The Big Island of Hawaii- Part 1
Excitement and Exploration on The Big Island of Hawaii
Now that the packing up and the 14 hour travel time our finished, our 20 day journey to the Hawaiian Islands begins! We chose to start with the spectacular Big Island itself, Hawaii. This was my second trip to the Big Island and Kevin’s first. It is still as amazing as I remember when I was young and went with my family. Our trip to the big Island of Hawaii started out with renting our convertible Mustang. Living in Florida and having a convertible is pretty much a waste unless you can handle sitting at traffic stops in 95 degrees and 100% humidity 9 months out of the year. With that being said, top down in Hawaii! From Kona airport we headed up north 19 (deja vu for us Pinellas people-except no traffic) to our destination hotel the Orchid Fairmont on Pauoa Bay.
The drive was filled with beautiful sites of lava formations and ocean views. After a 30 minute drive we arrive at our hotel and we are not disappointed. Our room with an ocean, garden and pool view (yes all 4!) was spectacular.
The Fairmont hotel has so many amenities. Including a beautiful pool, waterfalls, fish ponds, own private beach and several delicious restaurants to choose from. We enjoyed our time relaxing at the beach with a cocktail in our reserved cabana. Service was on point at this hotel. Although, with Fairmont hotels I always fine they provide excellent service! Since we are members of their Fairmont Gold program and we fully love their perks. The consignor floor providing snacks, coffee, tea, wine and desserts throughout the day was wonderful. Not to mention, a spectacular breakfast each morning.
Adventure in Hawaii
When we travel we love to take advantage of what the area has to offer. For some reason as we get older we take more advantage of doing daring things. So we tend to throw caution to the wind at times.
First up, Zip lining. After our hour and half drive over to Hilo we headed up I would call a little more than a bumpy road but doable. Getting into our gear, we were given a quick and informative safety instruction session. And we are off…
When you are on a platform you have to get up on the 2nd box, this is to avoid the terrible wedgie, for some reason this is the only part of the experience that had me a little shaky. Taking off and flying over waterfalls was nothing short of amazing! We plan on doing this again and soon. Check out the video below!
Don’t forget some necessities when laying out at the beach: