Tag: solo travel

Maui 2021

Day three

It’s Maui Goat Yoga day! My birthday present from Krystal, Randy and Camden. I can’t wait. I’ve never done yoga so we will see lol.

Our class is on the opposite side of the island so we were out the door early. We stopped at a farmers market on the way.

Krystal’s favorite place to be. No jelly coffee🥲 must be an Oahu thing.

Thought I would share with you some insight as to Krystal’s planning vs. mine.

Krystal’s list.

My list. [_______] insert things to do…..

🤔 Lol. It’s in my head.

Maui Goat Yoga. This was located up in the mountains at a cute little farm. Basically you do yoga, following the instructor all while goats are running around you and jumping on your back and playing king of the mountain lol. I think I spent most of my yoga time playing with the goats. They were adorable.

That was so much fun! I want one 😁

Drove to Paia for lunch at Island Fresh. Krystal needed a drink.

Super cute outdoor restaurant with a hen and their chicks running around. I ordered my favorite meal of the day. Breakfast. When it came, one of my pieces of bacon was hanging over the edge of my plate. I looked down at my side and there was a chicken giving me the eye. Before I knew what she was looking at she jumped and grabbed that piece of bacon and ran off lol. I guess she is the provider of the family😂

So funny!

Walked down to the Cove and swam a little. Tried the boogie boards but the waves were too small.

Walked to Charley Young Park for shave ice and sunset.

Perfect!

Maui 2021

Day two

Up at six am Hawaii time. There is a two hour time difference so when I get back and the time changes I will die lol.

We decided to go hiking today and hoped to get a little sun. We are both super pale and in need of a tan lol.

We chose to hike the Hoapili Trail over by La Perouse Bay.

The road to our destination was a little narrow and bumpy but Krystal drove slow and made use of all the turn outs. All while I was telling her to go. Go. Just go lol. Sorry Krystal.

The hike was six miles round trip and the trail was full of rocks, coral and lava but I did not fall😁

It sprinkled a bit but it was like taking a shower. 79 degrees.

We explored the tide pools and found this cute little crab.

Drove back to the apartment. Slowly😂

Walked down to the beach for sunset. Found some Gelato 😋

Our airbnb.

Where Krystal drank her tea in the morning.

Maui

Day one

Woke up at 4:15 am and drove to PDX. Krystal did not chicken out and is still going lol. And by not chickening out I mean Camden did not object to her going lol. Traffic was light and we made it to the airport at 6:30am. The check in process went pretty smoothly. We had already signed up on the Safe Travels website so all of our information was already in the system. We got these awesome orange bracelets to let everyone know we are covid free😃

TSA was quick too. This is one of the good things about traveling right now.

No crowds or long lines of people. A lot of the businesses were not open throughout the airport but this could have been because we were there so early. We wore both a mask and a face shield. Everyone that I saw was wearing a mask or two. Krystal sprayed everything I touched, was going to touch or thought about touching lol.

Boarded Airbus 321-neo. Did I mention we are flying first class? Well it’s not 747 first class but it’s nice. Hawaiian Airlines first class is way better than Alaska Airlines first class😃. Lots of room to stretch out and they have foot rests to use instead of my backpack.

They let us use their ipads for TV and movies and we got a pillow and a blanket. Breakfast was really good.

The flight went fine. No turbulence. Got to use the special bathroom.

Rented a Jeep Grande Cherokee. Boring lol. The highlight of the rental process was when I was yelling Krystal’s name so she could give them her ID and the guy next to her asked if her name was Pretzel😂😂😂 so that’s her new nickname, Pretzel lol.

Stopped at Costco for food supplies. Forgot water🙄.

Checked into our airbnb. We are on the third floor. No elevator. My bag weighed 35lbs Krystal’s was 43lbs. Haha, I beat her up the stairs.

Walked down the street to the beach for the sunset.

Gorgeous.

Maui

Packing.

Yes. I started packing three months ago. As per my personality I now am wondering if I could just do carry-on. I’ve always wanted to jet down the breezeway with one tiny bag and a backpack. The question is, do I take with me what I will need or just the essentials and purchase the rest while I’m there. There are advantages to doing just carry-on during this pandemic. Noone else is touching your bag, you don’t have to stand around with all the other travelers waiting for your bags to make an appearance and there’s not as much concern with bag weight.

