Life: Our lovely trip to Maui

Last year when we went to Paris it was my choice so when the hubby suggested we should take a vacation to Hawaii to celebrate our 11th dating anniversary  this year I was delighted.  I told him that I wanted to try a pre-packaged deal to see what they were like.  I decided that the first place I would get information would be from our local AAA office.  After spending an hour speaking with a travel agent I realized that the first thing we needed to do was figure out what Island we wanted to visit.  It never occurred to me how little we knew about Hawaii.  It probably would have been easier to ask our friends for their recommendations but since we don't like telling anyone our plans before we actually book things it made it harder for us.

{Source}

One evening the hubby suggested that I take a look at Costco Travel to see what packages they were offering.  After spending some time looking over the brochures I received at AAA and comparing them to the Costco packages I realized that the Costco ones made more sense.  I looked up a few reviews online and people seem to like their Costco vacations.  We decided that Maui would be better suited to fit our needs especially since it was supposed to be super romantical.

I woke up at 6:00am to take a walk along the beach.

Here's what we got in our Costco package:

• Flight to Maui from LAX on Delta
• 5 night stay at the Royal Lahaina in a Deluxe Ocean View Room
• Free self serve parking at the hotel
• $200 resort food credit
• Free daily breakfast 
• 5 day car rental 
• 1 dinner Luau for 2 at the hotel
• 1 dinner sunset cruise for 2 on the Teralani

We had a lovely time while in Maui and the Costco package was perfect for us.  We took full advantage of everything our package offered.  Every morning we woke up and ate a lovely buffet breakfast before heading out for the day.  In the afternoon we used our resort credit for snacks and to have dinner.  The car we got as our rental was essential when getting around Maui.  Our hotel was simply delightful and we had a breathtaking view of the beach.  The proximity to Black Rock was amazing especially when we decided to try snorkeling. (I crossed number 82 off my list.) Overall we would definitely recommend the Costco Travel package to Maui to all of our friends.  

I learned how to hula at the Lua.

One of the coolest thing we got to do while in Maui that wasn't included in our Costco package was horseback riding. (I finally got to cross number 84 off my list of things to do in 1001 days.)  We decided to go horseback riding with Maui Stables and I'm really happy we experienced it with someone that really knows the land.  Our guides were very entertaining and the trip itself was worth every penny we paid for it.  To get from Lahaina to Hana we had to take the beautiful but very scary Road to Hana. After the ride ended we got a free voucher to get into Haleakala National Park.

The cool horses we got to ride. 

Haleakala National Park

I crossed number 82 off my list. We went snorkeling.

On the Road to Hana

Walking back from Black Rock to our hotel.

Our sunset dinner cruise ended up being a lovely whale watching experience and it was amazing!

The hubby on the Road to Hana

Our rental car

We woke up to this everyday. The view from our room.

Maui was beautiful and very romantic.  We had a ton of fun and the weather couldn't have been better.  We ended up going in late March and early April so we caught the end of the whale migration.  Its incredible sitting down eating breakfast while looking into the ocean and seeing whales pass by.  Two things that we miss from Maui is P.O.G. juice and Hershey's kisses with macadamia nuts.  We can't wait to head back to Hawaii one of these days to visit a different island.

What's your favorite Hawaiian Island?

Photography: Kansas/Missouri (Wordless Wednesdays)

Please enjoy more of my photos HERE!

Photography: Pismo Beach (Wordless Wednesdays)

Please enjoy more of my photos HERE!

  

Life: Honeymoon Day 11

Our time in Europe was simply amazing and will never be forgotten. We're planning on making another trip in the near future but before we do that here's the last post on the subject.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:00pm from Heathrow Airport so we had some time to kill before we left.  We had to check out of our room before noon and they were nice enough to watch our luggage for us for a few hours before we left to the airport.  The hotel we stayed at Base 2 Stay was nice but not spectacular.  It looked clean but not spotless.  They provide free wifi but you have to put in a code every single time you use it which gets very frustrating.  On the bright side the rooms are large but if you get one next to the street it tends to get noisy.  I think this hotel would be lovely for a big family who would use the kitchenette. Overall we think it was a good value for the amount we paid for it and its proximity to the Underground.  

