Maui is beautiful.
Ka’anapali Shores is beautiful.
I got a good nights sleep. Woke up at 6:30 am Maui Time, that would be like 11:30 am east coast time. At first I couldn’t understand why I was seeing my co-worker’s text. Then I realized it was Monday and I was waking up in Paradise.
To prove it I stepped out on our balcony to check out our “ocean view”.
Our alarm clock was the best kind. The natural kind.
The birds.
I was about to tell you that except for last minute flight changes travel with American airlines was uneventful. I received timely text messages with flight changes, happy smiling faces answered questions willingly, got priority boarding because my back was hurting and they even offered me a wheelchair. I assured them that wasn’t necessary.
The flights were on time and landed early at each leg of the journey. The longest layover was at LAX. Our flight from Philly arrived almost an hour early. Our flight from LAX to Maui had been changed from 2:30 pm to 5 pm so we had a long wait.
Finally our flight was called. It was a full flight since 2 other flights had landed late causing passengers to miss connections so they were crammed onto our flight until every seat was taken.
We took off on time and everything seemed to be business as usual until about the middle of the flight.
The window passenger in my row wanted to sit with her husband who was seated several rows back. The flight attendant went to ask if the other window passenger would swap seats but both the husband and his seat mate were sound asleep. That should have been the end of it but noooo. I had just fallen asleep when the attendant returned to say the husband and his seatmate had woken up and the seatmate agreed to swap with our window passenger. It didn’t matter that I’d just fallen asleep, The flight attendant woke me up so that my whole row could get out and allow the window passenger to swap seats. Finally everyone got settled in their new seats and I resumed my attempt to get a nap in.
I had just dozed off again when the announcement came in. Is there a doctor on board? Actually they asked if there were any licensed medical professionals who could lend a had with a sick passenger. Of course that got everyone’s attention. The cabin lights, which had been dimmed, were back on full. There was a commotion in the aisle. Apparently the passenger had passed out or fallen. She was eventually moved to the exit seats as there was more room and several doctors were attending to her. The airline was lucky. There was a doctors convention in Maui so they had ample assistance.
I saw them administer oxygen and a saline drip. Once we landed in Maui we stayed seated until the EMT’s met the plane had helped the patient disembark.
Luggage claim was very quick and picking up the rental car was also a breeze.
The only remaining snag was locating the resort. A 25 minute drive turned into a 1.5 hour search. My great directions were to look for a pink hotel but it was pitch black and nothing had any color!
After several frantic phone calls we finally found the hotel and got checked in. That bed felt so good! I was definitely down for the count but the travel part was over for now. We were on Maui!
When I spoke to the concierge from Diamond Resorts he said the whales hadn’t arrived and that the whale watches weren’t running.
I told him it made my Facebook feed that the first whale had been spotted. He said it was possible a few were there but still no trips. He suggested we watch for them from our balcony.
Well now I have more news:
The whales are most definitely here! This #amazing photo was taken by Jamey Baumgardt, one of our guests on board Ocean Voyager during Molokini & Turtle Arches Snorkel cruise. Mahalo Jamey! We don’t officially offer our first #whalewatching cruises until Nov.7. #maui
And check out the date! Whale watches start November 7. Looks like we’ll get to go after all!
When Sandy & I took our vacation to New Orleans we included a City Tour to see the sights. At one rest stop while everyone was in the coffee shop I ran across the lawn to take a photo of a stone bridge that I thought was gorgeous.
Back home it made my top 10 list for 2015. I stared at it for almost 9 months before I decided it needed to be enlarged and framed. Not to pat myself on the back but I think it came out great and it hangs in a place of honor in my living room.
Recently I thought I should see if I could locate the name of the park. It was kind of embarrassing to keep saying “Its in a park in New Orleans”.
To my surprise as soon as I googled “parks in New Orleans” I found myself looking at “my bridge”.
So I didn’t need any guesswork to identify the park. The bridge is the Bayou Bridge and it is located in City Park, New Orleans.
Some clouds. Low 71F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph.
No I’m not there yet but I did get a call.
Yes a nice surprise. The phone rang and caller ID said Diamond Resorts. That’s my time share so I grabbed the phone before it could go to voice mail. As I gasped out a Hello I heard a man’s voice call out “Aloha”.
That got my attention.
It was a combination confirmation call and orientation, not that I remember everything he told me. He gave me so much information. We confirmed check in times, talked about the facilities, tours and events, what I had in mind for the vacation, everything. It wasn’t a short call but it was very pleasant.
Oh and we talked about the weather. I mentioned it looked like they were getting a lot of rain. He laughed. He said the weather reports always show rain because at any given time its raining someplace on the island. Right now he says its mostly 70-80, low humidity and sunny. If it does rain, its warm and no lightening so just keep on with what we’re doing!
Nice touch Diamond Resorts. Mahalo!
A few passing clouds. Low 71F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph.