When we moved to Washington, we committed to exploring the Pacific Northwest and making the most of our access to places, things and experiences unique to this part of the country and world. We wanted to really get to know this area while remaining open to seeing where life and our careers take us.

As part of that mindset, we wanted to focus our travel a bit, prioritizing places that are more easily accessible from the West Coast as opposed to the Midwest, and places we’ve never been, or places only one of us has been that we’d like to experience together.

Unsurprisingly, that list includes Japan, Alaska, Hawaii, British Columbia… well I won’t go through the whole list, but you get the idea!

While it’s always a struggle for me to in any way limit or prioritize travel, focus hasn’t been the only challenge. We also don’t have that much time off from work so we have to be creative about trying to make the most of holiday weekends and work trips where we can add on a few days. Brian’s time off resets with the calendar year while mine accrues continuously so we try to look ahead to see what we can do.

We just started talking about bigger trips for 2017, but there are still a number of unknowns related to our jobs and work travel, so we haven’t set anything in stone. We’ve been bouncing back and forth between week-long trips versus bigger two-week trips versus adding a few days to some of Brian’s work trips.

As luck would have it, the travel industry pushed us into one decision early. After receiving email after email with special flight and hotel pricing, I couldn’t delay any longer– we’re finally booked for the Hawaiian islands!

We only have eight days so we’re sticking to Big Island and Oahu, prioritizing Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Pearl Harbor and scuba diving/snorkeling. I know that’s not enough time, but it’s never enough time. We’re good at working with what we have.

We’re not really into laying on the beach all day, although we’ll certainly spend some time on the beach, but based on what I’ve researched so far there are a million things to do besides getting a tan.

Now that things are getting booked, I’m actually starting to map out ideas– lots of hiking, maybe touring a coffee plantation, best places to eat, etc. My parents honeymooned in Hawaii in the early 1980s and my mom still has their itinerary–where they stayed, activities/sight-seeing they did, etc., which gave me some additional ideas. (I might get my travel planning and organizational skills from her…!)

Have you been to either island? What were some of your favorite places/things to do? Any and all advice welcome!

Aloha, Hawaii!