Work To Live

We arrived in Ios and headed straight to the hotel for a cocktail and to laze around the pool. We stayed in the Levantes Ios Boutique Hotel . It was a short walk downhill to Mylopotas beach, one of the recommended beaches to visit on the island, and a short bus ride to the main town. The hotel was lovely - spacious, modern, relaxing, and with friendly staff and an awesome breakfast.  The first evening, we walked down the hill to watch the sun set on Mylopotas beach and had a drink in a couple of the bars along the beachfront before grabbing dinner at Salt . The hotel recommended this restaurant and it was fantastic food, this was the best meal of the entire holiday. After a couple of cocktails and a belly full of good food, we didn't really feel the short but incredibly steep walk back to the hotel. The uphill training in Santorini must have paid off!  The next day, we decided to have a chilled out day on Mylopotas beach. There are beach clubs, bars and restaurants lining...

We travelled to Heathrow airport in a giant private limo.... well almost. It was new the Basingstoke to Heathrow bus service which was completely empty, there and back. Both times the drivers were friendly, I think they appreciated the company, and the journey easy and relaxing. We arrived with enough time to grab a sandwich for the plane and a few pre flight drinks before taking our aisle seats for the 4 hour journey to Santorini.  We arrived into Santorini at around 6pm and were greeted by the driver the hotel had arranged for us with his very swanky minibus. It was a short and easy drive to the hotel taking in the more local side of the island.  We really struggled to find a hotel in Santorini. Most people stay in Ola or Fira which are known to be crazy busy. We decided to stay in the slightly quieter town of Imerovigli, which was still on the edge of the caldera and only a 20 minute walk to Fira and had less tourists. We looked at hotels with rooms over looking t...

It's always sad when any holiday comes to an end but luckily for us, at the end of this holiday, we decided to add on a mini-holiday!  After an evening celebrating New Years Eve, we picked up a hire car from the airport and hit the road for a mini road trip.  This is a trip we had done a couple of times in the past but in summer. We knew it was going to be colder and with less tourists but we were not expecting heavy snow fall.  We started the trip off with a stop at the Hoover Dam. It was busy but nothing compared to the carnage of tourists in the summer months. We easily parked up, walked around, and without a queue, took one of the tours.  We headed back on the road, picking up Route 66 to Kingman. In the summer, this route is busy with tourists especially bikers on Harleys, but this time I don't remember seeing any cars at all.  Once in Kingman, we checked out downtown, stopping for a beer in Block Bridge Brewery, before checking into our room for the night ...

We have both been to Las Vegas a number of times and to us, it's a great place to start or end a trip. The airport feels like a small local airport yet has flights from all over the US and the world, and it's minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, making it super convenient for an overnight stay. Plus for us, going to Las Vegas first, is a sure way of getting over the jetlag quickly. Las Vegas really doesn't sleep, more so than New York. Shops, restaurants, bars, casinos, don't seem to ever close, everything seems built to help you stay awake, and if you're really struggling, there are oxygen and IV bars, and even the casinos themselves, pumping stuff into you to keep you awake.  Las Vegas is one of those cities which can be anything you want it to be. You need to go prepared to get what you want from this city. We have been to Las Vegas on relaxing holidays where we've sat by the pool drinking frozen cocktails. We have also been on adventures with helicopter flights...

Today we decided to tackle the second National Park in Hawaii, Haleakalā National Park. Haleakalā is the third largest volcano in Hawaii and its mass makes up approximately three quarters of Maui.  Most people visit this park at sun rise to watch the amazing view and then cycle down from the top of the volcano. We didn't fancy waking up at the early hours whilst on holiday, its hard enough to do that at home. We also doubted any company would be that happy with Sam cycling down hill with her brakes on the whole way, like she does at home. So we opted for the more leisurely drive to the top of the volcano and then back down again.  It took us about an hour and a half to get to the entrance to the park, and then a further hour to drive the 10 miles to the summit, this includes about 30 minutes of stops and short hikes. Our hotel was sea level and the top of the summit was 10,023 feet, so it was quite a climb!  It was a very warm day, reaching around 28C as we left the ...

