Being in a rut is no fun. When the routine of day to day life feels, well, blah, it’s time to shake things up.

This was how I felt about a month ago.

Lucky for me, my family had a trip planned, thanks to my husband’s company. Not just any trip. We were headed to…..

Hawaii! An island paradise.

We were pumped! My husband and daughter had never been to the Hawaiian Islands, but I  had (Oahu and Kauai) and I knew it was going to be beautiful. What could go wrong?

So, four suitcases later (one was empty to bring back island goods to friends and family), we were off to the big island of Hawaii.

Getting to the big island from the main land was no easy feat. There were planes, and then there were smaller planes.

The big plane I could handle. The six-person metal tube called the Mokulele with no drink service, was a bit of a stretch for me.

It was a rough ride in 50 mph winds. When we landed, the women sitting in front of me (who had not said a word to me the entire flight), turned around and grimly warned, “Don’t take the lava off this island. It is bad luck.”

To which I responded, “Uh, thank you?” and quickly de-planed so that I could “Christen” the island a la motion sickness style.

 

Here’s what I learned:

1)      I look like a klepto.

2)      Do not drink a Bloody Mary on an empty stomach prior to boarding a puddle jumper.

I thought, maybe a nice walk on beach might relax me, to which the driver cautioned us to stay away from the hard lava (which covered the beach) because its sharpness would cut us.

Here’s what I learned:

1)      The islanders have a thing for their lava.

The rest of the trip did not go as planned either. My husband had a multitude of mandatory work events. Some of his colleagues had hotel rooms with busted TVs, or bug issues. At the company costume party (don’t get me started on trying to pack a friggin’ costume) we were shamed into a corner because of our lame outfits. The hurricane-like winds caused all of the events to be moved inside. Even the little birds were angry, dive-bombing our food plates. Probably protecting their lava.

The upside – we were always the first ones at the breakfast bar … since we were all up by 4:00 a.m. due to the five-hour time difference.

On our one exploring day, we went up the mountain, into the misty clouds, to a town called, Waimea. It rained and was cold. While shivering in my tank top, I looked over at my husband and said, “Seriously. Why-me-ah?”

That about summed up the trip.

I couldn’t believe it. I felt cursed like Greg Brady on the Brady Hawaiian vacation. At one point I started crying because I had journeyed so far and my tan was only one shade above “not dead.” Probably because the winds kept kicking sand up in my face.

Hadn’t we traveled all this way to paradise? How could I be complaining about it?

While not our most shining vacation, there were some great moments of course. We met some wonderful people. We saw a fantastic concert,  and the trip did do one thing for me.

It broke me out of my rut.

Sometimes, you have to go around the world to get smacked in the face to appreciate what you have.

So thank you Hawaii. Thank you for shaking things up for me. Thank you for the chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Thank you for the Kona coffee. Thank you for the beautiful sunsets.

And no. I did not take the damn lava.