My bedtime reading lately has been essays from A Year in the World by Frances Mayes (author of Under the Tuscan Sun). It tempts me on a near daily basis with dreams of traveling through Europe. After work today, Thane and I were indulging in a rare late afternoon soak in the hot tub. I was reading about Ed and Frances's trip to England and Wales where they rented a series of homes and explored nearby villages and gardens.
I commented to Thane, "This is what I want to do. Travel to places, rent a house, and explore the surrounding area."
I'm sure he rolled his eyes as he replied, "That's what we do every time we go to Hawaii."
Huh. I'd never really thought about it that way, but he's right. My dream for world travel is to move into a series of new locations for a few weeks or months at a time and really get to know the area. I can totally see me living in a hillside home in the Greek Isles or a beach cottage, well, nearly anywhere. Get to know some residents, try out local restaurants, have the area become home, even if only for a short time.
Sounds just like what we do in Hawaii. We've been to the Big Island several times, and we always rent a house in an out of the way area for two to three weeks. We've done this often enough that we have favorite beaches, we know which restaurants to avoid and which we must go to at least once, and we have friends who live in the area (admittedly, we knew them first in Alaska, but still). On our last trip we fell in love with the Ke'ei Cafe (superb seared ahi in lemon-caper sauce) and I could have lived on coffee floats from Lava Java.
Unfortunately, we've become jaded. It's a sad thing to have become bored with Paradise. There are undoubtedly myriad places for us to still discover and explore, but we're so focused on those we know and like that we forget to look further. For heavens sake, we've never stayed on the Hilo side of the island or spent more than a day or two at a time up on Kilauea. There's tons more to do and see.
Hawaii has become our default vacation choice because it's easy. We can plan a trip there without worrying about too much, and, important for Thane, they speak English. My goal now is to view Hawaii with a fresh set of eyes on our next trip. I'll be sure to look more carefully at what I encounter, both the new and the old.
Interestingly, the more time I spend writing, the easier this is to do. I find myself, even on short walks near my house, composing essays in my head. I figure out what details I'd include if I were to write about my stroll, and just how I'd describe them to the best effect. I see so much more now than I ever did before. I look forward to seeing Hawaii as I haven't in many years. Unfortunately, it probably won't be for another year, but I do have Bhutan to console myself!
