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I was reminded recently that I hadn’t posted anything on here in a while. The past few months have been BUSY. Going to catch you up on a few important adventures that have happened since I last posted in November and I wanted to start with my two trips to Hawaii, especially in light of the recent volcanic eruptions and lava flows that are disrupting the Big Island.

In December, I was able to go to Maui [again!] on a girls trip with my sister and two friends. We stayed at an Airbnb in Kihei and it was a delightful trip. I have stayed in many areas around the island but for a complete review of the best part of Maui to stay on, check out this post here. On this trip, we did some snorkeling, whale watching, drove the Road to Hana, went to a luau, and enjoyed a variety of different beaches.

A few additional recommendations. Go to Monkeypod and get the Mai Tai. YUM. I’m not normally a mai tai person. It’s a chain so it doesn’t have to just be in Maui, although there are two on the island. The Road to Hana is a do-not-miss. This is my third time driving it and I would still do it again.

After my trip in December to Maui, I posted an instagram photo and said that I wanted to go back to Hawaii. My friend Jennifer then offered up her hotel room while she would be in the Big Island for a conference a few weeks later. So I said why not?! And I went off to the Big Island for the first time. The first morning I was there, Jennifer had not yet arrived. It was this morning that the incoming missile alert went off in Hawaii. It went off on my phone like an Amber Alert or a Blizzard Warning on my phone. I sent Austin a text to tell him what had happened and that I was going to the beach. I mean, if you are going to die, might as well be at the beach right? At least those are my thoughts. About 30 minutes later it went off again to say false alarm, no ballistic missile was coming…good thing I secured a prime spot on the beach!

In all seriousness, this was quite the event for the island of Hawaii, with the news reporting later that many families sought shelter in closets, shelters, and even sewers. This gave me an opportunity to reflect, as you never know when something can change your life drastically. This certainly could have been one of those events, but fortunately it was not. A couple of my thoughts…

1. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to travel. This was my fourth time to Hawaii in 15 months and I don’t take a single trip for granted. Hawaii is my happy place, for sure. Is travel an aquired taste?
2. Say yes to unexpected opportunities and stop putting off your plans to wait for the perfect time. The last trip to the Big Island was over a long weekend. I took zero vacation days. I used miles to book the flight. I stayed with a friend. Did I want to wait until I had an available week to go? Of course. Wouldn’t it have been nice to wait until Austin could come? For sure. But I went anyway. Adventures may be best when they are shared but it’s better to have some adventures than none at all.
3. Always tell those that are special to you that you love them. You never know when the last time is that you will get to say it. It could have been this trip for me. I’m so lucky that it wasn’t but you don’t know when that time is going to be.

Here are some pictures from my two Hawaii trips.

Getting caught back up…stay tuned for more posts!

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