vacation of a life time...no, really.

It was a Tuesday night in the beginning of January. I had already forgiven Ryan for his gift giving skills a month earlier at Christmas; after all, gifts aren't everything. Although, I feel you need an example of said skills.

Scenario: 1 week before Christmas

Ryan: Do You want an i-pod for Christmas, babe?

Kaitlin: um, not really. Gadgets aren't my thing.

Christmas Day: Ryan gives Kaitlin an i-pod.

Anyways, like I said...gifts aren't EVERYTHING.

So back to tuesday night sometime in early January 2009. Ryan and I went out to eat at a quaint little Italian joint near our home in Downtown Orlando. This alone was a rarity seeing as neither of us have very much free time. We were chit-chatting about traveling while we devoured our mushroom appetizer and Ryan just sort of blurted out the news as if he couldn't keep it in a second longer. "Well, Yea, I got us tickets to Hawaii." Needless to say I was confused/astonished/excited (all of the above) but given his facetious nature I wasn't sure whether to take him seriously or not. Turns out he was quite serious and he had gotten us tickets to Hawaii as a Valentine's Day AND Birthday gift for me! Completely redeeming himself from the tiny green nano. Spoils me rotten :)

So fast forward approximately 55 days later and here we are...the night before our flight to Kona! Now, Hawaii was not just a cliche or random destination for us. We both have friends out there and we had been trying to get out there for a few years. Ryan has friends on Big Island and I have a friend in the Navy who lives in Oahu. So we were not only excited to go on our first vacation together but also excited to see friends we hadn't seen for quite sometime! So the night before, as Ryan lounged on the couch watching a movie and I packed all of our bags (typical male) we prepared for our amazing adventure. 

Now, I'll spare you the details of us almost missing our flight, Ryan being the grouchiest traveler ever, and me having to spend one hundred dollars on my 77 pound bag....but subsequently, we arrived in Kalieau, Kona. Big Island.

Jet lagged, and Ryan still grouchy we grabbed our bags and waited for our tour guides to come pick us up. Ryan's friend Bryan from high school moved out to Big Island three years ago and we stayed with him. His crazy girlfriend, Corrina was also one of our tour guides. She also happens to have been born and raised on the Island and knows it like the back of her hand. So they pick us up we say hi and off we go to jump off of a 20 foot cliff. Now, I'm sure from watching our show you probably think of me as a high maintenance brat. But I assure you, you've got me all wrong. I live for adventure and I love sailing, surfing, snorkeling SCUBA diving and any other beach related activity. However, I'm fairly certain I was drunk with jetlag and the idea of jumping 20 feet into choppy water was a bit disorienting. Not to mention I was without contacts at the time and blind as a wombat. None of the aforementioned drawbacks deterred our gallant tour guides, so it looked like I wasn't getting out of this one. We changed into our suits in the car and proceeded to jump and fall 20 feet down at "the end of the world". This would be the first of many jumps we would make throughout our trip. In the days that followed we zip lined 1,000 feet up in the canopies of North Kohala (goofy helmets included as well as an instructor who wouldn't quit hitting on my boyfriend); surfed numerous "secret spots" throughout big island; visited/snorkeled at a black sand beach; and camped (sans tent) down at Makalawenas. Yes, that's right. We decided to "rough it" and not even bother with tents for camping adventure # 1.  And yes, it did rain on us throughout most of the night! To forget about our damp, rainy woes we indulged with some red stripes and another little Jamaican treat, which runs rampant all over the island. Needless to say, one of the major side effects of this green bedtime snack had me convinced that E.T. was atop a volcano rock next to us. Turns out it was more likely to have been a billy goat. Tomayto--Tomahto. And yes, that was the last time I puffed and passed-the-dutchie-to-the-left-hand-side. Hey, don't judge, I was in Hawaii.

When we returned to civilization after our trip down to Makalawenas the first thing I was after was a mai-tai and some Tuna Poke. A specialty dish that is popular out there, made with only the freshest grade Ahi. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

After we did some grinding (a term the locals use) at a nice Sushi joint we went home, booked our tickets to Oahu and got some sleep. In a dry bed :)

The Next day my friend Ben picked us up from the Honolulu airport and took us to a beautiful lunch at the Navy base. There we sipped our local brews and caught up on eachothers lives. 

Oahu included dinner in downtown Waikiki (aka, Miami on crack); two days full of surfing at the North Shore. Ryan surfed pipeline and sunset beach. He's crazy!  A trip to Pearl Harbor complete with a tour of Ben's frigate; and yet another mad dash to catch our plane back to Big Island. Being on time isn't really my forte, just ask my producers.

Upon our return to Big Island commenced a pricey grocery store trip as we were going on another camping adventure the next morning. This time we would be camping out in the middle of no where, at the Southern most point of the United States, just yards away from an absolutely breathtaking green sand beach. This time we dropped 50 bucks on an Alpine 3 person tent in an attempt to make better choices for ourselves. The camping trip was amazing and the green sand beach could possibly be my favorite place on earth (so far).  But, it wouldn't be a good camping trip unless something went wrong or unless we jumped off a giant cliff. So we did the latter. This time it was only 40 feet though. I'm sorry. Let me try that again: HOLY SHIT FORTY FEET?!?!? yes, and if you need a visual think, like, oh i don't know....a three story building? So despite the inevitable butterflies; though for me it was more like dinosaurs...we all jumped. Some how I ended up being the last to go. For those of you who have never jumped off a cliff (<--that's an unusual sentence) let me tell you a little bit about how it feels. Basically you fall, and you fall fast, then you keep falling, and just when you think you should be about to hit the water...you realize you're still falling. And then, BAM. You hit the water, and if you're half retarded like me then somehow you'll sit into the water and smack your ass so hard that you bring a nasty bruised tail bone back to the mainland with you as a souvenier. You'll also feel as though...Okay, there's no good way to put this so let me provide those of you who are easily offended with a disclaimer. Close your eyes, scroll down a little or just click out of this blog.---- You'll also feel like you got ass-raped...by the Pacific Ocean. True story. 

So as the trip dwindled down we managed to squeeze in some touristy things like lounging at the Four Seasons, a snorkel boat trip on St. Patty's Day where we saw three humpback whales less than 30 yards away, and a trip to the Hilton where we wined and dined and spent our last few dollars. 

Now we're back to the same old same old except we're about 2,000 dollars poorer. But we are rich with memories and good times and it was worth that much money and more. And my dear  boyfriend has proven to me that he DOES know a thing or two about gift giving, even though gifts aren't EVERYTHING! We can't wait to go on another big adventure! We took amazing pictures and I'll get those posted on here as well for you guys! Aloha and Mahalo for reading!

Peace and Love, until next time...

Kaitlin