Month: December 2017

5 Must See Places In Maui

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Aloha! There are so many fun things to do and see on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Since you can travel anywhere on the island within a day it is easy to see and do a lot in only a few days. My husband and I traveled to Maui for the first week of our honeymoon. We fell in love with the picture perfect sunsets and island spirit. Maui doesn’t have big sky scrapers, but does have plenty to keep you occupied. Below is a list of 5 of our favorite things to see on the island.

The Nakalele Blowhole

The Nakalele Blowhole is found on the north end of the island at Nakalele Point. The blowhole is just past a road side hut for Julia’s Banana Bread. There is a small hut with refreshments by the entrance of the hiking trail to the blowhole. You will hike up a hill and then down into the basin towards the bay where the blowhole is active. For best views, make sure to head over when the ocean starts to kick up and be a little more rough. The blowhole is most active around that time.

Once you get down into the basin you will also find the heart shaped rock. Many honeymooners and couples stop here to take a photo with the heart or kissing next to the heart. The easy part is getting down to the blow hole. Take heed of the warning signs posted in the area and DO NOT jump into the blow hole or stand over it. When the blowhole goes off it can suck you down into the ocean and many people are killed here yearly.  Nevertheless, this is a stop you will for sure need to make on your next trip to Maui. The views are beautiful and you can’t take a bad picture at any angle.

Haleakala National Park

Haleakala is the volcano that formed part of the island of Maui. The summit of the volcano is now a national park and they offer many types of tours. You can always hike the park for the beautiful views of the ocean and waterfalls, but you can also watch sunrise or sunset at the summit over the crater.

There are so many beautiful hiking trails in this park, but one of the most amazing views you can get is the first glimpse of sunlight over Haleakala crater at sunrise. The summit can drop below 20 degrees Fahrenheit at certain points of the year, so you might need to pack a winter coat if you plan on visiting this location in the tropics. Cheer as the sun reaches over the clouds and watch the sunrise while natives sing welcoming the new day. You will need tickets for both sunrise and sunset to get into the park so check out their site. You can also book a sunrise downhill bike tour and get your pass into the park that way.

The Road to Hana

The Road to Hana is one of the most famous road trips to complete in Hawaii. The road itself has some of the most beautiful landscapes and dangerous twists and turns on the entire island. You will need to make sure you have a travel guide book with notes for gas stops along the way since you could run out of gas without stopping at the last station before Hana. Tons of tourists run out of gas on their way around the island.

Depending on the time of year, you may or may not want to continue to drive around the island completely. if you continue be sure there hasn’t been a lot of rain or once you get into the Haleakala national park the road may be completely covered with water in certain areas. So be prepare and aware of your surroundings and the dangers. The road gets much more narrow once you pass Hana and it goes on for miles as a grated dirt road. If you are not driving a four-wheel vehicle you might want to rethink your rental car.

The road to Hana has so much for all ages. There are stands every mile or two with tons of different types of food, from BBQ to juice stands, to shave ice, and so much more. Make sure you bring cash and enjoy the ride by stopping as much as you want along the way. If you love hiking there are over 20 hiking trails along the Road to Hana. Some are harder than others so make sure you have a good guide book to tell you where to pull over since some trails aren’t even marked with a sign.

Lahaina

Lahaina was the capital of the kingdom of Hawaii from 1820-1845 and there is so much history to the city. The old courthouse building and some of the original homes are still standing. You can read all about the history as you walk the avenue. There are a ton of shops, art galleries, and restaurants that line the streets. They have a park full of Banyon trees that provide a nice shady spot to rest in front of the old courthouse. Shave ice is a big thing in Hawaii and it’s basically “water ice” or “Italian ice”, but the ice is shaved instead of crushed. It’s really refreshing, especially in the Hawaiian sun.

You will enjoy every minute of your time in this quaint and beautiful town.

Black Sand Beaches

One of the coolest things to do and see in Maui are the black sand beaches. There are a few of them on the island and they are magnificent and beautiful. There is one black sand beach you can see on the way to Hana that many people stop at. The black sand beaches are not small course sand, but instead large pebbles. Be sure to wear water shoes and bring a beach chair if you plan on staying for a while since walking and sitting on the beaches can be pretty painful. These beaches are mostly flocked with tourists who are passing through. Not many people spend their entire day lounging here so be ready to see a lot of people hiking through in a steady line.

Either way, the beaches are a must see. They have a unique beauty that set them apart from beaches in other places on the island.

