Aloha, Maui
- Andrea
- Oct 1, 2023
- 14 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
A little bit of background📝
In 2010, I was thrilled to have been accepted to present at my first ever conference, when I was working at a Brisbane university in teaching and learning development. The 23rd International Conference of the First-Year Experience was held in Maui in June of that year. I mean, if you are going to present at a conference for the first time, Hawaii is as good a place as any to go, right?
💭I've added my reflections on my most vivid and lasting impressions of my first visit to Hawaii and what the the experience meant to me at the end of the post. |
Travelling to Maui 🛬
Getting there was an interesting journey, with two flights with Qantas and one with Hawaiian Airlines. Flying time from the east coast of Australia to Honolulu is around 10 hours but first I had to fly to Sydney from Brisbane. Before I left Brisbane I discovered that I didn't have an entry visa for the US. The ESTA was a new development since my trip to Orlando two years earlier and Campus Travel had neglected to tell me I needed one. That said, I should have known that! Writing this post in 2023, I can see how much better prepared I have been for subsequent travel experiences. Google and international roaming have both made travel much easier.
Of course I was in a panic at Brisbane Domestic Airport but fortunately I could apply online for the visa. It came through pretty much straight away. I did miss my flight to Sydney, but I was able to get a seat on the next one and still had enough time to make the Sydney to Honolulu leg.
Travel tip🌏 Make sure you have an ESTA even if you are only transitting through the US on your way someplace else (e.g. Canada). There's only a small cost for the visa. It pays to have the visa before you depart although you can organise one online for an immediate response as I did (and as my son did when he didn't have one for transit through Houston on his way to Toronto). |
There was another academic from my faculty attending the conference and we were staying in the same hotel and sharing a car. We met up briefly before the SYD-HNL flight and then in Honolulu before we took the short flight to Maui. I remember the small plane and the bumpy ride between the islands. Not so great for a nervous flyer like me!
I met my colleague again in Maui when we collected our hire car. Fortunately, my colleague, who was born in Jamaica, was willing to drive. I had somehow collected a man on the flight to Maui who needed a lift (can't recall where, but somewhere between the airport and our destination) so we dropped him on the way to the hotel.
Maui 🌺
My university colleague and I didn't book early enough to secure rooms at the Wailea Beach Marriott, where the conference was to be held. Instead, we ended up staying in the villas at Hotel Wailea. Not bad, though, hey?
It was Sunday afternoon before we arrived at the hotel, feeling the effects of the long journey. The Honolulu to Maui flight takes less than an hour but the plane was tiny and it was quite bumpy! We had a late lunch then went to our respective rooms to prepare for the conference. We were both attending pre-conference workshops on the first day and my presentation was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. I was extremely nervous about the presentation as it was my first ever. I was glad I had two days to see other presentations and get a feel for the standard.
The Wailea Beach Marriott is a massive complex with presentation rooms, restaurants, and shops. Here's the view of the ocean from the hotel:
The pre-conference workshops on day 1 were quite interesting and a nice way to ease into the conference. Afterwards I still had enough time to walk to a nearby shopping mall (The Shops at Wailea) and do some clothes shopping. These were the days when the exchange rate was good and lots of US and international stores we didn't have yet in Australia.
We were treated to a concert of traditional song and dance on the first evening, at the welcome dinner. This was when I first saw how closely connected Hawaiian culture is to the Maori culture of my homeland, New Zealand. I really felt at home in Hawaii as a result.
I went to a couple of good sessions on the Tuesday, but a lot weren't at the standard I was expecting, and that surprised me. That said, I felt a lot less nervous about my session after having the time to check out others. My session had a small turnout, but the audience was enthusiastic and asked lots of questions and I was happy with the way things had gone. Everyone at the conference was friendly. It was a pretty laid-back affair with some of the American delegates in Hawaii with their families so they could holiday afterwards. I met a really nice woman, an Australian living in England and working at Manchester University, who came to my session and I attended hers. We had lunch together on the Wednesday.
