2018-1-25  SEA - OGG and on to Kahana Villa Resort:

Day 2 of travel to get to Maui!  This one started a little earlier.  But we did get an extra 2 hours rest flying from ATL - SEA yesterday.  Didn't help that the Best Western didn't have the most comfortable bed, though--- or that the heater/ac unit was so loud we had to shut it off.  And it was by the airport so there were planes flying in all night.  But it was free, thanks to Alaska Airlines! 

 I will say the food in their little cafe was really quite good!  We used a voucher from the airlines for our dinner there last night and got a complimentary breakfast buffet this morning. 

We woke up early---6 Seattle time, 9 Atlanta time, and headed over to breakfast--- oatmeal and western scrambled eggs for me.  No complaints there.

 Our flight wasn't until 10:20, but we figured we might as well wait at the airport as to wait at the hotel, so jumped on the free shuttle at 7:15 and were on our way.  Had a bit of trouble checking our bags---the machine decided to run out of paper on us.  But they corrected it and even gave us another free checked bag (we got 1 @ for being an Alaska Airlines credit card holder) 
The flight was on time.  Didn't get any pictures of take off---Seattle was having it's typical winter rains---plus I was stuck in a middle seat. We weren't lucky enough to have a row to ourselves this time.  No elite row, either.  No complimentary beer.  Oh well, back to the back of the plane where we belong.  We did have a free lunch, though.  We used the other $24 voucher from Alaska Airlines for 2 sandwiches and a bag of chips to take on the flight with us.  Too bad my roast beef sandwich was not edible!
We did see some ocean about half way into the flight. 

 We made pretty good time.  Got here in about 5 1/2 hours.  Love the views of the South and West side on Maui as we crossed the island---made Ken switch places with me for landing.    Here's Kihei.

 More of Kihei

 the island near Molokini.

 The West side

 almost back to OGG.

 We're finally here!!!!!

Next I was off to the Budget Car rental place to pick up our car while Ken waited for the luggage.  There was only 1 other person ahead of me in the Fastbreak line.  Glad I wasn't in the other line!  Although it still didn't go as smoothly as it usually does for us.  She tried to give me an upgrade to a  Expedition instead of an Explorer.  I refused it.  Parking spots here are small enough for an Explorer, didn't want to try parking an Expedition! (I booked the Explorer because it was the cheapest vehicle I was able to get in the 10 months I watched the rental prices.)  She said our car wasn't available for at least 30 minutes.  I offered to take a Premium or Luxury car, so she disappeared for a little while and came back with papers for a Nissan Pathfinder.  Pretty nice vehicle and equivalent to the Explorer..  Soon I was on my way to pick up Ken.  And away we went.
 I was surprised to see this field of sunflowers on our way to the West side. Never seen any on Maui before.  Have seen them on Kauai.`

 I think I'll be back here to get some more pictures later.

 Aloha !!!

 This is the first time we've stayed on the West side.  May be the last time if traffic is always like this.  Felt like I was back in Atlanta, but with a LOT less cars and much prettier scenery---ok, so it's nothing like Atlanta!    Probably didn't help that it was about 4:30 when we were heading this way.

 Some of the pretty scenery

 love the mountain views along the way---as well as the glimpses of the ocean.

 Even got a welcoming rainbow.  Kind of hard to see here.

The Kahana Villa office was closed when we got there, but there was a phone to call their sister resort.  They gave me the code to their lock box and our key was there---along with other late arrivals' keys.  Not surprisingly we ended up in the farthest building from the beach and no ocean view.  I'm use to that when we're on an RCI exchange.  I would hope the better units go to owners, but I always request an ocean view anyway.  Sometimes I even get it!  We got this exchange with last year's extra Wyndham points that were put into RCI.
We use to travel with carry on luggage only---even with our snorkel gear in it.  Think we may have over packed this year---thanks to the free checked luggage!!  But we did pack extra snorkel gear this time for guests who are joining us for a week later on.  And we're here for 4 weeks!

Inside the Kahana Villa 2 bedroom unit.  It was pretty nice! 

 very roomy

 would have been nice to have a bathroom downstairs, though.  The 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms were upstairs.    There is an AC unit, but only downstairs.  The upstairs was rather warm.  Will have to remember to ask for  an oscillating fan when we go to officially check in tomorrow.

 Bathrooms were really nice.

 They even have a linen closet with extra supplies.

 the master bedroom---open to the downstairs.    The bed is comfortable.  Hopefully we'll be able to sleep. 

 nice master bath

 living room from stairs

I happened to glance outside and noticed this spectacular sunset going on.  Wasn't expecting that with all the clouds while we were driving over.  So I shot a few pictures from our lanai.

 Hope all our sunsets are this nice!

By now we were starving.  Headed up to the Beach Bums Bar and Grill in Kahana.  Service and food was great.  A bit spendy, but we're in Hawaii.  It was prime rib special night.  So that's what I had.  Ken had the combo meal.  We both had leftovers.

 Then we were off to Times for a few breakfast groceries before heading back to the condo to unpack and call it a day.