I have this weird thing about packing for a trip.  I have a personal pride in not overpacking, in taking as little as possible while still having everything I need.  My husband tells a (true) story about a time we were packing for a Disney World trip where we would have a washing machine and dryer.  As I went through his suitcase (he likes me to double check that he didn’t miss anything), I grabbed a pair of underwear and handed them to him saying, “You’ll only need  five pair of underwear, I’ll be doing laundry on day four.”  He responded by throwing them back in the suitcase and saying, “It never hurts to have an extra pair.”

I became totally exasperated.  “BRET!  I’m trying to pack light!” 

Yeah, I’m still trying to live that one down.

When we went to Australia for three weeks before we had kids, I made him share my razor so we wouldn’t have to take two.  And you’ve probably heard about how I make people in my family pack by color when we travel.  That’s actually a pretty good idea, by the way.

But I didn’t know what to pack for a trip to Hawaii.  Afterall, I have never been to Hawaii.  And this was a dream trip a long time in the planning.  And I didn’t want to NOT have the right stuff.  So, for the first time ever, I allowed myself to take one whole suitcase just for me.  And you know what?  I wore almost none of it.

Most people would probably think there’s no harm in that.  I mean, I was totally prepared for anything and it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?  But you know what?  Having so much stuff with me made me a little stressed out.  It was more to pack, more to unpack, more to carry, more to repack.  Just. More. Stuff.  And with the cost of checked bags today, who needs that?

So, I decided to take a photo of the clothing I actually wore for the 12 days we were gone so that I would remember next time we go to Hawaii or anywhere else for that matter.  And because I like to let others learn from my mistakes, I decided to post it here for you to see!

Because it was our anniversary, I brought one nice dress, the one on the left.  I picked up an awesome sundress that I love while at the Maui Swap Meet (the dress on the right).

Between the two dresses is the outfit I bought for walking the beach if it got cool (it never did) or if we had gone to the top of Haleakala for sunrise (we didn’t).   I wound up wearing this just around the room like sweats.

The shorts and tank on the far right I wore when we did hike.

The other three outfits worked for everything else.  Skirts were perfect because most days I didn’t know where we would wind up and I was dressed for anything.  Their length was great for walking along the beach and they were cool enough for sightseeing.  My khaki pants fulfilled the same purpose but were a little less bright so I wore them in the evening.

Because we often have a washing machine and dryer in our room when we travel, I did a load of laundry here and there.  But, honestly, things didn’t even really get dirty.

I couldn’t let you see my head, I’d just been on a red eye and up for 36 hours.

Of course I also had swimwear and a coverup.  And truth be told, I probably wore that more than anything else. For traveling, I wore jeans that worked left long (for going in and out of Minnesota ) or could be rolled with big cuffs for the rest of the trip, a sleeveless shirt, a cardigan and a sweater.  It turned out that this was the perfect choice as I had to take off and put on layers may times throughout the flights.  Once we arrived in Maui, however, I didn’t wear any of it until the return trip home.  Not even the light sweater.

So, if you like packing a lot of things to be sure you’ll be well prepared, go right ahead.  But you don’t need to.  Not for Hawaii.  I promise!

Our trip began in Maui, where we landed at 10:30pm local time.  On paper, this seemed like a great idea.  We’d land at bedtime, tired from our travels, and get a good night’s sleep for heading out on our first day’s adventures.  Perfect, right?  Huh.

For us there was a four hour time difference which really didn’t seem like it would be a problem. And maybe it wouldn’t have been if we didn’t get up at 5am at home.  We’ve been getting up at 5am for more years than we’d like to remember.  So imagine our surprise when we were both wide awake and ready to go at 3:30am!  I guess our bodies figured that it was really 7:30am for us, and that was enough sleeping in!  Of course nothing was open at that time of the morning, we didn’t even have our rental car yet, so we spent time watching reruns of Law and Order and finishing reading material from the plane.

We planned to spent three days acclimating ourselves to the time difference and taking leisurely drives and walks through the spots where locals hang out.  This was a very good idea.

The Maui Swap Meet was our first stop.  Although I love farmer’s markets at home, none of them compare to the Maui Swap Meet held on Saturdays, where fresh fruit (in February!) abounds and local artisans show their wares.  We stocked up on as much fresh fruit as we could eat before it spoiled and began our 10-day quest to find the perfect, yet inexpensive, souvenirs.  My only regret was that I didn’t buy more that day.  I mistakenly thought that since I had found so many beautiful treasures that very first day that surely I would find more throughout the trip.  This was not the case.  Each island has a very different flavor, and although there are some things (think dashboard hula girl) that can be found everywhere, I never saw some of the really cool items from that day again.

The rest of the day was spent exploring.  Driving the backroads and not really caring where we ended up.  It was a perfectly marvelous way to begin a vacation.

There are some places people just dream about.

For some, it is seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

For others it might be the blue seas of the Caribbean or the mountains of Alaska.

For me, it has always been Hawaii.

I’m not sure what exactly I expected Hawaii to be, a land of palm trees and sand and crashing waves, I suppose.  Oh and the pineapples.  I certainly imagined the pineapples.

Whatever I dreamed, it couldn’t hold a candle to what I found, what we experienced on our 20th anniversary trip.  One of our first opportunities for kid-free travel, it was a trip that truly has to be experienced to be understood.  How else can you explain how such a small land area offers so many opportunities?

From the Keanae Arboretum on the Road to Hana, to Hawaii Food Tours in Waikiki, there was so much to do and see that it was a party of the senses.

There was something so relaxing, so cool about the fact that on this trip, it was just Bret and I.  Just the two of us.  Although we truly love our family travel, it was magical to have a kid free trip where we could decide what we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it.  It was amazing  to wake up in the morning wondering what we should do that day, to be able to change our minds and reservations at a moment’s notice without worrying that someone would miss out on their most wanted experience by doing so.

Yes, I realize this is a blog about family travel.  But in the end, family begins and ends with the parents.  It is good and right that on occasion we experience things kid-free.  For their sakes and for our own.