Dinner on the evening after my presentation was with my Brisbane university colleague, at a local Mexican restaurant. i was pretty shattered as my anxiety had been at an all-time high in the lead up to giving my presentation. There was also something wrong with my phone - the international roaming didn't seem to work properly - and I couldn't contact my colleague. After my presentation I was stuck at the conference venue and ended up on the shuttle back to Hotel Wailea with another group of delegates. That was stressful! Anyhoo, my colleague talked me into having a margarita with dinner. I couldn't finish it (as a non-drinker), but at least I gave it a go...
On the Thursday, the last day of the conference, I did a pre-booked tour with Viator to watch the sun rise at the crater summit of the dormant volcano in Haleakala National Park. There were other people from the conference on the trip, including my new conference buddy whom I encouraged to book at the last minute.
Travel tip🌏 The tour was a ride up to the volcano and back down again. You could easily do the drive up there yourself for a fraction of the cost of the tour, but it was the easiest way for me to do it on the last morning before the final conference sessions. |
Tour pick up was some insane time early in the morning before the drive up to the crater summit. It was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING at the top before the sun rose, and it was super windy. The less-than-flattering shots of me below only go some way to capturing the conditions. The cold and wind were totally worth it, though. The sunrise was spectacular! Watching the sunrise at Haleakala is one of the most unique and memorable things I have ever done.
After the sun had risen, we were able to see the incredible moon-like landscape on the top of the mountain and realise how high up we were! It was still cold, but again completely worth it for the experience of being so high up on top of a volcano.
Travel tip🌏 Avoid making the mistake I made of only wearing a hoodie and scarf. There were people at the summit wrapped in warm blankets. Trust me, you need all the protection you can get. Words cannot describe the cold and wind (especially the wind!) as the sun rises. |
In the little bit of time prior to my flight back to Oahu later that day my colleague and I had a jaunt around town with two other conference delegates until he dropped us all off at the airport. There was also another communication issue as I thought I would be dropped off at a certain place to meet my colleague after the tour and things didn't work out that way. It's so much easier these days!
As mentioned above, I did have a couple of free hours during the conference to check out the Shops at Wailea, a lovely open air mall near the hotel where the conference was held. It was there that I discovered ABC stores for the first time. They are a mainstay of Hawaiian shopping with one seemingly on every street corner! They are a crossed between a convenience store and a souvenir shop, selling all kinds of Hawaiian mementos, gifts, and produce. Below is the adorable little sand and shells bottle I bought as my one and only Maui memento.
Oahu 🏖️
Back in 2010, business travel rules allowed staff the option of taking 50% of the business time (i.e., the conference days + travel) as personal days. This meant the university paid for the return flight to the conference and the staff member could pay for their expenses for the personal days. (Note that the staff member would have to pay half of their airfare if they elected to stay longer than 50% of the business time.)
I was able to stay an additional two days so I jumped at the chance to see a little bit of Oahu. I flew back to Honolulu after the conference and stayed in a hotel, within walking distance of Waikiki beach. No beach view, though, just a lot of buildings!
Day 1 of my mini break was taken up with a 12 hour pre-booked Viator tour of Oahu so that I could see Pearl Harbour and get a feel for the island. The tour was the best way for me travelling alone to see a bunch of stuff in a short time. Pearl Harbour was a bucket list experience for me as a history nerd and the tour meant I could access the memorial easily.
I really enjoyed my day out as it was just a small group in a mini-van and everyone was super friendly. I was the only non-American and solo traveller on the tour. The other travellers were keen to talk to me about Australia and they treated me like royalty. Adorably, they offered to take pictures of me so I had evidence of my trip.
After pick up we drove to Pearl Harbour. It's is an interesting place to visit and very respectful of the the history it represents. The complex is well laid out and has lots of things to see besides the memorial. The tour only included the USS Arizona memorial experience and a little bit of wandering around time.
It's hugely busy at Pearl Harbour and security is tight, but the process of visiting the USS Arizona memorial is extremely well organised. Only a set number of people are allowed out onto the memorial at once. Visitors are issued a ticket with their launch departure time. Once the next group arrives, the previous one has to leave the memorial. The amount of time each group has at the memorial is sufficient, I think.
