one of the taller waterfalls on the trip. The only downside was that there was no trail to get close to it. We viewed it from the tour bus.
South Maui
Maui’s climate is very unique. It’s a small island, but one can experience up to6 different types of climates. When we started the tour on the northern side, the area was humid and wet, almost rainforest-like. The southern part of Maui is completely the opposite. It’s a very dry part of the island that gets barely any rainfall each year. The area’s small shrubbery and short grass reminded me of northern Arizona. The gradual elevation slope that starts from the mountains and ends at the coast makes the southern part of the island look especially distinct. At this time, the tour was coming to an end. It took about another hour for the guide to drop us off back at the airbnb.