Anniversary Celebration in Kona, HI

Kerry:

Let me say, up front, that Yes I do understand that I'm spending an entire month in Hawaii. But we didn't come here for our anniversary, we came here in October because I could get a killer deal on the air fare AND the beach front house.

Our anniversary DID in fact...happen...to just fall...in the middle of our trip.

Now, some might think, "I'm already in Hawaii, so that's that." Not me. ;)

I pleaded my case that if I had found the best deals to Hawaii in September, or November, or February that we would have had to celebrate our anniversary still. I said I didn't feel that since our working vacation just happened to fall at the same time as our anniversary that we should get jipped out of a great anniversary weekend like we usually take somewhere.

Fortunately it wasn't very hard to sell.

So off to the Royal Kona Resort for 3 nights of celebration we went.

Royal Kona Resort, Kona, HI

We enjoyed sunsets (our beach house is on the East side, so all I've seen are sunrises all month).

Huggo's Restaurant, Kona, HI

We enjoyed walking across the street for food, booze and shopping. The Royal Kona Resort is in a fantastic location for sure!

We had our anniversary dinner at Don The Beachcomber in the Royal Kona Resort. It was such a great evening.

17 Years of Wedded Bliss!

While we were on that side of the island we ventured to Hawi, Hi. Little tiny town. We parked behind a van with a sticker that read, "The Meaning Of Life is To LIVE It!" I couldn't agree more!

Aloha from Hawaii...where we're LIVING LIFE!

Lunch Hour Working Vacation Style

Kerry:

I've discovered one more thing I LOVE about long term working vacations.

Lunch Hour.

Everyone gets one. Where do you have yours? Fast food drive through? Restaurant? Brown Bag it and eat in the break room?

For our Monday Lunch Hour this week I packed the little cooler with Pupus ("little bites) and we went exactly 3 minutes down the road to here:

This is where we had lunch today

View to the left of us

View to the right of us

View above us

We ate our lunch. Enjoyed the awesome view. Then went 3 minutes back home to get back to work. Very energizing and enjoyable way to spend our lunch hour.

Oh...and NO traffic there or back. ;)

Cocktails and Rainbows

Kerry:

Life simply doesn't get any better than this:

We were considering going into Pahoa, about 30 minutes away, to enjoy ourselves some Happy Hour cocktails. But we just couldn't pull ourselves away from our own view in the back yard, so Randy stepped up and made us some Tropical Margaritas to enjoy here at the house:

Randy made us these delicious cocktails

Cheers!

So we're sitting on our lanai, enjoying these delicious tropical margaritas when suddenly THIS happens:

Rainbow right THERE in front of us.

And it turned into THIS:

Full blown rainbow right off our Lanai

We sat there, drinking our margaritas watching this amazing rainbow. I believe it was the first FULL rainbow I've ever seen. We both agreed that life is GREAT and that we're really enjoying living it!

I'm having the best time being me right now!

Aloha!

Long Term Travel With Your Significant Other

Kerry:

When I was researching this "traveling" lifestyle...this "nomadic" lifestyle...I found many couples like us who were already doing it.

I also learned that apparently traveling together long term can cause some fighting.

Before we left home I secretly wondered if Randy and I would have these issues. We already spend a lot of time together at home, so I wasn't sure.

We're almost to the half way mark of our month long trip to the Big Island of Hawaii now and I do think I've gotten on Randy's nerves once or twice. Although I'm pretty sure he'd deny this...why?....because he's a good husband...duh. But I still think I have.

On the flip side, however, I haven't gotten upset, or sick of Randy at all yet. It might be the ocean right outside my window making me so easy going. Or maybe the Hawaiian Jungle out my front window. Or maybe the total paradise we're in all the time. Not sure if any of those things have anything to do with my constant compliant mood or not...probably does ;).

All I know is so far so good. I don't have any tips about traveling with your significant other as other travelers do. I'm just trying to enjoy every single moment I'm here. It's hard to be upset with anyone when you're doing that!

Maybe we just haven't been gone long enough yet? Maybe at the end of the month we'll have some issues? Or maybe we'll have issues when we take the 3 month RV trip across America next year? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Aloha!

Waterfall Hunting on the Big Island of Hawaii

Kerry:

On Saturday we went Waterfall hunting on the Big Island of Hawaii. Oh what a great day.

We hit Rainbow Falls in Hilo first. Very touristy.

Rainbow Falls, Hilo, HI

Then we hit The Boiling Pots and Pe'epe'e Falls. Randy wanted to hike down, but it looked like it would jack my bad knee, so I opted out. Very pretty location however. If I lived here I'd have family picnics at this park for sure!

