Living on Maui Time
I spent six weeks living in laid-back Maui, Hawaii. Here are some of my adventures on the Island…
If I didn’t hear, “No worries” or “No problem” several times a day, I would wonder if I was no longer on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. The people of Maui live on Maui Time which is usually 1–2 hours late. In my case, it turned out to be 2 days early.
My plane landed at Kahului Airport and I was expecting a driver to meet me there to bring me the rental car that my company had promised me. Exhaustion had sent in as I have now been awake for about thirty hours. I found it difficult to sleep on the plane as the lady seated next to me kept coughing. This was 2015, so she was not wearing a mask.
I get off the plane, get my luggage and go to the front of the airport expecting to see the driver. None could be found. No driver so I figured he must be running a few minutes late. Despite my fatigue, I enjoyed seeing the palm trees and watching as people bought pineapples and leis at a little fruit stand inside the airport. This part of the airport was not protected from the sun and the June, Hawaiian sun glared down on me creating beads of water on my face. I started to become concerned.
I had the number of the driver. He operated a small rental car company on the island. This wasn’t a chain agency. A mom and pop that supplied the travel nurses with cars. I called him and asked him when he would be arriving. Much to my surprise, he said in two days. I told him that was impossible as I had to report to my facility in the morning and I was exhausted. He began to tell me how the car order was for in two days. I finally convinced him that there has been some kind of mistake made and I needed the car today!
In about another hour, he arrives and says that I am to drop him off at his home and take the car to my address in Kihei, Hawaii. He says to me to take Hwy. 311 to Kihei and that it is about twenty minutes away. I looked at him like he was on crack. My response to this was that there is no way that I can physically do this. I am exhausted and I would more than likely fall asleep behind the wheel of “his” car and it was my understanding that he was to drive me there.
I think that he could see that I was on the verge of losing my pineapples, so he agreed to take me home. He called someone to follow us there and he did what I was told he was going to do in the first place. As we drove out of the airport, we almost hit a chicken and her chicks. I said to the driver that a farmer must have lost his livestock. Living in Michigan, chickens are valuable products on a farm. The driver laughed and said that they are wild and all over the island running free. He also said that they are full of disease and can not be eaten. Off to a great start!
As we drove down Hwy. 311 the thought occurred to me that if he didn’t realize I was arriving would my housing be ready? I dialed up the housing manager and she said she wasn’t expecting me for two days and that the Hale wasn’t ready. Hale? “House”, she replied. I told her about my situation and said that I had to work in the morning and if it was dirty, I would clean it. I told her I had to sleep. She agreed to this. I fell asleep and I soon heard my driver say, “You must have been tired”. I thanked him and went into my new, “Hale”.
It was very beautiful and very clean. The woman said that she had time to clean it after all. I looked at her skeptically as the place was spotless. The drive was about twenty minutes. I said thank you and she responded, “No worries”.
Maui has some of the best sunsets in the world and my condo was 500 feet from Charlie Young Beach. People come from all over the world to get married on that Beach. I lived on Ill Illi Street which was on the ocean. Charlie Young Beach was on one end of my street and Maui Cove was on the other end. Surfers came worldwide to surf Maui Cove. After I had some rest, I walked to Charlie Young Beach to watch the sunset. The waves crashed up onto the rocks and I had never experienced anything like this before in my life.
Islanders were sitting on top of the rocks fishing. A wedding party was dancing in the wedding hall and so I could hear the music as I walked the beach. The Pacific was clear, clean, and warm. I thought to myself that I never want to leave this place. I had never heard of rock fever.
I will be writing more about living in Maui soon.