Since the receptionist were nice enough to watch over our luggage we decided to take quick trip to Harrods to pick up some last minute gifts.  The store was huge and beautiful.  We could have easily spend the whole day but since we only had a couple of hours we choose to focus on the departments and had stuff we actually were interested in. 

I loved these 6 feel tall bears. I wish we could have brought one home with us. 

How cute are these Prince William and Princess Catherine dolls? Okay there are really a tad creepy looking but I would still like to have them.  

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! I'll take Christmas in September any day of the week. I was seriously like a kid in a candy store.

The highlight of our trip to Harrods was the Chocolate Bar.  I can still taste the amazing hot chocolate that we had there. I would seriously travel back to London just for that decadent drink.  I ordered the Trinidad hot chocolate and the hubby ordered the Venezuela one. 

We rushed back to our hotel got our luggage and headed out to the airport. We went to were we purchased our Oyster card to get a refund for the amount we still had in the card.  

Our flight was with Virgin Atlantic and we loved it.  We had a few issues with our flight back but they were upfront with us about it and it didn't bother us.  First of the plane we were supposed to be on was struck by lightning in Dubai.  They replaced the airplane but then the catering company they were using didn't work so they had to get another one.  While we waited they passed our magazines and newspapers.

About an hour and a half later we were able to board the airplane or so we thought.  It turns out that once we were on the plane a passenger started freaking out about all the things going wrong and she demanded to get off.  It took about another hour to depart because they had to get the porters to come back and take her luggage off.  They had to do another security scan and then we were able to leave. All together we ended up departing about 3 hours late and we were all starving.  After working in a company were customer service is so important I have to say that the employees did a great job under the circumstances that we were all in.  The hubby and I were very impressed with the professionalism everyone demonstrated as they were dealing with difficult customers.  Once in the air everyone was well feed and we had lots of entertainment to keep us busy.  We had a few issues with our flight but that will not stop us from flying with Virgin Atlantic again.  We actually look forward to booking a flight with Virgin in the near future. 

When we got back home my in-laws had a surprise waiting for us. 

I really hope you enjoyed the recap of our honeymoon adventures in Europe. 

Day 1, Day 2,  Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10

Life: Honeymoon Day 10

On our final day of our honeymoon we woke up sick with a head cold.  We took things a little easier than we originally planned to but we still had a lovely day.  In the morning I headed out to get something to eat while the hubby rested since I felt a tad better than him.  I bought a pasty from here and I have to be honest I didn't really care for it.  I tried a sweet and a savory one but I didn't care for either of them.

When the hubby was finally up to it we headed out to the Natural History Museum since it was the closest museum near our hotel.  We had a nice walk and we could help ourselves and stopped to look at these telephones. 

The Dinosaur exhibit was amazing my goddaughter would have absolutely loved it.  I loved seeing little British school children having a blast at the museum. 

After a couple of hours walking around the museum we began to feel sick again so we returned back to our hotel but not before stopping at a pharmacy to buy some medicine.  Once we started feeling better we returned to do some more sightseeing.  Another museum that was close by was the Victoria and Albert Museum.  The best part about museums in London was that a lot of them were free including the ones we went to. 

We didn't spend too much time out and about since we needed to get our stuff ready to come back home.  After I finished packing my stuff I went to a local grocery store and stocked up on some baking supplies.  I bought a few edible  souvenirs for my loved ones to bring back home.

...To be continued...

Day 1, Day 2,  Day 3 (Pt. 1), Day 3 (Pt. 2), Day 4 (Pt. 1), Day 4 (Pt. 2), Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9,