Maui: Wow, Ow!

As promised, the report of my trip to Maui.

What can I say: I love them beaches! It was the first time traveling by myself and I'll admit it had some advantages. Nobody had a schedule but myself and I could change that up at any time. There are some distinct disadvantages too, but more on that later.

I arrived at "Maui's Most Hawaiian Hotel" at about midnight local time. After eight hours of traveling, I was pretty burnt out. Not to mention I couldn't see anything (dark by the water). I could smell the ocean though: almost nothing better in the world. After winding down and unpacking my stuff, I crashed.

And woke up at 7:30 the next morning to a brilliant warm day! I immediately donned my new swimming togs. After discovering that the label saying "M" was a big fat lie (in favour of a big, fat person), I put on my old swimming togs and headed for the beach! Glorious, glorious, glorious! And that was just the lady joggers! The water was warm, salty and shark-free. Crystal-clear water and a fine sand beach. I stayed and swum for a couple of hours, went back to the room, showered up and went to have my breakfast.

That was the routine every day for the next four days: up by 8, hit the beach by 8:15, back for brunch at about 10:30. I could live the rest of my days having mornings like that.

Now I had planned a few outings for the week, but only did a couple of them. There was the usual walking around the local towns (Lahaina has some fantastic art galleries and museums), taking in of the "local colour" comprised of fruit, luaus and Tiki Bars and generally being a beach bum. I did manage to get to Turtle Beach for a snorkel for an afternoon but only saw one turtle and no mantas. My plans to get some surfing lessons were struck as I was informed there was no surf: wrong time of the year. Shirts were purchased (I didn't bring enough), drinks were bought, women were ogled (although not many: the area is dominated by couples getting married, on their honeymoon, having an anniversary or taking the kids on vacation) and food was consumed, all interspersed with me flailing joyfully in the surf. I didn't get a sunburn until the next-to-last day but it was a doozy!

I really, really don't recommend getting generic sun-block: I looked like I was wearing bright red and dead white camouflage. One of the (few) disadvantages of going alone is nobody to rub on suntan lotion.

The last day was painful (and not just because of the burn). Checkout was the usual 11 AM but my flight didn't leave until 11 PM, so I had to kill twelve hours without exposing myself to harmful solar radiation. I'm not sure if it was a good thing but it wound up raining most of the day. I actually went and saw a movie (I wouldn't recommend Ghost Town. Americans don't know how to write/direct for Ricky Gervais.) Eventually I got on the plane. The ride home was uneventful except trying to get a pineapple through customs. And no, I did not hide it in a body cavity.

And for those of you who don't know, I went there for my 40th birthday.

I think one of the reasons I didn't do all the stuff I had planned is because I did the typical "life review" thing. The conclusions:

• My life ain't that bad
• Work is good, for the first time in a very long while
• My social life could use a shot in the arm, so I'm going to do more things (like SCUBA lessons next month)
• I'm probably going to be single for the rest of my life, but I'm pretty okay with that (fatal flaw: physical intimacy non-existent)
• I'm going to drink more. Not get plastered, but do the "drink after work / night cap" thing. It's relaxing!
• I really love swimming in the ocean (see SCUBA above. Also, Dominican Republic in November to get certified)
• I need to perform a social experiment with myself as the test subject. Details later

So there ya go.

Barring the occasional boring moment, the nasty sunburn (which is now peeling. Urgh.), and the occasional sigh at being alone for it all, it was a pretty damn good trip. So much so, that my body is insisting that it stays on Hawaii time.

Oh, and one more thing: after living forty years shying away from solar energy, I found prolonged exposure makes me happier, healthier, more confident, requires less sleep and overall improves my life. I'm going to a hot-spot for a long weekend at least once every two months. Gotta even out that burn!