Honeymoon Kauai

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Honeymoon - Maui

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Honeymoon Day Eleven - Tuesday, August 18

There is very little to write today because we didn't do much of anything outside the condo/hotel resort.

We woke up to heavy rain, but it subsided by 10am and the rest of the day was nice despite weather reports suggesting otherwise. We really just hung around the condo all day. That included some time on the beach and at the pool, watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," reading, and just relaxing.

The only ventures out of the hotel complex were to dinner at Restaurant Kintaro, a good sushi place up the road, and across the street to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream.

Honeymoon Day Ten - Monday, August 17

We enjoyed a pretty lazy morning until it was time to head out to our river cruise to a fern grotto. On the way to the boat, we stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks.

The cruise itself was a slow fifteen minute boat ride up the river with commentary to a the fern grotto section of Wailea River State Park. The landscape was beautiful, but it wasn’t much of a payoff for the boat ride. On the way back, there were performances of traditional Hawaiian music and hula. It wasn’t all that exciting, but it was nice and relaxed.

Afterwards we spent a few hours at the condo so Ali could try eating something like crackers or plain pasta to see how it would go.

Sometime between 3 and 4 we set out to drive up the eastern shore and to the northern shore of the island. We made it almost to the end of the road (literally) before turning around and heading back towards the condo. We ended up on the road for a few hours and got to see quite a lot.

We made stops in the towns of Anahola, Kilauea, Princeville, and Hanalei with a few beaches, shops, and scenic overlooks along the way. On the way back, I was able to get the real shave ice I’ve been looking for – a few syrup flavors over a scoop of macadamia nut ice cream. From there we stopped at Scotty’s, a barbeque place right on the water. Ali (extremely surprisingly) had 1/3 rack of ribs and I had pork nachos. I think Ali’s body was calling out for raw protein after a few days of very light eating due to the bug she’s dealing with.

It was time to get back to relaxing after dinner so we made our way back to the condo for the night. Uh oh – only one more full day to go before we start the journey back to New Jersey.

Honeymoon Day Nine - Sunday, August 16

This morning began a little rough. Ali hasn’t been feeling well for a few days. Symptoms began piling on top of symptoms and we decided this morning that it was best for her to see someone about it before it got worse.

We found a nearby clinic attached to a hospital that had walk-in hours on Sundays so we made our way there. They saw Ali quickly and gave her a thorough check-up with key tests included. The doctor believes that Ali was probably worn down some with the wedding planning (many honeymooners wind up in this clinic apparently) and then picked up some kind of virus on the flight over due to the weakened immune system. It took a few days to present itself. Ali was prescribed medication for nausea as needed and the indication that things should get better over the next few days.

It was good to get some peace of mind from the doctor so that we could continue enjoying our honeymoon.

We decided to explore the South Shore of the island a bit by starting at Spouting Horn Beach Park. This is another of those geysers like we saw on Maui except this one also includes a hole that air is pushed through so it makes a groaning sound. There is a folklore legend to go along with it that I won’t bother typing here. You can always Google it to find out!

We stopped for breakfast/lunch at Kalaheo Café and Coffee Co. Ali had half of a small stack of wheat pancakes and I had an awesome soup/salad combo of Seafood Chowder and Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Sprouts.

From lunch, we attempted to visit Kipu Falls, a small waterfall accessible only through a hidden path off an out-of-the-way street. We found the path, but it was really narrow and overgrown. We didn’t have good shoes on and despite the fact that there were other people there (we saw lots of cars parked on the road), we decided not to venture down the path. We may have missed out on a cool secluded spot, but it wasn’t the right time for that kind of mission. We did get to drive through empty roads with amazing landscape all around us though.

We made another attempt to stop for Shave Ice at the same place as a few days ago. This time we got inside, but the Shave Ice part of the shop was closed. So close!

It was time to get back to the condo and pick up Ali’s prescription so we did that and took some time to relax.

Later in the afternoon we ventured to the beach, but there was a slight rain so we sat under an umbrella at the pool reading. I finally found shave ice and had a delicious combination of melon and vanilla flavors.

