Did you miss Part 1?

As we trekked further into the woods, which wasn’t very far considering we were all wearing flip-flops and moving at a snail’s pace, there was talk that maybe we should go back. However, the prevailing majority concluded that by virtue of its beauty, Hawaii can’t be that dangerous. It won’t surprise anyone to learn that none of us were seasoned outdoorsmen.

Finally, after 45 minutes of sidling barefoot over slippery rocks, we made it to our destination: a clearing in the brush that revealed a thundering, seven-story high waterfall emptying into a shallow pool. Without thinking (i.e. removing my cell phone from my pocket) I waded in. It was triumphant. Normally on vacations the only waterfalls I see at 7:00 in the morning are in my dreams. Now I was ruining my new cell phone in a real one. It was refreshing.

Our next stop along the rocky road was to a narrow cliff overlooking the infamous “Jaws” beach, named so for size and deadly ferocity of its waves. The infamous 70-foot monster waves for which is it known only come along every so often, but looking down at the white water spraying off the “small” 15 foot waves was enough to make me laugh at all the times I’d screamed “THAT WAS AWESOME” when boogie boarding a five-foot wave to shore during my youth (two days ago).

Next we took a turn off down an even more narrow dirt road leading to a small park on the coast. We walked out onto a series of enormous rocks as waves crashed around us sending spray over our heads.
Being so engulfed, one gets the feeling that one is small and fragile and wet. So we left, and on our way back we stopped at a roadside shack selling fruit shakes made from local produce such as papaya and pineapple. As far as we could tell, it was the only structure for miles. Yet here they were selling fresh, delicious insanely cheap fruit drinks. It was the type of stand that New York Magazine would blog about, but instead it existed in this place where Capitalism didn’t seem to exist.

Finally, almost four hours later, we made it to the town of Hana. We couldn’t have been more excited to be out of the car and at our long-sought after destination. But as soon as we parked the car, we came to a horrifying collective realization – it sucked. It was just like every other small town in America, with one school and a post office. The beach was calm and quiet and the roads were nearly empty. It was as peaceful as promised, but it was also something unexpected. Boring. Utterly boring. We visited a snack shack on the water, bought some drinks, and promptly got back in the car.

The funny part was, as we sat there in the car, lamenting our destination, we also found an excitement for our trip home. You see, the road running along the Southern coast is considered almost impassable for vehicles other than SUVs. Some rental car companies will prohibit you driving your car on that road. We checked out rental agreement. Ours didn’t. We looked at each other and all agreed – if we couldn’t enjoy the destination, we’d sure as hell enjoy the journey.

by Dan Murphy of [redacted] fame

While waiting on an absurdly long line in Chipotle today, I got to thinking about how people tend to view travel (the actual transportation portion of it) in one of two ways.

First there’s the school of Zen-like masters who preach patience in the face of delayed gratification. This is the “The culmination is worth the effort” club.

Then there is the opposite sect who preach a philosophy not of instant gratification, but constant gratification. That is, “Every minute you aren’t enjoying is a waste.” Or, as we’ve come to know this romantic notion “It’s the journey not the destination.”

I’m not sure which camp I fall into. Clearly the principals require that you fall on one side of the divide – you can’t sometimes appreciate the journey (say, if you are flying first class) and sometimes bypass the journey in favor of the destination (if perhaps you are sitting in front of a child singing the entire Dora The Explorer soundtrack). I’m inclined to say that I am in the “Culmination is worth the effort” camp. Until airports replace those barely padded plastic chairs with massaging recliners, I’m going to have to say that the journey part isn’t all that fun.

Then, as I snaked my way around the far corner of the Chipotle, I remembered my trip to Maui a few years ago. My friends and I thought it would be fun to wake up obscenely early one morning and make the drive out to Hana, a town which is conveniently located on the eastern tip of Maui, completely opposite the developed Western coast, where we were staying. Although Hana is a mere 56 miles from our hotel in Kihea, because the mountainous roads are so windy and fraught with rocky terrain and one-lane bridges, the drive will take the average person 3 hours.

In case of rip current, swim parallel to shore. I should have known this at 19, but for some reason it was never covered in any swim class I had ever taken. One summer in college, I had tagged along on a trip my then-boyfriend (let’s call him T) and his family was taking to Hawaii. Apparently everyone else knew this fun fact about ocean safety, but forgot to share it with me.

We had plunked our towels and beach gear down on the sand. The ocean was unusually calm, the waves not large or consistent enough for surfing. T’s three teenage sisters decided to spend the day tanning, and his mother curled up in a beach chair with the latest thousand-page Harry Potter. T and I were more restless and decided to swim out without boogie boards. After a few minutes, I noticed that waves got bigger and T was nowhere to be found. I turned back and realized I was much farther from the shore than I thought. As I was trying to judge the distance, a wave crashed over my head.

The waves, which seemed like gentle rolls in the distance, became much larger and fiercer up close. Panicking, I tried to swim back to shore, but every stroke forward pushed me 10 feet back. Still no sign of T, and his family was now just tiny dots on the faraway sun-drenched shore. Tanning and reading about child wizards on the beach didn’t seem like such a bad idea now. More waves crashed over my head. I gulped about 5 lung-fulls of sea water. I considered yelling for help, but knew my calls would be drowned out by the roar of the ocean.

