Journey vs. Destination

Some say it is about the journey not the destination.  If this is a larger metaphor for life, then sure I agree. But when it comes to travel, I am just tolerating the journey (mainly if it involves air travel) to get to my much sought after destination.  I don’t enjoy flying.  I do not believe that it is particularly good for your body to go up and down in atmosphere. Being packed into a small space with too many people for several hours is not my idea of fun. 

  

After our pretty bumpy descent in Honolulu, (I don’t think I’m over reacting here. We were traveling with a local teenage boys Hawaiian baseball team and these boys seemed to be pros at flying back to the island.  As we bounced around our seats on the way down, many of these boys called out, “Whoa!” and they had been cool as cucumbers the whole flight.  Their chaperone, another local returning to Oahu, also has seemed an expert flyer the whole trip, actually exclaimed, “This pilot sucks!” several times, loudly!  I simply prayed he couldn’t hear all of the disapproval from coach and that we would arrive on the ground safely.  With a few hops on the runway, we all breathed a sigh of relief.  At that point I was not too eager to board the tinier plane that would ferry us over to Kauai but that proved to be a relatively painless experience.  While I think I weathered the flight, the two hour layover in Oahu, and all the waiting that was involved with a fair degree of patience and tolerance for whining children and crying babies (I get it young people, flying is not all it is cracked up to be), I am still eager awaiting the day when I can simply be beamed to my destination and let the fun begin. 

As soon as we got our rental car, the fun did begin.  Kauai has earned the title of the garden isle because it is so very green.  Big trees hung with vines and canopies of branches overhead shaded us from the bright sun as well as the intermittent clouds that cruised by to drop bits of rain as they pleased.  This is truly a beautiful island.  Our condo is large and comfortable.  We are surrounded by walking (and I’m sure soon to be running) paths. 

Sort of in a daze, we managed to scope out some local markets and eating possibilities, but found it hard to make a decision.  Eventually we settled on some yogurt, coffee, and bananas for tomorrow’s breakfast and found ourselves eating by a bullfrog grotto at a place called Keoki’s Paradise.  The wine was excellent and the fish dinner was nourishing to our travel worn bodies.  Before delirium set in, we decided on an early bedtime and sleep came easy to these two weary travelers.