We made it to the nearby Wahooo (that’s the correct spelling) Seafood Grill and Bar, which was a short walk from the condo for dinner. Ali just had Maui Onion Soup with a side order of garlic bread due to the stomach problems and I had Blue Crabmeat Chowder and Wok-Fried Sashimi with some sake. It was all very good and I left stuffed. I think I have a milder case of whatever bug Ali is dealing with so I have to be a little bit more careful about what I eat, but so far I have been relatively okay. There were a couple local musicians performing while we were there; we seem to be missing the live music that's advertised everywhere so it was nice to catch some tonight.

There is a little bit of rain in the area so we are going to relax in the condo tonight – maybe watch a movie, play some games…just chill. The main difference between our time on Maui and our time here on Kauai is the pace. We have much less planned here and so we can spend a lot of time lounging around without feeling like we are missing out on everything. We will still have time to see each main area of the island and cover the biggest attractions. It’s nice to chill a bit knowing that things will be moving quickly once we get home!

Oh - our sweet ride here on Kauai:

Honeymoon Day Eight - Saturday, August 15

We began the day with a trip to the sky to see Kauai from the air. We chose AirVentures, which uses a lightweight plane they call an Air Van rather than a helicopter for a tour of the island from above. The plane could hold six passengers and moves very slowly to allow for the tour, photographs, etc. from the air.

We were both nervous about the flight – Ali due to feeling sick the last couple days and me because I’m not a huge fan of flying even though I do it often. It was smooth most of the way, but that little plane sure does feel the wind and turbulence when it gets to some.

The island is as beautiful as everyone who visits says it is with countless waterfalls, lush landscape including the wettest spot on Earth that receives 400+ inches of rain per year, sea cliffs, beaches, you name it. The tour took about one hour before our pilot returned us to our starting point at the Lihu’e Airport.

We had planned to grab Hawaiian Shave Ice and then explore one of a couple areas in the direction we were in, but Ali wasn’t feeling well once we landed so we came back to the condo to relax.

We finished watching the depressing movie “Revolutionary Road” we started last night and then played in the awesome pool at the resort that features a long winding “lazy river” with three hot tub areas and two slides. From there it was time for more relaxing and naps before dinner. We have been sleeping way more than usual on the trip but both seem to be really tired anyway and since Ali hasn’t been feeling well we are trying to be extra cautious so we don’t have to miss any of our planned activities. It’s nice to just sit and relax in the awesome condo we have anyway!

Dinner tonight was awesome! We found a place within walking distance that had a happy hour tasting menu with wine pairings for only $40. It started with Sweet Potato Ravioli (Fresh pasta filled with Kilauea Feta cheese and roasted Okinawan sweet potato in a lemongrass cream sauce). Next was Warabi and Sausage (Local Fiddlehead fern, tomato, and onion tossed with lime, vinegar, fresh ginger and our house smoked sausage). The two main entrees were Mahi Mahi (A taste of one of our incredibly fresh fish basted with tapenade and served on orzo pasta “risotto” with lemon basil pesto) and Pork Tenderloin with Hamakua Mushrooms (served on basil red-skinned mashed potatoes with Marsala cream sauce). The only so-so course followed with blue cheese on bread slices with honeycomb. The sherry that was paired with this course smelled awful and tasted just as bad. All the prior courses came with a great glass of wine though. We finished with a trio of homemade sorbets (pineapple sage, honeydew, and watermelon mint). It was really a great meal and a great deal overlooking the water.

We spent a few minutes lounging in a nearby hammock before picking a few things up from the supermarket on the way back to the condo.

We went to the bar near our pool for fun drinks and a game of Scrabble before coming in for the night.

Honeymoon Day Seven - Friday, August 14

We spent the morning packing and getting ready for our flight to Kauai. Luckily we checked in early because the flight had been pushed up from 12:10 to 11:10 and I forgot about that change.

We were on a little propeller plane that had 12-15 rows total with first come, first served seating. The flight was surprisingly smooth and even though it was only an hour long flight, they provided water and/or coffee for everyone. We got our bags and moved to the car rental place without any problems.

