Maui, Hawaii, Day 0 Travel Day to My Second Hawaiian Island

August 2nd

I’m going to Hawaii again!!! I cannot believe that a little less than a year ago, I went to Hawaii for the first time and now I am back. I never knew when my return to this island would be, whether it would be in years, or when I moved to Honolulu, or never. All of those were real possibilities, and I’m so glad to say that I made it back in 11 months, and to visit a new island. This goes to show there are some things in your life you cannot plan, you could not imagine because the option or opportunity didn’t exist until it did. I was supposed to be in Minnesota this week, until Regan texted me, asking me to join her on this trip and thankfully work did not want me to miss out either. 

I got dropped off by Mom and Dad as they were on their way up to the farm for Barley Days, which is a bummer I missed out on visiting family. But, I won't lie when I say that I was giddy to solo travel again. I even chatted with this lady at TSA who was traveling down to Florida to attend to some business matters for her golf apparel company in Fort Lauderdale. Queen and goals. I also am so happy I scheduled a TSA pre-check appointment, because this line was a bit too long, and TSA is much shorter that it finally convinced me to just get it, plus if I want to focus on more domestic travel the rest of this year into the next, it'll be nice to have in my back pocket.

It was early enough in the morning and I was tired, plus I knew I wanted to get some work done, so I ordered a Starbucks, and drank her up real sweet before hopping on my flight. I almost got even luckier when the desk ladies were requesting for people to give up their seats for $800. I literally was like hmm since I’m traveling alone, I’ll see what they got. I went up there, asked them what the offer was, and at first I couldn’t do it because I had the Maui flight, but they found a connection in Seattle straight to Maui that would’ve arrived two hours earlier than my current flight and I’d get the $800. Sadly, they didn’t need me to give up the seat because they got it sorted, but that would’ve been electric and the credit probably would’ve gone to my winter break trip. Maybe next time!

I hopped on the flight, and I locked in for the entirety of it. I was working up a storm, yes, legit working, and I didn’t do anything except work over the flight. I really needed to complete this one project for work, and it felt so great having uninterrupted time to grind. This flight was 8 hours so I practically worked a full day, no meetings and had plenty of stuff that I did need to finish so it was perfect.

HNL Botanical Gardens

Just like that I landed in Honolulu and I had a four hour layover. I didn’t want to spend that much time in this airport, I was literally so close to beautiful nature or I wish I could’ve left and hung out with someone during it, but I also had all my luggage so it wouldn’t have made sense to go crazy and Uber to and from Waikiki, even though that would’ve been so lovely to see the water and view. But, thankfully the airport had a botanical garden and all I wanted was to be outside. Although it wasn’t next to an ocean, no complaints as it was a lovely area with plants all over so it was the best of both worlds to make the most of a layover.

I also grabbed some dinner there. I got a crunchy tofu salad at a restaurant that overlooked the botanical garden. I was just happy to get some tofu. I sat there until it was time to head to my gate, I wanted to charge up my laptop and phone, so I found an outlet at my gate and camped out until I got called up to board. I was so excited to get to the hostel in Maui and get settled in and ready to do the Road to Hana. It’s been on my travel list for so long and I was elated to finally do it, with no worries about doing it alone, as at least I was able to do it in first place. 

The views from the plane ride were insane because it was just a little pond hopper and it was flying pretty low so that the view of the mountain on Maui was crystal clear. Sadly I had an aisle seat and was on the wrong side of the plane and was so sad I couldn’t document the insane sight we saw. However, mark my words, it was the most beautiful sight and if you can, get a flight from HNL to OGG in the daytime and sit on the left side (if you are facing the front of the plane). Unreal. 

I got an Uber from the airport to the rental car place, I had the sweetest driver and it wasn’t a long drive before we got to this parking lot with food trucks and parked cars. I found my car with ease, I got a white Toyota Corolla and I was pumped that it was Toyota and that it had car play. I was shaking in my boots, nervous about driving the car because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to it while I was behind the wheel. I was fearful of an extra charge or something terrible happening. But, the car was already pretty banged up so it’s not like it was spotless. I was also nervous about getting a feel for the roads and making sure I was following etiquette. I will note that one thing that I didn't love about the driving style in Maui is everyone speeds, and does so in such great excess. Like, if someone was behind me, I felt so much pressure to go overly fast, because if it was a local, they would berate me with their horn and there were only one lane roads, so it’s not like you could just let them pass you. So, I always felt this sense of rush when I was driving around and I wish that I could just enjoy the drive, no rush, so maybe I didn’t mind that we followed the speed limit in Minnesota. 

Aloha Surf Hostel

So, I was shaky and nervous for the first five minutes of driving, but once I got on a smooth straightaway road, I realized there wasn’t much to be scared about. I only had a 10 minute drive to my hostel and it was so easy. Just two turns and there was even a parking spot (3 spots total) open at my hostel so it made hauling stuff into my room so simple. 

I had a California boy check me in, I was in a bit of a blur after 14 hours of travel so I tried so hard to focus and hear all the hostel had to offer. It was actually a really nice place. It looked like a home with a bunch of rooms. They even had private bathrooms and thankfully he showed me those because I would have never found them and would have wanted to use those so badly. Those private bathrooms were actually a game changer because there's nothing more unpleasant than an ungraceful way to shower, change, and get ready for the day or for bed at night. Hostel bathroom situations can be amazing or awful, and this was one of the best I’ve ever had. 

I dropped my stuff and ran to the local grocery store before it closed at 8:30pm. It was 8pm, and only a 5 minute walk, so I put on my walking shoes and made my way there. I was in heaven on the first step inside because there were so many great vegan options. I was obsessed. I had no idea the island was so vegan friendly, I was so happy about that. I tried to plan out some easy and affordable breakfasts, and caved to the peanut butter blueberry bagel. I also picked up lunch for the road to Hana and some fun snacks and beverages. And vegan banana bread!

I was like a kid in a candy store and sad to have to rush the process because there were so many great things to pick up. The bill ended up being $40, but for all the fun treats I got plus all my breakfasts and lunch and snacks tomorrow, I’ll take it. I walked back, dropped it off in the fridge, showered in the grand private bathroom, and went to the room to pass out before anyone got in there.