Hawaii

I've always wanted to visit Hawaii, but it was always too far away. I'm living in the Seattle area now, so it isn't that far away. I no longer have much of an excuse not to go. Well, I do have my budget and a desire to catch up on my retirement savings, but otherwise Hawaii is a very tempting target. Hmmm... maybe I should consider Hawaii as a retirement destination, something to check into. Kill two birds with one stone.

In truth, I know very little about Hawaii. Sure, we've all seen the pictures of beaches, surfing, greenery, mountains, mist, and volcanos. I do have to admit that a lot of my "knowledge" about Hawaii comes from watching Hawaii Five-O when I was a kid. I'll have to do some web surfing to get a more realistic view of exactly what I would want to do in Hawaii.

I have no idea what the airfare and hotel and local travel cost would be. In particular, the cost of travel between the islands and what the costs on the various islands are. Getting prices for the individual items should be easy enough on the Internet, but figuring out what all the different items are might be more problematic. Which islands are a must, and which can or should be skipped. The cost will depend on the length of stay. Is a three or four day "weekend" trip worth it? A week? Ten days? Or, is anything less that two weeks a waste of money?

In truth, I have no idea why I would want to go to Hawaii, other than the fact that it seems like an interesting place.

I'm not the type to lie on the beach. I do like nice restaurants and would love to eat all the local fish, but we get a lot of those fish everywhere in the U.S. anyway.

Actually, I do have one specific reason I'd like to go to Hawaii: to see an active volcano.

In any case, maybe a visit to Hawaii would simply be an essential mini-adventure so that I would have some stories to tell, and I would never again have to say "I've never been to Hawaii."

BTW, I have been to Alaska, in the middle of the winter, and even flew up to see Mt. McKinley, but that's another story.

-- Jack Krupansky