Archive for the ‘Trip 4 Plans’ Category

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Trip 4: Final Countdown / Site Preparations

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

As you can imagine, it’s been a busy final week before we leave for Maui Sunday morning. With only one more day at the office left and a few final errands to finish on Saturday, our mindset is already set to vacation mode.

Site Preparations
I haven’t had a lot of free time to post this week, but I have been doing a few things behind the scenes to make this upcoming trip a little more interactive.  As I had done last year, I plan on opening up my Maui Twitter page with updates throughout each day of our trip. Of course, if you’re on Twitter yourself, you can also just follow me (@webnelly), too.

That’s not all I’m working on, however. I’ve been testing out two other online goodies to help you keep tabs on what we’re doing and even what we’re seeing.  The first is the Twitter photo sharing service, TwitPic, which will allow me to take photos from my cellphone and post them directly online.  My goal is to share about 3 photos a day, so we’ll see how that goes.

The other service I’m testing out is brightkite.  This one allows me to ‘check-in’ at different times and places on our trip.  Say, for example, when we’re enjoying that long awaited slice of Hula Pie at Leilani’s. Whenever I ‘check-in’ during our trip, you’ll be able to click and view exactly where we are on a Google map at the brightkite website, and at the end of it all, I hope to be able to use that info to literally map out our travels each day.

Of Course, The Blog
As I have done for the last two years now, I will also be switching our blog here into diary mode, with daily journal entries of the previous days highlights and happenings.  Be sure to follow along and add your comments each day.

Lastly, many mahalos to our readers that have been following us through these last few months as we plan our return to Maui. This trip, more than ever, we’ve received so many great ideas and comments from our readers and on Twitter.  For my Twitter friends on Maui, Cindy and I look forward to meeting you IRL (in real life) very soon.

Mahalo!

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Entertainment Lineup for Whale Day 2009 Announced

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

The Pacific Whale Foundation has just announced the entertainment line up for the Whale Day 2009 festivities this year, and you can get all the details from this press release. Some of the more familiar names include John Cruz, Willie K, and George Kahumoku Jr., and seeing that we always love to see live entertainment when visiting Maui, we’re really excited.

Be sure to check out the Maui Whale Festival 2009 website for all the details of this year’s activities. We’ll be on the island and attending the Whale Day Celebration on Saturday, Feb. 21st, so if you’re planning on being there, too, drop us a line and say Aloha. Liza from A Maui Blog is working to arrange a Maui Tweetup at the Whale Day Celebration, so if you’re interested, reach out to her on Twitter (@AMauiBlog). As a reminder, you can also find me on Twitter at @webnelly.

Mahalo.

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Trip 4 – Final Plans

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

Whale Tail - CroppedAnother big week for the planning of our next trip, so I wanted to post an update. We finalized (or tried to) our final activities for our little 2 weeks of heaven on Maui in February, and we’re entering into our last trip preparations leading up to our flight.

Booked: Vacation Portrait Session
This was something I inadvertently left off the previous planning posts, but was something I was really interested in arranging this trip. I had seen a little kiosk setup at Whalers Village last year, and thought it was worth looking into.  Well, we booked our session for Friday, Feb. 20th with photographer Natalie Brown.

It is going to be an hour session at Keawakapu Beach in Wailea, just before sunset. The spot was recommended by Natalie, and based on some of the photos in her portfolio, we know it’s a safe bet that things are going to be wonderful. She was also kind enough to recommend two top restaurants in the area, Sarento’s On The Beach and Five Palms Beach Grill. Both look wonderful, and regardless of which one we choose (or yet another option), this has all the makings for a magical evening on Maui.

Booking: Whale Watch and Dinner Cruise
The plan was to book these two this morning and then be done with all the pre-booking stuff, but issues with the Pacific Whale Foundation site were keeping me from crossing this off the list. We know there are other fish in the sea (pardon the pun) when it comes to these whale watches and dinner cruises.  We’ve just grown accustomed to PWF because of all the work they do on the islands and for the environment, and plus, they sure know a lot about whales.

West Maui CoastlineAccording to our early week planning, Wednesday, Feb. 18th is going to be our afternoon whale watch out of Lahaina Harbor. This is essentially the same one we did last year, but a little later in the afternoon (and hopefully with a lot less motion sickness). It’s a two hour affair, and with all the whale activity going on in Maui waters this time of year, I’m really, really excited.

The second booking with PWF will be the Dinner Cruise on Thursday, Feb. 26th. We had scheduled this last year as well, but after the rough waters on our whale watch, the three of us (my mom being the 3rd that trip) agreed to stick to land.  We like to opt for the premium seating on the upper deck, and really enjoy drifting along the West Maui coastline just at sunset. We’ve done dinner cruises on the Maui Princess in the past, so we pretty much know what to expect.

Scratched: Star Gazers Maui
It soon became obvious that we had a tad too many things going on for our two week trip. Unfortunately, the Star Gazers Maui tour planned for Friday the 20th had to get scratched, and we’ll only be making one trip up Haleakala this time around instead of two. If things go well, we might be able to leave a little earlier for the sunrise so I can get some star photos before sunrise. Just don’t tell Cindy. ;)

What’s Next
Well, tomorrow will mark 3 weeks before we leave for Maui. At some point next week, we’ll start figuring out what we’re packing, do a trial run filling up our luggage, and any last minute shopping between now and the time we leave. I’ve been meaning to pick up a different carry-on bag, and as if we didn’t think it was possible after last year, I’m bring along even more techie toys this trip. Yikes!

There are still some other site updates I’m hoping to wrap up here before we leave, as well as dust off my Maui Twitter page. Seeing that Twitter is a bigger part of my life these days, I shouldn’t have a problem remembering to tweet with updates. I really liked how my Twitter posts from last trip went and the final output ending up in our Itineraries section.  You can read more details about what to expect here.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

Mahalo.

