BETTER LATE THAN …
Saturday Nov. 29, 2014
Roads less traveled, paths taken or not – it isn’t about the physical journey as much as it is about the emotional one, it isn’t about the vacation from work or tasks as it is a vacation from the familiar. Change of place, more than pace, is observation time as much as acclimation – to see how others live, or as we might if we were there, to see things, see people, without the blinders of normalcy and routine.
Surprises, laughter, amazing sights – surprising experiences, of what people might do and what they might not.
A final day on Maui surprise, while rounding out the ‘saw everything’ objectives (never saw a whale – but talked to someone who said they had. I gather it is early yet), had a collection of peacocks and peahens cross the road. Those are traffic stoppers – quite the sight on the wing …
I’ll close with brilliant words from John Steinbeck – words nobody could improve upon:
“People don’t take trips … trips take people.”
Mark Kolke
P.S.: early morning plans were skewed. I thought I had it figured – there would be time between flights to do a ‘half-warm/half-cold’ column from Vancouver. But … last night’s flight from Maui was delayed (the inbound plane was an hour late) so our outbound one left nearly an hour later than scheduled – arriving in Vancouver too late for the planned connecting flight to Calgary …. so that ‘quiet time’ to write and publish this column from the Vancouver airport evaporated and even the replacement flight was late, compounded upon arrival by a bridge-docking problem (it was stuck in the snow) to off-load the plane followed by car-starting woes! And an understanding Gusta gets one more night at her pet resort. Sleep for me, apparently, will follow soon.
column written/ published from Calgary
late .. morning (it must still be morning somewhere) walk: -20C/-3F, from luggage collection to the frigid parking garage, a boost (thanks YYC .. great service), warming up my Pathfinder and driving on square tires – welcome home!
Reader feedback / comments always welcome:
Home is -31C with the wind chill today, Mark. It may not be as spiritual as Maui but it will certainly test your spirit, RH, Calgary, AB
Dear Mark, It is a pleasure to step into your sanctuary and put the “work work work” schedule aside if only for a brief moment to re-engage/resuscitate. Re today’s column, we arrived in Oahu this time last year (a day after Thanksgiving). It was almost 30 years since I had visited the hub island - usually staying on Maui – and we navigated many of this cherished island's roads to our pleasure and delight (except for a flat tire on the North Shore, in which case fortunate homeowners emerged from their handsome estates to offer help – two hours ahead of AAA roadside service). We stayed at the beautiful Kahala resort just 15 minutes outside of Honolulu and every morning and late afternoon, I shared a similar experience: walking along the beach, looking out onto the horizon, I felt connected to something akin to eternity. There is no other place on earth that puts one at the center of time and space the way Hawaii does. Even as a native of Los Angeles, California, growing up in a beach life culture, the differences are stark. Hawaii exists on another plane altogether. Thank you for sharing musings from a slice of your time in paradise. It brought back to life our vacation there last year better than the photographs. Mahalo!, BV, Marina Del Rey, CA
Hi Mark, Hard to believe your vacation is coming to an end! It seems just like yesterday that I was wishing you well, a fun and safe trip to paradise. Should you take a detour, before heading home, come on over to Victoria and pay us a visit! You'd be welcome here and we can finally meet in person! Let me know if there is a chance, CR, Victoria, BC