We'd eaten so much food the night before that we ended up having a quiet night, heading back to the hotel rather than have any post feast drinks. This was probably a good thing as we needed to get up early to try to complete the Road to Hana.  The Road to Hana starts in the town of Pala, a 40 minute drive on the other side of the island from our hotel in Lahaina. We had done quite a bit of research before the drive and the most important tip we came across was to start early. There were several reasons: Some of the stops get really busy and you'll end up not finding a space to be able to stop to view the sights. We missed Twin Falls as the car park was full when we drove past and on the return journey, it was closed. We weren't too bothered as we saw lots of amazing waterfalls during the trip.  Most people drive down the road to Hana, then turn around and come back. Some areas of the road are single track or very tight for 2 cars (especially American sized cars). If you sta...

We flew into Maui airport and picked up the car. We loved the little train which took us from the airport to the rental car area, it was a very unique and saved us walking with heavy bags.  We didn't have any plans today other than to chill out and celebrate Lee's 50th Birthday! So we headed to Lahaina, via a quick stop off at Maui Brewing Company for some lunch and a sample of the local beers.  We stayed in Hotel Lahania , a small boutique hotel in downtown Lahania. It was in a side street just off the main road with all the bars, restaurants and shops. The hotel only has a small handful of rooms but the small touches, like the rocking chairs on the balconies, free Nespresso coffee, beach bag, welcome cookies, and other amenities made it feel very special.  To celebrate Lee's birthday, we booked tickets to the Feast at Lele which was a short 10 minute walk from our hotel. I really hope the video does this justice but it was an amazing experience. The venue is on the bea...

We arrived early into Kauai airport, picked up the car and decided to head to the two 'must do' state parks; Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Parks. It made it easier for us that both these parks were next to each other, the only way to reach Kokee was to drive through Waimea. We headed into Waimea and immediately were hit with multiple turn outs with stunning views of the canyon. Waimea is nick named "Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It is 14 miles across and a mile wide, not quite the size of the actual Grand Canyon but given this was a little tropical island in the Pacific, it was impressive. The canyon was formed by the collapse of a volcano during the forming of Kauai and each side of the canyon was formed by different periods of lava flows. The canyon is full of colourful rocks and sand, and is a big contrast the the tropical greenery of the 'Garden Island'. Along the scenic route, we stopped off a Red Dirt Waterfall which was located right next to the road. Here we...

We left Volcano National Park and headed west towards the Kona side of the island. On our way we stopped off at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach, which was beautiful. We enjoyed splashing around in the warm clear water looking at endangered Hawksbill turtles who were happy to swim around your feet while we tried to keep a safe distance from them.  A little further down the road, we took a turning on the recommendation of one of our friends on Facebook to Ka Lae, the southernmost point in both the Hawaiian Islands and the United States. From here we had planned to hike to Papakōlea beach, also known as Green Sand Beach. A bit of googling on route showed that it was going to be a 2-3 hour hike from the parking lot to get to the beach and we had arrived at the hottest part of the day. We decided to miss it out this time   Our next stop was Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. This turned out to be one of our favourite places during the trip. Until the ...

Our second day on Big Island was Volcano Day!  We left the B&B after a lovely breakfast and headed just 5 minutes down the road to Kaumana Caves County Park. We pulled up in the car park, crossed the road and saw a little picnic area with a metal ladder heading down into what looked like a rock slide. We did wonder once or twice whether we were in the right place and also whether this was really safe (and covered by our travel insurance!).  The ladder took us down to a collapsed portion of a lava tube what was created by an 1881 flow from Mauna Loa. You could walk into the left and the right portions of the tube and apparently walk up to 25 miles, not that anyone would want to do this. There were no lights in the tube, we had meant to bring a flash light but forgot and realised that the lights on our mobiles were pretty useless in complete blackness.  There is no path in this tube, it was a case of scrambling over rocks and lava in the dark. It was a lot of fun but wi...

