The Maui "Everything Else" Blog

I talked about all of the significant attractions on my trip to Hawaii, so now I want to spend this blog and the next blog talking about all of the other things while I was in Maui and Oahu. This blog will focus on Maui, but I want to talk about an observation I had visiting Hawaii in general.

It was no surprise to me that Hawaii is an expensive place to live, but I did not realize how expensive buying food was. In one grocery store, a standard loaf of bread can cost as much as $10 USD, which is crazy to me. You have to remember that Hawaii does not have industrialized food production to feed its citizens and the millions of tourists that visit. Most food has to be imported from elsewhere, which explains its high cost.

For our food needs, we went to grocery stores to buy food for cooking in our hotel kitchens more than going out to restaurants and food stalls, though we still did that too. The food trucks in Maui were a bit hit and miss. The best thing I had at a food truck was a veggie dog and an iced coffee.

The island of Maui itself is laid back. There's no bustling city or any sort of stress that is visible on the island itself or its people. It is just calm driving along the volcanoes and bright yellow shrubbery formed from the volcanic ash.

We stayed at the Honua Kai Resort & Spa in Lahaina, and the hotel was nice and clean. There were many pools and hot tubs for swimming and relaxing, and the rooms itself offered nice views of the pool and the ocean, as well as the sloping hills of the nearby volcano.

The pool is lit up in the nighttime, and I took these opportunities for nighttime swimming after a long day.

I was able to get an amazing sunrise from my hotel balcony one lovely morning.

We had a beach day at Wailea Beach which was a sandy beach (a rarity in Hawaii) with thankfully calm waves and an amazing view of the island of Lanai. This was probably the best beach in Maui.

I was also able to walk around the pool area at the Grand Wailea Hotel which is a luxury resort on Wailea Beach. If I ever were to come back to Maui, I would want to stay at this resort.

The town of Lahaina is an old, but bubbly town full of history and shopping. This was the main area if you wanted to do some souvenir shopping or eat at the many restaurants here, but many of the vendors offered the same clothes and souvenirs. There is a park where you can take some shade under the massive Banyan tree, which is apparently the oldest living tree in Maui.

For my impulse buy, I bought some flavored craft beer from the Waikiki Brewing Company, and most of the beer tasted disgusting. The jalapeno beer in particular is the worst beer I think I have ever tasted in my life.

So overall, I like Maui as an island. I think that Maui is more of an island for relaxing rather than getting on the go. It is only expected to go for a few days, as I think that a few days is a suitable time to do all of the major attractions on the island. I would not go back to this specific island again, just because I feel that there is nothing else to do, but I am glad that I went.