The romantic in me hoped that I would disembark onto the tarmac and have a beautiful floral lei being bestowed upon me in welcome. We've all seen those movies. It turns out that this classic Hawaiian greeting is now reserved only for those whose friends and loved ones pay for a lei in advance. Alas.
Even without the heady scent of plumeria around one's neck, Kahului Airport still has a tropical feel to it- Baggage Claim is roofed but otherwise essentially open to the air so passengers can catch glimpses of palm trees and lush northern slopes of the West Maui Mountains almost immediately. I grabbed my luggage and piled myself into a rental car.
As far as I can tell, travel therapists are fairly evenly divided regarding what to do on the transportation front. Some will rent a car for their entire assignment. A 3-month rental takes quite a chunk out of one's paycheck, as you can imagine, but it does keep life simple. The other option is to purchase a cheap and cheerful 'Maui Cruiser'- these tend to be older, often imperfect cars (A/C is definitely not guaranteed!) and cost in the ballpark of $1000 to $3000. Driving an old car make you much less of a target for car thieves (yes, car thieves live in paradise too), and,when you leave, you just knock a couple hundred dollars off the price and sell it on to the next person. Do a quick Craigslist search and you will find an absolute abundance of Maui Cruisers. They are super easy to come by- but you run the risk that they might break down on you, or at least cost a chunk of change to repair and leave you wishing that you'd just rented a car in the first place.
When I landed in Maui I still wasn't sure which route I wanted to take, so I booked a rental car for 5 days and decided I'd get the lay of the land before making a final decision. And housing was a higher priority anyway- I didn't actually have a place lined up to sleep that first night. I did, however, have 3 Craigslist appointments that afternoon, and I was just hoping that one of those would be 'move in ready' so I didn't have to resort to my back-up plan of a bunk bed in a beach hostel.
Option 1 was a room for rent in a lady's house, Option 2 was a cute little studio, and Option 3 was the main portion of a cottage with three separate living spaces. I had my hopes pinned on Option 3- because I also had high hopes that at least a couple of friends and family members would make good on their promise to come visit me, and I wanted to make sure I had enough space to accommodate them!
Well, the owner of Option 3 (the cottage) had already left for Michigan for the summer and her friend wasn't available to show the property that day. The owner texted, 'Door's unlocked- just go on it and check it out.' So I did. I walked in, looked around, gave her a call, and said I'd take it. Then I brought in my bags, unpacked, and went to bed because it was basically dark by the time I got there. No money actually exchanged hands for at least a week after that and there is definitely not a rental agreement in place. When I tell people here that story they say, 'Oh, that's so Hawaii.' So I guess I did get a sort of Hawaiian welcome after all!
And get this- I ended up buying a car from the travel nurse moving out of Housing Option 2, the little studio. It is a cute old 1995 Mercedes sedan. I know next to nothing about cars (sorry, Dad!) which is why I was hesitant to dive into the world of Maui Cruisers, but the guy who owns the studio is a 'car guy.' He actually owns the exact same car and helped her pick this one out. When I was debating out loud the pros and cons of renting versus buying a car he said, "I guess you have to ask yourself, 'Am I feeling lucky?'"- but he also basically said that he would help me out if anything went wrong with the car, and that is basically what convinced me to buy the car.
This is my car, The Silver Arrow.
And, as if things hadn't already worked out better than I could have hoped, check out what I saw out of my living room window (and bedroom and bathroom windows, for that matter) when I woke up the next morning.
This is my view (at sunset)!
This is my little upcountry cottage.
Not that life has been totally smooth-sailing since (by Week 3 I was convinced that I had used up ALL of my luck during Week 1), but I completely landed on my feet when I got here, and for that I am very thankful!
