I'm going to rant about Hawaii. It has to be one of the most overrated vacation places to go. I've been to Maui, beautiful place when the weather is right. Some great snorkeling and diving and good food too. But it's expensive, there aren't any true budget accomodations. I stayed in Kahului but it was in a terrible neighborhood where the hotel clerk told me to unlock the doors of my rental car so that thieves could enter without breaking your windows.
Visited Lahaina which was indeed beautiful, but I could not help but to think: this place is SO touristy! Maui and Hawaii get so many visitors each year, I'm confident there isn't one inch of those two islands that hasn't been exploited for financial gain. Touristy isn't necessarily bad, if that's what you like. Personally, I'd rather go someplace where there's a true sense of adventure rather than taking the well beaten path (and those paths are really well beaten).
I hearken back to my trip to Cambodia which is a country very few people visit. In Siem Reap I would walk into a restaurant and they would have to turn the lights (and stoves on) and wake the waitress up to serve me. There were so few people at the Boarding Gate I had to check to make sure I had the correct flight. The customs line at Siem Reap airport was so quiet it was like a library (you could hear a pin drop).
Now Cambodia, that was a sense of adventure. I'd like to do Nepal as well some day. Referring back to my last post. I never did travel with my hairdresser and her family. She changed her flight last minute and didn't tell me until the day before. So she wound up flying into a different airport than I did. I was not pleased. I just did my trip solo, although I did call her when I was in Cambodia and said hi. She still cuts my hair, I do like her, she's a nice person, but I don't know if I'll arrange anymore trips with her again.
