day 1: travels.

yesterday can be summed up by two words: airplane and hunger.

upon arriving to the airport, i had a (disgustingly filling) chicken strip combo from a&w. this nourishment (or lackthereof) was going to last me the entire night. my family and i waited for an hour at hour gate, before boarding and taking off to the Hawaiian island of Maui. the flight was alright: westjet has leather seats, and a decent amount of leg room, so i couldn't complain. i drew pictures, listened to a lot of music and read a good chunk of Velvet Elvis (Rob Bell) and jPod (Douglas Coupland). both very different, yet both very good.

we arrived in the humid Maui airport at about 12:30 BC time, and the first thing we got to experience was an airport that was devoid of any windows. as the rest of my family took advantage of the restrooms, i quietly leaned against a rail, and took in the warm, ocean air. the first thing you notice when you take in a breath is the sweet smell in the air. after getting our rental car, enduring a quick downpour (Hawaii is very indecisive about its weather) we were off to our resort.

arriving at the room was a little disheartening: all of the patio furniture was inside our room, and it was quite a mess. we weren't sure whether they thought we weren't going to arrive that night, or what, but it was strange coming into a room where we definitely didn't feel welcomed. as well, there were only two beds in the room, which forced my older brother and i to fight over the ownership of the extra bed. i gave in, took the floor and slept alright through the night.

today has been beautiful. our resort is about a thirty second walk from the ocean, and it's very warm and humid here. it's also quite windy, but the breeze is nice and cool, so the warm air isn't too much to handle. the family took in some ethnic breakfast (denny's...we're in america!) and off to a traditional Hawaiian marketplace (which features an old navy, borders book store AND hawaiian superstore, which features more alcohol than i could ever dream of). so right now i'm in our van, stealing an internet signal off of the Office Max (suckers), with the windows down, enjoying the view from the parking lot (which really is quite amazing). i'll post some pictures whenever i can, but here's a quick description of the landscape: the ocean water is a beautiful blue, darker then you would think. there are very large, high mountains that erupt from out of the water, and because they haven't been taken over by land developments, they are all still full of trees. because of the indeciseive weather, it changes from overcast to clear blue sky from minute to minute. there are palm trees EVERYWHERE, and the sand on the beach by our resort is almost white.

i'll send you some more updates as they happen.
mahalo, and goodnight from paradise.

Jamison.