Just got back from Maui after spending 10 days there and I must say....it isn't all it is made out to be.
Before everyone jumps down my throat, I will say that it was insanely beautiful, with arguably the best views you can see in the United States. The beaches, specifically Makena Beach, have some of the most beautiful and violent wave crashes you will ever see. The sunsets were perfect and the weather was perfect as well. It sounds incredible, but not everything is as it seems.
One of the first things you notice when you get there are the prices. Tourism has completely killed any sense of reasonable pricing for items there and I can understand why locals hate tourism (which we will get to). Packs of chicken breast in local stores were going for $25 dollars and eggs were roughly $5-$6 dollars a carton. For only 10 days, 4 guys spent around $300 dollars on just groceries, which is a hard pill to swallow for my frugal self. Gasoline prices also jumped off the charts at typically $4 dollars a gallon no matter where you went in Maui.
Locals also do not exactly like mainland Americans. Weirdly enough it wasn't the native people of Hawaii that had a problem with us tourists, but it seemed to be the continental US white people that moved to Hawaii that had the biggest problem. We almost had an ugly road rage scene with a guy in Hana over driving too slow, even though we were going 5 mph over the speed limit. Also it was not entirely uncommon to get smoked by a stalled truck if you were walking on the sidewalk.
They also have some general hostility toward America in general. There were many upside-down flags of Hawaii, which is seen as a sign of disrespect to the flag, and signs that would clarify that Hawaiians were not Americans. It is understandable to not like the tourism industry because of how much it has changed Hawaii through industrialization and cost of living, but the passive aggressiveness was felt everywhere.
As pretty as Hawaii was, I would much rather go to smaller island countries that actually welcome visitors that want to take a part of their culture and way of life for a small amount of time. With all that said, it really was amazing to see the sights there and there were amazing people in Maui despite my critique. Though it is just not a place I loved the way I wanted to, I hope other visitors have a better experience then I ever did.