Hawaii review- long & detailed

We just got back and it's fresh in my mind so I thought I'd write a review to help other Hawaii-bound couples out.

We flew out on Monday morning on American Airlines from LGA to Maui with a short stopover in Chicago. We used miles to upgrade to first class and if I can recommend only one thing- that would be it! It is so worth it! They treat you like kings & queens and you start to feel badly for the people in coach at the same time thinking that you could never go back to coach after being in first class (of course we will have to after this trip!). The seats in first class on long trips are amazing- you are almost totally reclining so it's great to sleep! They feed you such yummy food and you can basically have anything that you want at any time.

We got to Maui on Monday at 3:30 PM. We rented our car at Alamo (prepaid) and we got a convertable- definitely the way to go! You really get to see so much more with the top down!

We drove to our hotel- they Hyatt Regency- and were very excited! It's a big hotel on the south end of Ka'anapali beach and we loved it. It has 3 sections of rooms- we were in the middle section with a partial ocean view room. Our room was really cute- the bed was absolutely amazing! Our view looked into the mountains but if you went on to the lanai and looked to the left, you had a great view of the ocean. It was great! The pool is huge with a ton of pool chairs all over the place. It's a bit busy but it's ok. There are different areas to go into and we had fun exploring. They have a slide which we both tried but I didn't like it because water went up my nose. My husband loved it, though. The drinks were delicious! One point- it is really hot on the west side of the island so by 3ish, we were dying and had to either go in the pool or go inside. Other great things about the hotel: they had a lot of really cute shops, they had great restaurants (will go into more detail later), they had a concierge and a thing called Aloha Services. This was great because there were basically 2 places to help you plan acitvities and dinner reservations and we were never waiting long.

The first night, we ordered in room service and passed out by 9 PM.

Tuesday- we went to the pool for a few hours and then decided to go into Lahaina town. It's about a 15 minute drive and it's really cute. It's right on the ocean so it's a nice walk. The main strip- Front Street- is lined with restaurants and touristy shops but they are fun. That night, we went to dinner at a sushi restaurant called Sansei. it is in Kapalua which is about 15 minutes north of the hotel where the Ritz Carlton is. So many of our friends raved about it that we had such high expectations. It was good but no better than our local sushi restaurants in the city. If you like sushi, it's definitely worth going to!

Wednesday-
We played golf at an amazing golf course. Well, my husband played golf and I drove the cart. It was a nice way to spend the morning! We played at the Bay Course in Kapalua and it was beautiful- the course went right along the ocean and there were some georgous views!

That night, we went to the Old Lahaina Luau. I made the reservations about 5 months before and we had excellent seats! It was a great show- the dancers were amazing and the entire show was great. The food was ok- it's not the main reason you go there but it's decent. They roast the big pig- which I refused to see. But a lot of people were crowded around it and seemed to like it. I would definitely recommend this luau- but make reservations in advance! The sooner you make the reservations, the better your seats will be.

Thursday- this was our favorite day. We did the Haleakala bike ride and we loved it! We made reservations with Maui Mountain Riders about 2 weeks before we went. My SIL used this company 5 years ago and recommended them to us and we are so glad that she did! They were wonderful! They pick you up at 2:15 AM from your hotel room. Yes, it's early but it's totally worth it. You will be grumpy that morning but you get over it. They take you to their main office near the airport to watch a safety video. Then, you get back in the van and go up to the top of the mountain. There are 12-13 people in each van and 2 leaders. When you get up to the top of the mountain, it's cold and they give you a yellow lined windbreaker suit (pants, jacket & gloves). We dressed very warmly anyway (you need to) so I was wearing, shorts & a tank top, then sweat pants & a sweater over that. Then I put the yellow suit on. And I brought a ski hat liner because my head gets cold. Definitely dress warmly if you go- it's about 30 degrees up there! I felt like the Michilin Man but I was warm so I didn't care. The sun comes up at about 5:45 and it's really spectacular! You are literally above the clouds so you watch the sun start coming up and then it finally breaks through the clouds. It's really amazing and totally worth it! And by that time, you are totally awake because it's so cold. Your group goes down the mountain based on when you get up to the top. There are about 400 people up there and each bike company has about 8 vans up there. Each van goes on it's own. Our company preferes to go last and we did. During the wait, our leader took us to a lot of really cool places around the top of the mountain and we saw some really amazing things! He was extremely knowledgeable about Hawaii and the mountain- he's been doing this every day for many years. I am sure that the people who went down first had a great trip but it was really great to get to see things that they didn't see- it made it even better for us! Anyway, we got on our bikes by about 8. I was really nervous but I got over it quickly. You ride single-file behind the leader and the van is in the back. The leader & van driver talk to each other the whole time with radios so we are really safe. If you get scared and want to ride in the van, you can. They are really cool about that. We stoped a few times to take pictures which was really fun! We stoped about 2/3 down to have breakfast at a cute restaurant (already paid for) and then we finished the rest of the ride. We finished in a town called Pa'ia and went to the beach for a few minutes. We were back at our hotel by 1 PM and we were tired but so energized from the ride! It's definitely a must do! It's not hard at all- you barely pedal at all- it's all downhill but not too steep. I highly recommend doing it- especially with Maui Mountain Riders!

That night, we were so tired that we cancelled our reservations for dinner and ordered in room service. We were asleep by 9.

Here are some pictures of the sunrise & bike tour.