We’ve been back in Canada for almost three weeks now. The clean, fresh air and drinkable tap water are wonderful. Our diet has returned to a higher concentration of healthy foods and a lower level of carbs. We found it interesting that many of the vegetarian cultures do not eat a lot of vegetables. Lentils and flour make up most of the diet. Veggies, when you could find them, were often of dubious quality or highly inflated, at least for tourists. 

The weather in Victoria, despite being cooler, has been enjoyable. There’s only been one ‘wash-out’ day with heavy rain and wind. Even on that day we managed to get a walk in when the rain took a brief break. We have not, however, gone for walks in flip flops and shorts. BC has warmer weather than the rest of Canada, but it’s not that warm (yet).

When we planned our six-month trip, it was overwhelming. We’d never done anything like this before. Add to this, retirements, change of part time jobs and moving cities. It was a blur and while we had planned everything up to our arrival in Mauritius, nothing was really planned after that. Our original thought was to visit sites during the day and then in the evening, plan the next day/phase/leg. After all, when we were working, we would work during the day and plan activities at night. Sounds pretty simple.

Planning is the key to a successful trip

Not so fast. As we travelled and moved towards new places, we were either too tired at the end of the day to plan, or we wanted to be out exploring. Living in and for the moment was our goal. Planning two months down the road was not going to be as “fun”. For the most part, we just followed our plan until Mauritius. When we arrived in Mauritius towards the end of January, we started looking for things to do and places to stay in February and March.

Planning a list of things to do can be time consuming. We did not stay anywhere longer than a week and during that week we wanted to see and do everything. Our goal was always to create ideas that would allow us to see and try new things. Each country and city we visited were unique. There were always ‘must-see’ things and after that we were left with ‘what now’? 

Our last few stops were done at a much slower pace than the first stops. The original planning, done in Canada, held such anticipation. It was fun to plan and think of all the things we would be seeing and doing. The new foods we would be trying out as well as the things we would be learning. 

Heading to Hawaii

The anticipation of a trip, much like Christmas, is often as rewarding as the event itself. Ten days ago we moved back into anticipation mode. We found a re-positioning cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver at the end of April and it seemed too good to pass up. The ship will spend six days touring around the Hawaiian Islands and then make a five-day open ocean transit to Vancouver. It involves only one airfare and that is a one-way ticket from Vancouver to Honolulu. We’ll have a short hotel stay in Honolulu and then on to the cruise ship. 

We’re excited about this cruise and have been reviewing some cruise forums. We’ve now planned to hike up Diamond Head at sunrise. We won’t get to see the sunrise; the park opens at 06:00 and sunrise is 06:03 on the day we’ll be there. Despite having hiked in Nepal, we can’t cover the distance from the gate to the top in three minutes. I’m good, but I’m not as good as I was. Even so, we’ll go early to beat the crowds and heat. This is a popular outing and we’ve made reservations to ensure we can get in. Our entrance time is between 07:00 and 08:00. We’ve met up on-line with other cruisers and they will be joining us. 

Planning for Hilo and Kona

We’re now looking at things to do in Hilo and Kona. We’ve been to both places a few times before, so finding something new is a challenge. Renting a car and visiting beaches where the dolphins will likely be our default. Just walking around the warm Hawaiian air and sunshine is also a good bet. The cruise was supposed to stop in Maui, however due to the fires last year, they are not ready to host cruise ships. We’ll spend extra time in Hilo and Kona – definitely a first world problem. 

Thanks for reading.

If you have any suggestions of things you’ve done in either Kona or Hilo, let us know.

Cam and Meg