When making plans, think big. When making progress, think small (James Clear)

Day 10 in Hawai’i and yes, not everything always works out the way you imagined it. Of course I thought it would be a little different, but that's just how it is. This stupid air conditioning cold from the trip here has got us more firmly in its grip than expected. We are literally hanging out in our vacation apartment most of the time - which doesn't mean that it's bad, because right on the water, in the middle of this wonderful lush and rich nature that I love so much (including mosquitoes, which I don't love, of course), there are much worse places to hang out when you're sick. 😉

The weather has been pretty mixed in this corner of the island over the last few days. Lots of clouds, the occasional rain, not much sun. But today the weather is living up to the reputation of the Hawaiian Islands, and that makes hanging out a little harder. Today it's up to my honey to hang out a little more than I do. The last few days it's been the other way around. After a short afternoon nap, we took a short sunbath, because the sun is only bearable for us “pale faces” (or Haole, as we call strangers here) with tons of sunscreen or a stopwatch in hand, and we just enjoyed our afternoon coffee with coconut cookies. And while I write my blog, a Hawaiian music station is playing in the background. Actually quite cozy, isn't it? 😊

I know I promised to write more soon, but believe me, I absolutely didn't feel like it. Since we didn't do much, there isn't much to report yet. Well, there is a little.

At the weekend we were at the Nuʻuanu Pali Lookout in the morning, one of the very well-known lookout points. The view is really magnificent when the weather is clear and I hope you can see it from my photos and videos. Up there (at about 360 meters above sea level) there is a pretty strong wind and even if you are quite far from the coast, your glasses get wet with salt very quickly. Really impressive. Nuʻuanu Pali is a section of the Windward (eastern side of the island; means "facing the wind") cliff of the Koʻolau Mountains at the end of the Nuʻuanu Valley on the island of Oʻahu. From here you have a fantastic panoramic view of the coast. There is also a Pali Highway, which is said to have a certain myth attached to it.

Stories vary, but the classic legend states that when someone was transporting pork of any kind by car (or whatever vehicle!) along the old Pali Road (not the modern Pali Highway), the vehicle would stop at a certain point along the way and not move forward until the pork was removed from the vehicle.

Well, I like stories like that. Do you?

The island has a lot to offer in this regard. 🥰

On Monday it was so cloudy here that we quickly got in the car and checked whether the west side of the island also had this “bad” weather. Of course it wasn’t and I would have been surprised. The west side of the island is also known as the Leeward Coast and is therefore the counterpart to the east side, the Windward Coast. There, a bright blue sky with no clouds awaited us - and 10°C more than where we started. From Ko Olina onwards, a less touristy area begins and the beaches are more secluded, but also rockier and the surf is stronger. The west of the island also always has less rain and therefore the nature on that side is not quite as lush, but no less worth seeing and always worth a trip. As one of my Twitter (X) friends who live here commented on my post from the Leewardn Coast: “Just right for a long walk on the beach.” Well, judge the view for yourself and I'll come back to the beach walk when we're fitter again.

That's it for now. Aloha 🤙🏼