So in 1993, I left a big job in the city, and I never lost one minute sleeping worrying ’bout the way things might have been.  Oh, wait.  That would be Tina Turner.  I, in fact, did lose more than a minute’s sleep worrying, because I had the option of staying with the mega-travel company and moving to the corporate side of the business (i.e. reservations call-center).  However, making reservations for stuffy, old businessmen seemed way too dull and monotonous to me.  I was young and vibrant!  I wanted adventure!  I wanted excitement!  I wanted real travel!  And I wouldn’t settle for anything less.

And that’s why I ended up at a banking software company making travel arrangements for stuffy, old businessmen.  Oh, the irony of it all.  The good news is, that I eventually worked my way up the corporate ladder of said software company and landed right smack in the middle of this technical writing gig that I have today.  Hey—who said that writing about network configurations, user permissions, and general ledger journal entries can’t be adventurous and exciting?  If I could just find a way to work in the travel part…

But I digress.  Needless to say, I did not get to travel often after starting my new job.  With my measly starting salary and only 2 weeks vacation, I had to plan carefully.  Luckily (or not so luckily, depending on how you look at it), my mother’s husband was transferred to the Clearwater Beach area that same year, so our vacations evolved into long weekends at their house.  Swimming in their pool.  Drinking their Coronas.  Eating crab legs on their kitchen table.  Here we all are on the Clearwater Beach pier way back in 1995:

But finally, in 1997 my travel luck would change.  As I was listening to Clark Howard (local travel and consumer guru, a.k.a. my hero!) on my commute home from the office one day, I heard magic words.  United Airlines was having a sale from Atlanta to Maui for $250 roundtrip.  Eureka!  Well, that was a definite cause for me to go directly to jail home without passing GO, without collecting $200, and without stopping at any traffic signals.  I could hear the sounds of the ukulele, but not the sounds of the sirens in pursuit of my car.  I was on a mission to eat pineapple and papaya.  I was on a mission to get to Hawaii.  I was on a mission to get to a phone.  And that I did.

Three months later, we (along with my cousin Ms. Margarita and her then husband) were on our way to do the hula.  But only after an 8-hour layover in San Francisco, where we ate chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf, devoured chocolates at Ghiradelli’s, and rode on a trolley car…

And once we made it to Maui, we did fun stuff like drive the crazy, winding Road to Hana, snorkel at Molokini Crater, drive to the top of Mount Haleakala (unfortunately, no one would bike down with me), and attend the wonderful Old Lahaina Luau…

It was such an amazing trip, and it made me long to see the other islands of Hawaii.

And as sheer luck would have it, my buddy Clark Howard came through again just three years later.  United Airlines was having another sale from Atlanta to Hawaii.  And this time it was to Kauai with a stopover in Oahu—for $350 roundtrip!  I’m thinking I spend more money on my Blond Ambition Tour each year!  And again with my cousin and her husband, we hopped on another plane headed straight for Honolulu. 

However, just hours before we landed I became ill with fever and strife.  And possibly bronchial pneumonia.  For the two full days that we spent in Honolulu, I could barely stand upright—as illustrated in this photo taken at the USS Arizona Memorial…

For the most part, I sat on the balcony of our hotel (the Waikiki Beachcomber) coughing up a lung and wishing that I could go here…

But after a few days, I was starting to feel better, and we flew to the most beautiful island in Hawaii—Kauai.  There we did fun stuff like visit the Kilauea Lighthouse, gander at the Wailua Falls that are shown during the intro to Fantasy Island, and climb to Windy Point on the Kalalau Trail while wearing flip-flops (or maybe that would be Ms. Margarita who wore the flip-flops)…

The feeling that I get from being in Hawaii is a bit difficult to describe.  When I think about Hawaii, I truly feel peace and serenity, and I can almost smell the plumeria that grows abundant there.  I can’t imagine another place on this earth being quite as beautiful as the islands of Hawaii, and I do hope to return there one day.  Especially to Ke’e Beach.

But then again, I think that I hear the steel drums of the Caribbean calling my name.

To be continued next Friday…