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Trip '09 – Week 2 Plans

Monday, January 12th, 2009

Cindy's JournalLast week I posted our initial plans for week 1 of our February trip to Maui. With making reservations last Friday for an overnight stay in Hana for our second week, it’s now time to share our week 2 plans.

Sunday, February 22nd
At the moment, Sunday is looking to be another beach day for us, although we normally don’t hit the beaches on the weekend. You see, unlike what some folks think about people living in Hawaii, they don’t actually spend each and every day at the beach. With the high cost of living the island life, many people work two jobs during the week, which makes the weekends with the ohana so special. Those weekends are generally when many residents make it out for some fun in the sun themselves.
We’ll probably be doing laundry at some point on Sunday, too, which would make this a pool day instead. Yes, we do laundry on vacation, one of the drawbacks of a two week vacation. It’s either that or packing two weeks of clothes, and trust me, we do not want the hassle of any more luggage than we already have. :)
Monday, February 23rd
Day one of our return to Hana. It will be our third time making the trip, but only the first time driving ourselves. Since we’ve seen many of the popular sights already, we’re not going to be in any kind of a hurry to fight the crowds, opting to take our time and finding the areas that are lesser known.
Also, as mentioned on Friday, we’ll be spending the night at the Hotel Hana-Maui, which will certainly include dinner at Ka’uiki. If there weren’t so many other great things we’ll be doing this trip, staying in Hana would be the hands down highlight of these two weeks.
Tuesday, February 24th
One of the benefits of staying overnight in Hana is that we’ll be able to see the sunrise over the ocean in East Maui. Right now, I’m thinking of greeting the sun from Hana Bay. After that, we’ll probably head over to the O’heo Gulch for some photos, which we didn’t visit on our trip to Hana last year. The rest of the day is taking our time getting back to Ka’anapali and stopping at places we might have missed on Monday.
Wednesday, February 25th
The day itself on Wednesday is pretty open right now. Possibly another whale cruise, a trip to the Maui Ocean Center, or maybe a day in Lahaina. The evening, however, is reserved for one of our traditions each trip, a Luau. We’re sticking with our regular Ka’anapali Sunset Luau as we have the past two trips, which is also right on the grounds of the Sheraton.
Thursday, February 26th
Another day at the beach on Thursday, to get the finishing touches on our tans before returning home to the final weeks of winter in Chicago. The evening will be our dinner cruise this trip, which we normally do on the last night, but will come a day early this time (and for good reason).
Friday, February 27th
The last full day is always a somber one, so we’ll likely just take it easy during the day and not try not to dread going home. We’ll probably do the laundry again, just so we won’t have to when we get home. In spite of the mood of leaving Maui yet again, we’ll be ending this trip on a very high note. Friday is the HAPA concert at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and seeing what a magical night the show was last year, it will be the perfect end to our vacation.
Saturday, February 28th
Alas, our wonderful vacation has to end sometime. With the changes to our flight plans this trip, it will be interesting to see how it works out. Usually, we take the red-eye home, which means requesting a late checkout and then driving around with a car full of luggage. This time, we’ll have less time to kill and possibly less of an impact on our normal sleep patterns by the time we get home.
Some Vacation, Eh?
Kinda of makes you wish you were coming with us, doesn’t it? While not intended to brag or boast about how great our trips are, I hope these plans give you a good sense of just how many great things there are to do in Maui. To some, this list might sound a little light, or a few might even thing we’re trying to do too much. It certainly is a balancing act, and we’ve been pretty happy with our past trips as far as not burning ourselves out.
It truly is better to pace yourself when visiting Maui, and accept the fact that you’re not going to see everything in a single trip. That might not sound promising, but the reality is that you just need to keep coming back, like we do. Trust us, after you’ve visited Maui and have seen all the magic it has to offer and how it changes you, that vacation savings jar at home becomes a lot more popular. :)
Mahalo.

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Trip '09 Plans – Our Hana Overnight

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Hana Maui HotelWe made yet another part of our upcoming Maui trip official yesterday by booking a night at the Hotel Hana-Maui in Hana.

We have been thinking about making arrangements to stay in Hana for months now, which will give us two full days to experience all the hidden treasures along the Road to Hana that our previous guided tours did not have time to cover.
Cindy and I had the wonderful experience of dining at Ka’uiki for lunch last year, which is the main restaurant at the resort. From what we were able to see while we were, the resort looked stunning. That, and the prospect of seeing the sunrise over Hana Bay nearby, just added to the desire to spring for an overnight stay.
The Way It Should Be
I hear a lot from fellow Hawaii and Maui fans that people who take their time along the Road to Hana get more out of the experience. Some visitors think it’s just about driving all the turns and bridges and not losing your lunch. Others get to Hana and think, that’s it? And then there are some who pick up a guide book and try to stop and see everything in a single day’s drive, not spending nearly enough time to stop and enjoy each individual sight.
Hana and the entire East Coast is yet another example why making multiple trips to Maui is so rewarding. Just like you can’t possibly do everything there is to do on Maui in a single vacation, it’s impossible to see everything there is along the Road to Hana in just one day. Being able to take our time getting there the first day, and having a second day to finish our explorations and make our way back to Ka’anapali gives us plenty of time for just about everything we’re looking to discover. That, and the fact that we’ve already seen many of the popular spots in our two previous trips to Hana gives us even more time for new finds.
The Rest of Week 2
Booking this overnight was the cornerstone of our week 2 plans, which I’ll be posting next week. In case you missed it, you can check out our plans for week 1.
Mahalo.

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