…last day on the beautiful Big Island, i’m a bit sad that i have to leave now because some spots with nice hikes in the Waipi’o Valley i missed, but on the other hand i have an reason to come back one day and of course maybe see the lava flowing. Sadly i had again the seat on the wrong side of the plane, so i only could spot some last views though the windows on the other side to both Mauna’s. It showed up that this seat wasn’t so bad for approaching Maui and i got some first views on the island and i spotted a lot of big Hotel Parks for all that package holiday tourists on the coast, next to next. Getting my car had an mixed feeling, because i got an upgrade to an bigger car. Bigger car? Okay, why not, but then i realised that a bigger car also means an higher gas usage and the gas price on Maui was higher then on the other islands. (compared to Europe, still cheap, about $3,80 per gallon/3.78l, 80 Euro Cent per litre). So i accepted to spent maybe 10 euros more during the stay for higher gas consumption. Sitting in the car i had recognised that i totally missed to make any plans where to stay and where to go in the last 2 days, because they where so nice and i forgot to focus me on the next short trip.
I drove to 3 Hostels and would had accepted and higher room rate for on night, but all hostel where non-vacancy. Only private rooms for more then $60 where available. Is it worth to spend that amount of money just for one night? I said no and thought already about some backup plans where to sleep the night. As i already have some experiences in traveling in USA by car and more important by an RV, i know that bigger grocery stores like Safeways and most important, Walmart, endure to stay with an RV or car for one overnight as you be nice and buy stuff in their stores and don’t be an badass on the parking lots. Okay, first night at Walmart and i started feeling more luck to got an upgrade to an economy class car instead of the real tiny ones.
Next morning i was still tired because first night in car since a long time was not as comfortable as guessed. Got my short morning wash at the restrooms, bought my breakfast and thought about what todo next. I still felt a bit sad, that even after reading LP guide, i didn’t got an vision what todo next, so drove around the island to get my missing Aloha and spirit of the island. Laundry! I need to get my first bunch of clothes washed and headed to an laundry where i stared at the machines and tried to figure out how they would work. They look so different, so less informative, so…so…what? Temperature: Hot / Warm / Cold? Yeah, thats very “accurate” if you where used to use German washing or drying machines. Program? No Programm! Weird! I challenged that first riddle and was happy about the spinning drums. What todo in the meantime?
I thought about the temperatures here on the islands and on the upcoming country and felt good to get a haircut by an hairdresser, who’s store was just few meters away. Wow, that was a good feeling, all that fall/winter hair was gone and felt more comfortable with that very short and easy to maintain hair. While waiting for my clothes i studied the Lonely Planet again and found my first stop for sight, Lahaina, an old whale town with some flair. But as walked trough i mentioned all the luxury brands shops in the second row street which canceled my feelings about a nice village again. Further down, the “old Lahaina” seemed to looked nice and like and old small grouping of traditional Hawaiian huts, but as you could imagine they where only a tourist trap for getting an dinner with an show entertainment and of course Hula-Hula dancing for lots of money. Oh man, really started to dislike Maui which was more pushed by the thought in my mind that i still have no spot for sleeping. This changed as i passed some nice state parks with beaches, palms and BBQ grills. Yeah! BRAI! BRAI, said my mind. So headed to the next store, bought beer, fish, coals and stuff and snatched me an perfect spot to watch the sunset and enjoyed my dinner. With good food and beer in my belly the world was changed and felt comfortable again so accepted to sleep in the car again, somewhere. Driving at night, i found a silent and good place for the night, a surfer spot north of Lahaina and had a pleasant second night in my car (and of course saved some money again)…(2014/12/15-16)