We are a family of five that decided to leave our normal lives behind and travel around the world for 180 days. Joey and I are both physicians back home in Lexington, KY and our kids are Wilson (a smart, funny, pragmatic 14 year old who approaches life with the wisdom of an 80 year old and the mischievous grin of someone who gets the inside joke), Bailey (an opinionated, strong-willed, compassionate 12 year old who never misses anything and may rule the world someday), and Gus (an energetic, passionate 9 year old who lives every second of his waking life with everything he has and would give the shirt off his back to ease the suffering of an earthworm). We love traveling, trying new things, meeting awesome people, eating good food, and adventure sports. In this blog, we will be sharing the stories of the places we experience along the way. We will share our successes and our failures in hopes that this is inspiring, helpful, and entertaining to our friends, family, and anyone else who happens to discover us. For more on why we decided to do this, see our blog post on “Traveling is my favorite thing”. Read More About Our Philosophy.
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Which Hawaiian Island is Right for You?
If you have ample resources and can only visit one island: Maui.
If you want to see Hawaii but you are on a budget: Oahu.
If you are into hiking or less developed destinations: Kauai.
If you want to see volcanoes: The Big Island.
Ideally, when planning a trip to Hawaii, I would recommend picking two islands and taking a weekday Southwest flight between the islands if possible. The inter island flights are super easy and cheap and you get the bonus aerial view of the islands. When we come back, I will likely plan 9 days in Maui and 3 days in Kauai to hike the Na’Pali coast. My advice would be to pick one island for a longer stay (7-10 days) and then a second island for a shorter stay (3-4 days) just to hit the high points.
Summiting Mauna Kea at Sunrise
You can only be at the summit from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.
You will be traveling from sea level (if you come from the coast) to 13,803 feet in around an hour. This change in altitude affects everyone differently. If you have a history of altitude sickness or health problems affecting your heart or lungs, you should sit this one out. I recommend stopping briefly at the visitor center half way up to let your body adjust to the altitude before heading on. If you don’t feel well at any point, turn around.
You will need 4 wheel drive due to the very steep and sustained grade of this road. You do not need a car with high clearance. The road was well maintained and even paved throughout a large portion at the top.
The Sun Rising over Kauai from Poipu Beach. January 23rd, 2022