The week started by my brother, sis-n-law, and parents picking me up at my house- I should have taken public transit. I spent 2 hours with them waiting for the first leg of the flight. Then it arrived and there were 4 hours in the plane together. We landed in Phoenix and had an hour to hang before we got on another 6 hour flight to Honolulu. Needless to say I spent 13 hours in extremely tight quarters with my family and we hadn't even arrived at our destination. I should also tell you that my parents and bro talks incessantly. I'm not saying that I'm quiet, I am also a talker, but not anywhere near the extent they are. After 13 hours of constant chatter and claustrophobic quarters we arrived to our first stop Honolulu. Since we arrived at 7 pm, we were just spending the night and flying out to our final destination of Maui the next day. As we are heading to our
The next morning we headed to the airport to catch a 9 seater plane out to Maui. I got to listen to my parents and bro bitch about how long the line was taking when clearly a 9 seat plane wasn't going to take off without 5 of it's passengers. The best thing about riding such a tiny plane is that the weigh all your stuff as well as every person in order to distribute the weight evenly throughout the plane. When it was my turn to get on the industrial sized scale instead of averting his eyes like everyone else does my DAD blurted out to my family, everyone in line, and the dude behind the counter helping us "Looks like my daughter needs to go on a diet". Oh yes, he really did say that. I immediately walked off with tears in my eyes. Anyone who knows me, and I would say my parents know me pretty well, knows how sensitive I am about my weight. I have always been chubby. Funny thing is I work out more than any one of my friends, all of whom are smaller than me. Oh and I had foot surgery in January so I haven't really been able to work out since then (though I am back at boot camp now). This pretty much put a damper on the rest of vacation. While I got past it, I will never get over it. My mom played it off like "Oh, men don't realize what they say". Fuck that... there isn't a person in this world that doesn't realize that weight is not a subject you bring up with women.
Anyhoo back to this long winded retelling of my story. We get on a the tiny plane and after 45 minutes arrive in Maui. The airport overlooks the gorgeous crystal blue waters. We arrived at 10, but can't get in our condo until 3 so we head to a fancy resort mall on the beach, where we shop for a bit, have lunch, and then hang in the sand. We come back to this same "mall" 2 different times during our vacation... not my choice, but when you have 1 car for 5 people you have to trudge along. We finally get to the condo and it's lovely; right on the beach with amazing views of Molokai across the way.
The first full day we hung at the condo and went to a cheesy luau. The next day my bro and sis-n-law dropped me off at the top of the volcano Haleakala so I could go on a 5 hour horseback ride to the crater and back. Yes, I was the only person dropped off, and I was the only person not part of a couple. Another yay for singlehood. My parents picked me up. The following day we snorkeled at Kapalua Bay. I got to swim with sea turtles - it was quite awesome. By this point I was extremely annoyed with my family. My brother would just drink constantly and talk incessantly and my parents thought that we should spend every waking hour as a family. Oh, except when my bro and his wife wanted space then I should spend time with them because me being single means I never need space. I love them, but it was just too much. The day after that we went for the most expensive massages ever. I'm just telling you I will never again pay extra for getting a massage on the beach. Especially considering we had to walk 2 minutes from the spa to the massage tent through the heat there and back which gets you out of the massage zone and the tents were right next to the pool so on one hand you can hear waves breaking, on the other you get to hear kids playing at the pool which was directly on the other side as well as people walking along the path right next to the tent. It was at the Hyatt spa in Kaanapali. I recommend getting a massage inside. Skip the beachfront. The last full day we all did our own thing which perhaps made that the most enjoyable day for me. I rented a bike and was on my own schedule. I drove over to Kapalua Bay to snorkel, I went out to eat at a local Hawaiian restaurant, I hung on the beach, and chatted with some local Hawaiians. The last day we left Maui on the first flight out and spent the day in Honolulu. By this time I was about done with it all. I just wanted to be on my own, doing my own thing, but Kila, my sis-n-law had planned ahead and rented a car so I hitched a ride with her and my bro. It was fun. We hung in some parks, hiked to a waterfall, and walked around waikiki. Then we spent another 13 hours together on the way home.
I wish I didn't feel like such an ungrateful bitch, but I will never ever go on another family vacation unless I have my own room and own ride. I can't be reliant on someone else that much nor can I be around people who are so different from me. I love my family, but I'm like the black sheep... I love personal space and time alone, I'm much more liberal, and much more open to new experiences and ideas.
Anyhoo after all that bitching here are some pictures from Hawaii. You can see a lot more on my Flickr Page.
This picture made it on Flickrs blog. Quite exciting!
