Believe it or not, I kept thinking about "R" titles, but could not come up with any suitable ones. But now, since it's a beginning of a new year and I came up with a great one, I started writing.
Seems like travelling at the year end is becoming my annual custom. It's not great to miss my family gathering on the New Year's Day, but it is splendid to get together with my second family in another country :) This year, we decided to meet in Hawaii instead of cold Vancouver (or Tokyo). This was my first trip to a tropical country (aside from Okinawa), and it was such a great vacation.
My friend had warned me that Hawaii could be very cold in the buildings. So I brought my jackets, socks, and sweater. This was the cleverest thing I did in the trip. Partly because my exhaustion from the trip, I felt very, very cold in the airport. And nice ocean breeze, which we had plenty in our condo, felt too cool in the evening. I thought Hawaii must be very hot, but even in the tropical island, winter is a little cooler than summer.
We stayed in Kauai Island, and it is filled with beautiful nature and beaches. Thanks to my skilled travel companions, I got to see most of the things travellers should see and experienced everything what I had wanted to do. I enjoyed viewing so many colourful flowers and big trees on the island, shopping souvenirs, spotting sea turtles, and snorkeling! I got a water-resistant instant camera, but it was difficult to take pictures of fish in the water. The result is not very satisfactory, but there are some pictures that tell what I saw under water. I hadn't swum in the sea for many years, so I was afraid to go into the deep water. I kept swimming in the sallow side of the ocean, but still, I saw many fish in different kinds. That was such an experience.
After spending a night in Honolulu, I came back. My parents were nice enough to leave some New Year's food for me! So I caught up with Japanese spirit to start a new year.
(And I had my first visit to a shrine yesterday. This is called Hatsumoude and supposed to be done on the January 1st. I prayed hard for good luck of this year, so this will be more awesome year than the last one.)
Travelling is wonderful. If you are with nice people, that's even better. I wish I can have a trip somewhere this year as well. Maybe in summer this time? :) I have to work hard to save up!
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| Kilauea Lighthouse |
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| plumeria |
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| sunset from Poipu Shores |
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| Waimea Canyon |
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