What to do when you are on Kauai?

Nothing much. Just relax.

What do tourists do on the island? They roam around at stores, beaches, coastline, eateries and sites. The more industrious ones might go for a boat ride, hikes, and camping trips, take Yoga lessons, or even get certified scuba. 

If you try to be smart and productive, like looking for certain trekking pole replacement tips, you might drive around the island from the south to the east, walked up and down, in and around the Marriott to the back of the famous Duke’s restaurant and find this small outdoor store called Da Life, but came out empty handed. You might take the suggestion to look in ACE Hardware then Target and Walmart, and you would wait for 10 minutes to show the store clerks the items on your phone from their online store, and the nice clerks probably wish you would to go away, because: “we don’t ship to the store, but we can ship it to your home.” 

Eventually, you would accept that you wouldn’t find the item on the island, and just give up trying.

Still en-route Maui, note to self #2

 I like wearing this floppy straw hat on the flight. It doesn’t give me a headache, which most hats do; it gives me some illusion of psychological safety from the air that we share on the flight; and it also gives me a sense of privacy especially combined with mask. I feel … low profile, invisible. 

Awake from a good nap

Ying: I wonder why this flight is so light. 

Jack: Maybe because it’s Tuesday.

Ying: Oh, it’s Tuesday today? I thought it was Saturday.

Both laugh.

Flying to Maui, final destination - Lihue, Kauai

4/26 is a date that I have mentioned a lot recently: I’m going on a vacation starting 4/26, so if you need anything from me, please let me know now. Otherwise, I’ll see you on 5/9.

Indeed, a ten-day vacation is an over-indulgence. A ten-day vacation to Kauai is ___, I’ll fill that in on my flight back.  I’m already missing the dogs; worrying about the slow drip of the shower, the two pieces of pastries I inadventantly left on the kitchen counter, and other stuff around the house that one worries about. 

This is the time I will start to unwind and unwind I shall.

Packing - the never-ending room for improvement

This morning, I took a whole bunch of things out of my ocean-patterned North Face luggage bag. When I pack for Hawaii, I tend to overpacked particularly with clothing that I would not wear on the trip.

When my friend Grace came from China to meet us in Kauai a few years ago, I was super impressed that both she and her husband, Alex, only packed a small suitcase each for an international trip. 

“I can do laundry at your place, right?” She checked in one of our many communications. 

That’s when I realized I need to rethink and improve my packing. So this morning, I took a few T-shirts, pants, an orange light cardigan (which I don’t think I’ll wear because of the color), a long dress, and a few accessories out of the suitcase. Alas, I still have three T-shirts and three dresses, and three pairs of shoes, so I’ll be all right. Jack promptly put three … no, four … of his Hawaiian shirts and some gadgets in my suitcase, so I am a contributor. From my backpack, I also pulled out three books, but then put one back, which significantly helped to lessen the load. 

At the scale at the Hawaiian Airlines ticketing counter, my big suitcase weighted 43 lbs, whew, we passed. 

Note to self: I can bring 7 lbs of souvenirs on the flight back. Good deal!

Oh my hair

This Christmas, we went to spend time with Jack's family in Denver, Colorado. The high altitude didn't agree with me. It was challenging for me skin, digestive system and cardiovascular system, not to mention it was real winter cold! But I enjoyed having so many days of doing nothing, and just hanging out with family.