On Returning From Hawaii...

So we're back from our two weeks in Hawaii and I'm experiencing my usual RRS (Reality Re-entry Syndrome). My desktop wallpaper is set on my favorite photos from our trip, my iTunes is tuned to my favorite online island radio station, and I'm constantly daydreaming about being back in paradise. This usually goes on for a few weeks until the memories from our trip fade into the monotony of my everyday life.

Ironically, I was reading Road & Track the other day and ran across an editorial article where the author wrote about his recent experience vacationing on Maui. It was really neat to read and I found that his words expressed how I felt about Hawaii and how it changes you. Here's a couple choice snippits:

Hawaii may be a huge tourist mill on one level, but it's also a place that immediately wins you over to its own pace of life. Like Paris or New Orleans, its mojo is more powerful than mere individual visitors.

Within one day of your arrival, your conservative "dress up for dinner" clothes seem to belong on another planet, and you're walking around in a shirt that looks like an explosion at an orchid factory. Even uptight business executives from Chicago or Toronto find themselves becoming contagiously relaxed and polite. Mellow, even.

You may bring your own culture to Hawaii, but Hawaii always wins. There's big magic here.

It's true, all of it. The more I think about it, the more I think that going to Hawaii is almost like getting hypnotized. Everything there is more beautiful, smells better, and tastes better.

Now excuse me while I go back to daydreaming...

Posted by Jeff at August 1, 2006 10:27 PM