The Thirsty Travellers jumped at the opportunity to visit Maui recently on a bleisure trip. Hawaii was a favourite destination pre-COVID-19 and we were eager to return to some of our old haunts.

Bleisure is our new favourite holiday term – it’s when you combine business trips with leisure ones. These days it’s about much more than bringing your partner to a conference – it involves adding weekends or even weeks to work trips to take the financial sting out of visiting bucket-list locations.

Bleisure has become hugely popular during the cost-of-living crisis as people look for sneaky ways to save on travel.

In our case, we were attending a conference at the Grand Wailea on Maui’s south coast and decided to add a few days to explore the island and celebrate DD’s birthday.

We spent our first two nights at the most gorgeous spot called The Inn at Mama’s Fish House.

The Inn is attached to Mama’s Fish House, one of the top restaurants on the island. The waitlist for a table is three to six months, but if you book two nights at The Inn, you can secure a booking for one of the best tables in the house.

We stayed in a junior suite, which featured large windows facing a private courtyard. The enormous and well-appointed bathroom included an oversized shower, whirlpool bath and double vanity. We fell in love with the suite’s character and all the thoughtful amenities, including a kitchenette and beach towels, chairs and umbrellas.

Mama’s Fish House is positioned right on the beach, just past a lovely little town called Paia on the famous Road to Hana.

The Road To Hana is considered to be one of the best road trips in the United States. It’s filled with lush rainforest, dramatic and rugged ocean vistas and countless waterfalls.

After a wonderful night’s sleep at The Inn, we started our journey with coffee and a homemade quiche at Baked On Maui in Haiku.

Then we hit the road and were dazzled by the spectacular scenery.

One important tip is to make sure to book passes to enter national parks before you arrive. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the best black sand beach on the island because it required a booking 72 hours in advance.

We decided to drive past the town of Hana to see Wailua Falls, which is regarded as the most beautiful in West Maui, then we wended our way back to Hamoa Beach to have lunch at a huli huli chicken stall on a red sand beach that Gordon Ramsay visited while filming “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted” a few years ago.

As Uncle Russell served us a delicious mixed plate of Kalua pork (smoked shredded pork) and huli huli chicken (chicken marinated in a pineapple teriyaki-style sauce and grilled), he told us Gordon’s visit had put his humble business on the map.

Watch what Gordon had to say below …

Our day ended on such on a high note, with cocktails at sunset at Mama’s Fish House, followed by the most delicious seafood dinner.

Our table had a front-row view of idyllic swaying palm trees and the stunning sunset.

Mama’s has been a Maui institution since it opened in the 1970s and takes its seafood very seriously. The menu even details the names of fishermen responsible for catching each of the fish on the menu. We shared an entrée of macadamia nut crab cakes with Maui mango, followed by Mahi Mahi stuffed with crab and lobster in a macadamia crust and Grand Banks scallops with coconut and lemongrass jus.

The next morning we discovered Cafe Mambo on Baldwin Aveneu. Best coffee on the island!

All too soon it was time to head to our home for the next five nights, the Grand Wailea, which is part of the Hilton group and features 834 guest rooms, a massive pool area with waterslides, shops and a chapel that is very popular for destination weddings.

Rooms average around $AU1600 a night, with resort fees on top. Luckily for us these were covered by the corporate account.

You might remember the Grand Wailea from the Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler movie “Just Go With It”.

Our lanai had a lovely view of the beach and was the perfect spot to relax with a cocktail in hand.

Dining at the resort was quite pricey – a bowl of spaghetti bolognaise was around $AU90 before tip – so we headed further afield and had a lovely time at a few happy hours near the resort.

Humble Market Kitchin by Roy Yamaguchi and Tommy Bahamas both offered cut-price cocktails and pupus (the local word for nibbles), such as slider burgers and coconut shrimp.

After happy hour we would settled on the grass to watch the spectacular Maui sunsets, as luaus unfolded behind us at the resorts.

While the Grand Wailea was expensive, it was Disney-esque gorgeous at every turn, even the walk to the elevator from our room was stunning.

So we have very fond memories of everything there aside from the bill.

The resort was also a short walk to The Shops at Wailea, an upmarket centre featuring Banana Republic, Gucci, Johnny Was, Lily Pulitzer and many others.

Our last day in Hawaii was an absolute knockout. We booked a five-hour snorkelling tour as the grand finale of our trip.

There were lots of fancy Champagne catamaran tours available, but we went with Redline Rafting, which skips the flashy stuff to focus on the adventure.

Redline sticks to 14 passengers per trip – some boats take up to 140 people – and zips around to spots those boats are too big to visit.

We went on the five-hour Molokini & South Maui Trip. Molokini is one of only three volcanic calderas in the world, located in the ‘Alalākeiki Channel off Maui’s southwestern coast.

It was formed more than 250,00 years ago during a volcanic explosion and is home to more than 250 marine species, with incredible water clarity.

We also snorkelled at the less-visited Backwall of Molokini and another pristine coral location before heading to a spot the Captain dubbed ‘Turtle Mansion’ to swim with Hawaiian green sea turtles.

Swimming with the turtles was incredible. At one point we were floating within a metre or two of at least four of these giant, serene creatures.

‘Turtle Mansion’ is a cleaning station for the turtles and it was fascinating to watch surgeonfish swarm around cleaning their shells.

We arrived back at our hotel room with just enough time for a quick shower before checking out and heading to the airport for our flight back to Honolulu.

Our last hotel for the trip, the Best Western, was a bit of a switch from the fancy Grand Wailea, but very close to a fabulous tiki bar called La Mariana Sailing Club.

The tiki bar’s location was a little off-putting – down deserted streets in the middle of a dusty industrial area – but the venue itself was awesome. We fell in love with it and are keen to return to Honolulu just so we can visit again!

Founded in 1955 by Annette La Mariana Nahinu and her husband, it’s one of the last remaining original tiki bars in Oahu and feels like you’ve taken a step back in time to 1950’s Hawaii.

The venue is decorated with glass balls, puffer fish lights, fishing nets, huge shell-covered lamps, tiki statues and rattan chairs with koa wood tables. 

The menu prices are also like a step back in time. We tried the bar’s famous Mai Tais for $US11 and coconut shrimp for $US14, cheaper than Aussie prices! The cocktails weren’t just cheap they were strong! I’m a cocktail veteran and two almost had me almost under the table!

Fortunately it was just a quick Uber ride back to our hotel for a fitful night’s sleep before flying home.

When the Australian dollar improves we will plan another Hawaiian trip, as we had a fantastic – if expensive – getaway.