The rental agent took forever, but he upgraded us from our economy car to a 2009 Ford Mustang convertible for no additional charge. This one is much nicer than the one we had on Maui with newer features and just a cleaner feel overall.

We got to our hotel earlier than scheduled so our room wasn’t ready, but we had lunch at the resort. Ali had Ahi Poke Salad and I had an Ahi sandwich. Both were pretty good and our room was ready right as we finished eating so that was perfect.

Our room here is AMAZING!

The last place was really great and the view could not be beat, but this unit is far superior. It is huge! Our bathroom has two toilets, three sinks, a soaking tub and a separate shower. We have a humongous kitchen with all stainless steel appliances, a bedroom with lanai, large living room with eat-in area and a view of the ocean. It’s really great!

We relaxed for awhile and made some adjustments to our Kauai agenda and then walked a little less than a mile to the Coconut Marketplace that includes a number of bars, restaurants, and shops. We started at Tradewinds, the highest rank attraction in Kapaa, our area of the island. We had a couple of local drafts and played some pool. We got the vibe that the locals in the place weren’t too fond of us so we walked to the nearby Hula Girl Bar, which is connected to Eggbert’s restaurant. I ordered a Mai Tai and Ali had a strawberry daiquiri. Since it was dinner time, we also ordered sesame chicken yakatori to go along with the drinks. Ali started to feel sick while we were there so we hightailed it back to the condo.

I took a detour to the supermarket to get some basic supplies while Ali headed back to the room to lie down. We learned our lesson with tons of wasted food and drink while on Maui so I only picked up some basics that I am confident we can use in five days on the island.

Well, the honeymoon is halfway over, but we are excited for some great activities left to experience!

Honeymoon Day Six - Thursday, August 13

We had a very early wake-up call this morning because we had to check in with Safari Boat Adventures at 6:30am on Front Street in downtown Lahaina. Ouch!

This is one of the highest rated and most expensive boating excursions and they addressed it head on once we were aboard and told us that we would see and do things that fewer than .1% of visitors got to do by circumnavigating the nearby island of Lanai. Most other snorkel trips and such go to a specific spot, drop anchor, and away you go. In fact, they told us to eat and drink as much as we could during the trip and there were plenty of drinks, snacks, and breakfast and lunch to go around.

Throughout the day we made three snorkeling stops and Ali and I splashed around at each one. Ali had never snorkeled before and she was really nervous before the first stop, but by the end of she was loving it and looked like a pro. Just like yesterday, our captain and first mate were constantly gushing about how lucky we were with beautiful weather and the calmest sea conditions possible. They said they have about 10 days like this a year. Now the tour guides may use these lines on all the visitors every day, but we still felt like we were getting the best situation possible again today. We were certainly glad that we pushed this activity back by a day due to Felicia as well.

Unfortunately Ali started feeling seasick when we got back on the boat from the first snorkeling stop and that didn’t go away until hours later when the whole trip was over. She felt fine while in the water at each stop, but on the boat wasn’t so good.

We took some time to relax and wound up taking a nap back at the condo before heading to Tropica at The Westin for dinner. This turned out to be the nicest meal so far with a great location right on the edge of the beach. We both ordered a tasting menu with wine pairings that was phenomenal. It started with a seared diver scallop followed by onion risotto, a fish entrée of a type of fish I cannot recall and an interesting almond-flavored dessert. After dinner we walked along the waterfront a little before heading back.

Like the most nights, I was completely exhausted and so went to bed early. I’m not sure if it is a lingering effect of the plane travel or what, but I have been unable to stay up late at all.

Tomorrow we are off to Kauai!

Honeymoon, Day Five - Wednesday, August 12

We needed an alarm clock this morning since we had a scheduled activity with Maui Eco Adventures. The tour provided coffee and a continental breakfast so we just had to get up and pack a bag for the day.

