Today is our last day on Maui. Earlier in the week, we went to see if we could extend our stay in the condo until we have to leave for the airport. The checkout time is 11:00am and we wanted to extend it to 6:00pm. Normally they charge a full day rate but we were able to get it for a half day rate. This meant that we could fit in one more whale watching tour.
We tried to get on the three hour 7:15am tour with Linda and Steve but they were fully booked. So instead we booked the two hour tour at 6;50am with Ultimate Whale Watch ($47.24 USD / person including taxes and discount). We once again had Joel as our captain and Hannah as our naturalist who remembered us from our previous tours. This by far was the best tour yet that we have taken. The water was really rough but Hannah said the whales like this kind of water. We were rewarded with a few breaches and one juvenile whale who was just swimming along. If you are ever on Maui and want to do whale watching, make sure to go out with Ultimate Whale Watch.
We headed to the condo to start packing our bags. After a little while, we decided to stop packing and head over to Aloha Mixed for lunch with Ross, Susie, Linda and Steve.
After lunch, Karen and I headed over to Baby Beach so that we got at least one swim in the ocean. It was the busiest I have ever seen It. I think part of it was due to the fact that the cruise ship Star Princess was in town which meant an extra 4000 people.
We did not last too long at the beach because we forgot the umbrella so it was back to the condo to finish up packing and spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool.
We managed to give away whatever food we had left but made sure to keep enough turkey to enjoy a couple of sandwiches on the lanai for dinner.
Everyone dropped by the condo to say goodbye. Most of them are heading home on Saturday except for Linda and Steve who are leaving on Monday. We got everything loaded into the car and then we were off.
We got to the airport by 7:45pm and I dropped Karen off with the luggage while I dropped the car off. While I was waiting for the car rental tram to take me back to the airport, I noticed a WestJet employee. I asked her if she was flying me home and she said yes. We had a short conversation and by then we were back at the airport. When I got back, Karen said that both of our bags were overweight. So we did a bit of juggling and managed to get the bags down but it did mean that I became one of those people I hate who try to stuff a giant bag in the overhead bin.
We were boarding the plane, when I noticed Shelly (the flight attendant I was speaking with earlier) was welcoming us. As she did that, I handed her a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I read an article recently that says you should give the flight attendants a little something when boarding because some times good things happen. So I have been doing that on our last few flights.
We got settled in our seats when all of a sudden, Shelly comes by and says she would like to move me to a seat in the premium cabin. I said thank you but instead could she move Karen since it was her birthday and retirement. She said she wanted to move us both and she would come back once we were in the air.
About twenty minutes into the flight, Shelly comes back and moves us to 8H and 8K. All I can say is WOW. Just after we sat down, a flight attendant comes by and sets up our trays and puts down a white napkin. Then she brings us a meal with actual silverware and glassware, not those plastic cups like you get in economy. We could not believe our luck.
After the meal, we reclined our seats which had leg rests I might add and got cozy with a nice blanket and premium headphones. That was the best sleep I have ever had on a plane. We missed breakfast but that’s ok.
We arrived in Calgary at around 6:45am and we had almost two hours to go through customs and get to our next gate. Customs was really quick especially with using our NEXUS cards. I was expecting a horrendous experience like we had in Vancouver last time but it wasn’t. The Calgary airport has the YYC Link passenger shuttle which is an electric vehicle that takes you between the different concourses. We took it because it was either a twelve minute walk or a five minute ride and I decided on the ride because of that giant carryon I had.
We grabbed some food from Tim Hortons before boarding our last flight which left 9:30am local time. We were back in economy and that was fine. It seems to me that there is more room on WestJet than there is on Air Canada.
We landed in Toronto around 3:45pm and I went and grabbed an Uber to Ross and Susie’s house while Karen waited for the bags. I went back to the airport and picked up Karen and we headed home. It was exactly three hours from the time we landed to the time we got home. We arrived to lots of barking and wagging tails.
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