The Hadeed Family Trip to Maui

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John and I decided to refer to this family trip to Maui as “Our Maui Miracle” - and I just realized that made it sound like we’re having a baby, which we’re NOT!!

Really, we can’t believe we all got there, together, on the same flight. Like other families around the world, it was a struggle to plan a trip as we emerged from Covid. As Delta surges around us, things are growing more complicated again, and I’m glad we got this in when we did. But it wasn’t smooth! We finally settled on Maui just about a month before we left, after planning and rejecting several other trips for overcrowding, emerging restrictions, etc;

Hawaii required a vaccination or a negative Covid test - completely fair and reasonable, of course. Four of us are vaccinated, but Joshua and Nicholas (11 and 7) are too young, so we simply set up their Covid tests.

We set our alarms for 5am on August 10th so we could make it to the airport by 6am. Just 3 hours beforehand, at 2am, Joshua woke up sick. It was just one of those weird things; Joshua’s body has always handled discomfort by just throwing up and resetting. He showered, went back to sleep, and never felt sick again. John and I were up, though, and very concerned. Joshua and Nicholas’s test results weren’t back. This might sound like a minor issue, but in fact, it was HUGE....

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See, the week before we left, Hawaii significantly tightened their restrictions. Not only would families have to quarantine without negative test results, but if the results weren’t uploaded BEFORE THE FINAL LEG of the flight, there were two choices upon landing: go back home or quarantine for 10 days. Negative test results that arrived after the departure of the plane would not be considered. Also, to further protect their citizens, rental companies - both cars and properties - are not allowed to rent to quarantined families. That way, the Hawaiian government can follow-up and ensure that visitors are actually following quarantine. Both of those rules would spell HUGE trouble for us. Essentially, without access to our booked rental car and property, we'd have no place to stay and no way to get to a hotel. We simply couldn't leave without negative tests in hand.

Now, this is extra complicated when you consider that the test also had to be administered within 72 hours of that final leg. That meant the test we were waiting on - since it wasn’t back, it was also going to be invalid if we put the flight off any longer.

Long story short, at 3am we started a 15 hour process of scheduling and re-scheduling flights, and Covid tests. We went back to bed at 5am, just as we were supposed to be leaving, having texted the older kids saying “Go back to sleep, we’re not going to Hawaii today.” When we went to bed, the most likely scenario seemed to be that John and the two older kids would leave on a flight 24 hours after the original flight and the little two kids and I would drive 2.5 hours the next day for a rapid result test and then fly out 72 hours after originally scheduled.

Well, somehow - quite miraculously, it seems - when we woke up the next morning, a rapid result test had opened up near us. Results came early afternoon. Flights for the next day were full, but John, God bless him, sat at the computer and refreshed and refreshed until those Southwest seats opened up and he got us ALL on the same flight, only about 22 hours after we were meant to leave.

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Our Impressions of Maui

As you can see, Maui was absolutely gorgeous. The best thing about it - and honestly I think this is the best thing about traveling - was how surprisingly diverse the landscape was. I pictured palm trees - and yes, there were many of those - but there were parts of Maui that were completely and totally arid. There were mountain ranges shrouded in clouds and, of course, Maui is home to Haleakala, a dormant volcano that reaches 10,000 feet. The top is, we all agreed, exactly where you would choose to film a movie about a colony on Mars - red, rugged, and other-wordly.

We also loved the sunsets, which I do think were the prettiest I've EVER seen. The combination of low-lying clouds, low air pollution, and probably other scientific facts of which I'm unaware, made for breathtaking sunsets that lasted forever.

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So for us, Maui was great! At the same time, honestly - it wasn't quite our vibe. One of the biggest things we didn’t love was that many of the major attractions are on ONE heavily trafficked, narrow, loop road (called The Road to Hana) that residents of Maui - quite fairly - resent visitors clogging up day after day after day. We tend to spend a LOT of time at one spot because we like to swim, relax, explore, jump, etc; That makes a place where you have to hit everything along the same one epic road tour not a great fit for us.

We got around this a little bit, thanks to the very best tip I can give you if you’re planning a Maui family vacation - see the next section on the Shaka Tour Guide.

We ended up doing half of the Road to Hana one day - stopping at the absolutely magical Wa’ainapanapa State Park (which requires reservations in advance) for the afternoon/evening, then turning around and returning in the dark. Another day, we started early on the Reverse Road to Hana tour. The idea here was to get to the Pools of O’heo and the Pipiwai Trail before other visitors. As is always true - this incredibly trumped up site was the most touristy and by far the most disappointing stop of our trip. We bailed early and loved every second of the rest of the stops between these beginning points and the Wa’ainapanapa State Park, where we turned around the previous day. We particularly enjoyed swimming under the Wailua Falls and a leisurely time at Hamoa Beach.

