It’s hard to believe that a year ago, I was writing about “sheltering in place” on the Big Island of Hawaii.. at the start of the lock-downs and travel restrictions. Looking back, it would have been nice to have stayed in our little corner of paradise, but with the pandemic worsening, my visa running out… Read More Historic Royal Palaces: A visit to the Hampton Court Tulip Festival
I grasped the book of plane tickets in my hand and walked back outside from the warm STA travel office into the cold, wet, November weather. As I found somewhere to shelter out of the wind and rain, I called my Mum and told her I had just bought my round the world ticket. My… Read More What does the future hold for working holidays?
Before the Coronavirus Pandemic brought air travel to a screeching halt, in a normal year, over 300 million passengers flew over 6 billion miles on long-haul flights each year (source: Qantas airlines) That’s a lot of people and a lot of miles. 5 months on from the initial travel restrictions, air travel remains at a tiny… Read More The “New Normal”: Travelling long-haul in the time of Coronavirus
Aloha! In my previous post The Big Island, Hawaii; Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail (King’s Trail & petroglyphs, Waikoloa), I wrote about the volcanic King’s Trail, which forms part of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail. The Ala Kahakai is actually a 175 mile trail network, formed 20 years ago to help protect the areas of cultural… Read More The Big Island, Hawaii; Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail (Hapuna Beach to Mauna Kea Beach)
Aloha! If you’ve been following my blog recently, you may know that we were somewhat serendipitously stranded on the Big Island of Hawaii during the Coronavirus lockdown, from March to the beginning of June. You can read about some of our adventures and the experience of lockdown 8,000 miles from home in my previous posts.… Read More The Big Island, Hawaii; Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail (King’s Trail & petroglyphs, Waikoloa)
When you think of the Big Island of Hawaii, chances are the first things that come to mind are volcanoes. Not surprising, as out of the five volcanoes which are considered active in Hawaii, four of them are on Hawai’i Island. The opportunity to walk among these incredible forces of nature is why millions flock… Read More Hiking Hawaii: Volcanoes National Park, Big Island
It’s hard to believe it’s been six weeks since I first wrote about sheltering in place on the Big Island of Hawaii (Hunkering down in Hawaii: social distancing on the Big Island). I thought I’d write a little update on the situation here, as we wait to see if and when we can begin to… Read More Hunkering down in Hawaii (part 2)..lockdown in Paradise
Aloha! If you’ve read my previous posts, you’ll know that we’re still “sheltering in place” on the Big Island of Hawaii – monitoring the current situation until it’s safe and possible to head back to the UK. Some of our travel plans had to be cancelled, but we were lucky enough to be able to… Read More Hawaii, Big Island National Parks: Pu’uhonua O Honaunau & Kaloko-Honokohau
Aloha! When we first arrived on the Big Island, over a month ago, the world was still relatively normal. As normal as it ever has been. No-one was in “lock down” and the Global panic around the Coronavirus was only just starting to escalate (I talked about our trip so far in my previous post Hunkering… Read More The Big Island, Hawaii; Kona Cloud Forest & Maka’ula O’Oma Trail
As I write this from a very quiet lanai, overlooking beautiful gardens somewhere on the Big Island, it’s strange to think how much the world has changed in the past two weeks or so. It’s incredibly quiet here. The wind rustles the palms, a bright green gecko is stalking along the wall, colourful birds are… Read More Hunkering down in Hawaii: social distancing on the Big Island
Champagne with Charlotte 