Maui: Day Two

Day Two began with a wake-up call from United. It was a pre-recorded message saying that our flight for this morning to Maui had been cancelled and we would automatically be rescheduled for the same flight the next day. This is where I about lost it. Two nights of our kid less vacation in Maui stuck in the Bay Area? No way. Eric jumped on the phone, called them back, and got us on another flight to Maui later in the day. So we headed off to the airport and then flew to LAX before heading off to Maui. But we made it. We arrived about 5:00 p.m. local time and then had to spend the next hour tracking down our bags.

United had sent them on the night before to Honolulu with a flight that hadn't left yet, but no one knew where they were after that. When we got to Kahului, the window for the baggage claim attendant for United had a sign that said, "Be Right Back". So, Eric got on the phone with the corporate baggage guys and bawled them out a bit, and I got in the line to speak with the United guy. After he looked up our numbers, he didn't know where they were, but when I told them we knew they'd been sent to Honolulu, he told me to go search the unclaimed bags for Hawaiian Air. It's common for them to transfer lost bags back and forth between islands using Hawaiian Air. And guess what? There they were... safe and sound... in a locked cage owned by Hawaiian Airlines.

So, we finally made it over to the rental car pick-up. Eric tried to sweet talk the attendant for a free upgrade to a sports car, but she wasn't falling for it. He said, "you have no idea what kind of ordeal we've been through to get here. So far, this has been a terrible vacation." She just smiled and replied... "Don't worry, it will get better." What can I say? She was right...

By the time we arrived at One Napili Way, it was almost 7 p.m. local time. (10 p.m. at home.) And we hadn't had food since we were in LAX several hours prior. And we'd been awake since 5 a.m., which was 2 a.m. local time. After we dropped our bags and doled out hugs, we jumped back into the car to go to the local BBQ joint. It was the closest and fastest way to get food. And it was delicious... we had pulled kalua pork sandwiches on sweet Hawaiian bread. Our first meal in Maui, and it didn't disappoint!

By the time we got back from dinner, we were exhausted. But we made it, and I, for one was planning to sleep in nice and late the next morning!