Things They Don't Tell You Before Going to Maui
But you absolutely need to know...
1. You MUST have a rental car. No matter where you stay on the island, it will not be near the airport. And, if you want to go anywhere on the island other than your hotel, you'll absolutely need the car.
2. All parking spots were measured with a Mini Cooper. No matter how sub-compact your car may seem, it will not fit comfortably into the spot. And, if you're lucky enough to rent a Pontiac G6, you won't have the turning radius to get into the spot.
3. Do NOT participate in the bicycle ride down the volcano. There are a number of companies that provide this service to the HUNDREDS of people who find the idea appealing. These people are now to be known as Nimrods On Bicycles (NOB's for short). The early group who want to see the sunrise from above the clouds are picked up from their hotel around 2am. That's just wrong to begin with. And, here's the part they don't tell you. NOBs ride 20 miles down the volcano through a residential neighborhood. That's right. The first 10 miles NOBs are LEAVING the park they just spent HOURS getting to, and then for the second 10 miles they're in some poor guy's neighborhood. For the rest of us, we drive through the neighborhood to get to the national park to the top of amazing volcano into which we then hike or ride horses. NOBs ride back down the mountain in a pack wearing blue moon suits and full face helmets. So, it is possible that the NOBs never see the amazing volcano they're riding down. Oh, and people get really hurt doing this. BAD.
4. All food in Maui is expensive. Now, I know this seems like a no-brainer, but it isn't. I live in L.A. I understand the cost of food. I've traveled to NYC, London, Rome, Madrid and Paris and seriously, Maui is probably worse. Here's why...in all of the previously mentioned cities, yummy cheap food is pretty easy to find. This is not the case in Maui. Apparently restaurants come and go so quickly that there are no good guides to food. So, you're sort of trapped by wherever you happen to be when you're hungry. Driving down the road to see if you can find something really doesn't apply to Maui.
5. You need board shorts and a swim top. If you want to try surfing, you need shorts, the longer the better. And, really, since you're going to suck in the beginning, you're going to want a shirt of some sort to keep you from getting board rash. (<--- probably not the technical term, but you get the idea.) Besides, both will come in handy for snokeling since the water can get a wee bit chilly.
6. Maui is much bigger than it appears to be. Combine that with small-ish roads and you're not going anywhere too quickly. So, if you need to be someplace at a certain time, give yourself a HUGE cushion.
7. Cel service is much better than I expected. And, in addition to that, there's an odd amount of pay phones available. That was comforting.
8. Activities (horseback riding, surfing, snokeling, etc...) are pretty spendy but if you do your research on the known companies, the money is very well spent. When I looked into different things to do on the island I was sticker shocked. But, after parting with the cash, I can honestly say I was never disappointed.
9. Time share pitches are everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. Seriously. Its everywhere. Literally. Its at your hotel. Its in the restaurant. Its in the parking lot. And I don't just mean mentions of time shares or ads for the time shares, I mean people selling time shares. This must be a serious business 'cause there are hundreds of people just in the small areas we were in pitching these. And yes, all the signs for $19 luaus are by the time share folks.
10. Leave the hair products at home. You'll either be in and out of the water or dashing off to dinner with no time to blow dry. No one cares about your 'do. You shouldn't either.
1. You MUST have a rental car. No matter where you stay on the island, it will not be near the airport. And, if you want to go anywhere on the island other than your hotel, you'll absolutely need the car.
2. All parking spots were measured with a Mini Cooper. No matter how sub-compact your car may seem, it will not fit comfortably into the spot. And, if you're lucky enough to rent a Pontiac G6, you won't have the turning radius to get into the spot.
3. Do NOT participate in the bicycle ride down the volcano. There are a number of companies that provide this service to the HUNDREDS of people who find the idea appealing. These people are now to be known as Nimrods On Bicycles (NOB's for short). The early group who want to see the sunrise from above the clouds are picked up from their hotel around 2am. That's just wrong to begin with. And, here's the part they don't tell you. NOBs ride 20 miles down the volcano through a residential neighborhood. That's right. The first 10 miles NOBs are LEAVING the park they just spent HOURS getting to, and then for the second 10 miles they're in some poor guy's neighborhood. For the rest of us, we drive through the neighborhood to get to the national park to the top of amazing volcano into which we then hike or ride horses. NOBs ride back down the mountain in a pack wearing blue moon suits and full face helmets. So, it is possible that the NOBs never see the amazing volcano they're riding down. Oh, and people get really hurt doing this. BAD.
4. All food in Maui is expensive. Now, I know this seems like a no-brainer, but it isn't. I live in L.A. I understand the cost of food. I've traveled to NYC, London, Rome, Madrid and Paris and seriously, Maui is probably worse. Here's why...in all of the previously mentioned cities, yummy cheap food is pretty easy to find. This is not the case in Maui. Apparently restaurants come and go so quickly that there are no good guides to food. So, you're sort of trapped by wherever you happen to be when you're hungry. Driving down the road to see if you can find something really doesn't apply to Maui.
5. You need board shorts and a swim top. If you want to try surfing, you need shorts, the longer the better. And, really, since you're going to suck in the beginning, you're going to want a shirt of some sort to keep you from getting board rash. (<--- probably not the technical term, but you get the idea.) Besides, both will come in handy for snokeling since the water can get a wee bit chilly.
6. Maui is much bigger than it appears to be. Combine that with small-ish roads and you're not going anywhere too quickly. So, if you need to be someplace at a certain time, give yourself a HUGE cushion.
7. Cel service is much better than I expected. And, in addition to that, there's an odd amount of pay phones available. That was comforting.
8. Activities (horseback riding, surfing, snokeling, etc...) are pretty spendy but if you do your research on the known companies, the money is very well spent. When I looked into different things to do on the island I was sticker shocked. But, after parting with the cash, I can honestly say I was never disappointed.
9. Time share pitches are everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. Seriously. Its everywhere. Literally. Its at your hotel. Its in the restaurant. Its in the parking lot. And I don't just mean mentions of time shares or ads for the time shares, I mean people selling time shares. This must be a serious business 'cause there are hundreds of people just in the small areas we were in pitching these. And yes, all the signs for $19 luaus are by the time share folks.
10. Leave the hair products at home. You'll either be in and out of the water or dashing off to dinner with no time to blow dry. No one cares about your 'do. You shouldn't either.
posted by jenna! at
1:18 PM
2 Comments:
I'm sorry that you didn't like the volcano ride; I had a great time when I did it last year (it was a heck of a lot more fun than para-sailing).
Heh, I didn't do the volcano ride. I was just commenting on the people I watched do it.
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