Here is what the website said about the tour:

“Do you want to see the best of the West Maui Mountains? Do you want to see Honolua Bay, Nakalele Blowhole, Kahakuloa Village, swim in Olivine Ocean pools, snap some pictures of waterfalls from a view point and be back by 12:30-1PM? Sounds crazy? It is!
We will pick you up with fresh Maui coffee to sip along the way before we drive the “back road” through several different environments on our road trip to these remote locations. You will also take a short hike through scenic lava fields. During your hike our knowledgeable guide will point out the exotic plants, flora/fauna, geology facts, local history of the area and much much more.
Of course, we will make sure to find the time to take a swim in a fresh ocean olivine pool during the hike, so bring your swimsuit! This is a great trip for families and singles alike as there is something for everyone! We provide transportation, a continental breakfast of fruit, muffins and coffee, hip packs, towels, jackets, snacks, and water on all trips. What are you waiting for? West Maui Hotel pick-ups included.”

We were a little bummed as we began once we realized that we were going to be repeating the exact drive we did on Monday morning, but it turned out to be great because it was much less stressful with another driver and we stopped and explored areas that we didn’t the first time through. Our tour maters were a woman and two older teenage boys from Ohio.

We began with a cup of coffee in the van and a fresh fruit platter and muffins at the same beach park we walked around while looking for the Sea House Restaurant a couple nights ago and then it was off to the more wild parts around the northern tip of West Maui.

Our first real stop was the blowhole. Due to the additional rain the last couple days and the higher surf, it was really going well. We even saw the highest waterfall in Hawaii off in the distance and our guide suggested along the way that he has only seen it about 10 times in the two years he has been giving these tours so we were lucky with that too. We had the option of hiking near the blowhole or taking our chances to do the scheduled hike in another spot where we would be able swim in the pools sheltered by rock formations from the ocean. Our guide warned us that the pools might be under the attack of strong waves so we might be able to swim, but we chose that option anyway under Ali’s leadership.

The hike wasn’t long, but it was pretty steep down and back up rocks and muddy paths. The pools were not too dangerous so we were able to swim and see some fish, crabs, and other marine life. The weather was beautiful for the entire tour with very little wind, no rain, and great views. Our guide kept remarking how unexpected and lucky everything was and he seemed genuine about it.

We did get a chance to swim for a bit in the pools and, as Ali described, we were in these rock grotto areas formed naturally that the expensive hotels spend a lot of money trying to recreate for their guests.

We stopped again for banana bread and then at an art gallery, which we used as a bathroom stop. Our final set of stops was to view a few waterfalls that were really pumping due to the heavy rains. We were lucky enough not to have the rain affect us directly, but some parts of the island have experienced flooding and the downpours and flash flooding warned about in the weather reports.

When we got back to the condo, we decided to relax for awhile and then go to the hot tub, pool and/or shuffleboard areas. Both of our backs are hurting from the hike, but we don’t have any other activities scheduled today until a 7pm dinner at the highest rated restaurant in Lahaina, the Lahaina Grill. We are going to pace ourselves with salad, fruit, and leftover chicken and pasta throughout the afternoon and then have really fancy appetizers and drinks instead of full dinner entrees at the restaurant later.

Before dinner, we finally visited the Banyan Tree. This mammoth tree takes up one city block and would be even larger if the county of Maui wasn’t constantly trimming it to keep it under control. We were there around sunset so heard the cacophony of the birds making getting ready to roost for the night.

We each ordered one drink, one appetizer, one salad and we shared a dessert item and our bill still came to over $100 at the Lahaina Grill. This place has been ranked the best restaurant in Maui for the last 14 years, but we actually agreed that Roy’s was a little better. The interesting mix of flavors and presentation were excellent at Lahaina Grill, but they had the room stuffed with people, which took away from the ambiance.

Our first appetizer was The Cake Walk – petite servings of Kona lobster crab cake, sweet Louisiana rock shrimp cake and seared ahi cake. We were in agreement that the ahi was the best of this group. Our second appetizer was Kalua Duck Quesadilla – roasted Maui onions and Poblano peppers. This was good and came in second place to the ahi for best appetizer.

Our first salad was Bufala Tomato Salad – Hana tomatoes, bufala mozzarella, truffle oil, aged balsamic vinaigrette, seasoned with Kilaueau sea salt. Our second salad was Warm Pecan Crusted Goat Cheese and Baby Arugula Salad – pears, roasted beets, Poha berry honey-mustard dressing. The tomato/mozzarella was definitely the better of these two options.

