Maui Trip: my first time in Hawai'i!

Stephen and I had the opportunity to travel to Hawai'i a few weeks ago. His parents have a timeshare and were gracious enough to invite us to tag along for a week-long adventure. Stephen has been to Hawai'i several times before, but this was my first time, and I was NOT disappointed! We spent our week in Maui relaxing, snorkeling, whale watching, road tripping, and eating delicious things. I'll have to cover our trip via several posts due to the insane number of photos I took, but for anyone looking to plan a similar trip to Maui, below is the basic rundown of what we did.

LODGING

We stayed at the Sands of Kahana resort, where we were lucky enough to have a fully stocked and working kitchen. For that reason, the first thing we did once we left the airport was to make a pitstop at Costco. Hawai'i is expensive, so buying a few basic groceries helped us keep our money spent on eating out to a more reasonable amount and allowed us to enjoy our meals out guilt-free.

View from our balcony

The beach at our resort.

TRANSPORTATION

My in-laws arrived the day before we did and rented a car for the week, so we were lucky to get a ride from the airport. The island isn't that big, but it's big enough that you really will need to rent a car to get around. Photo below of the leis my cute mother-in-law brought to the airport to welcome us to Maui, since it was my first time in Hawai'i. So thoughtful!

DECIDING ON THE DAY'S ITINERARIES

I learned very quickly that the weather in Maui is quite fickle. We had laid out a tentative itinerary before our trip, but we had to be flexible because it was rainy and grey nearly every day we were there. So, unfortunately, we didn't come home with Hawai'i tans, but we had a good time anyway! I will say that while it is more work upfront, it was helpful to call ahead to some of the sites/venues we wanted to see so we knew their hours and cancellation/refund policies. For example, we booked a whale watching cruise but learned that we could cancel in advance for a refund. And we learned that they guarantee you'll see whales, or you get your money back! We also scheduled a luau that had a generous cancellation policy (you could cancel right up until the morning of). And since we had a rental car as our mode of transportation, it was easy to pack an assortment of supplies (snorkel gear, rain jackets, etc.) and clothing to suit the day's agenda.

More photos to come in other posts, but suffice it to say that Maui was amazing, everything was gorgeous, and we had such a wonderful time! 10/10 would recommend. :)

One pro to having rain on vacation: Maui RAINBOWS!!