Partly as an excuse to buy a brand new mitre saw, but also to build something that looked quite nice whilst at the same time being a practical solution to the problem of where to store our kiln-dried logs - which come in bulk - I built a log store from scratch. I took inspiration from the many different approaches you can find on YouTube, but in the end the design is my own and I think it turned out pretty good. The logs arrived today, so I guess the proof is in the pudding and we'll see how it stacks up (geddit?!) when I transfer them in the next couple of days.

The flight from O'ahu to Hilo was really simple and really quick, almost like getting a bus. Before we knew it, we were picking up our car and planning how to spend our day.  First, we headed to Rainbow Falls which was located in the town of Hilo. It was super easy to get to and the car park was a short walk to the look out. The falls cascade 80ft over a lava cave that according to legend, is home to the ancient Hawaiian goddess Hina, the goddess of the moon. She wasn't in when we visited.  We then headed north on the Māmalahoa Highway, a scenic road which circles the entire island. This took us to ʻAkaka Falls State Park. Here we paid $20 total ($10 parking, $5/person entrance fee) to hike the 0.4-mile round trip through lush rainforest, to see two more waterfalls. First was the 100-foot Kahuna Falls and then the 442-foot ʻAkaka Falls. The cost was definitely worth it although after the steps from the previous day, my legs weren't impressed with ...

The storm had passed by the second day and the slightly overcast but warm weather was perfect for the two hikes we had planned.  First we fuelled up with a really good breakfast at Rainbow Drive-In . Lee had spotted an advert for this place on the plane, and it didn't disappoint. The food was local, reasonably priced and amazing quality. The restaurant was opened in the 60's and it maintained a retro vibe which wouldn't have been out of place on Route 66.  We then headed to our first hike, Diamond Head State Monument. Diamond Head is part of the Ko’olau Range of volcanoes. A single eruption around 300,000 years ago created the 350 acre Diamond Head crater. The US military bought the crater in the early 1900's to strengthen coast artillery defences and some of the installations remain today and can be explored as you'll see from our video. The trail up the crater was built by the military and at the top, there are amazing views of Honolulu, the famous Diamon...

The was our first ever experience flying with Hawaiian Airlines and whilst the planes were old and our seats basic (most without any inflight entertainment), the cabin crew were the happiest people and the chilled out Hawaiian music seemed to melt away the usual stresses when boarding and disembarking from an aircraft.  Our approach into O'ahu was spectacular and luckily, we were on the right side of the plane to see the view of Diamond Crater and Honolulu.  We landed, picked up the car and checked into our hotel, The Surfjack in Waikiki beach. We chose the hotel for the free parking, which was a couple of blocks away in the Hyatt multistorey carpark. Walking to the car park wasn't an issue but driving to it was a nightmare. The amount of one way streets in Waikiki beach meant that we were often driving around for ages trying to find a way of turning left, or right, or anyway but forward. It also became comical how we managed to forget which level we had parked the car o...

Lee turned the big 5  0 on the 26th December and to celebrate, we decided to tackle state number 49.  We started our trip by flying from London Heathrow to Las Vegas with British Airways on the A350-1000. We'd upgraded our seats to Business before the flight with Avios. This also gave us lounge access in Terminal 5 where the free alcohol and nibbles minimised our frustration at the delay to our flight.  The business class seats on the A350-1000 are amazing. It felt like we were in a first class with our own private pod, huge TV, and flat bed. The food was also surprisingly good and after the meal and a couple more drinks, we both had a sleep.  We landed in Las Vegas at around 8pm and went straight to our hotel, the OYO Las Vegas. Lee has always been a big fan of Hooters, he tells me its because their wings are so good. The OYO used to be the Hooters hotel and whilst it was sold to OYO, it still has the biggest Hooters in Las Vegas and a lot of the original Hoote...