After being on the road for the past year traveling thru six countries (Italy, Turkey, Portugal’s Madeira Island, Netherlands, Thailand & Singapore) and the mainland USA for a few wedding events, we opted take a four month break. By hunkering down and recharging our minds and bodies in our customary home base of Maui, it always proves to be the perfect antidote to combat travel burnout.
It felt a bit strange returning to Maui this time around. We always stay in Kaanapali, on the west side of the island. Kaanapali is adjacent to the town of Lahaina. In August, 2023, almost the entire town of Lahaina burnt down in one of the worst wildfires in US history.
While living in Maui over the years, we experienced many small wildfires as it can be very dry on the west side. I recall always telling Barbie during these minor wildfire that we encountered, with the right combination of a small wildfire coupled with a strong trade wind, the destruction could be potentially devastating. Sure enough the perfect storm surfaced. We were watching the live coverage on the internet from a world away, while we were on the Southern Turquoise coast of Turkey in a town called Fethiye. Even though we were on the opposite side of the world, once I saw the hurricane speed winds adding fuel to the fire sweeping into Lahaina town, this was going to be real bad.
Barbie and I had spent so much time wandering around the historic Lahaina town over the many years living on Maui. It was surreal visiting after the fires and seeing the absolute destruction of all the homes and businesses with our own eyes. Much to our dismay, the entire town and surrounding houses were incinerated. Just hoping, the impending rebuilding of the town is done the right way.
We arrived for this current stay in May 2024. This meant we were going to be in Maui during the one year anniversary date after the fires. We attended many of the ceremonies remembering those that perished in the fires. The county did such a nice job bringing everyone together for a ceremonial paddle out, prayer session, releasing of doves along with a beautiful cultural performance of Hawaiian musicians performing for the locals.
We spent our four months in Maui enjoying the serene island and it’s laid back lifestyle. Relaxing, going to the beach everyday and working on a rough draft itinerary of our future travels. One of my favorite aspects of our world journey is contemplating the many destinations to visit that are on our radar. We are very fortunate to be able to pick any destination in the world to include on year nine of our RTW journey.
After much consideration, we decided to make our first stop a return to Barbie’s favorite place on this planet…….French Polynesia. This will be our fourth trip to French Polynesia. We will be spending our first week on the island of Tahiti, at an Airbnb villa right on the water. And, then we are off to nearby island of Mo’orea for a two month stint.
After our stay in French Polynesia, we will be flying to the Aussie beaches on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia followed by an extended journey thru Southeast Asia.
Big Doug & Barbie Drop Out of Society 