Aloha y’all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I thought I’d pop over quickly to share some postcards from Hawaii and give an overall update on things here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. These should allow you a small glimpse of what we’ve been up to so far.
At the moment I’m sitting here in our enormous bed looking out of the window, seeing nothing but the tops of palm trees as far as the eye can see. If I ventured to the other side of our 4-bedroom apartment I’d get the most magnificent view over the pool area and the beach with the ocean beyond.
This is truly a paradise!
Arrival
Getting here wasn’t a dream, though. We had to fly from Helsinki to Frankfurt to Los Angeles to Honolulu to Maui. The flights as such were surprisingly painless, up till we missed our last flight to Maui. But I think that was a good thing in the end because after 30 hours of traveling we both needed some sleep.
Jet lag was another issue that I was afraid we might struggle with. But the extreme journey here took care of that problem completely! We were so exhausted when arriving in Honolulu at 9PM local time that going to sleep despite it being 9AM back home was no problem at all.
So the next morning we were in a hurry to find some breakfast, collect our luggage and head back to the airport. Then it was a 30-minute flight to the island of Maui, because we had a helicopter ride waiting for us. Oh yes! These postcards from Hawaii are some I never expected to capture:
The Helicopter ride
The helicopter ride took us around couple of the islands. We saw amazing waterfalls and whales jumping in the ocean. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience and 100% amazing!
Yesterday we did something quite as extraordinary (or in fact quite a bit more extraordinary). But I’m gonna keep that a secret for now. I will reveal it when I go over everything worth doing when in Hawaii.
Those of you who have been following our trip on Instagram probably know what I mean ;)
About Hawaii
Couple words about the islands of Hawaii; there are 8 islands altogether, Hawaiji (Big Island), Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.
Honolulu is the capital. It’s not on the Big Island aka Hawaiji as one may assume, though. Instead it’s on the island of Oahu. It’s the busiest city and much more touristy than the other islands.
Cost-wise Hawaii is not a destination for students or the budget traveler. In Honolulu the prices were of Finnish standard (extremely high) but Maui is at its own league. Postcards from Hawaii sure make it worth a visit, though.
Maui is popular among celebrities perhaps because it’s much more rural and tropical than Honolulu. There are no skyscrapers in Maui. Instead you can find the most expensive resorts there. One night in many places costs between $500 – $1000, a hot dog can easily cost $17 and a fish main course at dinner $55.
Trouble in paradise
So far I can’t give you much of an insight on Hawaiian couisine. After 2 nights in we’ve only been able to get a table at our hotel restaurant. Basically the entire island of Maui and every single service on it is fully booked until week over the New Year.
Which brings me to the only, but rather large snuffle we’ve had so far:
While me and my boyfriend spent the first night in Honolulu the rest of our group had already arrived in Maui. Just to find out that the hotel they had booked for all of us had unceremoniously given our rooms to other people.
This was done even though they knew that the rooms had already been paid for. They also knew that the whole island was fully booked.
So, while we made our way from Honolulu to Maui the next morning the others were frantically looking for accommodation for all 6 couples. A mission impossible right there.
By the time we got to the helicopter ride (shown in postcards from Hawaii above) they had managed to book 3 rooms. But 3 couples were still without accommodation. We started considering options like camping or renting a boat for the first 2 nights.
Thankfully neither of these options was necessary and 4 couples eventually settled into an apartment suite with 4 bedrooms on the opposite side of the island from the other 2 couples.
But it was fine, the resort where our suite is, is absolutely gorgeous. The only minus side is that the wifi in the suite doesn’t work. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m effing upset about it!
For $2000 a night wifi should be a non-negotiable, obvious factor that we CAN take for granted… Apparently not.
Okay, it’s good to have a social media detox every now and then. And not knowing what’s been going on everywhere else has actually been quite nice. But I had e-mails to take care of and being completely cut off from family and friends because Whatsapp doesn’t work, is not okay.
Today we move to another hotel where we will finally all be together at the same address. Makes planning dinners and day activities a tad easier.
And we all pray that they have a functioning wifi! Hope you enjoyed these postcards from Hawaii?
