A Hawaiian Sojourn

Author: Dara Alvarado

As we are getting into warmer weather here in Kansas City, and, finding myself hard at work inside, it’s hard not to reminisce about my time in Hawaii last October. I was lucky enough to visit Maui in October. My husband and I went for about a week.

It was our first time traveling to Hawaii and we had a connecting flight through LAX. We went through security, got to our gate, checked our tickets (awesome, a two-hour flight), engaged in some people-watching, and had some snacks while waiting for the plane. Fast forward—we are onboard and flying. One hour passes. Two hours pass. At three hours, I begin to wonder. I turn to my husband and ask, “Why are we still in the air?!” Yes, you’re right—the flight was actually six hours instead of two. We did indeed land in Hawaii two hours after our departure from Los Angles, but we forgot about the time difference.

We were exhausted from our supposed two-hour flight, but seeing this scenery definitely made the six-hour plane ride worth it. We drove to our first stop where we had an Airbnb for a few days. We stayed on the north side of the island – more remote and more scenic than the west side. Below is the view from our window.

While there, we did the Road to Hana trip, hiked many mountains, snorkeled, and even took some surfing lessons. The Road to Hana trip was interesting and an excellent test of my husband’s driving skills. We crossed many one-lane bridges and had to squeeze through with other cars coming the opposite way, but the natural waterfalls we encountered made it worth the effort.

    

As for our surfing lessons, I can definitely say I was not physically prepared for what surfing takes, but I can now cross that off my bucket list, and anyway I have a cool picture to show for it. Thankfully, the photographer was experienced and quick because the photo captures the 0.5 seconds I was actually able to get up on the board before falling.

We ended our trip by taking a dinner sunset cruise. A cool fact was that it was an all-women crew, and all these wonderful women were scientists by day! A great example of the entrepreneurial spirit at work: they say a niche, and they put together a business to fill it. How cool is that?