One carry-on bag plus a large backpack?

What do I truly need that cant be in my bag or takes up space?

1. a knife or some kind of protection to carry with me.

2. Towels

3. Blanket

4. Pillow

5. Gluten free food

6. Body boarding fins that I’m not allergic to.

I had packed everything in the big checked bag three months ago. Then I switched to the small carry-on and then to the medium checked bag. I was able to fit all my stuff in the smaller bag but it didn’t leave room for anything I wanted to bring back. I would have to mail my dirty clothes back or purchase a bigger bag while over there to make it home. So, which did I choose? After three days of contemplation, analyzing, list checking, sleepless nights of packing and repacking I packed the medium checked bag along with my backpack and told myself to go put it out in the truck so I don’t repeat my crazy 😂 so that is what I ended with. I hope I don’t regret it.

With that said, Krystal just started packing the night before the flight. Two hours before bedtime lol. I’m not sure we’re related.

Maui

72 hours

Traveling to Hawaii within the pandemic and covid has made planning a little more complicated. Hawaii had been closed to tourist travel for most of last year. Now they have opened the islands back up with conditions. You now will allow you to forgo the ten day self quarantine by taking a covid test 72 hours prior to your flight. And yes, you do need to have negative results.

So we scheduled our test for exactly 72 hours before our flight. The only testing sites that were approved for flights to Hawaii were in Portland or a saliva test by mail with a Zoom meeting. We chose to go to Portland rather than depend on the postal service to get the test there within the allotted time frame. We signed up with Worksite Labs for a drive thru testing.

It ended up not being a drive thru and we had to go into the building. They were set up at the Sheraton. Krystal went first and then it was my turn. First thing they verified who you were. I suppose you could try to send someone to take the test for you. Then they had you blow your nose three times. Lol. Not two or four but three. Next you open the package with the nasal swab in it and they tell you to insert it in one nostril and rotate it five times and repeat on the other side. They then inspect it for “debris”. Which is code for boogers😂 Mine had “debris” so he had me blow my nose a second time and try again. This time it came out clean. Yay. Now it’s just a waiting game for the results. 🤞

And fast forward 12 hours at midnight my results came in! Drum roll please….

Whoo hoo😁 I’m going to Hawaii! This was probably the most stressful part of the trip.

Maui

Partyofone Crashers

Foxpartyofone will be plus one for a couple of days. No, Kris is not going. Krystal is crashing my party and it’s just Krystal. No Randy or Camden😲 I kinda have my doubts she will go but it is Hawaii😃. Krystal should probably write her own blog on traveling child free.

I know what you’re thinking. Fun, now I have someone to do activities with. Uh, wrong. Lol. At least not the super fun/scary stuff. She doesn’t want to rapell off a waterfall, kayak whale watch, do a pendulum swing, walk across a swinging rope bridge or shark dive. I’m pretty sure that the deepest she will go in the water may be up to her waist. She did agree to hiking, (she probably forgot that I fall down a lot) and she got me Goat Yoga for my birthday 😀 she will be staying for four days and then I’ll be on my own.

Vaca 2021

So, I think I’ve been planning this trip back to Maui since the day Kris and I returned last February. With the new travel restrictions I figure that Kris was probably a no go. I’m okay with that. I’m still taking foxpartyofone.com lol.

Hawaii calls to me. Maybe my biologicals were from there. I just know that I have always had a great love for the sun and the ocean. That first trip back in 2016 made me wonder how I had lived all this time without it.

I booked my tickets.

This decision wasn’t one I made lightly. A lot of thought went into it. If you know me, I’m a thinker. I know there is Covid19. I know there is a risk involved with travel and I know that the outcome is unknown. But I also know that every year that passes me by I am one year closer to not being able to do things. I have an expiration date, we all do, whenever that may be. It could be tomorrow, next year or 10 years from now and I want to live my life and do stuff that I may not be able to later. I can’t sit around and say that I will do it next year because if the pandemic has taught me anything it’s that there is no guarantee on tomorrow.

I know that some of you may not agree with my decision. You think I should stay home. Stay safe. Wait it out. Don’t get me wrong. I totally get that. I will wear a mask or two on the airplane. I already practice social distancing. I will get a covid test three days prior to flying out. I just won’t let this pandemic consume me.