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Along the way, we met a lot of West Coasters who traveled to Hawaii frequently and chatted with them about our Maui experience. After our conversations with them, we've come to a couple of conclusions:

1. If you're an East Coaster and don't have time for a long trip, hit the Caribbean first (Aruba is our favorite and we've been many places in the caribbean!!) The Caribbean has many of the same benefits of Hawaii for much, much shorter flights (and fewer time zone adjustments).
2. Of course, Hawaii is special and unique and offers many things the Caribbean doesn't, so I am SO grateful we got to go. However, if you're going to Hawaii - especially if you're an East Coaster and the trip really requires a commitment - plan a longer trip where you can visit several islands. This *had* been our original plan, but as the departure approached, things changed with kid's schedules, and our trip shortened, we just decided to stay put in one place and not lose a day to travel. I don't regret that choice for us, but from what I can gather, I suspect that Oahu and Kauai in particular would have fit our family a little better.

If you do go to Maui, I personally think the best place to stay in Maui with family is in West Maui. We found ourselves drawn to that area and returning again and again. Our first stay was right by the airport, which gave us great access to The Road to Hana and our second stay was in a beautiful AirBnB in Kihei which provided an even shorter trip to West Maui. The trip to Haleakala National Park was about 90 minutes from both locations and my personal favorite thing on the trip - more on that next.

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The Best $29 We’ve Ever Spent on Vacation

If you’re planning a family trip to Maui, the BEST tip I can give you is to buy the Shaka Tour Guide pack.

The guide runs on your GPS and works even if you lose signal out on the roads. At its core, the Shaka Guide is simply a way for you to know *exactly* when and where to stop along the road. For instance, one of my favorite stops - The Olivine Pools in West Maui - see below - were only indicated by a big boulder on the side of the opposite side of the road. You can’t see them from the street and there was no sign. But because of the tour guide, we knew ahead of time what we were looking for, exactly where to stop, and where to start hiking down the steep cliffs.

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However, the Shaka Tour is so, SO much more. The magic comes in as the guide talks before and after the stops about the legends and science surrounding geological features, as he shares the history and stories of the Hawaiian people, and as he enriches our trip with understanding about the culture, feelings, and perspectives of the residents of Maui. For the final cherry on top, the tour plays Hawaiian music before and after most snippets of information. The music is upbeat and exciting as the tour ramps up and calm and soothing later on - on the nighttime return trip from Haleakala for instance.

The app is free and each tour is $14.99 - or just $29 for ALL the guides. We used The Road to Hana, The Reverse Road to Hana, West Maui (we used this 2x since we split this over 2 days also), and Sunset and Stargazing at Haleakala. Honestly, the biggest bargain we’ve ever spent on vacation.

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The Second Best Purchase We Made

Water shoes are a must in Maui. For our family, water shoes are a must, period, for just about every trip. We've been in the freezing water of Iceland, snorkeled all around the Caribbean, and when we went to the PNW, the guiding mantra for our planning was, "The little boys have to have a spot to throw rocks into the water every day." Water makes us happy, calm, and excited all at the same time, and we tend to spend a lot of time in and around it.

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This year, I bought the best water shoes we've ever used. The soles have holes in them so that the water quickly drains out, but the soles are also thick and durable enough that I was able to hike in these shoes and still feel that my feet and ankles were relatively supported and safe. I probably wouldn't hike 12 miles in these, but they stood up just great for 4 miles or so. These shoes made me amphibious - which is really what I have to be in this family!!

I used these shoes, John and the older 3 kids used these, and we got these for Nicholas. (I've included links with pictures at the bottom of the post.)

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I didn't get a picture of the shoes, specifically, but they're the only shoes worn by my husband and kids in any of the pictures in this post - and I'm wearing them in this very slippery, bouldery waterfall area here!

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The Vacation Date

The biggest, best new thing on this vacation was that John and I went on two long, leisurely dates. Obviously, for many years, this wouldn’t have been an option for us. However, it has been an option for a few years and we’ve never considered it.

This time - I think because of Covid and all the time together? - John and I were more aware and accepting of several things.....

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Everyone has different interests on vacation
We never wanted to see everything our parents wanted to see when we were little
In a family, time apart can sometimes make for better time together
Watching a movie during the day may be the thing that feels most vacation-like for our busier kids
Our kids still had some obligations on vacation (ie. running every day for training)
Kids learn to relate to one another differently (and often better) when their parents aren’t around
When the kids were little, John and I got time together in the rental after they went to bed. Those days are long, long gone!

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So this vacation, we scheduled in one morning to go out together. We grabbed breakfast, coffee, beach chairs, and just sat in the shade and watched people surf for hours. It was delightful.

Later that afternoon, we went to Haleakala National Park and attempted several hikes to view the magnificent crater worn down by erosion in the center of this inactive volcano. Unfortunately the fog and mist were so heavy, there wasn’t much to see - until right at sunset, when we arrived at the top of the mountain and were above all the clouds. We watched the sun set right into the clouds and stayed (in the literally freezing temperatures) to watch the stars come out.

The next day, I really wanted to try again, and John did too, but the kids felt they had already seen it and wanted some downtime. Hence - our second Maui date! Honestly, it was perfect. We hiked a very quick, intense 4 miles into the mist, came out and watched the most magical sunset. The wedding photographer in me came out on the summit and I had the best time taking photos of families and couples with their phone. We held hands on the way down (well, after the scariest parts of the drive), listened to the Shaka Guide, and returned to our kids. They had played Monopoly, watched a movie, and thoroughly unwound.

Relaxed and recharged, we spent the next day together surfing and paddle boarding (or, at least, trying to) and came home early to pack and get to bed for the big return trip.

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