Island Life

I remember playing Trivial Pursuit many years ago and one of the questions that came up for a competing team was "What is the most popular honeymoon destination for American newlyweds?" The correct answer was "Hawaii", but I remember being both surprised that the answer was correct and wondering why I'd be surprised. Hawaii was clearly an exotic destination which happened to be an American state, meaning that all the hassles of passports, customs and dealing with a different language were unnecessary. Somehow, going to Hawaii for my own honeymoon never seriously crossed my mind - we went to the Caribbean and had a great time. I think part of my thinking was that for all of the beauty and appeal of the place, it just seemed far. I mean, spin-the-world-globe-as-you-hold-your-finger-still far.

A few days ago, my wife and I were blessed with the opportunity to go to Hawaii and we had a terrific time. With my parents watching the kids, we had the opportunity to enjoy some quality husband-wife time which was refreshingly unrelated to dealing with or revolving around our children. Here were some of my random musings and recollections:

• As mentioned before, getting to Hawaii is indeed quite a trek. We had a stopover in Phoenix, and doing two segments of four-plus hours of flight-time wasn't particularly enjoyable. Let's put it this way, whoever coined the phrase "half the fun is getting there" hasn't recently flown coach on a commercial airline. It's been quite a few years since my travel on a weekly basis management consultant life, and flying is simply the antithesis of comfort. Combine the steady removal of previously free amenities (snacks, etc.) and increasingly cramped seating and flying has evolved into something which is a half-foot away from violating Geneva conventions. It's probably my imagination, but I'm convinced that the recirculated air smells even worse than it used to.
• When we first arrived in Hawaii, my wife and I somehow couldn't stop making stupid jokes and observations on the shuttle bus to the resort. It's possible that we were tired from the travel, but we would make these inane comments like: "It must be weird for people in Hawaii to never see a car here with an out of state licence plate." and "I wonder if Hawaii Five-0 is a really popular show here." I chalk it up to exhaustion. That, plus the road from the airport reminded us of Route 22 in New Jersey - congested and lined with fast food restaurants and "big box" chain stores (no, it didn't make us homesick).
• While I thoroughly enjoyed my Hawaii experience and am glad that I had the opportunity to sample the culture, cuisine and attractions, I'm not sure if I'd choose Hawaii as a vacation destination again given the similarities of the vacation experience with a Caribbean one. Before all the Hawaii-philes get their knives out, I'm not saying that Caribbean and Hawaiian culture is the same, but that the sort of things that you tend to do on tropical vacation (beach, rainforest hikes, water sports, snorkel, catamaran, etc.) are similar enough that I'm not sure it warrants the additional hours of travel. 
• One distinctive is cuisine, and Maui definitely is a great place to eat. The "in house" resort food was very good and included some examples of Asian-fused foods, but three notable gastronomic experiences were going to Bev Gannon's Hali’imaile General Store (I enjoyed the Kalua Pork Enchilada Pie, my wife was disappointed in the Fish Curry), Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (wonderful venue, with open air seating with a sunset view; the Miso Cod and Seared Tuna were both very good), and best of all, Alan Wong's Amasia, for which we were blessed to happen to visit on the night of the restaurant's "soft opening", sort of a pre-opening night. Amasia was an incredible pupu (think tapas) eating experience with a number of inventive creations, probably one of the top five meals I've eaten. Ask my wife about the coconut dessert.
• For the most part, we stayed on location at the resort, as we were quite content soaking up sun at the beach and pool. While there's an "adult only" pool which is pretty standard and designed specifically for more laid back swimming, the main pool is the most impressive I've seen in my life, a well constructed network of connected pools with man-made waterfalls, slides and canals. The weather, thankfully, was beautiful for the duration of our trip - perfect for intermittent sunning and pool dipping. For two of our days, we hit the spa for hydrotherapy - which was distinctive for its use of aromatic bath salts - and massages. I thoroughly enjoyed doing 'nothing' those days.
• We did use one day to take a rented car off resort and explore the island a bit. With our Ford Mustang convertible, we trekked over to the Lavender Farm where we, uh, looked at lavenders and had an opportunity to see terrific elevated views of the island. Okay, frankly, this was probably a much more enjoyable outing for my wife than me, but driving the Mustang with the top down was still pretty sweet. While off resort we also hit Front Street in the west coast city of Lahaina, sort of the epicenter for tourist shopping where cruise ships dock. Good times.

All in all, it was a great time. Very blessed to have been able to enjoy an early 10th Anniversary in this fashion. Interestingly, I didn't walk away with the thought, "We gotta come back here with the kids" but that's hopefully more of a factor of the difficulty in getting here and lack of unique things to do for kids as opposed to my lack of love for our children. Hey, if they want to take us here when they're grown up, I'll be more than happy to join them.