A friend of mine very kindly offered me the use of his house in Maui. He didn’t have to offer it twice! Though I didn’t know it at the time, it turned out that his “house” ended up being a fairly substantial plantation with gardens, groves and beautiful grounds. The “house” had, if I recall correctly,14 guestrooms, 11 of which with attached baths.
We drove up the long, curving driveway and parked under the porte cochere where we were greeted by the property’s manager (think Higgins from the old Magnum, PI series) who gave us a tour of the house and introduced us to the cook/housekeeper. After some light refreshments, he showed us the substantial grounds via golf cart. He very emphatically told us whatever we needed just to let him know. That ended up being literally true. When Mrs. 82 joked that the only thing that was missing was a ping pong table (kind of an inside joke, referencing another vacation) one magically appeared on the lanai an hour or so later.
The food was amazing. The cook would meet with us to ask what we were in the mood for that day, typically we would just leave it to her discretion, and we were never disappointed. Mornings, she would go out into the groves and pick fresh fruit that she would cut up in a fruit salad for us. It was amazingly delicious. She would vary the location of the dinners as well sometimes in the dining room, sometimes on the veranda, sometimes in park-like gardens, always lit by hurricane lamps and tea lights, with fresh flowers on the table.
Every detail was immaculately managed. Throw even one piece of clothing in the hamper, and it was immediately washed, folded and put away for you seemingly moments later.
On top of all of that, it was in Hawaii, so definitionally it was beautiful. The house was situated on the hillside and had an infinity pool that overlooked the ocean. We almost felt guilty going out to tour beautiful Maui because the estate was just that stunning.
As the vacation ended, I joked with my wife that it was going to be hard to go back to the real world. I think that is probably our most memorable vacation, but there were others that were memorable more because of the people than the location.
