Experiencing & Going & Sharing admin | 02 Nov 2009
Dreaming of Hawaii
Today I am dreaming of Hawaii. Actually, I have been dreaming of Hawaii for the past few weeks. I lived in Hawaii when I was very little and some of my earliest memories include taking my shoes off before I walked into the school building, playing outside all the time, and being able to speak some very limited Hawaiian. We moved back to the mainland when I was just a little girl, but returned when I was in 8th grade for a brief visit where I remember beautiful hula dancers, being scared of the fish in Haunama Bay, and eating pineapple until I thought that I was going to be sick. My husband, on the other hand, has never been.
We decided a few weeks ago that for our ten year anniversary (which we celebrate in July 2010) we are going to leave the kids with the grandparents and head to Hawaii for a glorious 7-10 (hopefully 10!) day vacation at the end of October. We have the accomodations booked through a family timeshare and the grandparents have said yes to watching the kids and will be able to give a definitive yes at the end of December when they hear whether they have the week off of work. Anytime my husband or I get stressed out, the other one does a little hula dance behind everyone’s back to remind each of us that our trip may be a year away, but it is just around the corner!
We are nervous about leaving the children, but we are ready to take this first vacation on our own. Our children are 3 and 5 and we have never been away from them for more than 2 nights. We have always been less than half a day’s drive away from them. We are nervous about leaving the kids behind, be we are ready to embark on this first vacation on our own. As we start to prepare for the trip next year, I will post about what we are doing and what we have learned about leaving the children behind on a vacation. I am a firm believer that these vacations are just as important for the family’s well-being as the vacations where you take everyone. Hopefully when I am sitting on a beach like this, I won’t feel so guilty!
We have already invested in several books and I have been perusing the blog universe for articles by my fellow travelers. If you have any to share, please leave a comment in this post. Here are some of the articles that are getting my travel feet itching to hop on the place to Oahu:
I have been addicted to Peter Carey’s site, The Carey Adventures, the past two weeks because he is in Hawaii and blogging about the whole trip. The photographs are amazing and our favorite article is about surf school My husband is definitely excited about surf school.
Pam, at the Nerd’s Eye View, is also in Hawaii right now. She wrote a great article about her experience at Hanauma Bay, something that both my husband and I want to do despite its touristy nature. *Updated* Thanks to Pam’s comment below, I am thrilled to find out that Hanauma Bay isn’t going to be just a tourist trap! We are so excited to go! Thanks for the info Pam!
Lorraine, at Keeps Me Smiling, had a great time with her family at the North Shore. Unlike her though, we should be there when the surf is up and the surf contest are starting up.
Carolina, at Kids Go West, writes about the tasty dole whip and touring the Dole Plantation.
Beth at Wanderlust and Lipstick wrote about the show Lost being filmed in Oahu. Oahu is where we are going and I must admit that I have a love/hate relationship with the show Lost! She has some beautiful pictures of the island as well.
Over at Wandering Off, Sarah shares the fact that they traveled in October and loved it. I am thrilled to read this because I have heard some mixed reactions about traveling in October, which is when we will be headed there. Take a look at her pictures at Banyan Tree Park.
I am not the only one dreaming today. Stop by Mara’s site, Mother of All Trips, to see what everyone else is dreaming about today!
Both photos courtesy of www.cepolina.com.
on 02 Nov 2009 at 12:45 pm 1.pam said …
Hiya, and thanks for the link love. Just a note — Hanauma Bay is a big tourist draw because, well, it’s lovely, but I don’t know that I’d call it “touristy.” The beach was full of local people, not just pink skinned visitors like me. And there’s no faux Hawaii vibe, it’s a public marine reserve, there’s no food for sale on the beach, no piped in sound track… you should totally go! It’s wonderful.
on 02 Nov 2009 at 1:27 pm 2.admin said …
Pam-Thanks so much for the comment. I am thrilled to find out that it won’t be as touristy as I envisioned it. I can’t wait to take my husband because he hasn’t seen anything like it before (unless you count the swimming with the stingray adventure in the Bahamas which probably doesn’t come close to it because it was definitely touristy!).
on 02 Nov 2009 at 1:56 pm 3.Sarah V. said …
Thanks so much for mentioning me. You’ll have a wonderful time in Hawaii! And don’t worry about the kids…they’ll have plenty of fun with their grandparents, I’m sure. Whenever we go somewhere without our daughter, I think we miss her more than she misses us!
on 02 Nov 2009 at 5:59 pm 4.Carolina said …
You don’t have to twist my arm too much to dream about Hawaii. Keep on dreaming and planning.
on 02 Nov 2009 at 7:29 pm 5.Mara said …
Both of my kids really want to go to Hawaii – so I don’t think I’ll be taking a romantic vacation when I finally get around to going there! In fact, just last night at the dinner table my youngest announced his desire to go there and see all of the sea animals. Makes me wish we lived a wee bit closer – it feels so far from the East Coast.
Kudos to you and your husband for taking the trip. On our first (and so far only) extended trip away from the kids they were the same age yours will be. We went to Ireland for ten days and it was really great. And you’re right – it’s really not that far off!
on 02 Nov 2009 at 10:52 pm 6.Lorraine said …
OK, hold on here. I recall you mentioning Hawaii, but I don’t recall the ’sans kids’ part. You know that all of the family-travel bloggers will be watching you, in ENVY! I at least expect some sunset photographs with glasses clinking!
on 03 Nov 2009 at 8:49 am 7.Amy @ The Q Family said …
Kudo to you and I’m excited for you. I have been dreaming of Hawaii for a really really long time. I love that you also round up great posts from great bloggers so we can check them out as well. Thanks, Jen!
on 08 Nov 2009 at 12:30 pm 8.Cody Mijangos said …
I just booked a trip to Hawaii!!! If you are planning a trip make sure you use http://www.1000travelsites.com to find the best prices for flights and hotels. They search pretty much every travel provider on the web in a matter of seconds! Then they list the prices from all of the travel providers on one page so you definitely get the lowest price every time. I’ve tried other sites like this before, but this one aways has the most listings and the best prices. It’s like the google of travel searches.
on 16 Nov 2009 at 10:43 am 9.Sharlene said …
We did our first Hawaii trip without the kids this August and it was a ton of fun. I plan on posting about the different things we did soon. I am so behind. Anyhow- I am not going to lie. I missed the kids terribly. We ended up chatting with them on the webcam almost every day and it really helped.