The Garden Isle

Of the eight main islands of Hawaii, I have officially now been to four of them. This last adventure to Kauai was different than the rest in that I did something that I had never really done before: I traveled the tip solo.

Beautiful view of Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, and Haulalai on the Big Island as I headed west

Perks: 1. I could go where I wanted when I wanted. 2. I had plenty of storage space in the car 3. I had no one to get in a argument with, I could only blame myself if things went wrong. 4. Didn’t have to share tent space. 5. I was super efficient.

Flip-side: 1. No one to bounce ideas off of and do something that I might not have otherwise done because I would never have thought of it 2. I had to navigate and drive at the same time in a place I had never been before. Another set of eyes is priceless when you are trying to find a road sign at night when it is raining. 3. Sharing the experience 4. Safety concerns are more at ease when you have a buddy. 5. Sharing food and other expenses are cut in half at least. (This was a hard one to swallow for me.)

With all of the pros and cons, the Garden Isle lived up to its hype. Beauty around every turn! Still I found myself leaving knowing fully that I had to return. I was told five days was enough. But for me it wasn't. I didn’t even interact with the Napali Coast!

Traveling solo I imagine gets easier the more you do it. Like going to the movies by yourself, the uncomfortable feeling passes over time. I did find that I was not the only solo traveler out there and had a really great conversation with one of them as she was on a journey to make sense of some big shifts in her life. Would that conversation have happened if I was with one else? Maybe, maybe not. But it was one of those moments when I had to push myself to be there and interact with those around me; because sometimes all someone needs is for you to listen.