Hawaii Five-4
“When gratitude becomes your default setting, life changes.”
– Nancy Leigh Demoss
Aloha!
I hope things are going well with you!!
As the world opens up and travel becomes possible again, I dare say I am more grateful than ever to be able to travel. Click To TweetHowever, after spending a significant portion of the past two years learning about (and writing about) the climate crisis, I am more cognizant than ever that every trip I take releases more carbon into our already dangerously overloaded atmosphere.
Putting that fact aside a moment, I must say I had a wonderful trip! I went on my own and did spend a good chunk of my days working…but I never really felt alone because I kept meeting great people!
I spent a fun few days in Waikiki and stayed at the funky retro White Sands Hotel…loved it!
I got chatting with a gal, Michele, at the pool (in the above photo, she is sitting on the other side of the pool, working on her laptop). When our work was done was done for the day, we would head off into hustle & bustle of busy Waikiki and get into all sorts of shenanigans!
“You never really travel alone. The world is full of friends waiting to get to know you.”
– Anon
After Oahu, I headed to The Big Island (Hilo) and spent four days with my dear friends, Nina & Westerly. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may recall Nina is the granddaughter of Nell Shipman, a silent screen star I have been writing a screenplay about (as part of the “God’s Country” project). We had a ball!
After Hilo, I headed to Kauai…which has been on my bucket list for ages. Kauai is BEYOND beautiful! I went on a catamaran trip along the absolutely stunning Na Pali Coast, then hiked part of the Kalalau Trail with a guide, Tom…we had a blast!
If you would like to see more photos from my trip (warning: they are VERY beautiful & may inspire you to go!), I whipped up a short (2 min) video.
Here is the link to view the video. Enjoy!
If you go to Kauai…
If you are planning a visit to Kauai and would like to do some hiking with a guide (a very good idea!), this is the fantastic company I went with: Hike Kauai With Me.
Tom also has his own awesome hiking & adventure guide company: Hike Kaui.
To see the stunning Na Pali Coast by boat (do it!!), I went with Na Pali Catamaran and they were fantastic!
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”
– John Muir
Related blogs by Maryanne
Big Island Adventure – Hawaii Travel Photo Blog #1
Big Island Adventure – Travel Photo Blog #2
How about you? I would love to hear about a memorable trip you took...solo or with peeps! Click To Tweet
Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts and blogs. She is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and a Director with the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive Maryanne’s blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here.
6 thoughts on “Hawaii Five-4”
Love it Pope! Kauai is incredible, isn’t it? Your post is making me want to go back stat!
I stayed at the White Sands years ago through a timeshare exchange. I think it was a Travelodge at the time. Yes, it is a good find and glad you enjoyed it. You are right, Kaui is beautiful. What can beat Princeville.
Hi Jennifer! Oh, very interesting that you stayed at the White Sands years ago. I really enjoyed it! I much prefer a smaller hotel versus a huge highrise. And I am SO glad you visited Kauai. I just couldn’t get over how incredibly GREEN it was 🙂
Take care & I hope all is well with you!
MA
Let’s go, Park!!! I can just see us roaring around that island. Avis gave me cherry red Dodge Charger as my rental car. You could hear me coming a mile away. It was hilarious – but an awful lot of fun to drive up to Waimea Canyon 🙂
Hope you are well!! Big hugs,
Pope
Hi Maryanne. What a wonderful blog, and you’re absolutely right..watching your video has made me want to go..like, right now!! 🙂
Right on! You will absolutely love it when you DO go! I can just see you hiking to your heart’s content on Kauai 🙂
Mahalo!
MA