Pieces from the USS Arizona that are still submerged after the 1941 bombing and can be seen from the memorial. I found the experience moving as the memorial has been created in a fitting way to remember those who lost their lives in the bombing of Pearl Harbour. It's a simple but powerful reminder of the tragic events of 7 December 1941 and America's subsequent entry into the war. There's no tourist tackiness to the memorial despite the volume of visitors. Being out in the harbour means, too, that the memorial is away from the cafes and gift shops and hordes of people, and it feels fitting that visitors are able to reflect on what the memorial commemorates in a peaceful setting.
The bottom photo in the below collage shows the USS Missouri that sits off in the distance, where the Japanese surrendered at the end of the war. Tickets with access to the Missouri can also be purchased, along with the USS Bowfin, a decommissioned submarine. We visited both of these vessels during our 2013 holiday.
I used the little bit of time we had after the excursion out to the memorial to have a poke around in one of the gift shops. I have a keen interest in WW2 as a history nerd and I wish I'd had more time to look around the whole complex.
I did buy these two mementos (a postcard and fridge magnet) from the shop, of one my favourite enduring images of WW2: Rosie the Riveter, an allegorical US cultural icon who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during the war, many of whom produced munitions.These bad ass women replaced the male workers who joined the military. We sure can do it!
Keeping with the theme of female empowerment, I also bought this poster, showing the importance of female ordnance workers during the war. The messaging spoke to me and I just had to buy the poster! It hangs on the wall in my laundry to this day. I am very much a social historian and I am fascinated by the ways that society responds and changes in the face of major world and historic events.
Check out my post of our family holiday to Hawaii in 2013 as we spent a whole day at Pearl Harbour and explored the whole complex. |
After our visit to the memorial, we set off to tour the island. The tour took us right the way around the island and back to Honolulu. I highly recommend a tour like the one I did if you just have one day on Oahu and want a taste of the island outside of Honolulu. Lots of people go to Hawaii for Waikiki, but there's so much more to see than that.
Our first stop was the Dole Plantation where everything is...well...pineapples. What a scream of a a place. I wandered around the pineapple shop while most of my travel buddies bought a pineapple soft serve ice cream. I was happy enough just to soak up the kitschy vibe. There's a maze at the plantation, but we didn't have time for that. I did go back there and do the maze thing when I returned to Hawaii with my family in 2013.
After Dole and a roadside shrimp cart pit stop we headed to Sunset Beach on the North Shore. This was summer, so the water was as flat as a tack! I was expecting waves but I realised later that they come in winter. That's when the international surfing competitions are held. Just look at the beautiful clear water!
Our next stop was La'ie Point, a small islet with a big hole in the middle, known as the La'ie Point Needle. Awesome. The needle is a unique volcanic rock formation (right hand photo below). The point has cultural significance, too, as the place where legend says the goddess Hi'iaka, sister of the volcano goddess Pele, threw the remains of the monster Kuiniolo into the sea.
Continuing around the island, we stopped for lunch at Waimea Valley. We ate our lunch at a country club-type place that has been used for a number of film sets, such as Hawaii 50 and Lost.
I had a burger and fries for lunch. Why is this a big deal? I just remember the lunch as I didn't need any dinner that night (it was HUGE) and I recall my fellow travellers laughing at me calling ketchup tomato sauce. Actually, one of my clearest memories of the day was how much food the other travellers consumed. There was an early start to the day so no time for breakfast. I grabbed a snack at Pearl Harbour and enjoyed the lunch but most of the other people on the tour ate that PLUS a pineapple ice cream at the Dole place, shrimps from a shrimp cart down the road from Dole, and macadamias at a nut place we also stopped at along the way. Oh man.
Our first stop after lunch was at Nu-uanu Pali, an overlook offering magnificent views of the valley below. The Lookout not only has views, it is also historically significant as the site where King Kamehameha I won a fierce battle in 1795 to unite Oahu under one rule. The battle claimed hundreds of soldiers' lives, many of whom were forced off the sheer cliffs to their deaths.
