Big Island Adventure – Hawaii Travel Photo Blog #1

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste it, to experience it to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Aloha!

“You do realize your driver’s licence expires on your birthday?” says the rental car guy in the Kona airport on the Big Island of Hawaii a couple of weeks ago.

“WHAT?! No…I obviously did NOT realize my driver’s licence expires on my birthday, seeing as that’s in four days and I am renting a car for eight.”

“Not anymore you’re not,” he says. “Looks like you’re renting it for four days.”

“Give me that!” I say, reaching for my driver’s licence to double-check. Clearly, he has not read the expiry date properly.

Nope. Clearly, I hadn’t bothered to look at the expiry date recently. Okay, never.

“You can’t drive a rental vehicle without a valid driver’s licence,” he says.

“Yes,” I say, “I realize that. But I can drive it until my birthday, right?”

“Correct.”

“And how much would it be for me to drop it off on the Hilo side of the island instead of bringing it back here?”

He smiles. “Normally that might be a bit costly but I’ll see what I can do.”

A moment later, he gives me an update. “My manager says you can drop it off in Hilo for $30.”

“Done!” I say. “How do I get back to Kona at the end of my trip?”

“You fly.”

So that’s what I did. I rented the car for four days and had a delightful time exploring the stunningly beautiful big island of Hawaii in my zippy little wheels. On my birthday, I dropped the car off in Hilo and my friend, Nina, who lives there, picked me up and we spent four days exploring in her car.

Here are some snaps from the first few days:

This is me happily drinking solo & snapping sunset selfies at Don’s Mai Tai bar in Kona:

This is my new friend, Linda, who saw me taking selfies and came over to take my picture, then invited me to join her and her friends for dinner and drinks:

Seriously…can this island get anymore beautiful? Unbelievably…yes, it CAN!

All that driving & hiking & snapping of photographs made me hungry, so I stopped for a scrumptious snack at Tex Drive-In in Honoka’a:

Oddly enough, I also managed to get some work done. I finished the 47th rewrite (but who’s counting) of my Saviour play script. Then I read the 74th rewrite (just kidding…it’s only about the 43rd) of my God’s Country screenplay out loud to Nina. Very cool experience!

More pics & tales to come in next week’s WWOW.

In the meantime, if you’re planning a trip to the Big Island, I highly recommend Lonely Planet’s guidebook, “Hawai’i, the Big Island.”

Have a great week!

“Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.”

– Paul Theroux

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Big Island Adventure Hawaii Travel Blog #2

Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her weekly blog, please sign up here.