Honeymoon Part II - The Eternal Travelers

So we arrived at the luxurious Maui Prince Hotel. We did check in about 45 minutes early and our room wasn't ready, yet, so Richel and I went down to the pool and ordered some food while the room's finishing touches were made. While lounging by the pool, I noticed a definite difference in demographics compared to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The Hilton was always full of activity, regardless of what time of day or night it was. Ages varied from what seemed to be 20's to 50's. But more people in their 20's and 30's, thin, and good-looking (I contributed to that population); it was a considerably young and energetic crowd. At the Maui Prince Hotel, however, on that Monday the area was occupied by a bunch of lethargic old fat people in their 50's to 70's, lying around the pool like a herd of sea lions on the beach. What the....am I back in Indiana?

Well, anyway, we finally retired to our luxurious room with the fantastic view and settled in. Richel wasted no time in falling asleep, while I called around to different places I found in an activities magazine to try and book activities. But no such luck, as many things were booked, already. Frustrated, I left the room and headed down to the lobby to look for someone who could help me organize some activities. Perhaps the concierge who looked like Kelly Chen could help me with that.

Instead, I met Jennifer who worked at the Expediafun desk. She worked with me for about an hour organizing events, calling up different places for availability and making reservations for Richel and I for the entire week. We booked 5 events for 2 people, costing an arm and a leg. Ouch. But hey, you only have one honeymoon (at least I only plan on one). Little did I know, however, that I could have gone to a small marketplace in Kihei or Lahaina, booked the same activities and pay about 1/3 the price. Well, perhaps on our next trip we'll go to one of those activity stands and make the most of it. It was too late to do anything about it at that time, though.

Our first activity was water rafting/cave touring and snorkeling. Tough to do without a pair of swim trunks. As I mentioned in part I of this series, I had to break down and buy a pair of swim trunks. So we visited a number of different swimwear stores at the shops of Waileia, which had a lot of high end stores. The cheapest pair of swim trunks I saw went for 40 bucks. 40 bucks for a pair of swim trunks? Remember this is the same guy who slept on the floor throughout med school and on an air mattress during residency. I wasn't sure what the going rate for swim trunks were, so I called up the fashion expert/econimic advisor, Q. I told him that I needed a pair of swim trunks to go snorkeling and asked what was a reasonable price to pay for swim trunks.

"I got a cheap pair for about 20 bucks. That's reasonable. 40 is a little steep. You're going snorkeling? Did you hear about the shark attack that just occurred on Maui?" Bloody hell! NO, I didn't hear of any bloody shark attack at Maui! Would I be crazy or stupid enough to go snorkeling if I had? But being that I paid a pretty penny for it in advance, I guess the answer to that would be yes. So for the next 30 minutes Q proceded to read to me over the phone all the shark attacks that occurred in Maui over the past few years.

"Having said all that, have fun!" said Q. Gee, thanks. Can't wait. I really wasn't afraid for myself, though. I was more afraid for Richel. But I figured when we went snorkeling, we would let all the other people get in the water and swim around first to make sure it was safe, and then we would get in. Sounded like a good plan.

Anyway, I finally found an ABC store, which is like the 7-Eleven of Hawaii that sells everything, including clothes. I bought a pair of swim trunks (black, of course) for 20 bucks and I was set for the next day's dismemberment.

Stay tuned for Part III