We were really full even without entrees so we split a light dessert – Sorbet Cake. It consisted of three layers of sorbet with cake between them and was very good. The Lahaina Grill gave us a “Congratulations” card since they knew it was our honeymoon signed by everyone on the staff. I’m sure they have to sign tons of them a night, but I still thought it was a nice touch.

We headed back to the condo from dinner and my back was not in good shape. Ali tried to teach me some stretches and things, but the best bet was to go to sleep so that’s what we did!

Honeymoon Day 3 - Tuesday, August 11

I woke up around 7:30 to the day that was going to be a washout due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Felicia. This turned out not to be the case!

I woke Ali up to see the beautiful rainbows right outside our window. We could see the entire spectrum of color and both ends of the rainbow on the water. For awhile there was even a secondary rainbow where the colors are reversed (as we learned while looking up exactly how rainbows work and why there are SO many here in Hawaii).

To not miss our chance of good weather, we took a nice walk on the beach before breakfast. After breakfast, we went down to the pool and hot tub then laid out on lounges to read and relax. Before long some rain came in and we ran to the room (only to have the sun reemerge).

Later in the morning we went down to play some shuffleboard and our timing was off again; we wound up playing most of the game in rain, but it was still fun.

We used some of our provisions to have a nice lunch at the condo: salad, pasta, sun chips crusted chicken (Ali didn’t have many ingredients here to work with) and some wine.

By this point, it was around 2pm so we headed to the downtown Lahaina area where tonight’s magic show was held to walk around and explore. Once the sun was shining it was really hot and very windy so we holed up in Sante Fe Cantina for happy hour margaritas, a $1 taco, and lots of tortilla chips. We were probably there for an hour and a half or more before walking to Warren and Annabelle’s Magic Show.

This is the highest rated activity on Maui according to TripAdvisor.com even though it sounds a little odd. It was definitely worth it!

Upon entering, a small group of guests are ushered into Annabelle’s parlor (Annabelle is the ghost resident by the way). Think of the opening room of The Haunted Mansion in Disney World. The ghost tells us some things and we have to figure out which door the key will open. Eventually we figure out that the key goes into a book, which opens a secret door and we are in The Parlor.

This was a large room with a piano, mostly two-seat tables, and ‘20s-style jazz pumping. We opted for the Royal Flush package so we got any two drinks we wanted plus an appetizer platter for each of us, and a dessert in addition to the show. The entire evening lasted four hours! By the end of the first hour, we were so stuffed we barely ate our dessert and had to backtrack from ridiculous drinks like ice cream, fruit, Bailey’s, and whipped cream concoctions to more simple liquor and soda drinks.

For awhile Annabelle sat down at the piano and entertained us. The “trick” here was that guests could shout out requests and she would immediately begin playing the songs. We believe the piano was linked to a keyboard in an adjacent room where a real pianist was playing. The transitions were too quick and sometimes there were mistakes so our original theory of a computer roll playing the music seemed incorrect.

After two hours in The Parlor, we were ushered into the magic show. This was a slight of hand show with lots of comedy thrown in often at the expense of the four young couples sitting right in front of the magician. The maitre d asked Ali and I if we wanted to be one of those four couples, but we declined. This was probably a good move!

The show was awesome and a lot of fun. Afterwards we found the car and came back to the condo. Like the previous few nights we were in bed early, but we had a great day especially considering our original expectation for a complete wash out!

Honeymoon Day 2 - Monday, August 10

The change in time zones had an effect - I woke up at 4:30am wide awake and ready to go.

I went out into the living room and sat in a chair near the window. Around 5:45, I made some Kona coffee and woke Ali up so we could sit on our lanai to watch the sunrise. It was a great way to start the first full day of our honeymoon!

We needed some more things from the grocery store so I was out at 6:30am to a nearby Star Markets where I spent a lot of money for two chicken breasts, some rice, cold cuts, bottled water in case of the storm, a pineapple, and salad fixings. Although the groceries are expensive, it is still much cheaper than eating three meals out at restaurants everyday.

