Just a 46-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). Our vacation has gone pretty well. Downsides... I know I promised dh we could go to DC next year (last year that kids have a fall break together), but I am so DONE with flying. That's it! Just one more trip. I just find the security to be ridiculous and useless and I just can't stand it, but on he way here we encountered a nasty TSA agent who tried to break our laptop. I am not much for traveling anyway and I think TSA just seals the deal for me. Just icing on the cake on an experience that I do not enjoy anyway. D.C. 2016, and then I don't care if I ever fly again. The other thing is that, "Maui not that crowded" is relative and means "crazy crowded" by our own standards. For reference, when we went to Kauai the same time of year we hardly saw another sole on our entire vacation. So I suppose I was not prepared for how crowded it was. I understand it's 10 times worse in summer, but I don't enjoy fighting for space everywhere I go, even if this is relatively "not so crowded".
Those were the downsides, though everything else went pretty well.
By some miracle, we squeaked by and in the end don't have to pull any money from savings to pay for the trip (was planned to). Unless I am forgetting something! Will see... For now, we are coming in at about $3,600 for the entire trip. The airfare was $2,000, and so I did already pull $500 from savings to pay for that. ($1,500 is our annual vacation budget and I had to pull another $500 out to cover airfare). That would leave me about $1,600 to cover, that we spent in the past week. BUT the in-laws had given us $1,500 for our anniversary and also slipped us $200 cash for the trip. So even if I forgot something, I think we are pretty well covered. Didn't really plan it that way, but it's just how it worked out!
The food has been absolutely divine. Definitely the highlight of the trip**, and we ate out more because of that. (In the end, not even one fast food run to stretch our dollars. The food was just too good).
**I guess the scenery wasn't so bad either.
The one thing we did that saved us the most money and that I am happiest with is that we skipped the luau. Technically the kids have been to one when they were babies. I kind of felt, "They need to experience a luau," but I let it go. I know the food would be crappy and expensive and for whatever reason felt an obligation though the kids would probably just be bored. So we let it go and saved $200+. Looking back, I am so happy with that decision. More money for what the kids really wanted to do.
Vacay
October 10th, 2015 at 03:50 pm
October 10th, 2015 at 04:08 pm 1444493339
October 10th, 2015 at 04:28 pm 1444494535
Like you, I'm at the point of hating to fly. I resent being herded around like cattle, paying $ 25. per bag, still have a surcharge for fuel [now moderately priced] and cabin care of the past gone. Our airport's security staff seem to be new immigrants with in adequate English and I don't understand any instruction in Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese etc. which is our typical destination. DH is researching our winter trip and sees me as not co operative. Ha Ha, this is role reversal.
October 10th, 2015 at 04:48 pm 1444495733
I do have to say that though the beaches were crowded, we did book all our excursions fairly last minute, guaging the weather. Even the stuff advised to book way in advance.
October 11th, 2015 at 01:43 am 1444527799
I just saw this article, I hope the link works
October 11th, 2015 at 02:19 am 1444529983
My mom when she came out here found her shampoo bottle's lid hadn't been refastened tightly, so about half of the contents spilled all over her makeup/toiletry container. Her clothing was also obviously messed up. She wasn't too happy about that.