Pe'epe'e Falls, Hilo, HI

Next we drove to the coast to Onamea Bay. We weren't expecting waterfalls here, but it was part of a very pretty drive out to some other waterfalls. So glad we went. Most beautiful place I've found yet. We're coming back because they have Botanical Gardens we still have to walk through.

Onamea Bay, Hilo, HI

Onamea Bay, Hilo, HI

Next we headed to Kahuna Falls and 'Akaka Falls.

'Akaka Falls, HI

After that we went to a neat Shake Shack called What's Shakin. It's on the edge of an organic farm. All the smoothies are made from their own organic fruit. Very tasty.

It was a fantastic day of Waterfall hunting.

"Working" Vacation? Come ON!

Kerry:

Ok, time to address this topic. We're getting a lotta flack from people about this month long trip to Hawaii we're on.

Randy and I both keep calling it a "Business Trip". At the very least it's a "Working Vacation". Both these comments seem to be getting peoples panties all up in a bunch.

We hear things like, "Yea, right, 'Business Trip'...wink wink". Or "Working Vacation...sure...I won't tell anyone...wink wink".

This is what we are doing:

Randy is getting up at 4:15 AM EVERY single morning and beginning his day of working. This is 7:15 our time at home in California, so he's basically keeping his same schedule. He's doing this so he can WORK with his clients back on the mainland during their working hours.

He's also here developing a new working relationship with a new business partner/client, working on whatever it is those two do. 

I wake up about 6 am...as this is when the sun starts to rise. We are in a beach house, so when the sun decides to start coming up...well...it's time to wake up...no other way around that.

I lay there in bed watching the sun rise for about a half hour. I know, I know...rough life.

Then I get up, work for an hour or so on our Flinders Travels stuff...then I make breakfast.

After breakfast Randy and I both go back to work. 

I am writing a book while I'm here. Well, I'm trying to finish a book actually. So after I work on this blog, our FB, twitter, yelp and my emails for home and business I work on my book until lunch time.

Then we get cleaned up and head out of the beach house around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. 

Randy is putting in a very full day. I am putting in a lot of time myself, although not as many hours as Randy is. But then again, he's running a full time business while we're here, and I'm just writing a book.

So, since we're both up so dang early, and working so much in the morning we're able to get a full day of work in along with several hours of site seeing and "vacation" type stuff.

It's actually working out VERY well. I highly recommend reevaluating your working situation.

Randy and I talked about being "mobile" with our income years ago. We've been working towards this moment for several years now. We planned on syncing up this time with our last kid growing up and graduating from high school, which he just did in June.

So, for everyone who thinks we're "lucky", or "crazy", or "rich", or even those who think we're "lying" about what we're doing on this trip...let me assure you this was a thought out plan that took us a few years to put in place.

What I'm trying to say is that ANYONE can have this lifestyle we're starting to have. 

The first thing we asked ourselves was, "what in the world can each of us do so that we can work from a computer, over the internet?" We thought of all kinds of things we could do before we made final decisions and put the plans into place.

Most people just get their job and try hard to hold onto it. We thought way beyond a job. Our goal was to be mobile. We knew we either had to make tons of money before this day came, or we had to have mobile income.

Although we did try to become wealthy before today, and got pretty far ahead of the game to be honest, we never got rich...especially not rich enough to be having a month long vacation in Hawaii!

But a working vacation? A Business trip? We absolutely figured this one out. 

So, yes, as I look out of my HUGE picture windows out over the ocean crashing on the rocks below my beach house I do feel pretty lucky. However I am reminded that we planned this lifestyle. We built it. We made decisions along the way that others didn't really understand to make this happen at this point in our lives. (Like when Randy quit his awesome, stable job to start his own company...that didn't go over well with people at all!...but it was all part of this plan).

So what are your plans? What do you want to be doing in 5 years? Where do you want to be in 5 years? What kind of life do you want to be living in 5 years?

5 years from now is coming whether you plan for it or not. It's amazing what kind of life you can live when you take control and decide on a plan of action to have the life you want. 

Think big! Be creative. Be brave. It's your life. Are you sure you want to keep living it the same ole way year after year?

Aloha!

Lizards EVERYWHERE

Kerry:

Aloha friends.

The beach house we're renting this month is on the coast out in the jungle area of the Big Island. That means LOTS of wildlife.

To our surprise LOTS of lizards come in the house every day and hang out with us. They crawl across the floor, across the walls, across the ceiling, up the furniture.

FREAKING ME OUT! Randy thinks it's awesome. But he's a guy, so of course he would.

As I type this I'm watching a small lizard sitting on the floor by the entertainment center, right next to me. He's checking me out.

How cute is this guy?!

Just hanging out with us.

I'm sure that as the month goes by I will get used to my housemates. Until then I just keep Yelping every time one runs by near me. 

Aloha!