Once back at the condo, Ali made some breakfast which we also ate out on the lanai looking out at the ocean. We spent some time making adjustments to our itinerary and were able to successfully push our drive/hike tour from Tuesday to Wednesday and our morning boat trip and snorkeling from Wednesday to Thursday. Based on the weater predictions at the time, this seemed like the best way to go.

Since the weather reports were decent for the morning, we decided to head out and see some nearby sites.

Our first stop was Napili Beach. Our awesome guidebook (Maui Revealed) says that it "seems to generate more fun per square foot than any other beach in the area." We found a place to park as it began to shower. We grabbed umbrellas and took a walk on the beach in the light rain. It gave way pretty quickly and we walked along a path adjacent to the beach for a while. We found the restaurant where we had dinner reservations (more on this later) and enjoyed the area.

We had packed a lunch and the weather seemed to be clearing so we decided to continue heading north. Our goal destination was Nakalele Blowhole where the magic of the waves and erosion into the rock leads to water shooting up through a "blowhole" when the conditions are right. The ride to this spot required us to drive "over the top" of the island. The guidebook warns that "timid drivers may want to evaluate if this is for them." There were some moments where I wondered that about myself...

The drive was absolutely gorgeous and we only had light drizzle during the very beginning of it. It took about an hour and a half to two hours once we left civilization before we rejoined it. The end part of it we were able to put the top down and everything. There were moments when I couldn't help but think that Mustangs don't handle bad conditions well and I couldn't remember what the rules were for braking while driving up and down hills. There were many sharp switchbacks and hairpin turns plus long segments of up to 1.5 miles of very narrow one-lane driving. Add in the fact that some sections had no guardrails or even chains to protect the road from the cliffs and water below and you get the idea. We saw a number of roadside memorials as well. No need to be worried - we obviously made it through, but I'm not sure that I enjoyed the absolutely amazing views quite as much as I was supposed to.

We pulled off at a couple spots for sites and breaks including to see the blowhole work its magic. We stopped to buy coconut candy and "the best banana bread in the world." I couldn't get any photos to capture the road adequately, but I think you get the picture by this point.

We stopped at a McDonald's at the endpoint town of Wailuku for a bathroom stop and then bought a few DVDs at Blockbuster for when the storm traps us inside. The picnic lunch held us over for the 45-minute drive back to the condo (along regular roadways!) and our expected rainday ended up being exciting.

We caught our breath with some leftover Hawaiian pizza and then made our way to the beautiful Westin Maui for our couples massages. I had never been for a massage before and the whole experience was pretty impressive. Once we checked in, I went into the men's locker area to take a quick rinse shower, put on my comfy robe, and make my into the "Quiet Room" overlooking the water where Ali was waiting.

We were quickly met by our therapists and led to the couples room for our 50-minute massages. I don't know how it compared to other places, but it was very relaxing and peaceful. After the massage, we went back into the "Quiet Room" for some water, dried fruits and almonds, tea, and biscotti. Back in the men's locker room I attempted to take advantage of every amenity they offered. I took a nice luxurious shower under two shower heads, used their spa deoderant, pre-shave oil, shaving cream, razer, post-shave balm, mouthwash, etc.

Afterwards we walked along the path to the neighboring beachside Whaler's Village shopping center. We left with enough time to stop at a grocery store for candles in case the storm knocked out power before heading to our dinner back near Napili Beach where we were in the morning.

This is when things began to get interesting. The GPS was supposed to be taking us to Foodland Supermarket, but it turned us onto a cul-de-sac. We reloaded to another supermarket successfully and then began the GPS-led route to the restaurant. It deposited us in the parking lot for a beachside park. We parked and walked in the direction that seemed like it might make sense, but it didn't. I used the "Around Me" app on my new iPhone and it showed our position to be only a few hundred yards from the restaurant. We tried getting there on foot and had no luck finding it. Both the car GPS and the iPhone said we were in the right spot, but the restaurant was nowhere to be found. Later searching on the computer also showed the stated address to be where we were, but the restaurant is actually on another section of the road that is not connected to where we were. Hard to explain but the end result was that we could not find dinner so we backtracked to an area we saw a few restaurants earlier in the drive.

