Our Hawaii Adventure Begins (Day 1)

We had the opportunity to visit the Hawaiian islands during May 2012 and thought it would be great to share with you our experience, recommendations and insights during this trip.  We're going to cover this in multiple posts and would love to hear your feedback or questions.

The Hawaiian islands are the most isolated major island group on earth being 2400 miles from the nearest continent.
Some of the challenges we knowingly decided to tackle on this trip was taking our 3 year old (Evan) and and 3 month old (Elliot) with us - many flights, long flights/drives, altitude changes, somewhat extreme temperature fluctuations, and tons of luggage.

Our trip consisted of 16 days visiting the islands of Maui, Hawaii (the Big Island), and Oahu - in that order - and we started off from Toronto Pearson Airport.  Although you can get packages for air, hotel, tours, etc. the best way to explore is by renting a car and driving around yourself - you can also get packages which include air, hotel and rental car.  It's very easy to drive in Hawaii and it's comforting to see emergency phones placed along the highways.  Our trip was pieced together ourselves and not prepackaged, due to the suppliers we used, and because our kids would not be allowed on some tours.

We decided to go almost last minute, booked what we could in advance, packed our bags and went on our way.

Once we got to the airport we were faced with our first obstacle.  How do we move all our luggage, hold our baby and keep Evan from running away.  Here's what we did with the luggage:

The Baggage to push (yes, there are 2 car seats stacked on the umbrella stroller)

Our checked bags sat on a standard airport cart, while the umbrella stroller held the 2 car seats stacked like  two 'L' shapes fitted together.  Then we placed bags where ever we could (off the stroller handles, on the cart basket, and on our backs - not shown in the pic).  Elliot was strapped into a front pouch baby carrier on me while my husband held Evan's hand, maneuvering the baggage cart with the other.  We became pretty good at using this setup and also going through security through the 6 flights we took during the 2.5 week period.

We flew Westjet from Toronto to Maui, via Vancouver.  Westjet has been good for the flights I have taken with them and I've never had any issues (comfort and customer service have always been great too) - my hubby also vouches for them and has flown with them a lot more.

Our connecting flight from Vancouver to Kahului, Maui was pretty empty (79 passengers) -leaving enough room for many to grab 3 seats and stretch out for the approximately 6 hour flight.  Getting into Kahului, we were about 1/2 an hour behind schedule due to strong headwinds, but that's ok we're going to be on island time.

Almost there!

We landed at Kahului Airport around 10:15pm (pretty quiet at that time), got our bags and made our way to the shuttle bus stop to get to the Alamo car rental office.  We were the last customers for the day, which was apparent by the building turning the lights off after we stepped out and we went to get the vehicle.  They gave us a few options and we chose a Mazda CX7 to get out the gate.  Despite having to take a little extra time loading up and actually leaving the lot, all the staff were very friendly and patient.  They even gave us straight forward directions (landmarks and hwy's) to get to our hotel (the Westin Maui), which helped since it was dark and we were tired.  Our hotel was in the Ka'anapali resort area at Lahaina rather than the popular Kahului area near the airport.

Our next obstacle was identifying landmarks, since unlike the urban areas of the GTA, there were few and sparse street lights along some stretches, but none along most of the road.  We were driving down CR380 and needed to turn left at the mountain (onto CR30); the road eventually ended so I'm guessing there was a mountain in front of us in the pitch dark, so we turned left and saw on the first sign that it was CR30.  We followed this road through several bends, lit only by the reflectors on the road and the reflective signs - this wasn't too bad if you've driven in rural Ontario.  The locals will fly past you since they know the road, but don't be tempted to speed - some of the bends catch you off guard.  We drove through Lahaina and eventually reached the Ka'anapali resort area in the northwest area of Maui (about 45 minutes from the airport).  What we missed on the dark drive but would see on the following days were the ocean on our left, the mountains on our right, and several tree canopies.  We pulled up to the front of the hotel at a couple of minutes before midnight and were readily greeted and promptly checked in.  Again, I have to commend the excellent customer service and what seemed to be the hotel staff's genuine efforts to make us feel comfortable and at home.

The lobby was stunning with a couple of waterfalls, flamingos, fish and a black swan swimming in the pond.

Waterfall at the lobby entrance at The Westin Maui

The Westin Maui pond nicely lit at night 

The Westin Maui lobby pond with flamingos

Black Swan at The Westin Maui lobby

The grounds were also very elegant and clean - the beach was great and not overcrowded, although the waves were a bit rough as with most of the beaches.  A neat thing about this spot is that some of the other islands are visible from the shore along with the sunset.

View of The Ocean Building from the beach

Public beach at the Westin Maui - the luau (for a fee and open to guests and non guests) is starting where the tables are on the right.  You can see some of the other hotels and resorts along the coast (but it's not too many - never felt crowded or busy)

View of other islands from the beach

View from the beach of the sun starting to set over the ocean

Sunset on the beach

They also host a luau, which price-wise is comparable to others offered on Maui and on the other islands.  Another neat inclusion is the free shuttle which takes guests to other starwood properties in the area so they can try out some of the other restaurants, beaches, etc. as well as get a free ride to Lahaina (which we'll touch on later).  Our room was a standard mountain view room which had a small coffee/meal prep area (sort of like a buffet kitchen but only had coffee maker), and a small dining area which was convenient for in-room dining.

The beds were very comfy and they provided us with a crib with crib sheets.

Our little dining area

Sink was across from the coffee maker area.

Our bathroom was very clean and modern.  The Heavenly Shower (TM) was amazing - 2 showerheads: 1 for misting and 1 for massage).

The hanging in our bathroom let us know the Princess of Wales stayed at this property.

The view was amazing to wake up to, since we got there in the dark and had no idea what the area looked like.  We also had a roomy lanai (or balcony) to enjoy the view too.  There is also a great spa and restaurant here (prices are reasonable), but we didn't try either since our plan was to explore the island for the duration of our stay rather than give in to the pampering.

View through the window to the lanai.

View from our lanai

View from our lanai.  Didn't rain where we were but could see it was happening near the mountains.

From near the onsite coffee/snack shop

Some of the other niceties The Westin Maui included to help pamper and make us feel more welcomed were the daily voice messages to pick up a complimentary gift (we got a Westin Maui reusable bag on one day, and a box Hawaiian Host Caramacs on another).  We also liked that they included paper cups with lids in the room so we could take our coffee or tea to go when we left in the morning.  I would definitely recommend staying here if you're planning to go to Maui.