Maui - Day 1

We are finally getting to our Maui posts! This was by far one of the best trips we have been on. Now it has been a year and a half since the trip so I will slowly be posting each day as I do not want to leave anything out. So it begins....

Maui Day 1– January 9, 2012 (Arrival Day)

Finally Maui! We have been talking about going for about 2 years to visit a good friend of mine who had moved there and recently had a beautiful daughter. Then American Airlines released too good of a flight deal to pass up. So with cheap airfare in hand it was off to Maui to 10 glorious days.

We flew out of New York City, as we do with most flights, because it is significantly cheaper than flying from Albany. I am lucky enough to have a great friend that lives in Queens that lets us crash at her place and also watches our car for us. So off to the airport we go, bright and early on January 9^th.  Well not so bright out but around 5am the car arrived to bring us to LaGuardia, which was only about a 10 minute drive from her apartment. We had a 6:50am flight out of NY with no issues. I know many people complain about NYC airports but I have to say that we have flown out of LaGuardia many times with no issues. We checked our bags and bought some coffee and food from Dunkin Donuts and just started to relax before our flight. Tried to let the Aloha spirit enter us before we even arrived on Maui. We had no issues on our first leg and arrived at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on time.



Dallas



We had about a two hour layover and decided what else to do when in Texas but get some BBQ for lunch. We shared a mixed plate which was definitely enough for the two of us.

BBQ Mixed Plate at Dallas Airport

We boarded our flight on time but were delayed off the runway. We ended up leaving DFW about 45 minutes late but we made that up in flight time. Our scheduled arrival time on Maui was 4:35 PM and we only arrived about 10 minutes late.

Haleakala from the plane on arrival

My friends were meeting us the airport and showed up right on time. We had to wait for our bags but we didn’t mind. As soon as you step off the plane the coastal Maui air waves over you and you immediately feel refreshed and relaxed.

We booked our rental car through Discount Hawaii Car Rental and they were great. We will always use them for our car rentals for all of the Hawaiian Islands. Even up to two days before the trip they were searching for the best rate for us. We rented a 2 door Jeep Wrangler from Alamo. No issues with the car rental and we loved having the Jeep.

Loved the Jeep

After getting our luggage and rental car we followed our friends to the town of Paia. Although it was dark and we were exhausted we could sense what a cute surfer town this was. They took us to Flatbread Pizza for dinner and it was excellent. We shared the Mopsy’s Kalua Pizza and the Pepperoni Pizza. The Mopsy’s was so good! Highly recommended and a great first impression of Maui. After dinner we drove to Kihei, stopped at Safeway to stock up on some food and beverages and then back to their house. Once we settled in and caught up with our friends we just crashed. It was a long travel day but I am thankful to my friends to getting us adjusted right away to Maui time.