James Sapara’s Personal Blog

Well what can I say about my tenth day of vacation. Got into the Vancouver airport a little early, but the 6 hour delay leaving ensured we would never make our connecting flight. We got ourselves on standby with a booked flight for 8:55pm that night. From there we played the chase the terminal game. About every hour a flight is scheduled to leave from Vancouver, so 100 or so people and ourselves move from gate to gate until our name is called (my mother felt it was something like winning the lotto). Sadly, people had been their since the day before waiting for flights, so it was kinda crazy around there. Later in the afternoon a group of Asia travelers must of gotten lost, because they failed to show and several people, including ourselves, got the leave the confines of the airport.

Since we left so late in the day, we spent the night in Calgary. I attempted to book a room at the hotel our vehicle was at, but apparently it was full, so we booked at some hotel on the other side of Calgary (in retrospect, I should of not booked anything and waited…) On the way to the hotel via their shuttle, a couple informed us they too just booked a room and where told there was plenty of space. So, trying our luck, we went in to attempt to book there. Turns out they did have lots of rooms and could fit us in, but we had to somehow cancel our other reservation. Because of the short notice on making the previous reservation, they have some silly policy that you can’t cancel. After much time on hold, they finially give in and let us switch our reservation to the hotel they said had no room, which miraculously now has 32 rooms free.

After that was all settled, we revived the car and ordered some pizza. Set the alarm for 6:30am Calgary time (3:30am Maui time… blech) and went to bed. Next day was hitch free, got to Saskatchewan in record time (6 hours and 23 minutes). Whatever snow storm was being talked about the previous day never materialized for us at any point. The worst conditions we saw was very light snow blowing across the highway.

It was an early morning, with no real goal for the day. Spent part of the morning tidying up and packing out bags. Once that was all done, we checked out and went on our marry way to find adventure. First stop was a jewelry story in the same town we were in, which was unfortunately closed on Sundays. Next stop was Paia to get some curry food. As an added bonus the sister store of the earlier jewelry store was located next door.

From there we cruised the main city, looking for trouble and generally getting lost and then un-lost in the car many times over. Eventually we found a mall that looked interesting and wandered (speed walked) around it a few times. We even had a nap in the parking lot. We caught an afternoon movie, “Awake“. During the movie I got a text from Air Canada that our flight was delayed. As the afternoon went on, I got a few more of those… delaying it in increments of about 30 minutes each time.

By the time it was all said and done, we left a 1:00am Maui time; or, 6 hours delayed…

Yesterday we booked the morning cruise on the Lani Kai with Friendly Charters. It’s a snorkel cruise, so you basically boat out someplace somewhat difficult to get to, and snorkel. We went to Molokini Crater and “Turtle Town”. The crater was cool as far as craters go, but the variety of fish wasn’t all that exciting. We saw more fish and variety when we snorkeled at the beach earlier in the week. The “turtle town” was actually a deep reef where turtles hang out. Interesting, but really only good for seeing turtles. Fortunately we did see some turtles and I got some long video’s of me chasing turtle. I’ll post them when I get back on Monday.

Spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping and packing stuff up. Grama and Holly were off today, and the flight’s were all somewhat messed up. It amazes me how one flight can have an Air Canada number, United number and Hawaii number; but, you check in at just one of those… not any of them. That burned 2 hours figuring it out before we left, and then later on when we got there. We also had dinner at Marco’s (POLLO!), who’s portions are monstrous and tasty.

Spent the day in Lahaina shopping. A few pictures to follow, but nothing overly exciting. Mostly a vegging day.

We ventured off to Haleakala today. The drive was somewhat similar to Hana, but with far less one lane sections (only one that I can remember actually). On the way down the mountain we went zip lining, which was very entertaining. We also wandered off to a winery on the way back, but nothing to particularly exciting there. Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant who’s name I’ve already forgotten.

Went shopping (oh yay!) in Paia. Bought some cat toys for my sisters cats. Hand some very very good curry food as well… mmm… curry. From there we headed home. I bought a new wallet at the near by mall and a christmas gift. We headed to Lahaina for a Luau.

Woke up early to get ready for the trip to Hana. We left nearly at the time we agree to leave at! So far the hi-way to Hana has been the highlight of the trip. Driving them was an enjoyable challenge (made me miss my car, because I could of totally taken those 180 turns WAY faster with it). The dodge avenger showed it’s complete lack of guts many times, but this isn’t the sort of road you need to go very fast on. My Maui photo set has over 100 pictures from the trip. Hana wasn’t all that special as far as places go. It was small, simple and quite.

On the way home we blindly looked for walmart for groceries. Everyone ended up buying everything but groceries. Mostly because the walmart lacked that sort of stuff. Ended up driving around looking for safeway on some very vague instructions. Dinner was nacho’s and cheese. Our first DIY meal of the trip… lol.

Day started off with some shopping (my personal favorite of course). I had to get some sandals, as running shoes are not the appropriate beach foot ware. Also got a surf top for when I’m snorkeling/swimming/showing my nipples. From there we went to the market, bought a bunch of food and then took it home. THEN we went to the rich people beach, where we spent most of the day. I’ll post some links and video’s which are of interest later today (day 4) when I get back from Hana.

YouTube Videos
Flickr Link for Today

Spent the morning deliberating about what to do and where to go to eat. We left the condo with an idea of going to a place near by, but we couldn’t remember it’s name and ended up driving about for 30 minutes. Eventually we drove to Kihei and found a place to eat. Got some groceries while there and then I misdirected us back home by heading to Kahului (the exit that would of taken us straight to Ma’alaea was closed for construction… and there wasn’t the usual U-turn lane every 2 miles.

Went to the Maui Ocean Center and saw many marvelous fish and related sea animals. I took over a 100 photo’s, so check out the flicker link. Did some shopping there and at the mall close by. After that my mother and I went snorkeling a on a near by beach.

Went for dinner at a near by restaurant. Had some very good butter fish that’s caught locally. A nearby patron passed out due to heat stroke while holding a small child. Caused quite the commotion, but my mother was there to save the day by applying basic CPR (aka, she’s not dead, settle down and give her room). Also, a note for those with children, you should not say the following “She’s dead!”. It kinda upsets them and probably traumatizes them for life.

Well after an additional hour or so of delays in LAX we managed to take off. Some sort of turbulence between us and Maui resulted in us being redirected around the ocean, so the light was nearly an hour longer. OH! The reason for the delay at the airport was a broken washroom on the plane. They wouldn’t like the plane take off, because it’s the washroom the pilots use and it would be a security concern if they had to walk by first class to use the washroom.

Anyways, get into Maui around 10pm local time. Go to rent a car and find out my mother has forgotten her valid drivers license at home. So change plans, Holly is driving along with me. There’ dispute over which car we reserved, but as it turns this Dollar rental doesn’t carry the car we reserved at all. We got a deal on a mini dodge charger, which is a very gutless car.

Getting to the condo was easier than expected. It’s very nice in side, I’ll try to take some pictures when it’s not occupied by stuff. I posted some pictures of my travels so far, but nothing very exciting.