Recently, like any patriotic Canadian, after four months of snow and bitterly cold temperatures, I fled to Maui! Having just returned, I thought I would share with you my thoughts on travel should you be planning a holiday trip as well.
Firstly, applause for Air Canada. As many know, I have long criticized ‘Air Chaos’ for its many shortcomings, however, their new motto of “two out of three ain’t bad” proved true, as I managed to get onto one of the two good flights. The plane didn’t run out of fuel, the pilots didn’t get lost and there was a good supply of pretzels on board.
Arriving in Maui, the first job was to pick up a rental car. Now, a word of caution: check out the insurance coverage you have for rental vehicles before you arrive. Many policies and credit cards automatically provide coverage, but find out for sure. Otherwise, you’re probably forced to pay for the insurance offered by the rental car company, the cost of which after three weeks is greater than the national debt of Peru.
Two facts quickly became apparent in Maui. First, tourism in Hawaii is down — significantly — and the newspapers are predicting a greater slowdown yet to come. The second fact resulted from me watching young couples travelling with young families. Based on the amount of stuff these couples were carrying, I have to assume they’ve enrolled themselves in some kind of Sherpa training boot camp. I haven’t seen so much equipment and supplies since D-Day.
While we were in Maui, the earthquake and tsunami occurred in Japan, and Hawaii also experienced a tsunami about seven hours later. By the time the wave hit Maui, it had dropped to about four to six feet in height, and while there was some damage done to the island, it was nothing compared to what has happened in Japan. It was fascinating to watch what people did when the sirens signalled a tsunami evacuation. About half the people headed over to the Shops at Wailea, an expensive shopping mecca that’s only a few feet above sea level. Since this location provided absolutely no protection from the tsunami, I assume everyone decided that if their time was up, they wanted to go out surrounded by Gucci and Louis Vuitton. The other half got in their cars and drove to the summit of Maui’s highest mountain: Haleakala. The summit of Haleakala is 10,001 ft. above sea level, so from this location, they were about 9,997 ft. above the tsunami. I guess they just wanted to be prepared!
Of course, no trip to the U.S. is complete without the usual round of goofy questions and weird observations offered by our American cousins when it comes to the subject of Canada. I have long given up saying I’m from St. Albert, or even Alberta, as such statements get met with blank stares. Even “I’m from Canada” often doesn’t produce a higher degree of awareness. At one time, I used to say I live “north of Montana,” but had to abandon this as well when I realized most Americans have no idea where Montana is, or that it is one of their 50 states. One middle-aged woman from Michigan, when told we were from Canada, said she had just heard “Canada has found oil in its mud.” I have to assume this has something to do with our oilsands, but with Americans, you just never know for sure.
Brian McLeod avoided swimming in the ocean after some fool yelled out, “Ahab was right — he’s as white as can be!”