Maui includes so many fun and relaxing things to do for people of all ages. Make sure you check out my post about tricks to save money in Maui!

The Cone Heard Around the World

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IT STARTED OUT AS INNOCENT FUN.

In the fall of 2013 my dad convinced my mom to join us on a cross country road trip from New Jersey to Los Angeles in a C3 camper. I was stoked to be able to explore so much of the country that I have never seen. We were going to go to all of the big state parks in the north west like Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Redwood national forest, and more. I could not wait to get out and see everything I had read about in social studies classes all through elementary school.

My dreams were crushed when two days into our trip. I was staying with my sorority sister from Ohio State on my parent’s anniversary and I got a news alert that the government had shut down. I was devastated. Not only were we not allowed in the parks now, but what was the point of driving all this way for nothing? We had only made it to Ohio so far and we were at least a day or two out from South Dakota depending on where we would stop to sleep. My parents picked me up the next morning, I was hung over, wearing the same clothes as the night before, and I probably smelled.

I went into the camper bathroom and tried to puke but couldn’t so I put my head phones in, sat in the passenger seat next to my dad and giggled to myself as I listened to “Iowa Stubborn” from the Music Man while we drove across Iowa (Don’t worry you can click the link to see what song I am talking about so you can laugh too). As beautiful as fly over states are, there is a reason when you are trying to get from point A to point B you fly. Highways in flyover states are seriously a drag. Although the first hour and a half was pretty entertaining, that shit gets old quick and you can only make so many “corny” jokes.

THINGS STARTED TO GET WEIRD.

We stopped briefly at the Corn Palace just to say that we did it and then made our way to the Badlands National Park… even though it was closed. Here is where things got a bit interesting. My dad slowed down when we came up to the entrance and realized there was not a single person around. With the rangers all off work we decided to take our chances and my dad drove over the cones and into the park. We hadn’t come all this way for nothing.

We pulled off at a parking lot that was coned off and my dad and I started snapping a few pictures. I snapped a photo of myself giving a thumbs up next to the “this national park service is closed” sign and said it would be funny if my dad threw a cone and mom took a photograph. My dad started laughing and we took a few action shots of him throwing the cone until we got the perfect picture with the cone in the air above his head.

MY DAD THINKS HE IS A CELEBRITY.

My mom and I posted a photo on Facebook and I captioned it “‘This national park service is closed. Oh yeah? You and what government workers are going to stop me?'”. A family joke meant to be shared between us and friends would soon be plastered all over Facebook and we had no idea.

First, someone made a meme out of my caption and the photograph. Then, the meme was posted on twitter and Fox News was tagged in the photo. By the time we reached California someone from Fox News had tweeted it, put it on Facebook, and wrote a blog post about it. Over 100,000 likes and shares later, my mom’s phone had imploded from constant messages, likes, and shares. The entire time we were in Los Angeles my dad kept talking about ‘getting an agent’ and saying he was being ‘recognized’ everywhere to make my mom and I laugh.

I am not even joking with you when I say how serious it is that you pay attention to what you put on the internet because one embarrassing photograph could very well be EVERYWHERE within 24 hours. One thing most people don’t even consider when they think about people in the spot light, is that you receive a massive amount of hate mail. People who have never met you have serious personal opinions about you. If this should ever happen to you, the best thing to do is to not read any of it. The negativity seriously isn’t worth any of your time at all. Don’t waste your energy and give in to angry people sitting behind a computer.

If you think I was joking about any or all of this story I am not because here is a direct link to the twitchy site written by a Fox News journalist who shared everything on her Facebook page.

Halifax

Halifax, Escalators & Fog

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Halifax

 

I’ve learned a lot of things while traveling with my parents. Conversely, I’ve also learned a lot of what NOT to do when traveling. One of my favorite stories regarding my parents is one starring my mother. My mother, Noelle, is a gorgeous dark haired woman who is ALWAYS put together. I don’t think she has ever left the house without a full face of makeup or a complete set of jewelry in her entire life. On the other hand, I frequently leave the house without even showering and still wearing the same clothes I wore to bed. I suspect the fact that my mom forced me to wear make up every day to school made me rebel as soon as I went to college.

Naturally, my mom packs three bags just for herself when we would go on long trips. I remember one instance particularly well. We were packing for a cruise to Canada  that would leave out of New York. Growing up in New Jersey, the drive up was not all that far and we had been to the city many, many times. Most of my trips with my parents consisted of going towards the equator, not away from it. My dad spent some time living in Florida as a teenager and I think the fact that he still considers that year, “the best year of his life” influenced every single one of our vacations to go south.

