Maui - Day 9 - Leaving

I managed to get up after only one snooze. I am not ready for vacation to be over, but I am looking forward to being in my house, sleeping in my bed, eating regular food, seeing the dog and catching up with Becca (who was on vacation when we started our adventure). After unzipping the extender on my suitcase I can fit in most of the souvenirs.
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The lei ceremony is nice. I like the history our hostess includes and I tear up when she talks about how the 9/11 events stranded people on the island and changed tourism. One old guy next to us, who was late to the ceremony, whispers to his wife that he thought they were getting a special lei and that this is a boring, typical one. I guess I am too gullible and soft because I leave less inclined to be grumpy about the little things and add-ons which have been annoying me so far (no wi-fi in the room and Internet charges are $10/day, parking is $9/day, etc.). But I also remember the beach rental guys letting us use an umbrella and chairs late one afternoon free of charge and extending our snorkel rental from 2 to 24 hours without charging us the extra.
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We leave the hotel on time and have no problems getting to the gate. We have time for one last drink and lunch before the plane boards. Our plane is late taking off and we once again are trying to connect to the last flight of the day with a 30-minute window. We didn't do the research to know we were taking "last flights of the day" and we figured that if American Airlines would sell the flights then they were reasonable layovers. We will know better next time...not sure how today will turn out...but I am sure it will all be fine in the end (just not maybe exactly as we planned it).
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Aloha!