It’s a beautiful, sunny morning in Hawaii, without a cloud in the sky. As I look out the window, the breeze wafts in over the ocean and gently stirs the growing sea of cardboard moving boxes in the backyard…{cue the dramatic record-needle scrtttch!}. Even paradise gets interrupted by real life, and the above picture has been our life lately.
Nothing shows you what a rampant consumer you’ve been, despite resolutions of simplicity and goals of getting rid of excess stuff, like a move. When all the drawers and cabinets and cupboards get emptied out and all the things you’ve unknowingly squirreled away are brought to light, there’s no hiding from the stuff. We’ve been confronting it rather bravely, I think. There are also five piles in the yard and house that have been growing also – keep, sell, donate, store, and toss. We’re downsizing in a biiiiiig way and it feels really good!
It’s a little jarring to get back into the grind after the vacation we’ve just had. This move closes out the summer we’re jokingly calling the Saling World Tour. We’re taking a break from travel for a while to enjoy our island paradise {yeah, yeah, I know no one feels sorry for us}, but before we break, I do have some Alaska tours to share with you next week and I wanted to share the stats from this big adventure. Here’s what we did:
The Stats:
- Number of countries visited: 6
- Number of passport stamps: 5
- Number of states visited: 15
- Number of flights taken: 26
- Number of miles flown: 35305.0 combined
- Number of miles driven: 2575.5
- Number of miles traveled by ship: 3076
- Number of taxis taken: 8
- Number of certifiably crazy taxi drivers: 4
- Number of miles by train: 644.9
- Number of times luggage lost: 0 {this astonishes me}
I’m most amazed that we didn’t lose our luggage at all, not even one misdirection. And we almost made it to the end of the trip without anything being damaged, but the corner of one of our suitcases got cracked on the flight from Vancouver to Seattle after our cruise. I absolutely love our Jeep hardsiders!
All in all, despite the nearly three months we’ve spent living out of suitcases and now living out of boxes, I wouldn’t have traded this adventure for anything. We had an amazing time, broadened our perspectives indescribably, and spent something beyond quality time together. You never get to learn someone like you do when you’re both put through the paces or when you’re challenged, and this trip has only brought us closer together.
In the meantime, here’s what’s going on at Hale {house} Saling.
Currently…
In…Oahu, Hawaii, our home for the next three years! We’re hoping that this actual house ends up being our home for the next three years. The idea of living in the same place and not moving is intoxicating right now.
Next Stop…here 
For the first time in a while, we don’t have a next stop on our itinerary. Other than exploring the island, the next time we’re going to be heading anywhere is when we head to Colorado for Thanksgiving!
Feeling…exhausted. I don’t care how much you work out, there’s no amount of working out you can do that equals hard physical labor, like hauling heavy boxes {especially book boxes} up and down stairs all day, picking stuff up off the ground, shoving furniture around, and the like. We’ve been doing this for the last three days. And we’re going for a hike with friends today just to give ourselves a break!
Reading…the back of my eyelids whenever I can. Normally, I read a few book chapters in bed to wind down before I go to sleep, but we’ve just been crashing. I even saw Scott fall asleep mid-sentence the other day. He just trailed off, closed his eyes, and started snoring.
Clicking…all the blogs I’ve been missing out on during my travels and all the emails and social media accounts I’ve neglected over the past couple months. We don’t have internet at the house yet, but thankfully there’s a SBUX with free wifi within easy walking distance, so we head there to catch up.
Writing…Trip Advisor reviews on everything we saw on our travels, and a couple articles for potential publication. Oh, yeah, and this blog, as per norm.
Listening…to the retro surf tunes our SBUX has decided to play this morning. Something about Hawaii just screams for retro. Modern music seems jarring here – you expect instead to hear 70s beach tunes or, around the military bases, some 30′s beats or some Frank Sinatra.
Thinking…that even though I’ve done a lot of work to find my voice on this blog, I am still very much a work in progress. I keep thinking I need an actual, well, blog name, but I can’t think of anything because I still have trouble figuring out where to focus. Life is a huge busy cartoon panoramic with all the characters, locations, and everything else stuffed into it right now. Maybe when I get better focused, I’ll be able to figure out what I want to do with this creative space of mine. And please, if you have some advice or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you!
Smelling…remember that ocean breeze I was talking about? I love it. It’s fresh and sweet, not briny like the ocean breeze in California, and it’s addictive.
Wishing…that I could wave a magic wand and make everything bibbity-bobbity-boo itself into its proper place in the house. Oh, and bibbity-bobbity that drippy faucet into fixing itself and a few other repairs into doing their proper thing. Ah, the joys of home-ownership, how I didn’t miss them.
Hoping…that all this complaining and whining doesn’t diminish my gratitude for being here in this beautiful place. Sometimes, it just takes a little dose of perspective to show me how much of a whiner I’m being. No one feels sympathy for “Oh, I have so much stuff I can’t fit it in my Hawaii condo, wahh.” Seriously, KC, stop whining.
Wearing…hiking gear. Which looks like everyday gear in Hawaii, except with sneakers instead of slippahs/flip-flops.
Loving…the blue skies overhead, the sunshine, the feeling of having done some actual hard work instead of just sitting at a desk, being outside, being around people who say “aloha” and “mahalo” without making it sound cheesy {seriously, Waikiki}, my husband and family, life. Life is good, and I hope I never forget that.
What’s on your mind, currently?
KCS
P.S. Linking up with Lauren at Siddathornton for the Sunday Currently.