Something new this week, Travelistic viewers: your most watched videos, showing lots of love for The Map and The Experience, and a lunar theme, with Kelly Loudenberg’s “Moon Collector” clip picking up an item Liza mentioned in last week’s “Moon Madness” show.

– The Map: Moon Madness
– The Consumer Electronics Show
– The Experience: Cockfight Madness
– FOUND: Moon Collector
– Focus on Amsterdam:


And here’s where you currently dreaming about going:
– India
– New York
– Thailand
– Paris
– Hawaii:

In the headlines this weekend: continued fallout from the JetBlue fiasco, planning a different kind of Spring Break, with a few tropical beaches thrown in for good measure, and the New York Times’ guide to cruising.

Air Travel Woes and the Passengers’ Bill of Rights
– “Time for a bill of rights for air travel?” (Chicago Tribune)
– “Well? We’re Waiting” (Washington Post)
– “Stranded Fliers Adapt” (Washington Post)

Spring Break
– “Spring Break can include more than partying” (Chicago Tribune)

New and Renewed Beaches: Hawaii and Mexico
– “Extreme Makeover Waikiki edition” (SF Chronicle)
– “In Playa Chacala, sun, sand and something more” (LA Times)

The NYT Cruise Issue
– “Strategies to Make More Passengers Maiden Voyagers”
– “Sailing With Few Frills or Inhibitions”
– more stories

French Road Trips
– “Three of France’s best drives” (Times of London)

Toronto’s Underground
– “Under Cover in Toronto” (Washington Post)

Hawaii: Earthquake, Shmearthquake
- “Rattled, but Hawaii’s rolling on” (LA Times)
- “On Hawaii’s Big Island: Shaken but not deterred” (USA Today)

Matt Harding Speaks
- “The Guy Who Danced Around the Globe” (Washington Post)

BC’s Gourmet Getaway
- “Harvesting the good life: Kelowna, British Columbia” (SF Chronicle)

Germany: More Than Oompah Bands and Pretzels
- “Europe’s sleeping beauty” (LA Times)

Montreal Rising
- “36 Hours: Montreal” (NYT)

Praga, Warsaw
- “In Warsaw, a Once-Lawless Area Starts Its Way Up” (NYT)

Google is currently testing yet another feature to add to the panoply of options for Google Maps. Locking on to both Mapquest and HopStop’s target markets, Google Transit plans not only driving directions, but provides an alternate route via public transit and walking that will deliver you to the same point, for any specified time during the day. Not only that, it generates a handy little comparison table that shows bus/train schedules, mileage, time, and how much money you can save by not driving. Initially rolled out for Portland, OR last year, Google Transit added 5 more cities yesterday: Eugene, OR, Honolulu, Seattle, Pittsburgh and Tampa. While not exactly the most likely or useful cities for the majority of travelers, they were probably chosen for their small size and the relative ease of getting functional maps up and running. The functionality is definitely there, so, hopefully, positive response and feedback on those burgs will encourage the developers to get cracking on cities with both gnarly traffic problems and extensive transit networks, like D.C., Chicago and New York.

It was another round of the unlikely-destination Olympics this weekend with each paper trying harder than the last: Libya! Vanuatu! Angola! Honorable mentions go to the Times of LA and London, respectively, for pieces on car-cult tourism in Germany and love-cult tourism on Aphrodite’s isle, Cyprus.

On a more sober note, USA Today ran a piece encouraging renewed tourism to New Orleans since the the most-visited parts of the city – the Garden District, the French Quarter – were relatively unharmed by Katrina, and much needed tourist dollars will only spur redevelopment. A story from the San Francisco Chronicle, on the redevelopment of Kauai’s east shore, where visitorship has been low and at least one major property derelict since Hurricane Iniki blew through 14 years ago, shows what a long and hard road New Orleans has ahead of it.

- ‘French Quarter set to roll’ (USA Today)
- ‘Tripoli: Once a Pariah, Now a Hot Spot’ (NYT)
- ‘The Original Bali Hai’ (NYT)
- ‘In Post-War Angola, Glimpses of an Emerging Country’ (Washington Post)
- ‘Kauai’s east side comes into its own’ (SF Chronicle)
- ‘Temples of Vroom’ (LA Times)
- ‘Mighty Aphrodite’ (Times of London)

Jacques Cousteau progeny Jean-Michel has a new, glossy, HD series of his own underwater adventures, that debuted on PBS this week. Ostensibly about the degradation of the planet’s liquid realm, the show is still a good ad for its cause, including much gorgeous footage of remote islands and reefs—check out this preview of the first episode, in which the intrepid crew of his ship “The Searcher” heads for the farthest extent of the Hawaiian archipelago. You might think that after Wes Anderson’s little movie they would have toned down trademark Cousteau gonzo nauticality a bit, but you would be wrong. The only thing that’s missing here is the jaguar shark.

Elsewhere:
-CNN Video: “Cousteau’s Ocean of Love”
-NYT: “Voyage to Kure”
-Orlando Sentinel: “Like Father, Like Son: Cousteau Goes Deep“