Pass the bubble wrap…

Hello old friends…

I know it’s been quite some time since I posted but I am inspired! Why? Well, because we’ve got a special trip only 5 ‘wake ups’ away and I am planning to be back at the keyboard blogging away for this trip. I’m sure you’re excited to hear about where I am going so I’ll get right to it but not before a little backstory… who are we kidding? My stories are never brief, so get yourselves comfy, here’s a more than brief backstory.

On May 6th, Matt and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We knew we wanted to do something special to celebrate it but with ongoing Covid cancellations and ever-changing travel rules we were having a hard time coming up with just what we wanted to do. One thing we knew for sure was that we wanted a completely normal trip with as limited Covid restriction headaches as possible. After the last few years I had, I loved the idea of heading to some Caribbean island and laying on the beach the entire time, only lifting my head to eat something delicious. Matt, on the other hand wanted something a little more special than the beached whale theme I was going for. You know, something with a bit more liveliness to it.

Earlier this year England had announced they were essentially dropping all COVID restrictions so that got our attention. After a brief chat with my best mate it was decided, we’re off to London! We have always wanted to visit London, and considering the scarce options, that was the clear winner. So off I went planning away. Booked our airfare with Delta since I still had my MASSIVE credit from my canceled May 2020 Japan trip. *a moment of silence for my epic trip that never came to be* After booking the airfare, I tuned my eyes to our hotel. Found the perfect hotel and booked that bad boy too. Next were the restaurants, obviously, all the restaurants. Finally, I began researching all the things to see and do. I watched so many YouTube videos, I practically have already been to London from all the YouTubing alone. We were so excited.

Enter the reality check. The U.S. still hadn’t lifted their Covid testing requirement to return back to the county. We had hoped that as time passed they would lift that rule but as May got closer and closer, it wasn’t looking promising. We still were going to go. I had researched all about testing to return and had, what I felt was, an awesome plan. Reality is, I had a nagging fear in the back of my mind… “What if we test positive and can’t return home?” Add on top of that my desire to just go an relax somewhere not play tourists all over a city, a city NOT famous for pool days in between sightseeing days. I was getting cold feet, to say the least. We had just done a major sightseeing trip to Italy & France back in 2019 and while that trip was phenomenal, it was tiring, and I am already in a perpetual state of tired. The thought of going on a trip like that again was tiring to think about. I’ve been tired for two years and I don’t want to add more tired to my mounting tired. Matt and I discussed the possibility of either testing positive or even getting a false positive and then not being able to get back home to work. Needless to say, we were starting to see the inevitable. Dissapointing to think about yet another trip that I had planned over these last two years that was once again not going to see the light of day, but tired me was a little excited at the thought of not having to run around a city playing tourist all week, let alone getting stuck there any extra amount of time.

Now what? Well, right around the time of our cold feet Hawaii had announced they were soon dropping all of their Covid restrictions. All. Of. Them. The beauty of Hawaii is that you can be as lazy as you want there but there is also the option for fun and adventure... not to mention all the food. We very quickly got excited to head back to Hawaii, especially since Hawaii trips and I have not gone without some major hiccups. If you‘ve known me long then you know exactly what this Hawaii backstory is. In fact, when one of my friends heard we were headed back to Hawaii he asked me if I was sure that was a good idea.

You see, I have been to Hawaii twice. My first trip to Hawaii was back in 2008. I went with my parents for that trip, Matt and I didn’t meet until 2011. My mom was due for a hip replacement and was in really bad shape. We decided to still go but we’d just take her in a wheelchair And take each day as it came, doing what we could. We had a fabulous trip seeing all of the Hawaiian islands, all while I was at the helm of her wheelchair. I pushed her all over those islands. We did every “grand circle island tour” on every island. We shopped, we ate, we shopped some more. It was a great trip, but being that my parents aren’t much beach people, I never actually went into the ocean! Can you believe it? I was in Hawaii for two weeks and never even dipped my toes in. I had a great time nonetheless and just reminded myself that one day I’d return and I’d bring along some super adventurous, beefcake of a man who would go snorkeling with me and do all the other adventurous activities Hawaii had to offer.

Fast forward 5 years later and here’s me and my adventurous beefcake of a husband headed to Hawaii to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. I had a two week dream trip planned seeing all of the islands, snorkeling at all the top beaches, taking surf lessons, hiking all the awesome hikes, and even cage diving with sharks! We were so excited.

Enter Murphy’s Law. Literally, after only day 1 of 14 Matt hurt his knee hiking Diamond Head. We ended up spending our 1 year anniversary hunting down crutches and then most of the day sitting in the orthopedic’s office rather than going for a couple’s massage and then romantic dinner. Add insult to injury, no pun intended, we ended up having to get ol’ gimpy a wheelchair and there I was spending another two weeks in Hawaii pushing another relative in another wheelchair all over the Hawaiian Islands. You literally cannot make this stuff up. I will say though, Matt was a champ, or as a local said to him “you’re a warrior, bro” as Matt literally crawled down a rocky path just to get to a gorgeous beach, a move I’m sure his orthopedist would have highly advised against. We made the best of that trip, still doing and seeing most of what we had planned, just Matt was riding in style as I sweat off any bit of makeup I even bothered with that trip. The positive, I came home having not gained ANY weight, and with a pretty killer butt, if I don’t say so myself. TMI? Listen, that was the best souvenir I ever got cause we all know… this girl isn’t getting any results in the gym at home since, well, you kinda have to GO to the gym to hope for any type of results. I digress.

This trip we are taking all precautions possible, short of bubble wrapping ourselves. I promise you, if anyone ends up injured and immobile, they will be left behind in the hotel. Craziest part is, I have been having trouble with my knee so I have been in physical therapy this whole month leading up to our big trip. No joke, I have packed already TWO knee braces AND all the kinesiology tape amazon would sell me. In fact, my physical therapist has been teaching me how to apply the tape and has already instructed me to wear it at all times the entire trip. And you guys thought I was joking when I said I was going to bubble wrap us.

The beauty of this being Matt & I’s second time to Hawaii together, we’re not feeling the pressure to go and do it all. We will not be going on any hikes, though there are two I really want to do. We are planning to just rent a convertible, like the good little tourists we are, and just freely explore the island. I do have one awesome activity planned for one morning, more on that later, but other than that, I have nothing planned. Yes. You read that right. I am going on a vacation without having every waking second planned… and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

I forgot to mention the best part… we’ll be childfree the whole time!!! Let’s here it for grandparents, the real MVPs. This is why I am confident in saying that this trip I can finally look forward to getting back to blogging my trip… and actually finish it. On my old travel blog I would blog all my trips, but that was before children and before my general state of perpetual exhaustion. I’m excited to get back to it. You don’t realize how much you forget on big trips like these so I love compiling it all together and being able to look back on all the different and creative ways I mock Matt. Comedy gold I tell yah. Seriously though, the other day I looked back at my old blog and read through our past Hawaii trip and there were so many little moments I had completely forgotten about. It was fun to reminisce, but a bit depressing reading about my Hawaii dream, redemption trip slowly falling apart just like the first. It read like The Titanic, or for my older crowd, The Way We Were. Normally, I’d encourage you guys to go check it out, but I love you all too much to make you go through that kind of a tearjerker.

Instead, I give you the promise of an awesome trip full of fun, adventure, amazing food, some surprises, and hopefully zero injuries.

Until Friday!