I was actually really surprised that we were going to Canada. I had never thought in a million years we would take a cruise into colder weather I didn’t even know those existed. We boarded the boat and like every other vacation we all argued. In hindsight, this was the worst vacation we ever took together, but there were still some highlights so I will showcase those first.

mist, fog, and more fog.

We arrived in the port in Halifax and were able to see what was a pretty close picture of what my grandfather would have seen 50 years prior stopping in the same port as he came to America from Italy. I imagined him peeking through a door for only a minute to look outside. It would be cold and snowing so he’d quickly shut the door and go back inside the ship.

I remember I stood on the deck and looked out at the large white building with hundreds of windows at the port. I tried to take in everything around me and I wondered if this was the same exact spot my grandfather stood and looked out at Halifax. There were tents set up with vendors and a museum with thousands of photos of ships that had pulled into the Canadian port.

My dad looked through mounted black and white photos looking for one that looked familiar. He stopped when he found a black and white photo of the exact ship in the Halifax port that my grandfather took to America. I was amazed that there was actually a photo of the ship, the M.S. Vulcania. It looked so incredibly old to me. I tried to picture my grandfather as a young boy with his sister trying to navigate the narrow halls. He was hopeful of the future and had no idea how successful he would be all because he made that step and left his home and everything he knew behind him.

It was really foggy for the remainder of our trip and of course it wouldn’t be a “Bruno family vacation” without a good old fashioned shake up. My sister spent 90% of the entire cruise crying in her bedroom over her boyfriend who she had just broken up with. My sister was hysterical for almost the entire trip. My mom was understanding and my dad was livid. Mainly because the amount of money that the cell phone bill was about to come out to with all the long distance phone calls was astronomical.

I can’t really blame him for being pissed off. So the majority of the time I spent wandering the ship in more or less darkness from all the fog. I remember texting and eating a lot because there was’t much to do. It was kind of cold so there was no way we could swim and I was only 17 years old so I couldn’t drink. That left very little to occupy my time.

that one time i disobeyed a security guard and almost got tazed.

My fondest memory from this trip came as a surprise to me. Like I said previously, my mom packs multiple suitcases when we go on vacation. One other thing you should know about her is that she also has a completely irrational fear of escalators. I’m not quite sure what it stems from because I never asked her, but for what ever reason it’s there. We were going down the escalator into customs my entire family in a single file line. First my dad with his bag, my sister with hers, me with mine, and in the back was my mom with 2 rolling suitcases and a bathroom bag. I didn’t realize until we got to the bottom of the escalator that my mom had not followed us.

I took a step back and saw her standing at the top rustling with her bags, crying, and panicking. She had no idea how to approach the escalator with all of the luggage. She was shuffling the bags around and then eventually I realized she needed help. There were two security guards, one that was at the top of the escalator and one that was at the bottom of a different escalator. You would assume that out of all the people standing in customs, SOMEONE would have helped her, but no. So, I looked at my dad and said “I’m going to help her.”

The security guard started yelling at me something about not being allowed to go back upstairs once you come down. Annoyed at the entire situation and the fact that they were yelling at me instead of just helping my mom so I didn’t have to help her myself pissed me off.

Anyone who knows me, knows I also have a short fuse. I assume it comes from my Italian family because I have zero patience when it comes to stupidity. If you are in a position to help someone, HELP THEM. So naturally 17 year old me yelled back at the female security guard who was yelling at me to “STOP OR I’LL TAZE YOU”.  I could feel the blood rush to my face and my ears started ringing.

“I AM GOING BACK UP THESE STAIRS TO HELP MY MOTHER. I WOULDN’T HAVE TO IF YOU WOULD HELP HER YOURSELF, BUT AS WE CAN SEE, YOU AREN’T DOING SHIT.” It just burst out and I couldn’t stop it.

I ran up the stairs and the security guard started to move towards me then, she looked over at my mom, then back at me, and stared in disbelief as I completely ignored her. Grabbing both of my mom’s rolling suitcases I ushered my mother onto the escalator behind me. She followed me down the escalator and we continued into customs. I don’t think she ever thanked me, but I also think she was too embarrassed to think straight at the moment so I understand. It was unspoken. I was pissed off for the rest of the trip home from New York, but I guess it could have been worse.

That security guard could have actually tazed me.