friday morning, we left the beautiful arnott's lodge for the road up the coast to the north, to the waipi'o valley. we start off the day by taking highway 19 north, passing by the 4-mile scenic route at onomea where the lush foliage of the rainforest brushed against the car and where the views were absolutely amazing. we also did a quick detour to the akaka falls near honomu off of highway 220. driving past what seemed like a ghost town, we arrived at a small parking lot and did the quick 1 km walk into dense rainforest to see the [View Full Entry]

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on a bright thursday morning, we woke up at 7am to begin our long day of driving and exploring the south side of the island. we first drove northwest of hilo and visited the rainbow falls, which are literally right beside the parking lot (no hike required!) - of course, because of its proximity to the parking lot, it tends to be engulfed by gynormous tour buses filled with the type of tourists that don't want to do a lot of walking... a bit further down the road, we then visited the pe'epe'e falls and boiling pots, which are a series [View Full Entry]

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the four of us adventurers (dorinda, dave, helen and me) left maui this morning at 9am for bigger better things on the big island. arriving in hilo, helen had already reserved a car and we were quickly on our way to arnott's lodge, the hostel recommended to us, where we were fortunate enough to see our first geckos of the trip!!! after checking in to the deserted hostel, we went to the weekly farmers market to pick up some produce, including some fresh pineapple, avocados, and even the hawaiian specialty: spam sushi. that's right, i said spam sushi. now, some of [View Full Entry]

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today was an extremely long day, filled with new experiences and friends. we took the road to hana which is a coastal highway from paia to hana, on the east side of maui. our trip started early at 8:30am, as we went to the town of paia and stocked up on food and water for the day. our first stop came after a bit, at the ke-'anae peninsula where we got the opportunity to taste the world's best banana bread and look out on our destinations ahead. we then stopped at the black sand beach in the waianapanapa state park where [View Full Entry]

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let me first start by saying that i have sand everywhere and it won't go away. now, if you know me, you will know my love/hate relationship with sand... i love the beach and the ocean, but when it comes to the actual sand, i absolutely hate it. it is so persistent! and gets everywhere! and never leaves! i will probably find sand in my ass a month after i am back from my trip... but let's start from the beginning shall we? sunday morning, we all woke up a bit tired from our previous day of hiking the volcano, so [View Full Entry]

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thursday afternoon, we took an easy day on the tours and went to hang out at the beach and in pa'ia, a hippie hawaiian town. pretty easygoing day. got some good shopping done in hippie town (go figure) and even had some hawaiian shave ice for the first time. i chose coconut, mango and papaya as flavours of choice! we then got a special treat from our tour guide isaac. isaac and his wife laina are leaving for a year in australia in 2 weeks and are therefore finishing up with work and what not. yesterday was his last friday tour, [View Full Entry]

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leaving for a trip is always fun... airports are some of my favourite places and as such, i love walking through them people watching and experiencing the full extent of this part of the trip. two full hours before my flight to LA, i arrived at the vancouver airport, wide eyed and bushy tailed, ready for adventure. i successfully went through check-in, customs and security in a mere 30 minutes, and was then left in the international departures wing of the airport to gallivant... breakfast at tim horton's seemed appropriate, since i was going to be far from one for a [View Full Entry]

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plans took a turn last night, when one of my roomies (helen) came busting into the room announcing that her and a couple other friends were getting up early to go see the sunrise from the top of haleakalá, the world's largest dormant volcano. immediately, i asked if there was room for one more and she jumped out of the room to go ask. thankfully, i was rewarded for my forwardness and alarms were set for 3am for an early 3:20am departure! 3am came a little too quickly as it was well past 10:30pm when we went to bed, but the [View Full Entry]

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well hello again! it has been quite some time since the last trip and blog, but here i am again on my own. traveling. and loving it. first stop for this year? beautiful sunny, beachy hawaii. why? why not? really... it isn't culturally different, or even exotic by any stretch of the imagination. but it is the ultimate beach. turtles galore. manta rays. black sand beaches. surfing. snorkeling. i will be in heaven! of course luck would have it that this trip also commences in the beautiful and up-to-date LAX... and we all know how close i am to LAX... from [View Full Entry]

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Well, what can I say? I couldn't fight the urge to write one last entry as this beautiful trip comes to an end. Actually, I just forgot about the fact that I had to sleep deprive myself in order to sleep on my long flight back home... so right now, I'm really bored in the hostel's lobby, trying to stay awake so that tomorrow (Louise's longest day EVER), will go by smoothly... I have a 150g chocolate bar in front of me and am running on about 4 hours of sleep from the night before. So far, so good. Sunday night, [View Full Entry]

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