Random Thoughts on Maui

Before I leave Maui, I think I like to get down some random thoughts on life here on Maui.

  • I paid $4.00 a gallon for gas this week. The very windy Hana coast road I wrote about earlier had only one gas station that I could find. It charged $4 per gallon. The price around the rest of Maui seems to be around $3.40 per gallon. On the Big Island I saw prices from $3.02 to $3.20.
  • In Minnesota, I could go to the Dairy Queen in the mall near my house and get a medium chocolate dipped cone for exactly $2.00 with tax. Here, the exact same thing was $3.33….and they didn’t make it as big.
  • There are lots of characters here. I get the impression lots of people just show up in Maui and never leave. Even in the hostel I’m staying at, there are several people who recently showed up and are looking for jobs. One night while watching TV, a guy just sort of showed up who played a wooden flute and did an impromptu concert in the living room. He had copies of his CD he was trying to sell. The Big Island was mostly native Hawaiians. Here its mostly mainland transplants.
  • Hawaii is organized a bit differently than most states. The county seems to do more of the functions you’d find in a city in most states. The island of Maui has its own police force. The differences between cities seems minor. The school system is run by the state, and its the only state run school system in the country.
  • Due to logistics, I’m going to skip Molokai and go directly to Honolulu. This will give me an extra day or two to get things in order for leaving the country.
  • It’s easy to see why people just stay here. I”m tempted to just stay a few more days rather than move on to Oahu. I’m not sure if that’s a function of the island or just a lack of desire to pack and move again.
  • I may have to stay in Honolulu a bit longer than I had hoped also, just to get a much cheaper ticket to Tahiti. The only day Hawaiian Airlines flies to Tahiti is Saturday. If I don’t go on Saturday, the ticket price is anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 more…..that’s bullshit and I’ll just stay a few more days in a hostel to save the money