Maui Recap

Personal, Travel

January 12, 2016

Today’s installment in our Hawaii recap is our Maui day trip! Catch up with our time on Oahu here and here!

While we spent the majority of our trip on Oahu, we also really wanted to visit at least one other island while we were in Hawaii. If we’d been there a little longer we might have chosen another island or maybe made more than just a day trip out of it, but I don’t regret at all just going for one day. It turns out going on a day trip to another island is super easy and really not all that expensive! We flew on Island Air for a gate to gate time of 35 minutes (I actually timed it on my phone…that I was supposed to turn off. Whoops!) and it cost about $150ish each to fly round trip. Totally do-able. That was about what we might have spent on a luau or something, but we felt like having an adventure day would be more worth it for us…and it was!

We flew over with our travel buddy/photog Ashley and then picked up our rental jeep. We went for one of the kinds that the top comes off, and I was excited that we did!! It was so neat, even when it started raining inside of it. I mean, at home, I would stress out about something like that, but in Hawaii, you just put on your rain jacket and let it happen. Side note: if you’re going to Hawaii in the winter, I would highly suggest bringing a lightweight rain jacket like mine. You’ll need it for those passing showers!

This first photo was my view from the plane. It was one of the tiniest planes I’ve ever been on, but they gave me shortbread cookies shaped like pineapples! That mountain peeking out of the clouds was one of my first impressions of Maui and it didn’t disappoint!


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We chose to spend our day on Maui doing the Road to Hana. I had heard that it was one of the most beautiful drives in the world, but I was so apprehensive about it because I get really motion sick. I’m talking, I’ve gotten car sick when I’M driving and I can’t play video games or watch any 3D movies without feeling super awful. Dramamine and I are friends, but I still felt nervous about it since I read that a LOT of people feel sick on the Road to Hana thanks to it’s twists and turns.

I’m super happy to report that thanks to the winning combination of a pair of borrowed sea bands, full strength Dramamine, and coffee (to keep me alert enough to enjoy the trip!) did the trick and I didn’t get sick!! Woo hoo! It would have been a shame to skip the trip because of this fear, so I’m glad we did it and that all went well 🙂

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We started and ended our journey in the little town of Paia, which is adorable! This had more of the quaint feel that I expected from the North Shore. It felt very beach-y!

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Our first scenic stop of the day! Look how tiny the surfers look!!

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Once we officially got going on the Road to Hana we stopped at this adorable little fruit stand for some photos, some kitty cuddles, and banana bread. I guess banana bread is a big thing on the Road to Hana!

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This is a legit jungle!!! So crazy to me how green and lush everything looked. I kept thinking to myself, where are the dinosaurs???? Ha!!

Hawaii Wedding Photographer_0093Hawaii Wedding Photographer_0094Another stop at a black sand beach! It was crazy windy here, but it was so beautiful. This one was nothing though in comparison to the beach we stopped at later on. Funny coincidence…I follow Mindy Kaling on Instagram and she instagrammed that she was at this very beach maybe a week after we were there!

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Maui is a beautiful island that definitely has a different feel than Oahu. I think both of them are pretty great! Maui, or at least, what I saw of it, felt a lot to me like what I’d imagine Jamaica feels like. It’s very tropical, jungle-y, and has a laid back vibe.

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Another pit stop for ice cream! You don’t go on vacation with John Nesbitt and not get ice cream. I was a little skeptical about this place because their ice cream is all vegan, but I ended up loving it! I had the coconut flavor, if you were curious.

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Our last stop on the Road to Hana was Honokalani beach at Waianapanapa State Park. It’s kind of an indescribable place! The black sand looked like crushed up Oreo crumbs to me.

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Maui was pretty wonderful! I loved the Road to Hana and I wish we had more time to see the rest of the island and to explore even more of the little pit stops off of the day trip! If you are going to Maui and considering doing the Road to Hana, I HIGHLY recommend renting your own car and going on the trip vs doing a tour. You can stop when you want and see more that way!

Thanks for following along with our trip recap…I actually have two more posts to share with you guys if you aren’t tired of hearing about the trip yet! I figure it’s winter time though and we can all use a little extra sunshine in our days, right?? 😉 See you all on the flip side!

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  1. Urška Majer says:

    Oh, wow! These photographs are gorgeous! Looks like you had an amazing time 🙂

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