We ended up at Roy's Kahana Bar and Grill, an expensive, well-reviewed place where we still fit in with me wearing shorts and a button-down shirt. Instead of ordering really expensive entrees, we decided to order two sushi rolls and two appetizers. This turned about to be a great plan as we were full and enjoyed a wider variety of really tasty food. We may use this approach again on this trip!

Ali enjoyed a flight of three white wines while I had "Roy's Private Reserve" beer. We had one sushi roll calling the "Frying Dragon" and another called "Ahi 10" and both were extravagant and delicious. I can't really describe them except to say it different than other sushi we'd had before and really great. Our first appetizer was blackened Ahi followed by lobster and shrimp potstickers. Awesome!

After dinner, we came back to the condo to finally pop the bottle of champagne we've been holding onto since last New Year's Eve and watch a movie. We were both feeling tired so we opted for the short "Paul Blart - Mall Cop." We ended up going to bed without finishing the champagne or the movie, but that's ok!

Honeymoon Day 1 - Sunday, August 9

We got up early to be at our free continental breakfast as it opened at 7am. The skies over Newark were gloomy and the weather reports called for scattered thunderstorms. I began to get worried about the travel plans for the day because a Newark delay could easily lead to missing the flight to Maui and we were already on the last US Airways flight to Maui of the day. Waiting to fly until Monday could cause us even further problems due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Felicia.

Breakfast was okay, check out was smooth, and the airport shuttle deposited us at the Air Train station without any problems. I ran into a former student of mine from Montgomery as we got on the train. It took some time, but we eventually found the US Airways check in desk. Because we spoke on the phone with customer service on Saturday about upgrading our flights to give Ali some more comfort for the long flights, we needed to check in with an agent rather than doing it ahead of time online. It turns out that actually getting a person to help you with this process is not easy.

We got up to one of those automated screens. Since our first flight was not upgraded, I tried to select the exit row seats. Unfortunately, this caused computer problems because the note on the file about the medical necessity for an aisle seat or an upgrade also made it so that Ali was not permitted to sit in an exit row. While waiting for an agent to help us, another employee told us that our suitcase was 14 pounds overweight and we needed to move things into our carry-on or pay $50. (Our bag eventually disappeared without us ever addressing this problem.)

The ticket agent finally "helped" us by printing two tickets with us in different rows. Then we were assigned two seats together in a middle seat and window seat in a non-exit row. I tried to explain the importance (and Saturday's promise) that we would have at least one aisle seat if we could not get into first class, but I was told that such a chance could only be made at the gate. I asked the ticket agent to provide me with the number for US Airways and began dialing as soon as we got through security.

I spent about thirty minutes on the phone with a customer service representative, her supervisor, and his (the supervisor's) supervisor. They all told me that only the gate agent could help us because it was now out of their hands. While I understood that this might be so, I wanted someone to explain to me how the promises made on Saturday could be thrown away so easily. I also wanted to know what US Airways was willing to do to make the situation right.

It turns out...nothing.

Even the ultra supervisor refused to do anything. She said she could rebook us onto another flight if we could not get an aisle seat, but we would have to pay for the new fare plus penalty fees for changing our nonrefundable tickets. The only option was to ask the gate agent. I promised that I would do everything I could to hurt US Airways publically, but no one seemed to care about that either.

I sat down at the gate until the agent arrived. He told me that if there was an aisle seat available, we were welcome to it, but of course, there weren't. His advice was to ask the person seated next to us to switch. We ended up awkwardly doing so and the person agreed to change, but it never should have come to it. Once we get home, I think it is time to cross US Airways off the list even though they usually offer the most affordable flights to Tampa via Philadelphia.

The flight was not one of my best. I was really worked up from the customer service fiasco and then it was a pretty rough take off and first thirty minutes or so. The landing wasn't too great either, but we made it to Phoenix ahead of schedule. This gave us enough time to slowly make our way through the airport. Luckily, we had paid on Saturday to sit in first class for the Phoenix to Maui leg so we had that working in our favor. We didn't eat on the first flight and didn't want to buy anything at the airport since we knew we'd get something decent in first class so we were getting awfully hungry as it neared 3pm Eastern Time by the time we boarded the second flight.

