Return from Paradise

I'm feeling a bit depressed tonight because I'm officially back in the real world. But I'm going to try to hold on to the warm fuzzy vacation feeling as long as humanly possible and try to prolong it a bit by documenting what was one of the most relaxing, fun and beautiful weeks I've had in a while.

Thanks to the planets aligning sometime at the end of August, 4 women managed to get points flights, vacation time and personal lives all sorted out to book a trip to Hawaii.

Hawaii.

Just hearing the word brings to mind sunny skies, beautiful beaches, brilliantly coloured flora and tropical drinks (well, that last one might be just me but I don't think so).

It's also way the heck out in the middle of the ocean and takes a full day of travel (especially when you get a two hour delay on the runway in Chicago due to overloading issues) to make your way there from Toronto. But the pain of that process is erased in an instant the minute you walk out on to your lanai.

Our lanai was located on the on the island of Ohau at a condo in the Ko Olina development on the west coast of the island. The place was, in a word, spectacular. I literally felt giddy every morning when I'd start the day off looking out at the ocean with a coffee in hand.

When I could drag myself away from the pool, lagoon or lanai on our property, here are just some of the ways I spent my time over the past week or so:

I got to spend 3 mornings of diving with the crew at Hawaii Nautical and got my dive count up to double digits at some great sites and saw a ton of ocean life including a couple of sharks, octopii, sea turtles, eels and a bunch of fish. The crew were great and the boat was amazing.

I got to spend a day completely geeking out with Lara over our shared Lost love on a Lost tour of the island. You can read her account of our adventure here. While our search for Jack and Sawyer was ultimately fruitless, we can at least tell ourselves that at some point we walked across the same pieces of sand (and in some cases parking lots) as our heroes.

I got to spend a day road tripping around the island with my friends, stopping at multiple beaches to watch crazy waves and even crazier surfers, committing shrimp homicide at a roadside truck and ending off the day with shaved ice, a sunburn and finding sand in weird places.

I got to do some shopping here and there and managed to fill my already full suitcase way beyond capacity with additions found at outlets, Target and Sephora.

And finally, I got to end the vacation with a 24 hour layover in Vancouver which allowed me to catch up with some West coast friends and have an amazing dinner overlooking the city.

Now, thanks to my PVR, I have some serious quality time to spend with my television over the next few days. Which I imagine will fill the time I spend awake over the next few nights as I try to readjust to the 6 hour time difference. So. Worth. It.