There were two more stops before circling back to the hotel. The first was at the Halona Blowhole and the second at Hanauma Bay, both iconic places on the island. I don't have proper photos of the blowhole for some reason, but you can check them out in my post of our 2013 holiday. Trust me, the blowhole is way cool. The post of our 2013 holiday also has more shots of Hanauma as we went down to the beach and did some swimming and snorkelling.
I was pretty exhausted when I got back to the hotel as it was a long day. i was so thrilled to have seen so much in such a short time, though. My burger and fries lunch kept me going and I just walked to the closest ABC Store and bought some yoghurt for dinner. ABC Stores are everywhere in Hawaii. They stock souvenirs and basic supplies, fab for travellers.
On day 2, I caught the 'jolley trolley' out to Waikele, the massive outlet centre about an hour out of the city. The trolley was kind of kitschy but you just roll with it. The seats were hard and my butt hurt by the time we arrived at the outlets, but it was an experience, that's for sure.
Waikele is not like shopping centres in Australia, that tend to be one large complex over several floors. The outlet mall is spread out, with stores opening onto the street rather than being inside one giant building. I think this is called a strip mall.
As mentioned earlier in this post, the exchange rate was good back then and a lot of stores at the centre we didn't have at home. Needless to say, I bought lots of clothes on that trip!
Travel tip🌏 I highly recommend Waikele for shopping, especially if you want to buy clothes and shoes. If you have a car, that is better than catching the trolley out as I did. I found I would have liked more time at the mall and somewhere to store my purchases. |
After I got back from the shopping trip I finally had my chance for a proper look at Waikiki Beach. It's such a famous beach, so my expectations were high. It was nice to be there late in the afternoon with the light reflecting on the sand. Honestly, I was expecting more, though. There's not a lot of actual beach. The beaches in Australia and New Zealand are nicer, in my opinion. The view of Diamond Head is pretty spectacular, though.
I'd only had some frozen yoghurt for lunch at the Waikele Centre so I was keen for a restaurant meal even if it meant sitting by myself. I walked to the Wailana Coffee House, just across the road from the Hilton and close to my hotel. The place is iconic Hawaii, with its loud carpet and throwback meals. The restaurant was a popular spot for decades until it closed eight years after I was there. I don't have any photos of my dinner experience, I just remember that I ordered a chicken stir fry that came with the salad buffet. I filled up too much on the buffet while waiting for my meal to come out then hardly touched it in the end, partly because it was huge. I recall the server asking me if I wanted a doggy bag and they seemed surprised when I declined. "What if you get hungry later?" they asked. Yeah, no, hard pass, but thanks anyway. America and food...
The experience meant a lot to me on a personal level. I felt deeply connected to Hawaii from the outset, for the cultural connections to New Zealand where I was born and grew up, and because of the stunning scenery. I also learnt that Oahu is so much more than Waikiki Beach. It is so important, I think, to venture beyond the high rises of Honolulu and experience all the beauty of the island. The experience absolutely cemented my feelings of connectedness to natural landscapes and their contribution to my wellbeing.
Below are my reflections on what the experience meant to me from a professional perspective.
Presenting at an international conference was a thrill, even though there was only a small turnout for my session. Just being there was a major milestone in my professional journey.
I learnt to push my introverted self to connect with people at academic conferences. I have made lasting friendships from subsequent conferences and I am thankful for my international friends who have added so much to my life.
The conference was the starting point for future opportunities to experience fascinating parts of the world while developing my presentation skills.
The conference: My pre-presentation anxiety and the friendly and collegial vibe.
Hawaii: Cultural connectedness and stunning natural beauty, but feeling a little meh about the famous Waikiki Beach.
Haleakala: The stunning sunrise but also the wicked cold and wind.
Oahu tour: The beauty and diversity of Oahu and the contemplative Pearl Harbour experience. Flying solo on the minibus with a warm and welcoming bunch of American tour companions who ate constantly ALL DAY.
It was a privilege to have experienced two of Hawaii's islands on my first trip. I was lucky enough to be back on Oahu three years later and had the opportunity to see even more of the island's beauty, as well as experience the Big Island. Check out my post on this trip as we saw and did some amazing things during our two week family holiday.
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