Our last day on tour featured another day of Hawaiian sunshine, blue skies and beautiful scenery. After a day at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel it was time to check out and head for the airport at Kahului, Maui for our return flight to Vancouver and Toronto.
Our flights were on time and smooth sailing. Vancouver offered us our first look at passing through Canada Customs electronically and we were back on our final flight to Toronto. When we arrived in Toronto we said our goodbyes to George and Gloria Rowe, Janine Broughton and Dave and Linda Wells. It was then time to board our Coach Canada charter with Todd Steele at the wheel to take us home to eastern Ontario. It was a rude awakening at Toronto with the temperature at 35 instead of the 75 we have become accustomed to. Stop by stop our folks disembarked from the coach with hugs and goodbyes all around. Finally, Doug and Jeannie were on the final leg to Brighton and our "Tour to Paradise" has come to a close.
We all have wonderful memories of the Hawaiian Islands! In all, we visited four islands (Oahu, Hawaii, Kauai and of course Maui), enjoyed some great food, tried some new experiences and made some new friends! It's great to be able to visit different destinations around the world but it's especially nice to know that we always get to return home to the greatest country in the world - our true north strong and free! We live in one of the safest places in the world and although we have to endure winters of snow, ice and cold winds, we have to realize how blessed we are. This was never more evident than the first morning we awoke at home only to hear of the disaster in Japan and the ensuing tsumami headed for the islands we just returned from.
A quick call to our friends at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel and we learned that everyone was safe and no damage was done in Maui.
We're looking forward to our 2012 tour already!! So one last sign off!!
Alooooohaaaa!!
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