We had some juice before take-off and a nice lunch once we were up in the air. Of course, they ran out of one of the lunch options before taking our orders, but we were happy just to be in wide comfortable seats with great leg room and actual food. We both had chicken with a glass of white wine followed by key lime pie with some Bailey's. I slept on and off for most of the flight getting far more sleep that on any flight in recent memory. Ali stayed up for much of it stretching and walking often and watching X-Men. The flight was pretty smooth even as the captain pointed out that passengers on the opposite side of the plane could look down on Tropical Storm Felicia as we passed overhead. They prepared the cabin for landing early and warned us to expect turbulence, but it was not bad at all and we landed in Maui ahead of schedule.

Baggage went off without a hitch despite our overweight issue in Newark. At Hertz, we were offered a cheap upgrade ($5 per day) to a Ford Mustang convertible. I guess they were having trouble selling people on the fun of driving a convertible around in a tropical storm, but we took it.

Our first stop was going to be Wal-Mart for groceries, but we passed a Krispy Kreme with the hot donuts sign lit up so we stopped in for some original glazed. Wal-Mart was a war zone with all the storm buyers and we got our first introduction to the extremely high prices of food in Hawaii due to shipping costs. We spent $66 for a six pack of beer, bottle of wine, cereal, milk, eggs, bread, chips, pasta, pasta sauce, soup, and coffee.

We stopped along the drive to our hotel (Aston Mahana at Ka'anapali) at a scenic overlook and saw the sun set as we made our way.

Check in was smooth and we have a great condo unit. We are on the 9th floor of a 12-story building. Our unit has a nice, big kitchen, large living/dining room combo with a huge full wall of windows that look right out onto the beach and water, bathroom with stone shower, and a bedroom with a king-sized bed. The bedroom and living room both have sliding doors out onto a lanai.

Once we got our things settled, we needed to find dinner. By this point it was 1am ET and we had only the continental breakfast at the hotel, lunch on the second flight, and a Krispy Kreme donut. We walked along the beach to a neighboring building (ours does not have a restaurant) and ate at the Ohana Bar and Grill on the beach with a guitar player serenading us. We were both exhausted by Ali had her first Mai Tai and I had a beer. I ate their special bacon-wrapped meatload and Ali had Hawaiian pizza (or is it just pizza since we are in Hawaii?). Both were good but nothing special and we got out of there quickly to get to bed.

We both crashed sometime before 10pm.

Honeymoon Prequel - August 8, 2009

After a pretty relaxed morning of breakfast at the hotel, packing for Hawaii, and opening all of our awesome wedding gifts, we headed to Matt and Allie's place in Secaucus so that we could leave our car and get a ride to the Sheraton Newark Airport. We decided to stay there for their free shuttle to the airport on Sunday and because it seemed less honeymoon-ish to stay at the same place we've been staying together in Hillsborough on the night after the wedding.

The hotel hooked us up. I had called ahead to let them know we were on our way to our honeymoon. Since they couldn't give us a club-level room, they provided us with free Internet access, a free continental breakfast, and additional rewards points for the stay. We relaxed in the room for awhile before having soup and an appetizer at the hotel's bar. Later that night, we ordered Pizza Hut in via room service for a good late night snack and enjoyed some wine.

We definitely took it easy and even forgot to go through our honeymoon plans to make adjustments based on the bad weather forecast for the early part of the week due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Felicia. Oh well - we'll take care of it another time!

Wedding Weather Update

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 82. Northwest wind between 6 and 11 mph. Friday Night: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 58. West wind between 3 and 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Wedding Weather Update

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Northwest wind between 3 and 7 mph. Friday Night: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 10pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 61. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Wedding Weather Update

Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 79.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61.

Watchung Hills

Watchung Hills called me for an interview for a Vice Principal position on July 16. I didn't get the message until July 31 since I was away. I called back anyway.

They just called and said I could still come in for an interview...on August 11...when I'll be in Hawaii.

The secretary is going to check with the director of personnel to see if they can offer me any other date, but I don't like the chances there. Oh well...it'll happen when it's mean to I suppose.