Holy Crap.
I was sent home to work back in February 2020 since Microsoft took an early jump on isolating for Covid. Only recently we started having the option of going back to the office, and no one’s there. Even with the state almost ready to fully open in I have been crazy paranoid that something would happen that would cancel this vacation. But now we are up in the air.
This week has been non stop preparation for way too many things. We had to get all our Covid tests in place to travel, finish up a shitload of work, all while we are buying a townhouse. We will actually sign papers for that on the islands. But now we are in the air. None of that stopped us, and we even made it to the Amex Lounge before takeoff for some breakfast and a couple of Bloody Mary’s (is that the right plural? Shouldn’t that be Bloody Maries? Bloody Marys? Stupid English language)
We are over the ocean now. We still have to be masked up, but that’s not such a big deal. We are in First Class on our way to Maui. Food and drinks are getting prepared and our biggest stress is a Breast Milk spill from another passenger across the aisle from us (I am not making this up)
Well, a few screaming children later, and many cocktails later, the flight has largely been uneventful. This is a welcome break as I have been on edge for so long waiting for the next shoe to drop on just about everything. No shoes this time. Yulia and I spent some time together listening to music on the in-flight system. Most of it was pretty typical, but She loved the Dire Straights album there, especially “Sultans of Swing”. But honestly that’s a pretty hard song to not just love.
On landing I got the text that our car was ready in parking spot C10.We didn’t even have to go to a desk. We caught the tram over to the garage, hopped in the car, and flashed a license on the way out. That’s it. Rental prices are over double normal right now in Hawaii. Apparently the companies sold of a bunch of their stock during down times so everything is limited right now. I reserved our Jeep six months ago, so at least we are paying too much for something nice.
I know the roads of Maui pretty well now, so it was a short drive out of the airport and onto the main road. We went around the island, stopping once at a fruit stand to stock up. There are actually some updates to the main road around Lahaina, so I had to learn a few turns but it took us no time to make it out to the Condo.
Here was issue #1 – I couldn’t find the entry code in my email. I called the number and got a machine. It was also a lot hotter than expected – upper 80’s. Although that was cooler than home, Seattle is being hit with a massive heat wave and it’s close to 100 there now. It will hit nearly 110 in a day or so there. So we were glad to escape.
I found wifi in the office and connected to find that the code for entry was in my email – my phone simply decided to not connect and sync mail. With that in hand we got in, and were surprised to find that the condo is actually better than expected. It’s a bit bigger than in the pictures, the view of the ocean was stunning, and the only real downside is that we don’t have a sandy beach. We have to walk a bit for that – but that’s ok. We’re in Hawaii and not everything has to be perfectly convenient. It’s just good to be away.
Once unpacked we walked up the street to Maui Brewing for dinner. We beat the rush, and got an open table right away. At this point the jet lag was starting to hit. Hawaii is three hours behind Seattle, so it was later in the day for our brains, and this late lunch was really dinner. The beer here is really great – I ordered two tasters, sampling their Lahaina Red, Bikini Blonde, some different IPAs, and their Coconut Porter. Yulia tried them as well, tasting from my tray. She really isn’t into beer, but had a little of one of the lighter ones, mostly because in the heat the beer goes really well. We also piled up the food, with some tacos, sliders, fries, and fried peppers. Not a healthy meal but good for settling the stomach after a day of travel.
N ow, we are back in the room waiting for the sun to go down and cool off. No major plans for the trip yet. We will get some real food tomorrow and start scheduling some things to do. Right now I’m just hooking up music and relaxing. It’s Island Time
Cognitive Dissonance 